Page 8 of The Alpha’s Seer (The Shifters of Stormhollow #1)

Chapter Eight

BLAIR

My aunt fusses over me until I wave her off, staring out the window and wondering what lurks in the darkness.

Will Billy come back for me?

Will he know where to find me?

Strangely, I miss the comfort of the wolf that sat with me earlier. I’d never seen a wolf, but it had been like a super friendly dog. Maybe I could adopt it.

Ha!

I laugh at the thought and wonder for the millionth time if Leon is okay. He’s drinking too much, and he’s unpredictable when he’s angry. I play with the hem of the super long Smurf-themed t-shirt my aunt gave me and shiver when headlights light up the road, reflecting off my glasses.

“He’s back,” I say with relief, crossing my arms and staring at my brother’s truck until it stops.

But Leon is in the passenger seat, and that’s not all.

The man who drove him home when he was drunk gets out of the car, and my throat dries. He is so fucking masculine it’s ridiculous, and despite everything, heat floods my core at the sight of him striding to the door, my beaten old backpack dangling from his fingers.

“I’ll get it,” I tell my aunt as she appears in the doorway, drying her hands on a towel.

I dart into the hallway and yank open the door, my heart stuttering when honey eyes meet mine—the same eyes I swore I saw the night I was pleasuring myself to my book.

Surely not.

“Are you alright?” he asks gruffly, dropping my backpack at my feet. His eyes drift over me, and a smile plays on his lips as he takes in the Smurf t-shirt, but it soon disappears when he looks up again. “How is your face now?”

I blink, thrown by the way he asks. Like he’s already seen it before.

Impossible. He wasn’t there.

He reaches to tilt my chin to the side, examining the cheek that still aches from the slap.

I jerk my chin back and glare at him before reaching for my backpack.

“Don’t touch me.”

He steps back and opens his mouth to say something but decides against it, crossing his arms over his chest. His lips purse as he stares at me, and I feel like he’s studying a naked version of me, one only he can see.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?” I challenge him, craning my neck to see my brother asleep in the passenger seat. I frown. “Why is Leon asleep?”

The man twists his upper body to look at the truck, then sighs—a seriously sexy sound, if I may say so.

Jeez, what’s wrong with me?

I’ve just been attacked, and I’m checking out this man like I’m in heat. A man I don’t even know.

“Calix. My name is Calix, and your brother is stupidly drunk. Again.”

Calix. What a name.

I arch a brow. “And you happened to be there to save him again? You’re like his personal hero.”

Calix grunts and glances around us, examining the house like he’s looking to buy it.

“Look, I appreciate you bringing me my stuff and driving my brother around, but we’re fine. I’ll take it from here.” I smile politely and go to move past him when he stops me, one arm in front of my body, not pushing me back, merely holding me in place.

“Blair,” he says, his voice painfully hoarse.

I look up at him and feel dizzy.

Why is he so beautiful?

Also, how is he stopping me from going to my brother?

“I’m not stopping you.” Calix shakes his head but keeps his arm before me like a barrier. “Go inside and rest. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

I stare at him, wondering if I’d said those words out loud. He stares right back at me, and for a second, I can’t think. I can’t even breathe.

His eyes burn into mine, and it’s like I can hear his voice in my head.

Please, Blair. Please go back inside.

“I can keep you safe.”

I blink and wonder whether I imagined his voice in my head because I definitely just heard him speak.

Did I imagine that too?

“Right, but you don’t need to keep me safe. I don’t even know you.” Yet I don’t move back. I like the feeling of his arm on me, and I can’t help but imagine how it would feel to have both arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me into his arms…

“Blair.”

Honestly, I could listen to him saying my name all day. I chew on the inside of my lip and look away from him, hating how my body responds to his presence. He’s just pure masculinity: all pine-scented and bulky, muscles for miles and devastating honey-colored eyes, not to mention that jawline…

I shake my head, feeling like I’m under a spell, but Calix gives me a ghost of a smile that tells me more than any words could.

What the hell is going on?

I’ll be here all night.

I blink rapidly and move back, sure I have a concussion.

His voice is in my head, for heaven’s sake!

I try to keep my face neutral and step back into the doorway, missing his warmth already.

“Leon can stay here,” I state, waving my hand at the truck. “Would you mind waking him?”

My brother snores away in the truck, unaware of what’s happening.

Jeez, we need to address his drinking problem.

You really do.

I freeze, sure as shit that I heard his voice in my head then, but when I turn to look at him curiously, he’s already marching back to the truck to get Leon. I rub my arms and head back to tell Aunt Ray about Leon, then help her set the sofa up so Calix can lay him down.

Then Leon stumbles through the door, insisting he’s not drunk.

My aunt takes Leon into the kitchen and makes some coffee, offering some to Calix, who accepts politely.

I shiver when he walks past me and into the kitchen, talking animatedly with my aunt as I lean against the wall. My head aches, and my body throbs, but it also fizzes with something like excitement, and I know it’s got something to do with Calix.

It’s polite to offer him coffee after he brought my things… and drove my brother back here.

I cringe and take a deep breath, heading to grab my backpack. I need to change; I don’t want Calix checking me out.

Well, maybe I do, but not right now. I don’t want anyone looking at me like that right now.

The memory of fingers on my skin and tearing at my clothes grips me, and I squeeze my eyes shut, wondering if this is going to be something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life.

Breathe.

A single word fills my head, and calmness sweeps over me.

“Yes,” I whisper to myself, forcing myself to breathe. “It’s been one hell of a day. Breathe.”

“Good girl,” Calix says from the doorway, watching as I hurry up the stairs, my heart in my mouth.

Good girl? How did he know what I was thinking? I did speak aloud, though.

Yes, he heard me telling myself to breathe.

That’s all.