RAY
Who the fuck was that?
Crouching in a nook created by an alleyway and a series of bins, I watched Ilsa’s apartment building. I could see her through the window, her and some fucking woman who was about to get her fingers broken if she didn’t stop reaching across the back of the couch and almost brushing Ilsa’s neck as though she wanted to touch or be touched by Ilsa.
Not acceptable.
The growl was working its way through my chest even though no one was around to hear it. What was Ilsa even doing up at this hour? Why did she have another woman over? Was I that replaceable?
Why did I even care?
If I wanted to be critical of the situation, I’d tell myself that technically, I had walked away from Ilsa, and even though she told me she wasn’t happy with the arrangement with Emrick, I had chosen the path anyway.
But that’s all if I wanted to be reasonable and think this through, which right now I didn’t because all I could concentrate on was the possessiveness tearing through my body. All this time I had been defending Emrick’s territory when I should’ve been watching out for my own.
Ilsa was my territory.
My property.
My human.
My mate.
If she’d have me.
Shaking my head, I cleared the doubt because my demon struggled to surface again, tearing at me from the inside. I was getting better every day at controlling it and finding the balance between human and demon. Day by day, I was improving, and over these weeks, I had almost mastered letting out only enough to terrify those who I wanted to experience the fear, yet keeping myself under control. Because when that power oozed through my skin and I started to make humans uncomfortable because they could sense something was wrong but didn’t know what, well, it was a powerful tool.
The yellow eyes helped too.
Certainly, I hadn’t jumped on anyone else like I had Ilsa, and I wondered now if it was because I was learning control or if it was her specifically that made me lose it.
So, I waited. I waited for another hour for that woman to leave. Had she been there all fucking night? Ilsa was wearing a tank top and some baggy shorts—her nightclothes. The thought they had slept together only enraged me further.
The woman left, and I followed.
She was pretty, I guess if you like that sort of thing—short, dark hair that bobbed on her shoulders and framed her face and thick glasses that not many people could pull off. She was curvy, legs and thighs that if I cared to, I wouldn’t mind biting into.
But right now, she was the enemy.
I hated her on principle.
It didn’t take much to get ahead of her. I waited until she passed me, snatching her from the street, and pressing a hand to her mouth as I backed her against the alleyway wall.
“Who are you?” I hissed.
Her eyes were wide, and she was mumbling against my hand. When I moved my hand from her mouth, my other forearm against her chest, pinning her to the wall, she withdrew her hand from her pocket and let me have a face full of pepper spray. I didn’t even flinch, and her eyes widened.
Did I have to let my eyes go yellow to clear the spray? No, but it was certainly quicker, and yeah, I guess I liked the fear that flooded her features.
I managed to get my hand back over her mouth before she screamed and started scrambling against me.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I growled, my teeth bared. I tried smiling, but it didn’t work, too much anger in my system, and it came out as a snarl. “Who are you?” I asked again.
Dammit! How was I supposed to talk to her if she kept screaming?
Rolling my eyes when she continued to struggle, I slapped her hard enough to knock her out for a bit. I wasn’t an asshole, so I caught her as she lost consciousness and lowered her to the ground. Lifting her purse from her shoulder and rifling through the contents, I stopped when I found her identification.
Kelly Michaels, M.E.
So she was the ex-girlfriend mentioned only in passing.
My blood boiled.
Well, that made this somuch better.
Snarling, I moved to stand and race to Ilsa’s when I turned. Grumbling with frustration, I kneeled beside Kelly and lightly tapped her cheek. When she came to, I clasped my palm over her mouth again, sighing loudly when she immediately went to scream.
“Fuck me, woman, I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
Standing, I pulled her with me, and she continued to struggle against me.
“I’m just trying to… fucking let me… oh forget it!”
Letting her go, Kelly staggered away from me with the force she had been yanking at my grip, and almost lost her footing. She stared at me for a moment, one hand on her head and the other in her pocket, no doubt fumbling with the useless mace. As she bolted, I waved her purse in the air.
“You forgot your—” But she was already around the corner. “Whatever,” I mumbled as I made my way back to Ilsa’s. I decided this time I better go to her door rather than knocking on the window.
For some reason, it seemed to bother her when I did that.