Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Ellie

I decided two things on my walk home.

First: Florida was officially the weirdest place I had ever lived.

Second: I was never leaving the house again.

I hugged my book to my chest like it could protect me from aggressively attractive men with mood swings and unexplained hostility.

I didn’t understand any of it.

Theo had been… nice. Almost too nice. Like he’d been waiting for me, which didn’t make any sense because no one waits for me. People don’t look for me in crowds. They don’t light up when they see me. They don’t act like meeting me means something.

And then there was Blake.

Rude. Intense. Angry. For no reason.

One minute he’d looked at me like I was nothing. The next like I was something he wanted to destroy.

Or protect.

I wasn’t sure which was worse.

And the weirdest part?

I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Which was deeply annoying.

I turned onto the street that led to Marcus’s house—my house now—and slowed when I saw him.

A third one.

He was standing near the front gate, phone in hand, dark hair pulled back at the nape of his neck. He looked up when I approached, eyes sharp and assessing.

For one horrifying second, I thought it was Blake again.

Then I realized—

He was different.

Similar. But different.

“Hi,” he said, voice calm, steady. “You must be Ellie.”

I stopped walking. “Do I know you?”

“No,” he said. “But I know you’re new. I’m Sebastian.”

My stomach did a strange little flip.

“Do you… live around here?” I asked carefully.

“Yes.”

That was it. Just… yes.

He studied me like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“I was told you ran into my brothers today.”

My brain stalled. “Your… brothers?”

He nodded.

Oh.

Oh.

So Blake wasn’t just a jerk with a clone.

He was a jerk with siblings.

“How many brothers do you have?” I asked.

“Two.”

Two.

So three of them.

They weren’t the same guy being weird.

They were three different guys being weird.

That… almost made it worse.

“I’m sorry about Blake,” Sebastian said. “He doesn’t… handle surprises well.”

“That’s one way to put it,” I muttered.

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “Theo liked you.”

That made my face heat. “He doesn’t know me.”

“He knows enough.”

That was… ominous.

“So,” I said, gesturing at the house behind him, “are you here to yell at me too or…?”

“No,” he said. “I’m here to make sure you got home safely.”

My chest tightened. “Why?”

He hesitated.

Then said, “Because this town isn’t always what it seems.”

Okay.

That was officially creepy.

That night, I dreamed of wolves.

Big ones. Dark ones. Golden ones.

And a pair of blue eyes watching me from the trees.