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Chapter Three
Claire
“He’s right outside the door,” Marley hissed in a whisper.
I held my finger to my lips. I knew he was right outside the door. I’d heard his feet scuffling across the stone step that led into the house. And while I didn’t have any sort of heightened hearing ability, I could have sworn I heard the man’s labored breathing.
Marley let out a shriek as a thud boomed on the other side of the door.
The door shook in its frame.
I didn’t move. I stood ten feet away from the door, unwilling to get any closer to the man on the other side. Anger begged for entry into my mind. Fire surged through my body and I had to remind myself that cleaning up a dead human was probably going to be a lot messier than cleaning up a dead warlock.
Besides, I didn’t want to have to ask Jack to do that again.
The door slammed again. The man, who Marley had earlier identified as Will, was now slamming his body against the wood.
Looking over at Marley, I opened my mouth to ask just how big Will was. Then my eyes caught on the look of fear on her face and the shadow of a bruise along her neck. I hadn’t seen those marks when she’d first stepped inside. They were the type of bruises you got when someone had tried to snuff the life out of you with their hands wrapped around your windpipe.
There was no way I was sending this woman back into that. No matter what I had to do.
I took two steps toward the door, hearing Marley’s breath hitch as I did. I gave her a look of sympathy, hopefully communicating that I had no intention of letting the beast inside.
“You need to go away.” My voice didn’t shake, at least. I’d hoped to give off a more strong, Wonder Woman sort of vibe. As it was, I was doing good just to keep my cool. Not that it would matter what I sounded like. I knew that the man outside would hear my female voice and relegate me to the weak.
If only he knew.
“I’ve already called the cops,” I lied. There. That sounded better.
“Cops ain’t gonna do shit,” Will bellowed.
That wasn’t exactly true. I knew one cop who would be there if only I beckoned him. But I didn’t want to involve him if I didn’t have to. Even if I had to melt this man’s brains, I’d rather not involve him in another domestic dispute.
And yet, even as I thought that, I knew that there was little chance of him not being involved. Somehow, he always knew when to show up. Like Superman hearing the cry of an anguished citizen, he somehow always arrived in the nick of time. Even that day when those warlocks tried to force me into a bond with a warlock I didn’t know, he’d wound up at the cabin when I needed him most. He’d later told me he had just felt like driving down the wooded path that led to that old forgotten cabin. That something about the place had felt off, and he just needed to know.
“There’s one cop I know of that you should be concerned about,” I said. “And he’s on his way now. If you don’t want to run into him, I’d suggest you get back into your car, turn around and go home. Marley ain’t going anywhere.”
Even if I have to kill you.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Will howled and then slammed into the door with such force that the walls around the door rattled. In the periphery, I could see Marley pressing herself into the corner of the sofa.
The sight of anyone pressing themselves into a corner was enough to make bile rise in my throat. It reminded me too much of another corner. Of another scared girl.
Again, the door rocked with the force of the man behind it. A few more impacts like that and there would be no more door. Perhaps no more wall. If he broke through, was I prepared to do that one thing that would end Will and leave Marley permanently scarred for life?
The sound of a car pulling into the drive halted the thought process. Though I dreaded what would happen in the next few minutes, I couldn’t stop the sigh of relief that escaped my lips.
Nor could I deny I felt the presence of the man who had rejected me eight years ago. He would likely deny the reality of our bond until the end of time, but that didn’t lessen the way my body reacted to him whenever he was around. How my body instinctively knew him — whether he was yards or mere inches away. Sometimes, I could sense him even when he was miles away.
Right now, a flurry of emotions were pelting me. Worry. Anger. Frustration. As I heard the car door slam outside, I worried for the man who I knew was approaching the mad beast outside. Stepping closer to the door, I pressed my hands against it and listened, the cool wood against my palms tethering me to the here and now.
“You should probably step away from the house and get back in the car, man.”
Just the sound of his voice made me flood with want and need. And happiness. Despite it all, hearing his voice filled me with an inexplicable joy. Inexplicable because our meetings always ended in disappointment.
For me anyway.
His voice was deep and powerful. Commanding even when he wasn’t trying. Now, there was a hard edge to his words. A hard edge that told me he was ready to end a man if he had to.
