Big Bad Academy

“Writers have to protect themselves. I mean, having fans is wonderful, but some people take it too far.”

“What do you mean?”

Who took it too far with her?

She shrugs, but I’m not done.

“Tell me.”

She has no reason to trust me. I am the one stealing her away, after all, but something about the way she’s talking bothers me. The idea that someone might threaten or hurt her, or even make her uncomfortable, doesn’t sit too well with me.

Heather looks at me for a minute before she decides to trust me. Then she nods, almost to herself, and starts talking.

“There was this guy when I first started writing,” she says slowly. “He was one of my first fans. He bought everything I published, followed me on social media, and emailed me regularly. Overall, he was a pretty chill person, or so I thought.”

It doesn’t sound too horrible when she words it like that, but I’m not an idiot. I’m waiting for the twist. There’s more to the story. There has to be since Heather actually changed her pen name over the entire incident.

The idea of someone hurting her doesn’t sit well with me, which is strangely ironic since that’s basically what I’m doing right now, isn’t it?

I’m hurting her.

Only, I’m not physically hurting her. I don’t have plans to, either. Heather Smith – Miracle – Whatever her name is – has answers and I need those answers. I need to find out who is hurting our pack and why, and as far as I can tell, she knows something.

Suddenly, though, I wonder if she knows as much as I think she does.

“What happened?” I ask, trying to focus on her story now, and not on what’s going to happen between us next.

“He started trying to find me in real life. He went through my social media accounts and added everyone to his own list. He even made a fake copy-cat profile of mine and tried to add people through there. Then he’d message them and try to get information about me.”

The thought makes me sick.

It all seems so...violating.

“You’re okay, though.”

“I am now,” she shrugs.

“What did you do?”

“Kept blocking him. Kept reporting him. I had to issue a statement to my fans that they couldn’t allow this guy to add them online and that I wasn’t associated with him in any way. It was kind of a mess.”

“But he stopped.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “I mean, part of me was w

orried that he’d come to the signing. After all, it was an advertised event, but as far as I could tell, he didn’t.”

“What was his name?”

She looks at me and cocks her head.

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Because if he comes near you again, I’m going to rip his face off.”

“Dramatic, much?”

“Name.”