Chapter 162

A surprised whimper slipped from my mouth which Arthur gladly stole as he deepened the kiss. My whole body shook when I felt the hot, demanding press of his tongue swept into my mouth. I clutched at his arms to steady myself.

My heart slammed against my rib cage while a spark of luscious heat swirled in the bottom of my stomach. Oh, good God.

“I came too close to losing you,” he whispered against my lips. “Come on, let’s get back to the dorm.”

My mind slipped into a daze. Had that really just happened?

Thankfully, Arthur was far more coherent than me. He made sure that I had all my notebooks and textbooks before leading us back to the dormitory. He kept a firm hand at the base of my back and spoke quietly.

“This conversation is far from being over, sweetheart.”

My eyes briefly fell shut and I huffed. “Arthur...Can we not—”

“No, I’m not going to let this entire issue drop. And you should know better from me to think that I would let that happen,” he said bitterly. “Whatever the hell is leading you to take such idiotic risks with your life has got to stop. Oh, and I’m telling Liam.”

A sharp gasp slipped out as I came to a full-on stop. I turned my head to face Arthur, my features were pinched with guilt.

“Please don’t tell him! He has so much to deal with right now because of Aaron and these stupid trials.”

Arthur’s expression was unyielding. He crossed his arms over his chest and peered down at me. “Too damn bad. He deserves to know what’s happened.”

A sudden wave of crippling anxiety raced through me, causing my whole body to seize and shake. My lungs became too compressed for any proper airflow to cycle through. It left me gasping and grasping at my chest.

“Shit, I was waiting for this,” Arthur snaked his arms around me once more and held me close. “You’re going into shock, Ella. It’s alright.”

Was I really? I figured this time around, I would have handled things better...But clearly, my nerves were finally catching up to me. All the terror my muscles had absorbed was fighting to release which made me feel like I was shattering from the inside out.

Arthur remained strong and calm while I continued to shake. “Shhh,” he hushed gently. “It’s going to be okay.”

I shook my head and fumbled with my words. “N-No...It’s not.”

There wasn’t anything that could positively assure me that this situation was going to resolve itself. And now that I had gained this new tidbit of information, I’d become certain of mainly one thing.

I’m not going to live to see the end of this semester.

Whoever this hunter was, made the unintentional mistake of telling me that the only reason he was doing this was because someone was paying him. That meant that he wasn’t going to stop until he completed his task.

“Come on, I want you to stay with me tonight,” he insisted. “I have no doubt that Liam got you through your last anxiety attack, now it’s my turn.”

He pressed a light kiss to my head and headed toward the dorm.

...

That night had been utterly restless. Forget about having nightmares—I never managed to fall asleep at all. I was exhausted. My mind was too preoccupied and my nervous system was on the brink of collapsing.

I slipped out of Arthur's room with the excuse of needing to take a shower. Ignoring his skeptical expression, I grabbed my towel and headed toward the communal bathroom. Once I returned to my room, I slipped right back into bed.

My body was on autopilot while my head was clouding with the recent events from the night before.

I didn’t bother going to any of my classes, no when I knew I wasn’t going to be able to focus. The last thing I needed was for someone like Shields to call me out again for giving her my undivided attention.

In fact, I was honestly contemplating packing up my belongings and returning home.

Is it even safe to return home? Oh God, what if I end up putting my mom at risk?

There was clearly more to this hunter than I realized. Who was his employer? Who was the person pulling the strings?

Obviously, it had to be someone who knew that I was connected to the Moon Wolf Pack. The more I allowed myself to be led down this endless path, the more unanswered questions I came upon.

Suddenly, a light knocking sound on the door pulled me from my thoughts.

“Ella?”

Liam’s voice came through the door. I tried my best to make it across the room to let him in. The moment he saw me, his eyes widened in displeasure at my drained, fatigued state.

“I heard you weren’t in any of your classes today,” he started.

“I just wasn’t feeling well,” I told him weakly.

He narrowed his eyes and kept his gaze locked on me while crossing his arms over his chest. I knew Liam would see through my cheap cover-up. He always could.

“Tell me the truth,” he demanded.

I let out a long breath and moved back over to the bed. My shoulders slouched inwardly on myself. “Last night, I came across that scent again. You know, the one I picked up after the stalker?” Liam nodded his head. “Well, I tried to follow it. It led me to the edge of the campus right before the woods...”

“And?” he prompted.

“And I came across that hunter again...He was real.”

I watched Liam’s face grow pale. His arms fell limply to his sides and closed the space between us. “What the hell happened?” he growled low in his throat.

“I tried running, but he caught me and threatened me with that same dagger from the first time,” I said.

His demeanor grew unbearably tense with unspoken anger. His jaw clenched as he spoke through gritted teeth. “And you didn’t think to tell me this? How did you escape? Wait? Did you shift?”

My brows drew together. Yep, this was exactly part of the reason why I didn’t want to tell Liam about what happened.

“No, Liam. I didn’t,” I remarked bitterly. “However, I did manage to find out that the son of a bitch who’s out to hunt me is being paid by someone else to do so.”

Liam’s anger dropped instantly. “Did he give any indication as to who?”

I shook my head and felt the firm pull of his hands tugging me against him. I rested my heavy head on his shoulder. My eyes fluttered shut. “Liam, this guy knows that I’m here...I don’t know how I’m going to handle staying here on campus knowing this.”

I felt him tense under me. “I understand, but Ella, please don’t make any rash decisions without thinking everything through first.”

I nodded my head and took a deep breath.

“So, how did you get away?” he asked timidly.

“Oh, I got lucky. Arthur was there to stop him before things could get any worse,” I hummed.

“Is that so?” he asked dryly. “Well, I’m not going to hold you up any longer.”

I lifted my head and gave him a questionable look.

“What do you mean?”

“You look like you’re three seconds away from passing out,” he said. “I’m going to leave so that you can properly rest.”

Something about the creases around Liam’s eyes told me that he was still angry with me. I knew, deep down, that he had every right to be.

“I promise I’ll stop by again later to check on you.”

The second my head hit my pillows, I felt myself being dragged under by the darkness.