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Summer

I stare at my phone, his words circling my mind.

You will never be Summer Morningstar. You belong to me. You will never be Summer Morningstar. You belong to me.

The live feed vanishes, along with any evidence of it. Maybe I made it up. Or maybe it was a tequila-fueled dream.

Alice: Damn, did you see the ghost kicking that shifter’s ass?

Alice

Damn, did you see the ghost kicking that shifter's ass?

He obviously wanted to make a show of it. I bet everyone in the school got the alert about the live feed. My head is a complete fucking mess, and my chest is still heaving from the phone call with the stranger. I get up and pad to Alice’s room, wordlessly climbing into bed with her.

“Hey,” she says, turning to face me. I nuzzle into her, not wanting her to see my face, not wanting to talk about what just happened.

Alice wraps her arms around me and squeezes.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I lay my head on her shoulder, the words churning inside me. The secrets, the lies, the feelings are overwhelming me. “It was the stranger,” I whisper.

“Hm?”

“The video,” I whisper again.

Alice pulls back, trying to see my face, but I nuzzle into her more. “The ghost?” she asks.

I nod.

“Why?”

I shake my head. “Just… don’t ask.”

Alice pauses for a moment before squeezing me. “Okay,” she says, not pushing.

I sigh heavily.

“What?”

I tighten my arms around her

“I got you,” Alice says.

“Al?”

“Yeah?”

I look up at her, and her concerned brown eyes lock on me. “I need you to make sure I get down the aisle with Connor.”

Alice blinks. “What?”

“Just promise me. Even if I freak out or if… something happens.”

Alice holds up her pinky. “I promise.”

I link my pinky with hers and exhale heavily, relaxing a little. If I can rely on anyone, it’s Alice. I cuddle into her more. “Connor is mine, right?”

“After me. But, sure. I guess.”

I nod and relax against her. My last thought before I drift into sleep is that I am relieved to be escaping all this for a while.

Alice and I walk to class, stopping at the coffee cart on the way.

“I think I should wear blood red as maid of honor,” Alice ponders, playing with a sugar packet.

“You can wear whatever you want.”

“Okay, good. Cause I’ve already been looking, and I think I’ve found a designer.” Alice pulls her phone out and finds the webpage of an insanely expensive designer who appears to specialize in gothic chic.

“Summer?”

I turn around to see Brett walking toward me. I smile at him. “Hey! It’s been ages!” I smile, pulling him into a hug while Alice sneers at him.

“Yeah, I’ve joined this shifter club. It’s keeping me pretty busy. I also saw you’re engaged. Congrats!”

I nod, looking down at the ring. “Thanks, it was a total surprise!”

Brett chuckles. “For no one but you, it seems.”

“What?” I ask, frowning.

“Well, he’s completely obsessed with you. Anyway, later.” Brett runs off to catch up with his friends.

Alice hands me my coffee. “That was weird,” I say, watching Brett stride away.

“Was it? I wasn’t paying attention,” she says, still looking at her phone.

I shake my head. “I am probably just being paranoid. Anyway, show me this dress.”

Alice taps on one of the dresses. “Okay, so I’m thinking this, but less tulle and more lace. And the skirt needs to be a deeper red than that.”

“It’s beautiful, Al.”

“Have you started looking at dresses?”

“No. I’m barely engaged.” I laugh, and Alice moves in closer.

“Sum?”

I glance at her.

“You know that thing you asked of me last night?”

I nod.

“It’s because of the stranger, right?”

“We should get to class,” I say, looking away.

Alice frowns but drops it, and we hurry to class. Professor Brooks is showing us new kinds of runes, and normally, I would be totally engaged, but my mind is so busy that I can barely concentrate. Alice senses my mood, and her hand is in mine the whole day. I know I’ll feel better when I get to see Connor at lunch.

We are on our way to the canteen when Alice suddenly stops in the middle of the corridor. I squeeze her hand and look at her. She looks paler than usual.

“You okay?” I ask, ignoring all the tuts and grumbles of the annoyed people having to walk around us in the busy hall.

She groans softly. “I’m not feeling great. I think I’m going to go home for the rest of the day.”

I feel her forehead. It is cool to the touch but not clammy or sweaty.

“I’m okay, just feeling a little gross.”

“I can come with you?”

Alice shakes her head. “I’m a big, bad vampire. I’ll be fine.”

I squeeze her arm. “I’ll text you later.”

Alice nods and leaves, heading home. My stomach twists in concern for her, but she obviously wants to be ill alone, so I continue to the canteen to see my Connor.

I grab a sandwich on the way to the table, and the second I see him, my chest feels less constricted. It feels better still when I drop down next to him and better again when he wraps his big arm around me and pulls me against his side.

“Where’s Alice?” he asks, kissing my temple.

“She went home, not feeling well.”

“Vampires can get sick?” Zane asks with a frown.

I roll my eyes. “Of course they can. She’ll be fine in a bit. She’s maybe had some bad blood or something.”

I nuzzle Connor’s jaw. “How was capstone?”

“It was good. I learned a lot today.”

“Oh?” I ask, honestly interested.

Connor nods, and I close my fingers around his tie. Twisting my hand, I pull him closer to me. “Tell me what you learned.”

“Shield runes,” Connor says, his eyes darkening with desire.

Zane groans. “Please. We’re all here.”

I ignore him and kiss Connor deeply, his soft lips pulling a deep moan from me. Connor slides his fingers into my hair, his big palm cupping the back of my head. His tongue slides teasingly along my bottom lip, urging me to open.

I’m vaguely aware of Ashley arriving and she and Zach flirting, but I’m so lost in Connor’s kiss that I barely hear it.

Connor finally breaks the kiss, and I sit back, feeling a little dazed. I look around just as a cute little brunette in an indecently short skirt walks by. She gives Zane an unmistakable come-hither look and sashays toward the door. Zane perks up as if he just scented his favorite meal, his eyes locking onto the sway of her hips and the sassy swish of her skirt.

Rafe rolls his eyes. “Just go after her. She obviously wants your attention.”

Zane stubbornly remains seated for a long moment, but when she glances back at him over her shoulder, he gets to his feet and starts toward her. He doesn’t even pause but sweeps her up and hikes her over his shoulder, carrying her out of the cafeteria.

Rafe’s lip curls in a sneer. “He has all the charm of a rock.”

My lips twitch.

“He’s insufferable,” Zach says, but Ashley quickly distracts him.

“Am I insufferable?” Connor asks, biting my cheek playfully.

I grab his face. “Not often.”

“But sometimes?” he asks with a small grin.

I lean in, biting his bottom lip. “Only when you’re too irresistible to me.”

Connor groans and whispers, “Stacks?”

I nod, kissing him deeply.

Connor lunges to his feet and grabs my hand, dragging me toward the door. I laugh as we charge through the halls of the school, my heels barely touching the ground thanks to Connor’s long strides. When we get to the library and near our shelf, Connor picks me up and kisses me deeply. His palms cup my ass, and his fingers slide over my panties, checking if I am ready for him. A low moan fills the air, and Connor stops dead.

Connor pulls back and then scowls when he hears Zane’s whispered voice.

“Have they… stolen our spot?” I whisper, feeling outraged and betrayed.

Connor peeks around the corner and quickly pulls back. “They have.” He sighs and lowers my feet to the ground.

I adjust my skirt and cross my arms. “Well, I’m going to go stop them.”

“Babe, you can’t do that,” Connor says, biting his lower lip.

I pout. “But I’m horny,” I growl.

Connor pulls me away so we can’t hear them anymore, and then he pulls me against his chest. “I know, but if you fuck with him, he will make it his life’s mission to barge in on us whenever possible.”

I narrow my eyes in the general direction of our stack. “You get this one, dick.”

Connor and I walk hand in hand back to the cafeteria, but I’m bristling the whole way. When we sit back down at the table, I pull my phone from my bag and send a message to Alice.

Summer

Zane is a dick. He took Connor and my’s stack.

So you can reap revenge or whatever. No rules.

Also, how are you feeling?

Connor nuzzles into my neck, and I glance at him. “What?”

“You’re cute when you’re murderously horny.”

My lips twitch, and I lean in, kissing him softly. I spend the rest of lunch chatting with Connor and Luke. I check my phone on the way to my next class, frowning when I see Alice hasn’t replied. She’s chronically on her phone. She is probably just sleeping, but I have a gnawing feeling of dread in my gut that won’t go away.

When she still hasn’t replied by the end of my class, I try to call her. The line rings and then disconnects after a while. I start toward my last class of the day, but something isn’t sitting right with me. Every instinct I have is whispering that something is wrong, so I decide to skip and go home to check on Alice.

All the way home, I try to convince myself that she’s just sleeping. I’ll wake her up, and she’ll be pissed at me for worrying and disturbing her rest. No doubt, she’ll make my life hell for a couple of hours.

I nearly run up the stairs to our floor. Music is blasting from somewhere, and my steps slow the closer I get to our dorm, realizing it’s coming from our place. I open the door, the music blaring aggressively from the stereo in the living room.

“Al?” I call out, but the music drowns out my voice. I look around, not noticing anything out of place. Cautiously, I walk across the room to turn the music off. My ears ring a little in the shock of the absolute silence. “Alice?” I say again, but there is no reply. Dread writhes inside me as I walk to her door, knocking and calling for her again. When there is no reply, I wrap my hand around the doorknob and slowly push the door open.

The first thing I see is her empty bed, but then… A scream rips through the air, fracturing the silence.

Everything stops.