Travan doesn’t speak as he meanders along beside me, his hands shoved into the pockets of his faded blue jeans. He’s whistling, but I don’t recognize the song.
As we walk through the dense forest, my feet crunching over dry leaves and the branches overhead casting twisted shadows on the path, I try to ignore the unsettling feeling gnawing at my gut. I periodically glance at Travan out of the corner of my eye.
His presence is…overwhelming, to put it mildly, like a storm I can’t avoid. I feel exposed walking next to him, my unanswered questions swirling in my mind.
Finally, I can’t take it anymore. My pulse quickening, I turn to face him.
“Did you know about me?” I blurt, then I inwardly wince.
I don’t know why that’s the first question that popped into my head, but now that I’ve thrown it into the world, I find that I can’t take it back. I don’t even want to.
Travan regards me intensely. “No.”
“No?”
“Not until you arrived here.” He resumes walking, but at a slower pace, his expression contemplative. “Neither did your other fathers. We didn’t say anything at first because we didn’t want to scare you away. You didn’t even know about the supernatural world, for fuck’s sake. Anything we said would’ve sent you running for the hills.”
I consider his words, that uneasy feeling from before intensifying. “You acted like you’ve been here this entire time. But I only just met you yesterday.”
A smile plays at the edges of Travan’s lips.
“I’ve been here,” he answers evasively.
“What do you mean?” I study him closer.
Kyle and Silas were both a part of my life before the truth was revealed. But Travan? He’s an enigma. A mystery.
Yet if he claims he’s been here this entire time…
“Were you…stalking me?” I gape at him, alarm crystallizing in my blood.
I expect Travan to look ashamed or sheepish or indignant.
Instead, he just waves a hand in the air dismissively and says, “Stalking? Watching without your knowledge? Is there really a difference?”
He kicks at a rock almost absently.
“I…I don’t…” I shake my head rapidly.
What the fuck do I even say to that confession?
“It’s not like I watch you sleep or anything,” Travan says with an exaggerated eye roll. He gives me a look that suggests I’m being overly dramatic. “Okay, I did that one time, but in my defense, it was only for a few minutes to make sure you were okay after those assholes tried to hurt you.”
A darkness I’ve never seen before shadows his face. Pure, venomous rage emanates from his eyes, which have turned dark as pitch.
My gut lurches with a sudden burst of fear, though I don’t allow that emotion to show on my face. Instead, I focus on his words and their meaning.
“Wait…” I begin.
I remember the men who attacked me.
The monster who attacked them.
Travan smiles knowingly at me.
“That wasyou?” My voice is practically a whisper.
Travan shrugs a single shoulder. “Those men deserved worse than torture and death.”
