Chapter Six

The summer passes swiftly, and before I know it, I'm packing for my sophomore year at Alystair.

My solemn mood was continually brightened by repeated visits from the girl gang. When I wasn't with the girls, I spent a considerable amount of time with Jesse. To my relief, he never pushed the boundary of friendship, and I found myself relaxing around him and enjoying his company.

The constant companionship almost made me forget that I had to find out who was cloaking my Thread, and how to undo it. Not to mention, returning to Alystair meant coming face to face with the horrors we'd endured last year, as well as coming face to face with Nick.

I close my eyes, and his face is so vivid in my mind, it's as though my thoughts are branded by him. His sculpted jaw, the curve of his full lips, the gleam of sunlight from his luminous eyes. It's all there as if he were standing in front of me, right down to his intoxicating scent -

A knock sounds at my door, interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm almost finished, Mom!" Actually, I'm nowhere near finished packing, but hopefully, she'll buy my lie for the fifth time this morning.

The door opening indicates she hasn't. It closes, and I turn around and heave a mournful sigh. "It's not what it looks-"

Jesse stands before me, hands in the pockets of his jeans, a sly tilt to his lips. "I think it's exactly what it looks like." He gestures to the clothes strewn in rumpled piles all over my room. A suitcase lies open on the floor at my feet, and my toes curl on my baby blue carpet.

I chuck a shirt at him, which he catches effortlessly. "Oh, you're a comedian now, are you?"

Jesse laughs and tosses the shirt on the bed. "Probably a lot easier than running a biotech company," he says grimly.

My sour mood resurfaces. "When does that start?"

"I told them I needed the summer, though with you heading back to school…" He shrugs. "I might as well find something to occupy my time."

"Oh come on," I say in disbelief. "I'm not your only friend."

His eyes lock on mine. "No, but you're the only one I want."

You're the only one I want. That sentence has enough power to nearly knock me off my feet. It's a blaring alarm, an unwanted wake up call. A reminder that although we spent the summer together as friends, that will never be enough for him.

I sigh regrettably and reach for him. "Jesse, I-"

He snatches my hand and pulls me against him, catching my lips with his own. I attempt to pull away, but his palm presses against my back, holding me closer. Jesse's tongue snakes into my mouth, and I place my hands on his chest, exerting every ounce of my normal strength in trying to push him off me. Gods. For a human, he's strong. I reluctantly tap into the Scylla.

Hunger consumes me with a vengeance. It's ferocious. Insatiable. Jesse's scent tickles my nostrils, feeding my unsavory thoughts. My control slips and my claws unsheathe. My teeth elongate and sharpen. Jesse's tongue strokes mine with fervor, and I lose myself in thoughts of tasting that succulent muscle. My mouth explodes with the most delectable flavor, a harmony of honey and salt laced with a tinge of copper.

My eyes wrench open as I'm violently shoved back, only the gracefulness of the monster keeping me on my feet. Jesse stares at me with wide-eyed horror, blood pouring from his mouth.

"What the fuck, Rhi?"

I quickly bring my hands behind my back and sheathe my claws. Nervously, I lick my lips -

Honey, salt, and copper. Blood. Jesse's blood.

"You almost bit my tongue off," he continues, tenderly touching his mouth.

I almost fucking ate his tongue. My fingers now free of claws, I bring both hands to my mouth, as though shielding the culprit.

"I'm going to wash my mouth out," he tells me. I nod, too afraid to speak, and he disappears from my bedroom.

It happened again. My urges are surfacing, and I can only assume that it happens with Jesse because he's fully human. Prey. Weak.

I've got to get this under control again. Once I get to Alystair, I'll go see Wilde.

Jesse returns, his face free of blood.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper .

To my surprise, he chuckles. "I can handle pain, Rhi. But maybe a nibble rather than a chomp next time?"

There isn't going to be a next time, I want to tell him. Not unless his idea of "pain" encompasses fucking me and then me eating him whole.

Jesse finally catches on to my shocked silence. "Rhi, what's wrong? I'm okay, really. I'm not mad that you bit me." He steps closer, and it takes every ounce of my little control to not flinch. "In fact," he places his hands on my waist, eyeing me with his own hunger, "I fucking loved it."

My eyes rise to meet his, fingers trembling as they reach for Nick's pendant. Breathe. I need to breathe.

The desire for Jesse's blood disappears, clearing my head. "I need to finish packing."

Jesse's face falls, and he steps back. "Of course." He blows out a breath. "Can I drive you?"

"To Alystair?"

"Yeah. I just don't know when I'm going to see you again, Rhi. You're going to be there, and I'll be…" He waves an arm dismissively. "Holed up behind a desk in the city. And I really don't want to go another eight months or so without talking to you."

Guilt slams into me vehemently, and I push off the nightstand. "That's not going to happen, Jesse. We got into a fight, and it was stupid. But we're friends again. Just pick up the phone and call me."

Jesse pulls his bottom lip into his mouth. "Friends, huh?"

I hold his stare and answer with resolution. "Yes. Friends."

He nods, seemingly placated. "I'd rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all." Jesse brushes his lips across the top of my head. "I'll let you finish packing. Just give me a call when you're ready to leave."

I bite the inside of my cheek as I turn words over in my head. Jesse is just about to leave when I blurt out, "You want something I can never give you, and for that, I'm so sorry."

Jesse turns, his face contemplative. "Because of him?"

My silence is my confirmation, because I can't bring myself to say ‘yes.'

Jesse sighs, remorseful. "I hope he knows what he has, and you can tell him exactly what I'll do to him if he hurts you again."

"This place is like a fucking fortress," Jesse comments as we pull up to the wrought-iron gate guarding the entrance to Alystair.

A thick stone wall surrounds the entire campus, towering to a height that obscures any view inside. Vines snake their way intermittently between the stones, creeping over the wall only to reappear a few feet away. The gate itself is intimidating, a structure made entirely of solid iron. Depictions of Greek monsters adorn the top of the gate, serving both as a beacon of hope to its residents and a warning to those who would wish us harm.

My gaze settles on the spires that protrude from the buildings, dotting the sky with their pointed tips.

Home.

"You can drop me off right here," I tell Jesse. He parks and immediately exits the car, heading toward the trunk to retrieve my suitcase.

"You know," I say as I open the passenger door and exit as well, "you can drop the chivalrous act. I still remember when you blasted me in dodgeball in the fifth grade."

He wheels the suitcase towards me, laughing. "Hey, all's fair in love and dodgeball, baby. It's not for the weak. "

"It was dodgeball , Jesse. And you knocked me right on my ass!"

"Yeah, well, you've been doing that to me since the day we met." He winks. "I think we're even."

I roll my eyes and take the suitcase. Jesse's lips brush my cheek, and I stiffen.

"I'm going to miss you, Rhi."

Swallowing roughly, I lift my gaze. "You, too, Jesse," I manage to grind out. "Just call me if you need anything, okay?" It's the least I can offer him. A fragile if not broken friendship, since it's clear he still thinks there's a chance for him and I.

Jesse smiles before he climbs back in the car and drives off. I wait until the car disappears around the corner before I grab my suitcase and face the entrance to Alystair University.

All the blood drains from my face when I see who leans against the gate, arms casually folded so the muscles in his tanned biceps bulge, accentuating the ink on his left arm that I can't tear my eyes from.

Those golden eyes of his reveal nothing. No hint of anger or betrayal, and the lethal calm within his gaze turns my blood to ice.

I raise my chin and eye him coolly. "Stalking doesn't suit you."

A cruel turn of his lips. His tongue pokes out between his teeth, which look monstrous despite their human shape.

"Isn't that the nature of monsters? To stalk their prey?"

The Scylla bristles at the mention of being called prey. It rears its three ghastly heads, their jaws snapping and snarling.

Nick's sinister smile only widens. "Struck a nerve, did I?"

Panic seeps into my bones as I recall the last time Nick was able to hear my Scylla - when he became a monster himself. Fear feeds the beasts that lie beneath our skins, so I struggle to remain indifferent. "Are you taunting me out of boredom or obsession? Because I don't have time for either."

Nick gracefully pushes from the wall and approaches. The desire to reach forward and pull him into me is staggering, the urge so overwhelming I let my claws pierce my palms to ground me.

His acute stare is piercing, studying me with an intensity that makes me feel stripped to my core. After all, no one else knows me the way he does - physically and emotionally.

"Such a vicious, beautiful liar." The last word rolls off his tongue with reverence.

The comment jars me as though I've been submerged in ice water. He and I had always enjoyed challenging one another verbally and intellectually. It was one of the reasons I fell in love with him, his ability to match me move for move, quip for quip. But there's no joy in this exchange. No humor. Since our fight in my bedroom, verbally sparring with him feels like adding a brick to my chest as I sink slowly beneath the weight of our tragic, star-crossed romance.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want the truth, for once."

I blink in surprise and release a contemptuous chuckle. He wants truth? After I begged him to tell me who he truly was, begged him to trust me with his secrets, he has the audacity to demand truth from me?

"Fine." I square my shoulders and give him the exact opposite of what he asked. "I want us to be friends."

Nick lets out a mirthless laugh. "So it was true then, what you told him? That I was just your friend ?"

Gods, I'm starting to hate the word.

Nick shakes his head. "We're not going to be friends, Rhi."

"We were friends before we-"

He closes the space between us, his mouth inches from my own. "We were never friends. I never had a choice. "

My jaw falls as Nick turns from me and walks toward the gated entrance.

I never had a choice.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

I consider calling out to him, but quickly suppress that idea. I've accomplished what I set out to do. Hopefully, Nick will keep far away from me until I figure out this Thread business.

Though I can't help but wonder if there will be anything left of him and I to salvage after this. Nick made it clear we can't be friends, and until I fulfill my bargain with the Moirai, we can't be lovers. With our history, I doubt we can even be indifferent to each other. What, then, happens to an irrevocable love after it's been beaten down and savagely torn apart by the hands of Fate itself?

The word floats past my ears as though whispered by the breeze: enemies.