Page 11 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Thursday

Zoey

I tried to turn the doorknob, but it was locked. It was late. I knew the guys had work in the morning, and I didn’t want to wake them. But they hadn’t given me a key. They probably hid a spare key somewhere. I looked under the doormat. Then beneath a potted plant. Nothing.

A chill ran down my spine. I turned around, but there was no one there.

It wasn’t just Kebe’s words in my head now.

It was Otto’s. He’d said something had shifted in the air.

And I was pretty sure I felt it too. Something felt off tonight.

Otto had told me he didn’t want me wandering around alone, and here I was doing just that. Fuck.

I picked up another potted plant to search for a key and the door opened. Titan was standing in the doorway. And he did not look happy to see me. He looked even more menacing with the shadows the moonlight cast on his face.

“Going for two breaking and entering charges in one night?” he asked.

“I wasn’t charged earlier,” I said. “And I don’t think you’re about to call the cops now.

” I hope. I laughed uneasily and put the plant back down.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you guys.” I expected him to invite me inside.

Or at least step to the side so I could come in.

But we both just stood there staring at each other. Or maybe he was glaring at me.

“Empty your pockets,” he said.

“What?”

“You heard me, doll.”

I tried to laugh it off. “I told you I didn’t take anything.”

“Zoey, I’m not going to repeat myself. When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it.”

I swallowed hard. The coin was in my pocket. I hadn’t gotten a chance to discuss the next steps with Emma. We had to be on the same page about the cure because it was for Callum too. “I didn’t take anything,” I said more firmly.

He cocked his head to the side as he glared at me. “Funny. You were good at following instructions the other night online.”

I clenched my jaw. Fuck you.

“Look, I don’t want to start whatever this is on the wrong page. Just empty your pockets.”

“There is no this if you can’t trust me.” I gestured back and forth between us. God, this conversation couldn’t be going any worse. I wanted to move forward with Titan. But now we were just taking two steps back.

“Trust?” He shook his head. “You’re right. There is no this . I apologized to you for recording our session. I thought maybe, just maybe, we could start over. But then you call me a liar? I’m not the liar here, Zoey. That’s you .”

I figured Bennett would talk to him about what I said at the bank.

I was just trying to get everyone off my back until I had five seconds to think about what to do about the coin.

But I shouldn’t have thrown Titan under the bus.

The guys were already annoyed at him for blackmailing me.

And now they probably just thought he was making shit up to get rid of me.

I was the only one that could fix this. But I needed more time. “Titan…”

He stepped outside and put one of his hands on the side of my neck as his other hand skated down my back.

For a second I thought he was going to kiss me. His dark brown eyes bore into mine.

And if I was being honest with myself, I’d been dying to taste his lips.

My skin pebbled beneath his touch. I got plenty of attention from my other four boyfriends.

But I was desperate for Titan’s touch. I was desperate for anything he’d give me.

I was used to getting what I wanted. And Titan always felt out of my grasp.

I tilted my face up toward his. But he didn’t close the distance between us.

His hand slid from my back to my ass. He squeezed my ass cheek and pulled me against him.

I could feel his hardness through the front of his sweatpants. He was as desperate for me as I was for him.

His hand on the side of my neck tightened ever so slightly as he gripped my ass.

Kiss me. I stared into his eyes. I thought I’d been desperate before.

But now that I knew how much he wanted me too?

I was so turned on. I wanted so much more than a kiss.

I pressed myself harder against his erection.

God. I wanted him to finally touch me. I wanted to feel his fingers, his tongue, his cock. I wanted all of it .

He exhaled slowly, like he was trying to regain control.

But I didn’t want him to regain control. I wanted him to lose it. I reached up and ran my fingers through his dark hair, trying to pull him closer.

He closed his eyes for a moment and his nostrils flared. But he didn’t tilt his face down to kiss me.

Instead, his hand quickly shifted to my other ass cheek.

My excitement immediately turned to anger. The asshole wasn’t trying to kiss me. He was checking my pockets.

I shoved him off of me.

“Put your hands on the siding and spread your legs,” he said.

“A pat down? Seriously?” Was he really going to stand there and pretend that we hadn’t just shared a moment?

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the wall. “Now, doll.”

I wasn’t his fucking doll. I slapped him hard across the face.

He growled. An actual deep, guttural growl. And his fingers tightened on my wrist.

Oh shit. I took a step back from him as the intensity in his gaze grew.

He was pissed. Really, really pissed.

I pulled my wrist out of his grasp and backed up until my ass hit the wall. Titan had gotten me exactly where he wanted me. But he wasn’t going to be patting me down now. He was probably going to maul me to death .

“Take a deep breath,” I said and put my hands out, as if that would protect me.

He growled again in response and stalked toward me.

I’d never seen him look so intense. He looked like he wanted to devour every inch of me. And not in a sexy way. Despite the fact that his erection was still tenting the front of his sweatpants.

“Titan, please…” my voice trailed off as he stepped right in front of me. My whole body was shaking as he leaned forward to get eye-level with me.

He growled again, even lower than before.

He hadn’t shifted, but I remembered his face perfectly from when he had. His sharp teeth. Spittle flying as he growled. It was all I could see in my head. Titan was going to kill me if he shifted. And all semblance of his control was gone.

I shoved him back again and screamed at the top of my lungs.

“What the hell is going on out here?” Otto asked as he stepped outside. He took one look at Titan and froze. “Zoey, go inside. Now.”

Otto didn’t need to tell me twice. I ran inside and Otto slammed the door shut to keep Titan out of the house and safely away from me.

The entryway was bathed in darkness. I couldn’t see a thing.

For a moment all I could hear was my own heart beating.

But then I heard a louder growl from behind the closed door.

I turned around and ran toward the stairs.

I hit my shin hard against the first step but bit back the pain.

I put my hand on the railing and ran up the steps.

My feet hit the landing, but I didn’t realize it, and I fell onto my knees.

My stomach churned. I’d been seconds away from death.

Surely. I took a deep breath, but it didn’t help.

I stayed on my knees as I tried to take more slow breaths.

My heart didn’t stop racing, but my body final stopped shaking.

I put my hand on the wall and slowly stood up.

It was dark up here too, but my eyes were adjusting.

I’d never been upstairs here before. Most of the doors were closed.

But there was one door ajar and light was flickering through the doorway.

I looked down the dark stairwell. There was no way I was going back downstairs.

So I walked over to where the light was flickering and peered inside.

There was a fire in the stone fireplace on the far side of the room.

The stone stretched up the wall until it hit the ceiling.

The beams in the ceiling were showing. And the dark wood cascaded down one of the walls, creating an accent wall behind the bed.

It was one of those low, modern beds that looked very easy to collapse into after a long day.

There were some clothes strewn around the room.

An empty coffee cup sat on one of the end tables.

The bathroom door was ajar and there was a towel just sitting in the middle of the floor.

I smiled. It was a little messy but a whole lot homey.

The smell of the fire permeated the room and I had no doubt in my mind that this was Otto’s room.

I’d always thought that Otto smelled like a roaring fire on a cold night. This was why.

Even though I had no idea what was going on outside, Otto’s smell helped my heart stop beating so quickly. All I wanted to do was crawl into Otto’s big bed and forget about what just happened .

The guys said they’d gather up some of my things for me, but I didn’t see any of my bags or a suitcase anywhere.

I peered out into the hallway again. I didn’t hear any more growling in the distance.

Hopefully Otto had gotten Titan to calm down.

And it didn’t seem like anyone else was awake.

I pressed my lips together and turned back.

I walked over to the dresser and pulled open one of the drawers.

Boxers would definitely not help me. I closed the drawer and opened another.

Perfect. I lifted one of Otto’s t-shirts and closed the drawer with my hip.

I peeled off my boots, leather clothes, and undid the clasps of my lingerie. I pulled on Otto’s t-shirt and smiled. Even his clean clothes smelled like him.

I reached into the front pocket of my pants to make sure the coin was still there.

The feeling of it in my palm calmed me down even more.

I folded my clothes and put them down on a chair that was near the fireplace.

It looked like a chair you’d read a good book in by the fire.

But there weren’t any books in sight. And I wondered if Otto just stared at the fire.

I could easily picture snuggling and relaxing this way together.

But it didn’t seem as fun alone. I wasn’t sure when Otto would be back, so I crawled into his bed to wait for him. I took a deep breath and his familiar scent was all around me.

Titan had almost shifted right in front of me tonight. While the two of us were alone. I knew that. And maybe he’d shifted now. He could be loose, terrorizing the town.

But for some reason, I felt safe in Otto’s bed. I reached out and ran my fingers along a deep gash in Otto’s headboard. A gash that didn’t look at all like something natural to the wood.

No, I really shouldn’t have felt safe here. I pulled the comforter up higher and closed my eyes tight.

***

I felt something on the side of my cheek. I sat up with a start, pushing myself away, and almost fell off the side of the bed.

“It’s just me,” Otto whispered, and gently touched the side of my face again.

The room was dark. The fireplace was only glowing embers. But I’d recognize Otto’s voice and touch anywhere.

Thank God he was okay. I threw myself into his arms. “Did Titan shift?”

“No, he calmed down.”

“And you’re okay?” I pulled back to see him. I put my hands on his cheeks and then his shoulders as my eyes scanned for any sign of injury. Like a huge gash that matched the one on Otto’s headboard.

“I’m okay,” he said. He grabbed my hands and lowered them to his lap. “What happened out there? Titan rarely snaps like that.”

Snaps? I envisioned Titan snapping my neck in half.

I forced myself to shrug instead of shudder, even though I knew what made Titan snap.

I lied. He caught me. And we fought about it.

But I didn’t want to say any of that. Every time I tried to talk my way out of this, I just made things worse.

Tomorrow I’d talk to Emma and we’d figure out our plan. Until then, I just wanted to sleep.

“I don’t know,” I said. Lying to Otto was the hardest .

He must have mistaken the look on my face for fear instead of guilt, because he lay down and pulled me into his arms.

I slowly inhaled and let the smell of warmth calm me down even more. Otto hadn’t been hurt. Titan hadn’t shifted. Everything was okay.

But tonight could have gone so terribly wrong. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to unsee the look in Titan’s eyes.

My boyfriends were partially what Kebe said. Violent. Dangerous. Unpredictable.

And the cure for them was sitting in my pocket only several feet away. No one was going to be able to convince me to withhold it from them any longer.

I held on to Otto tight. Tomorrow everything would change. And I just hoped his feelings for me didn’t.