Page 62 of Coveted

I hurry to my friends. They gather me up the moment I’m within reach, like I might be pulled back into Lucan’s grasp.

“Are you okay?” asks Clara. “I can’t believe you went to his house.”

Juliette watches Lucan’s liquid-black car glide away. “Tell us everything. Did he admit to hunting people?”

We walk to our dorm, my friends peppering me with questions about Lucan’s armory and the estate.

I feel dazed and oddly restless after spending time with him, like he left trace amounts of poison in my blood. My friends are right that I shouldn’t have gone to his house.

Lately I seem to be doing many things I shouldn’t.

Is that an improvement on shutting myself off from the world? Laughing with Clara and Juliette as we climb the stairs to our dorm, I’d have to say yes.

My life might be in danger now, but it was also in danger when I was completely alone, just in a different way. A far bleaker way.

I was in danger of disappearing into nothingness like a ghost.

CHAPTER 15

Sadie

Settling into my college routine includes trying to avoid Lucan, even as he guards my life.

Visiting his home was an error in judgment. I want to stay safely out of his immediate range, so he can’t taunt me or ask me questions about sex.

He’s always around though, keeping his promise to protect me, despite my discomfort.

I quickly learn that he chills out slightly if he knows I’m with people, like when I’m in class, the library with Zahra, my dorm room with Clara and Juliette, or during my shifts at Ink & Ivy Books.

But when I’m alone, Lucan shows up fast, circling me like a hawk. He’s memorized my work schedule, which I grudgingly gave him. Voluntarily handing my personal details to a known stalker felt so wrong.

He hates that I catch the bus after work in the evenings, but I flatly refused a car service from him. I know he confirms via campus cameras when I arrive back at Darkbloom.

His measures do seem to be working, because nobody’s attacked me since that night after leaving Altar.

The price I pay for safety is an intense billionaire watching my every move.

“Let’s discuss your character’s journey.” Professor Worthington stands behind his chair at the classroom table. “First, decide the driving factor behind their actions. The thing that motivates them. Any ideas?”

“Revenge,” says Zahra.

She flicks her pen back and forth between her fingers, sitting forward in her chair.

Marco pores over his usual stack of papers, ignoring the rest of us.

“Revenge is always a winner,” says the professor. “What else?”

“Desire,” I say, doodling in the margins of my latest short story for class.

Since my first class here at Darkbloom, I’ve been writing more than ever. It’s like a new vein has been tapped. Danger might lurk here, but attending college and meeting new people have been great for my creativity. I’ve even started roughly outlining an original novel outside of class.

“Ah, desire. No surer way to get your hero or heroine into a delightfully tricky situation. Yes, delicious.” Professor Worthington rotates his wedding band. “Come on, people. Character motivations. Give me more.”

“Money,” says another student.

“A classic,” says Professor Worthington. “And certainly realistic. Money makes the world go around, and so forth.”

“A better life,” I say.