I needed to get up.
I didn’t move for another five minutes, sort of caught up in staring at her, but the light slicing over the bed was growing stronger by the minute.
It was time for me to go.
Kissing her cheek, I gently slid my arm out from underneath her and rolled out of bed. Quietly pulling on my clothes, I moved soundlessly through her bedroom, noting the stacks of books everywhere. I grinned. Stopping at the door, I glanced back at her. She hadn’t moved one inch. Closing the door, I left the bedroom and ghosted down the steps. I was out the front door and in mine just as I saw her mom’s Prius come up the driveway.
I turned around.
Dee stood in the stairwell, her brows arched and arms crossed. “Well. Well. Well…”
“What?” I scratched my fingers through my hair and realized the strands were sticking up everywhere.
She blinked out and appeared at the bottom of the steps. “I don’t have time to question you on why you’re now just getting home from my best friend’s house, because the Walmart in Cumberland is having a huge early bird sale and I need to get there, but you better believe I want answers.”
I shot her a bland look. “There’s nothing going on.”
Dee snatched her purse and keys off the recliner. “Just like there’s nothing happening when Adam spends the ni—”
“Oh, come on,” I groaned. “I don’t want to hear that.”
“Whatever.” She walked to the door, pointing at me. “You and I will be talking later.”
I was going to be avoiding “later” like nobody’s business.
Lucky for me, Dee was out most of the day and into the early evening. It was my turn to patrol, and I decided to get an early start before dinner. I could always grab something from Smoke Hole on my way back. Grabbing my baseball hat over the back of the sofa, I tugged it on and headed out.
Kat’s car was gone when I stepped outside. Wondering if she met up with Carissa or Lesa, I cut across the driveways and moved among the bare trees. I knew Kat wasn’t with Dee. If she wasn’t with them, she— I cut my thoughts off. There was no way she would be with Douche Bag, not after last night.
Faint light clung to the thick limbs as I picked up my pace, staying in my human form as I scouted the area. From the wooded areas, we could move around the whole damn county virtually undetected, but it was hunting season, and the last thing I wanted was to be shot. Going full Luxen would noticeably draw attention, but wearing a dark thermal and jeans, I blended in as the waning sun gave way to night.
As I neared the outskirts of the county, a few steps from Pendleton, I skidded to a stop, kicking up dried, dead leaves and loose soil. Ice snaked down my spine. I whipped around, scanning the trees. I didn’t see anything, but there was definitely an Arum nearby.
Shit.
I moved toward the west, farther away from home, and didn’t pick up a damn thing. Backtracking, I picked up speed, coasting over the ground and uprooted trees, barely touching the exposed roots and boulders. Several miles later, I felt the oily thickness gliding over my skin. It was brief, gone before it could taint the air.
The Arum was a fast son of a bitch, staying several minutes ahead of me despite the fact that there was no way it sensed me, not with the looming Seneca Rocks.
My breath puffed out misty clouds in the cold air as I neared the highway. I traveled north a mile before I felt the Arum again.
Slowing down as the trees thinned, I tracked the Arum right up to the Smoke Hole diner. Holy shit, was it going for the meat loaf or something? The darkness of it, the thickness in the air, had heightened as I waited until bright headlights of oncoming traffic cleared. I crossed the road, hitting the parking lot at a sedate pace.
Through the lit windows of the diner, a dark shadow exploded within the building, blackening out the windows and rapidly disappearing. The presence of the Arum vanished.
“What the hell…” The back of my neck warmed and tingled. Kat was here?
The door to Smoke Hole flew open and out came Kat. She wasn’t alone. Douche Bag was with her, his hand wrapped around hers. I stared at them, torn between focusing on the fact that an Arum had just been inside the diner and the fact that even after last night, she was with Blake today.
I couldn’t believe either of those things.
Kat slowly lifted her head, her face pale as her eyes met mine. She pulled her hand free. “What…what are you doing here?”
I was grinding my jaw so hard my molars were going to crack. “I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
She glanced over at Douche Bag. “This isn’t what—”
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you two or whatever.” Douche Bag curved his hand around Kat’s elbow. “But Katy and I need to talk—”
That did it.