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I couldn’t see whatever was bothering her, and it pissed my beast off. The creature could do nothing against the ghosts terrorizing her. If only I could chase them all away for her, then my beast would be placated. It hated being useless.
That was a feeling I could understand.
Addie made a pained noise. I remembered what she’d said about covering her head and lunged to open the back door so I could grab a hat I’d left on the back seat. I gently pulled her hands away from her head, so I could put the hat over her dark hair. Almost immediately, her shoulders relaxed. Her hands went slack, and she exhaled.
When she froze, I feared the worst. Instead, Addie lifted her curious gaze up to meet mine.
“Whose hat am I wearing?”
I swallowed. The truth was that I kept it just in case I ran into her again. I wasn’t going to tell her that, though.
So, I shrugged and said, “It’s just a hat leftover from the last order for the station.”
She scowled, took it off, and turned it around to look at the precinct’s emblem. Barely a breath later, she yanked the hat back onto her head. The sight of it on her made my core clench oddly. A possessive need overtook me. It made my train of thought go off the rails.
Addie was small and fragile in her little mini-dress and oddly oversized sweater. Though the hat didn’t belong to me, it had my job’s insignia on it. The embroidered patch was a mark that told everyone who she belonged to.
I stepped away from her.
She didn’tbelongto me.
What was I thinking? I needed to clear my head. Whenever I was around her, things got muddy. The line between acquaintance and lover seemed to blur when it really shouldn’t. Addie and I barely knew one another.
Yet, when I opened my mouth again, I told her that I was taking her home with me.
“That’s a good idea,” she said, much to my surprise.
I stopped and cocked my head. How had I gotten here? I tried to retrace my steps, but it seemed that the beast in me had been subtly directing me towards what it wanted.
Not for the first time, either.
“Damn beast,” I muttered under my breath.
I was tired of it taking over. While the creature hadn’t completely stolen the reins this time, it had shown me that I would never have the control that I wanted. The beast’s desires and urges would always have a grip on me.
Neither of us spoke as we got into the car. Once we were on the road again, Addie relaxed. However, she didn’t speak until we pulled into my driveway.
She reached up and touched the hat on her head. “There’s so much going on all of a sudden.”
A bit of guilt stirred within me. She wouldn’t be in the middle of this mess had I not asked for her help. However, I didn’t know how I would find this killer unless I enlisted Addie’s assistance. She would be compensated for it this time, at least.
When her gaze slid towards me, I caught the hint of suspicion in it. What had happened out there to make her look at me like that? I was too afraid to ask—not directly, at least.
“Let’s go inside so you can debrief me.”
“Debrief?” she asked with a laugh in her voice.
I led the way inside. We weren’t going to have this conversation in the driveway. I didn’t have many neighbors out here, and the ones I did have were all at least half a mile away, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stand outside and talk about ghosts.
