A Girl Named Calamity (Alyria 1)

“I have no idea why you ever thought differently.”

“I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, now get away from me,” I snapped, and pushed at his chest. His hands rested above my head, and I felt claustrophobic and hot. His body put off an unnatural amount of heat.

“No.”

I let out a breath. “What the hell do you want?”

His eyes locked onto mine. “Something that will make sure I can find you anywhere.”

Couldn’t he already find me anywhere with his creepy senses?

“What?” I asked.

“Your blood.”

His voice traveled down my spine and I shivered.

I shook my head. “No . . . you told me I wasn’t supposed to give my blood to anyone. And I’m sure as hell not giving it to you.”

“I’m not giving you a choice.”

“There is no reason you need more control over me!” A cold sweat covered my skin. If he got any of my blood, I would never be able to get away from him.

“I lost you . . . it took me a while to track you, and that won’t be happening again. Your blood will make sure I can find you anywhere.”

My stomach sank. “No . . . Weston. I won’t leave, I promise.”

He laughed. “You really are a terrible liar.”

“You can tie me to you! You don’t need my blood.” I would rather be chained to him than have something so permanent exchanged. His eyes burned holes into mine while panic crawled up my back and made me want to run. Far away. But he had me boxed in against the tree, and my fear of failing Alyria consumed me.

“I can smell your fear. I think this is the first time you have truly been afraid of me.” I didn’t even blink twice at the fact he could smell an emotion. He brought his hand down to cup my cheek. The gentle touch from him gave me the shivers, and I tried to turn my head away, but he held my face firm. He leaned down and pressed his face against my hair while I stood still. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t think I would like it so much,” he told me.

I couldn’t even react to his words because my fear of being a failure trumped every other feeling. I was just a girl in a man’s world. I wouldn’t survive it much longer. A weight settled on my chest. Tears welled in my eyes as I stood there stiffly, looking off into the distance.

“Now that, I don’t like,” he said as he wiped away a tear running down my cheek. I hated this Weston. This one made me want to stay. This one had emotions swirling around in my chest that should have never been there. But I believed this was a fake one. To keep me docile and compliant.

“There is no reason you need to do this. You know you can keep me by your side without it,” I said desperately. My pride meant nothing to me right now, when I was about to be magically chained to him.

“Maybe I don’t need to,” he said while wiping another tear away.

“Then why?” I asked, some hope filling me that he was changing his mind. Until it was crushed by his next words.

“Because I want to.”

I didn’t even know how to comprehend what he meant before there was a blur of motion and a pinch of pain on my wrist. I winced and looked down at the couple drops of blood that dripped from my wrist.

He just bit me.

A lot less dramatic than I’d assumed. Weston’s face was unsettled as he took a couple of steps back from me. What was wrong with my blood?

“What?” I snapped. He shook his head as if to clear it before he walked away. That was it. He’d taken my blood, and now I could never escape. Was this my ending? The villain wasn’t supposed to win, and he just had. Angry tears ran down my cheeks, and I clenched my fists.

“What could be important enough to open the seal?” I shouted. “Thousands of people will all die. If you have a family, friends, count them dead. Do you not understand what will happen?”

He looked into my eyes and I saw that he understood completely.

He just didn’t care.