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He didn’t mean it.He said hecouldn’t, that he’dtriedto leave me alone.In other words, he didn’t want to be here, but instinct was forcing his hand.

He didn’t want me, what he was feeling had nothing to do with me.If the fates had matched him with another female, he’d be standing outside her door right now.

My heart couldn’t take another rejection, not from him, and I sure as hell didn’t trust him to protect it.

What he was offering wasn’t enough.

It was too late.

He was too late.

Sutton

I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and almost tripped over a box.What the hell?My name was written on top with black marker.

I searched both sides of the street.No one was nearby.It was late, the night after my run-in with Jagger, and all the stores around me closed.Leaning back, in case something burst out of it, I flicked back the top flap with the toe of my boot—and blinked down at its contents.

Herbs.Bunches of them.Held together with different-colored ribbon, like a box full of gorgeous flower arrangements, but better.

Crouching, I took a better look.Well, shit.These were rare varieties, and almost all of them out of season, so seriously expensive.I scanned the street again.No one was watching me.

My phone vibrated in my back pocket, and I pulled it out.A Nightscape notification from Jagger.Against my better judgement, I opened it.

Jagger:Thought you could use them.

I stared down at the message, then back up.Was he watching me?I had to assume he was.After his altercation with my mother, the way he’d defended me, covered for me when I’d been seen stealing herbs, he’d obviously realized how much I needed them.I could use them, honestly.I had an order I still needed to fulfill, and time was running out.There were several herbs in this box that I’d been struggling to source.

With a huff, in case he was still watching, I picked up the box, carried it up to my apartment, put the arrangements in water, then locked the door and headed back out.

Yes, it was a nice thing to do, but if he thought buying me herbs was enough to get me to forgive him, he was wrong—because this wasn’t about forgiveness, it was about trust.Jagger didn’t seem to understand that, though.

I got in my car and headed to the clinic, and while I drove, I worked at clearing my head.I needed to be focused, people’s lives depended on me.But it was an impossible task.I worried about Luke constantly—was he okay, were they hurting him?Then there was Rune and what he wanted me to do.I’d called him last night, after my confrontation with Jagger, and told him what I saw at the dance party.He wanted to get together soon for a debrief and would call with a time.Considering what happened at our last meeting, I wasn’t all that fired up for a repeat—and then there was Jagger and his sharp one-eighty.

I gripped the steering wheel.My life was a mess.Add in Fern and Phoebe calling and texting all the time, checking on me, worrying about me, and being unable to share with them why I was acting this way, and I was a female on the verge of a freaking breakdown.Literally.

My phone chimed and I glanced down at it.

Poe.

My stomach rebelled, gripping hard.Shit.I wrenched the car to the side of the road, shoved the door open, and threw up.My nerves were getting the better of me.I was jittery, on the brink of a panic attack, just…fucking terrified, all the time.Hand trembling, I grabbed a takeout napkin and wiped my face.Then took a swig of water from my bottle, spat it out, then dug around in my bag for some gum, before forcing myself to pick up my phone.

Poe:Tarrant wants an update, meet me before the fights.

Why did he need a face-to-face meeting for that all of a sudden?Probably so he could torment me some more, the creep.

Sutton:Everything is on schedule.I’m working tonight, so meeting up is impossible.

I knew what would happen next.He’d demand I do as he said.Maybe it was a stupid thing to do, no, it definitely was, but I couldn’t deal with him, or Jagger, with any of it right then, so I turned off my phone and shoved it in my bag.

ChapterFifteen

Sutton

“Something you want to tell me?”Magnolia asked, looking over her shoulder as we rushed into the warehouse and were instantly hit by the sounds of a bloodthirsty crowd.

Jagger had trailed the ambulance on his bike all night.He hadn’t approached, but he’d been there, watching from a distance.

“Nope,” I said and pushed my way through a group of shifters.“If he wants to behave like a big stalker, that’s up to him.”