“Do you know she thinks you killed her sister?”
41
Just A Taste, and Then It’s Gone
“If you already knew that,I’ll leave now.” Auren holds her hands up, talking gently. “But if you don’t, you deserve to.”
Jarron is still. The lights flicker. The chill drops even lower.
She takes the pause as permission to continue. “It’s the only reason she came to this school—she hates us all. Thinks supernaturals are all evil. It says so in there.” She points to the purple book still clutched between Jarron’s fingers. “And she’s only pretending to date you to investigate her sister’s death. To investigateyou.” She shifts back and the whole room is still, not even a breath in those seconds after.
Jarron finally recovers from the surprise and then shifts his shoulders, standing up straight. His eyes are hooded, face slack. All emotion gone. The lights return, the air warms. “This is not news to me,” he says again, his voice quieter. “Now, get out.”
Auren stumbles back, lips trembling. “She thinks you’re a monster,” she whispers. “I just thought you should know that.”
Jarron’s eyes flash black, and Auren flees the room, gone in an instant along with Henry.
No one else moves. Trevor watches closely, his eyes dark. The wolves are crouched, waiting for an attack. Manuela sits cross-legged, seemingly casual but her muscles are just as tense as everyone else.
Waiting.
Waiting to see what Jarron does.
I’m waiting too, my heart throbbing. My hands are shaking.
True fear shudders through me for the first time.
Finally, Jarron turns and approaches me. His face is still blank of all emotion.
My heart clenches. He grabs my upper arm with gentle fingers, and he tugs me, urging me to follow him down the hall away from the prying eyes. My chest is so tight it’s hard to breathe.
Too much is happening all at once; I don’t know what to make of it all.
He stops in front of his bedroom door. “Do you trust me enough to be alone with me?” he asks. He pushes open the door and waits. Is this a test?
After a short pause, I enter his bedroom.
It’s icy cold now. Darker than I remember it being.
The door shuts behind him, and I turn to find him holding out the journal to me. “It’s not mine to read.”
I take it quickly and squeeze it against my chest. It was open in his hands before he realized what it was. Did he read some of it? If so, what?
“But will you tell me the truth?” There’s a challenge in his tone.
I swallow, holding the book tightly. “I don’t think you’re a monster,” I whisper. “Anymore.”
He flinches, but that shouldn’t be news to him, right? I told him I feared him. I told him I believed the Jarron I knew was gone, but I was wrong. He knows that, right?
“Are you sure about that?” he growls. His eyes are completely black, no whites at all. I barely restrain a whimper as sharp points grow from his hair line, twisting until he has full curling horns. I can’t breathe.
I take a step back, unable to hide the horror. It’s not his full demon form, just a hint of it. But I remember. Oh, I remember so clearly what he really is.
With every rapid blink, I see his massive wings in my mind’s eye. His grayed skin and black scales. How he prowled toward my sister with sleek, predator movements on the haunches of his beastly talon-tipped legs.
If he’s testing me now, I know I’m failing.
“Tell me,” he growls, his voice echo-y and alien. I wince. “Am I one of your suspects, Candice? Is that what you did this for? Not to look for the real culprit, but to find proof that I did it? You think I killed her? Do you think I would?” His voice breaks at the end.
