With Kol (Daniels Family 2)

“The skittish little thing you all but mauled? Yeah, I remember her.” He laughs.

I scowl. “I didn’t maul her. I didn’t even touch her. She barely spoke a word to me.” Thea was so terrified then that I kept my distance. I wish I hadn’t.

“What about her?” Arsen asks, and I can hear Jake in the background giggling.

“She didn’t leave town. Not like Em thought she did.” I blow out a frustrated breath because I know he’s going to give me shit. “I found her a few days ago. But man, she’s so damn lost.”

“Does Em know?”

“Thea asked that I didn’t tell her.”

“She on the run?” Arsen’s cop mind is coming into play now.

“I think so. Just not criminally. I’ve spent some time with her, and she’s spooked. She has demons chasing her.” Her blank stare haunts me as I watch her building.

“You’re not going to listen to anything I have to say, so what is it you want to do, Kol?” Smart ass.

“What I want is to go full steam ahead, but I get the feeling that won’t work with her.” She’s been hurt too bad for me to turn into a caveman.

“Kol?” Marina’s sweet voice comes over the line.

“Hey, Ari, how are you?” My brother found the perfect match in her.

“I’m good. Listen. Thea. It’s a lot worse than you know. Ember didn’t talk much about her, but when Thea first disappeared, she shared some of the things she learned while they were friends.”

Sitting up taller, I’m all ears. “Like what?” Dread settles in the pit of my stomach.

“Em stayed with her once. Thea won’t sleep on a bed. She wouldn’t tell Ember why, but that night, she had a nightmare, and Ember suspected Thea had been assaulted.”

“Jesus. Why the hell wouldn’t she tell us this shit?”

“Because it was her friend. Thea doesn’t even realize that Ember knows about the nightmare, I don’t think.”

“Shit.”

“Tread carefully. Take your time with her. But, Kol? Don’t let her run away again. Give her a reason to stay.” After talking for a few more minutes, Arsen suggesting that I look further into discovering who Thea really is, and Marina telling me to be the reason she needs to stay, I’m more confused than ever.

Every cop instinct I have says to get her prints and find out her identity. But the man in me wants to hide her away from the world and take care of her.

Stepping out of my car, I cross the street, and as I’m about to open the door to her building, a man in a suit comes walking out. He’s so out of place that I assess him like I would a suspect.

Tall, around six feet. Medium build, light brown hair, dark eyes. Scar on his jaw and right eyebrow. “Excuse me,” he mutters, an angry frown on his face as he pushes past me. I watch him walk away, noticing the slight limp as he leaves.

A bad feeling knots in my gut as I step through the doorway. Jogging up the steps two at a time to Thea’s floor, the feeling intensifies as I see her door is open a crack.

“Fuck,” I hiss out as I grab my gun. My eyes search the surrounding area, but I know there’s no one going to jump out at me. The man who did this is the one I just ran into. I can only hope Thea isn’t in there.

Thea

* * *

I hate taking the bus at night. I hate walking the three blocks from the bus stop to my apartment even more. I keep my keys in my hand with each key sticking between my fingers, just in case of an attack. I know all too well the bad things that can happen.

The air breaks as the bus turns the corner makes me jump. The street is unnaturally quiet tonight, almost like it knows there’s a sinister presence in my life, and this is a great way for the universe to freak me out even more.

When the fear is nearly too much for me and I’m jumping at small sounds, I know I need sleep. Just for a few hours before I pack up and move. I have to go. After seeing Colin, and then realizing he knew who I was, I know I can’t stay.

In so many ways, I’m sad about it. I had almost convinced myself it was time to stop running. That it was time to announce myself to the world again. To stop being Thea Matthews and live once again as Thea Andrews.