Page 5

J ayden’s life had spiraled out of control—out of his control, that is. Just two months ago, he had been living on the streets, spending his days however the hell he wanted, owning nothing, traveling where he wanted, when he wanted to. Even if Jayden had been just scraping by, he had been free.

And now, what was he doing? Now Jayden was living in a damn mansion, wearing expensive clothing, and eating three full meals every day, with snacks in between. Oh, and tutors had become the bane of his miserable existence.

Was he, maybe, acting a bit ungrateful? Probably, but he couldn’t help it! Ugh, Jayden hated being told what to do. He went from complete freedom to…to…to rules !

Worst of all, he hadn’t killed anyone in months ! Jayden hadn’t had time—not that he killed that many people.

Jayden wrinkled his brow. How many had he killed? Running through the names, he counted eighteen over the last five years. Though only six had been discovered. The others had been too high in society. Letting them be found hadn’t been worth the risk.

Still, it wasn’t that many people, a little more than three a year. Was a little bloodshed, every now and then, too much to ask for?

Richard should have been number nineteen. Unfortunately, Stephan’s plan had worked. The man’s death seemed guaranteed, and he would also pay dearly beforehand—apparently, the Zaytari had no issues with torture.

Jayden felt a bit resentful that he wouldn’t be the one to end Richard’s disgusting existence. If he didn’t hurt someone soon, he was going to lose it. That thought probably should’ve worried him—it didn’t.

He eyed Stephan narrowly—the blood elf was currently looking through a rack of tops. It had only taken one trip to the mall for Jayden to figure out that Stephan loved shopping. Eyes shining, the man bounced with excitement whenever he found something he liked.

The same question kept running through his head. Why, oh why, had Stephan, yet again, taken him out shopping? Jayden already had three new shirts, four sweaters, a winter coat, three pairs of pants, a dozen socks, two pairs of shoes, a pair of boots, and underwear for every day of the week—not to mention a variety of other wearable stuff. What else could he possibly need?

Jayden looked on in disgust at the growing pile of clothing in Liam’s arms. Ugh, he was going to be forced to try all that shit on.

How much would Stephan spend today? The realm’s currency used to be something foreign to him—besides the copper dollar—as he never had much of it. But now he knew all about it. From least valued to most went: copper dollar, silver dollar, gold dollar, and then finally, the mighty jade dollar. A hundred copper dollars was equal to one silver, ten thousand silver dollars was equal to one gold, and one million gold dollars was equal to one jade.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping. Jayden didn’t understand what was going on. He wasn’t an idiot. He was fully aware that Stephan was trying to take care of him—that he was only trying to help—but what Jayden couldn’t figure out was why he was giving in.

Jayden was a cynic. He didn’t trust anyone. He had also never willingly listened to anyone, so what made Stephan different?

At times, the man seemed sickeningly sweet. And unlike most, Stephan didn’t seem afraid of him.

He blinked—was that it? Was Jayden now living the ‘good’ life because Stephan wasn’t afraid of him? That had to be it. When Jayden tried to argue, Stephan argued back.

It wasn’t right! It wasn’t normal! He was scary, dammit! The man should have given in and run away like everyone else.

Gripping the shirt he’d been pretending to look at, Jayden froze as a chilling thought entered his head— was he no longer scary?

No, that couldn’t be true. People were still afraid of him—he was still scary!

Jayden had to make sure… Turning his head, he stared at the man browsing beside him. He plucked his name from his mind—Todd, how boring. When Todd noticed him, Jayden slowly smiled. In very little time, the smell of fear drifted up. The man’s mind raced as his panic took over, and then, slowly, he began to back away .

Eventually, Todd gave up his backward retreat and turned fully before sprinting out of the store. Once he was gone, Jayden sighed loudly in relief. Yep, he was still scary.

“Is something wrong, Jayden?” Stephan asked, eyeing him.

Jayden blinked slowly—a move that usually scared people—and replied, “No.”

Stephan wrinkled his little nose. “Okayyy, well, let’s go try these on.” The elf walked off toward the dressing rooms.

Shoulders sagging in defeat, Jayden started to follow—only to stop in his tracks when he heard a soft chuckle.

He narrowed his eyes at Liam—the bastard was laughing at him. Growling, Jayden stomped off toward the dressing rooms. Hours later, he was still struggling in and out of clothes.

Why the hell was trying on clothes such a workout? He would kill for a shower right now. Of course, killing wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice for him. Whatever…

Sweat dripped down Jayden’s back, his hair was wet and plastered to his scalp. Ugh, he felt sticky. But did that stop Stephan from throwing more shit at him? No, of course not! The man just kept treating him like a frickin’ doll!

Well, at least Stephan had stopped with the pink. God, what was with the man and the color pink?!

Jayden lost his balance when he tried to pry off a pair of jeans, grunting as he knocked into the wall of the changing room. Huffing in frustration, he banged his head against the wall.

Jayden had the strongest urge to rip the damn things off. The harder he struggled, the more they stuck to him. Sweat and jeans did not fucking mix .

His voice was muffled by the door, as Stephan called out, “You okay in there?”

Breathing in and out of his nose, he quietly mumbled to himself, “You’re fine, Jayden. Relax, relax…relax.” Once he’d tamped down most of his irritation, he replied, “Yes.”

“Well, there’s just a few more, and then we’ll check out.”

It was almost over—thank the heavens! Jayden couldn’t wait to get out of here. He hated shopping, but most of all, he hated crowds. Highly populated areas sucked—everyone’s thoughts clawed at his mind. They never shut up—if he hadn’t already been crazy, he’d have been brought down quickly by the noise alone.

“I’ll bleed them all…the screams, the screams…the delicious screams…”

Jayden cocked his head at the malicious thought that drifted through his mind. All the other voices faded into the background as it shoved its way through.

“Such a beautiful woman. She’ll scream like the rest. They always do. No one will know…”

He closed his eyes. His mental energy branched out like tendrils, stretching outward, searching for the source of the violence.

“No…no! It’s too risky. She won’t work. It has to be someone no one will miss. They won’t notice then…”

Information about who the man was, where he lived, and what he had done, dug itself a spot in his memory.

“Jayden? What’s going on? You’re really quiet.”

Jayden shook his head. “I’m fine.” Later—he’d deal with his new ‘friend’ later…

He quickly blew through the rest of the clothes. After paying the ridiculous bill, they were on their way home—surrounded by bags. Jayden briefly wondered how much money Stephan had, to feel nothing about dropping a few thousand gold on clothes.

When they entered the foyer, Stephan smiled and declared, “That was fun.”

Rolling his eyes, he deadpanned, “As fun as getting punched in the face.”

Stephan giggled. “Well, why don’t you put your new clothes away? Liam can help. I, unfortunately, have a meeting to go to.” He glanced at his watch. “And if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late. Have fun, guys.” He turned and started back toward the door.

Ah, a meeting. Jayden had wondered why the car hadn’t been put away—not to mention, it answered the question as to why the man had worn a full suit just to go shopping.

“Let me drive you, Stephan,” Liam called out.

Stephan waved his hand in dismissal as he exited the mansion. Looking around at all the bags, Jayden sighed.

The door clicked as it reopened, and Stephan popped his head in. “Don’t forget you have a lesson with your new language tutor in thirty minutes. Please try not to scare this one away.” After saying his piece, his head disappeared and the door shut once again.

Jayden groaned. He so wished Stephan hadn’t found out he’d only attended school for a few years. All the tutors that plagued him throughout the day made him wish he could still cry.

Ignoring Liam, Jayden gathered up as many bags as he could carry and started waddling toward his room.

His days were filled with math, reading, writing, science, and a shit-ton of other lessons—it was awful. Reaching his room, Jayden ended up having to juggle to open his door. After dropping the bags upon entering, he wandered over to the bed and flopped face-first onto its softness.

The only tolerable lessons were the ones Jayden had with Liam—the only ones Stephan hadn’t set up. The strait-laced man had approached him and asked about his abilities.

Jayden hadn’t wanted to tell him anything. He had some trust issues. Big surprise there.

He gave in eventually, though it was more like he caved after constant prodding. After days of Stephan’s encouragement—nagging—he told Liam all about his powers. When the man offered to teach Jayden how to build up his mental walls, how to block the voices, Jayden said yes, because holy fuck would he love to shut everyone out.

Liam had been honest and up front. There was very little chance Jayden would ever be able to shut everyone out, as his mental powers were too strong.

Apparently, it would have been painful for him to try—something about pressure build-up. The goal was to make it manageable. Jayden would admit, he had been slightly disappointed by that, but something was better than nothing, which was why he’d been training.

Sighing, Jayden flipped onto his back. His other classes just sucked, and added to his overall frustration.

Was he making progress? Yes, but at a snail’s pace. And through his painfully slow progress, he had discovered something.

The condescending ‘I’m better than you’ looks on some of his teachers’ faces annoyed the hell out of him. Truthfully, Jayden didn’t care what they thought of him. Go ahead, call him stupid to his face—that wouldn’t have bothered him. If that’s what they thought of him, whatever .

What ticked him off were those who pretended to be nice, as they smiled snidely down at him, because they didn’t have the balls to berate him to his face.

Jayden hated fake people, not to mention liars—they always had something to hide. Though…considering all he was hiding, it was a bit hypocritical, not that Jayden cared.

That hatred was why the number of tutors he’d gone through was in the double digits. Very few of the originals were still there.

The ones remaining, while Jayden couldn’t say he got along with them, for some odd reason, they wanted him to succeed.

The liars, hah, they didn’t last long—not to mention the ones who were easily intimidated. Some quit the first day, running away as fast as their feet could carry them.

Jayden grinned. Apparently, they found him scary, not that he would ever do anything to frighten them…too much.