I swear that I'm being watched. For the past week, I have felt the hairs standing up on the back of my neck but every time I've tried to look around for someone to blame, I've come up empty. I feel like I'm going crazy. Even as I sit in the most isolated part of the campus library, my earbuds pumping out music to help me focus as I go over all of my class materials in preparation for my finals, I find myself looking up every few minutes and eyeing the surrounding shelves uneasily.

It would be so much easier to be studying in my own space, locked up tight in my room with easy access to food, drinks, and a non-public bathroom, but Becca was hosting a group study session for education majors and her study sessions were just another excuse for a party. She'd eventually end up busting into my room to drag me out.

As if the thought alone had conjured her into existence, my phone begins to buzz on the table and her face lights up my screen. Biting back a sigh, I leave my things, and grab my phone as I hurry out the side door to the library, answering her call on the way. "I thought you were studying."

"I miss you!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes, pocketing my phone as I spoke to her through my Bluetooth. "Becca, it's eleven in the morning; how are you drunk already?"

"I'm not drunk!" she cries into her phone, offended. "I'm tipsy and I miss my best friend, and I wanna go out tonight!"

"I work today. I took Christy's shift for her and I'm there from one to nine-thirty."

"Perfect!" she sang, "We're not going out until after eleven, so you'll have just enough time to get home, get showered and get ready."

"I'm going to be exhausted afterward, Becca," I complained.

"Shane's in town and he wants to see you!"

I sighed. I could say no and hide myself in my room if it were just Becca and a bunch of her friends, but her brother would physically drag me out if I tried the same with him. Maybe I'd get lucky and I could just leave early, once the two of them were distracted enough. "Alright, fine, but he's paying for the first three rounds. He can consider it his late birthday gift to me."

"Sweetheart, I'll pay for the entire night if it means you'll come willingly," I heard Shane yell from somewhere in the background.

"I'm going to get a bit more studying in before I have to head over to the restaurant," I told them both with a laugh. "Try to sober up a bit before I get off, or I'll just end up being the bored out of her mind DD, yeah?"

"No promises!" they chorus back before the call ends and I'm left to my own devices. With a shake of my head, I turn and head back into the building.

***

I had taken over the task of following the girl, sending Zeke off to charm some of the smaller covens to take temporary haven with us until the growing danger of the wolves had been properly handled. So far, she hadn't seemed to be involved in anything suspicious, but time would eventually tell, and I still wasn't sure what we were going to do about her yet. He'd been right to label her a recluse as the tracking device we'd placed on her phone indicated she really didn't go anywhere, except work, school, or the library. I stepped into the restaurant right after nine, just in time to find her coming out of the back with her purse over one shoulder and her phone in hand, staring down at the screen as she typed.

Given the growing wariness she'd been showing toward Zeke, we'd decided to keep our distance as we evaluated the situation, so I remained just out of her line of sight; as close to the shadows as possible. She was stopped by the boy from the first night who asked her for some help clearing tables before she left. With a nod, she took a tray from him and began to make quick, efficient work of clearing a handful of tables when the sound of a shriek caught the attention of the entire place.

"He's having a heart attack!" screamed a woman, flying from her chair toward a man on the ground across from her. "Someone help!"

The entire restaurant erupted into chaos; half of the people rushed forward to crowd around the man, and half of them rose from their seats to try to watch from a distance. The sound of shattering glass drew my attention back toward Amya. She stood frozen in place, the tray that had been full of dishes just moments ago now lying on the ground surrounded by broken glass. Her entire face had paled considerably as she stared blindly in the direction of the chaos. Curious, I attempted to see into her mind only to hit the same wall as before.

People pushed past her, no one paying her any attention as they rushed forward, closer to the scene in front of them. Someone moved a little too close, hitting her hard in the shoulder as they moved forward, causing her to stumble. With a hiss, I was across the room in less than a second, silently grateful that everyone was too preoccupied to have noticed my movements. Gripping her around the waist before she could hit the ground, I yanked her closer to my side and hurried her towards the exit, effectively yanking her back to the present.

"Wh—what are you doing?" struggling to come back to her senses, she blinked up at me while at the same time, trying to push away from me. "That man is dying, we need to call an ambulance or—"

"Half of the restaurant is hovering over him; at least ten people have already made that call. You were seconds away from joining him."

She stiffened beside me, coloring beginning to come back to her cheeks as she huffed out a breath and craned her neck to look back over her shoulder. "That seems like an exaggeration. There's nothing wrong with me."

"You looked like you were about to faint."

She hmphed as if my very existence was an inconvenience to her and I took the opportunity to study her more thoroughly. Vampires and humans alike were intimidated by my presence; I found it much easier to deal with people when they were too afraid to go against me. She didn't give off the impression she was even slightly affected by my presence unless you took into account the dilation of her pupils whenever she looked at me. "I'm fine, and I can walk on my own without your help if you'd kindly remove your arm from around my waist."

As there wasn't any reason to argue, I let her go and found myself keeping pace beside her. She kept casting me suspicious looks as we continued down the sidewalk, biting her lip as she seemed to consider her options. After about five minutes, she sighed and came to an abrupt halt, turning to face me, arms crossed. "Look, I don't know what kind of weird thing you and Zeke have going on, or why you both keep popping up where I work, but it's creepy and I'd like you to stop."

"No."

***

I stared up at Cassian, his gray eyes cool and emotionless as he stared down at me. "No?" I repeated, completely taken aback by such a flat refusal. "No, you won't quit stalking me?"

"If that's what you'd like to call it."

I felt my blood begin to boil. "I'd like for you to leave now," I snapped. "I have plans tonight and you're not welcome."

"Given your state not ten minutes ago, perhaps now isn't the time to be making plans."

My thoughts raced back to the image of the man on the floor and I felt myself go cold. Now was exactly the time to be making plans. Even if I hadn't agreed to go out with Becca and Shane, I wouldn't be able to stay home alone with my thoughts tonight. It hadn't been a stranger I'd seen dying on the floor, it had been Grandpa. Even now the image of his wide sightless eyes was burned into the forefront of my mind and I was struggling to remain standing. Shaking myself back to the present, I refocused my eyes and glared at him. There was something off about him and his friend, and I don't know what it was or what it had to do with me, but I needed to keep my distance. Honestly, part of me wanted to go to the cops, but what could they do? Arrest them for eating out?

"Whatever it is you and your blonde sidekick have planned, forget it. I'm not interested in him, and I'm most definitely not interested in you."

Before I could even take a breath, I felt myself pinned between him and the wall of the building beside us as he leaned in close, eyes intent on mine. My head automatically tilted back, hitting the wall behind me to create more space between us. "I don't see a reason for you to lie," he told me softly, his breath warm on my face. "We're both adults after all. Aren't we, Mya?"

This was not a turn-on. He was not attractive. This man was dangerous. Maybe if I just kept repeating those three sentences over and over in my head, they wouldn't be so easy to forget. My fingers itched to touch and so I did the only acceptable thing in such an instance; I squeezed my eyes shut, lifted my hand, and sprayed the mace that had been waiting eagerly for just such a time. As he cried out in both pain and surprise, stumbling back, I took my chance and ran like hell. I didn't look back.

***

"She did what?" Andrea asked over the phone, disbelief lacing her words as I waited in the shadows outside of Amya's apartment. Most of my anger had subsided by now, half an hour later, once I'd finally managed to wash the chemicals off my face, although I still felt the after effects.

"She's capricious and we're going to need to deal with her sooner rather than later."

On the other end of the phone, Andrea burst into happy, uncontrolled laughter. "She—she, oh my god!" More laughter exploded out through the phone and I clenched my jaw in irritation. "I'm crying," Andrea forced out in between fits of laughter. "Mace."

"Are you finished?" I asked, my tone low and dangerous, effectively killing her amusement. "She's a problem."

"She's a single female human," Andrea replied more calmly now, but with tinges of giggles still coming through. "Two men she doesn't know have been popping up. You can't really blame her for getting a little bit nervous, can you?"

"Her mere existence puts us at risk," I snapped.

She sighed, all humor finally gone. "Yeah, I know. But maybe we can use her?"

"To use her, we'd have to trust her." And therein lay the problem; how could we trust someone who wasn't one of our own?

"Well, I don't think being followed around by the two of you is gaining us any favors."

Before I could respond, the main entrance to the apartment building opened and I watch Amya stepping out with her roommate, Rebecca, and a man. Her hair was curled and tousled, falling just below her bare shoulders, the green dress she wore fit her like a second skin, barely making it past her ass and she kept up easily with the others in a pair of silver heels. "Let the fun begin!" she laughed, bumping shoulders companionably with the tall man beside her as she smiled up at him.

"The fun started when I got here, sweetheart," he laughed back, wrapping an arm around her and Rebecca as he pulled them along. "You've got some catching up to do."

"Oh shit," Rebecca cursed, digging around in a small red purse. She looked up at the man with a pout, "Shane, I left my phone back up in the apartment and the Uber will be here any minute. Can you run back up and grab it?"

"I'm not the one who left it."

"But you're the fastest, and it'll be here any minute. Please?"

Both girls turned pleading eyes on him, and he crumpled under the combined pressure, accepting her set of keys and turning back toward the building. "Be right back."

I continued to watch from the shadows as both women watched him disappear back into the building and then turn back towards each other expectantly.

"Spill it," Rebecca ordered, crossing her arms with a frown as she stared Amya down.

"You wanted me to come out," Amya told her with a shrug as she turned her attention back toward the building entrance. "You wanted me to have fun. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"The only reason you ever dress like that is to get laid. The only reason you ever want to get laid is to distract yourself."

"Are you sure you're not the psychology major?" Amya asked with a humorless laugh, shooting Rebecca an annoyed look.

"Cassian?"

Andrea's voice snapped me back to the phone pressed to my ear, but my attention was still locked on the women in front of me. "We'll talk about this later," I said softly. "I've got to go."

"One word to Shane and he'll be more than happy to cockblock you the entire night," Rebecca informed her, earning another irritated look.

"A guy had a heart attack just before I left work."

I watched with interest as Rebecca's expression instantly turned to one of empathy as she reached toward Amya, pulling her in for a hug. As I couldn't peer into Amya's mind, I found myself looking into Rebecca's.

She sat in the back seat of her mother's car, anxious and sick as they raced to Mya's home. There were two cop cars and an ambulance in the drive as the house came into view. She could hear Mya's screams before they'd even put the car into park. Mya was being dragged, kicking and screaming from the house by a man only slightly taller than her in nothing more than her bathrobe.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" The tears were streaming down her face, and she wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around her. "He can't! He can't!"

Becca sat, frozen in her seat, as the man holding her friend shook her, trying to make eye contact as she fought him. "He's dead, he's gone." Mya just shook her head and continued to try to break free.

Two men came through the door, and Becca saw the white sheet covering Mr. Marquardt as they pushed him on the gurney. Her stomach rolled and she felt her mom pulling her out of the car quickly, holding back her hair as she vomited.

Mya was screaming again, and she looked up just long enough to see Mya break away from the man who'd been holding her to throw herself at the body on the gurney. "You can't leave me. Grandpa, please don't leave me. You can't leave me too. Please, come back." Her words ended on a sob as the man pulled her back again, wrapping her into a hug.

She'd gone limp, her arms hanging loosely at her side as the man just kept repeating the same words over and over. "Stop this, he's gone. Amya."

Zeke had mentioned that her grandfather had died of a heart attack; he hadn't mentioned that she'd been there when it had happened. Her reaction at the restaurant suddenly made more sense. Amya returned the hug, her eyes closing as they embraced. "I'm fine, Becca," she assured her friend. "I just want to go out and have some fun. You're always saying I need more of it."

"Got it!" They pulled away as the man stepped back out of the building, shaking Rebecca's phone back in forth triumphantly. "Now let's go."