Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (9 page)

They stayed there, cuddled together for a long
time, just talking. Too soon, there was a knock on the door and she heard
Tara’s voice call out, “Everybody decent?” just before the door swung open.
Melanie bolted upright, while Jeremy shot Tara the stink eye.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said. “Mel, it’s nearly
midnight and we have to get going if we are going to make it back before
curfew.”

Mel jumped up in a panic. “What?! What time is
it?”

“Relax, it’s only 11:40. Say your goodnights,”
she waggled her brows, “and I’ll meet you by the front door in five.”

Tara pulled the door shut as Jeremy climbed
off the bed. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her temple. She hugged
him back and laid her head on his chest.

“Tonight was really great,” he whispered.

“Yeah, it was,” she whispered back. She pulled
her head off his chest and looked into his eyes. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being here with me. For being nice, and
protective, and considerate, and all the things that you are.”

“You don’t need to thank me for caring about
you, Mel. It is really, truly my pleasure.”

And with that, he gave her a kiss that should
have set the ends of her hair on fire.

“Alright spill,” Tara demanded. “Every last
detail.”

Melanie grinned at her. Tara had kept the
conversation focused on Chris and the party in general during the car ride
home, but now that they were in Melanie’s room, all bets were off. Melanie laid
down on her bed with a groan and Tara plopped down beside her.

“I’m waiting.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell!” Melanie laughed. “I
almost had a heart attack just walking into his room. Then he shut the door,
and I swear, Tara, black spots started swimming in my vision.”

Tara laughed. “You were nervous. I get it. Did
he notice?”

Melanie gave her bland look. “Please. This is
Jeremy we’re talking about. Of course he noticed. And he asked me what was
wrong.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Well, you know me. I stuck my foot in my
mouth, then blurted out the truth. I told him I was scared about what he
expected. And before you ask, no, he didn’t expect anything. Which, of course,
immediately hurt my feelings. I should have known he didn’t really want to do
anything with me.”

“Mel,” Tara started, but Melanie interrupted
her.

“When I said as much, he yanked me into his
lap and kissed the daylights out of me.”

“What?! Oh my God!”

Mel was grinning from ear to ear. “Yep. Then
he told me that what he
expected
and what he
wanted
were two
completely different things.”

Tara melted into the mattress. “He’s so
awesome.” She sat back up quickly. “What happened then?”

“We talked for a bit, then I attacked him. I
couldn’t help it, Tara. Everything he said was so amazing. I rolled over on top
of him and kissed him. He ended up pushing me away.”

Tara drew her eyebrows down. “What? Why?”

Mel blushed. “Well, things were getting a
little…heated I guess, and he said he needed to stop before things got out of
control.”

Tara squealed. “Oh my God, he wants you. I
knew it! I told you if you just told him how you felt, he’d be yours.”

“Well, I’m not sure he’s technically mine, but
I am most definitely his.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Melanie woke with a start and looked at the
clock. It was 3:17 a.m. She must have been dreaming, but she couldn’t remember
any of it. She slipped carefully from the bed, as not to wake up Tara, and tiptoed
out of the room. She went to the kitchen for a drink of water and stared
through the window into the backyard.

After several moments, she realized what she
was doing. She was looking for her dog. She scanned the tree line several times
before giving up and going back to bed. She fell back asleep almost instantly,
but it was a restless sleep, plagued with dark images of a man in a mask and a
glinting knife.

“What were you dreaming about last night,”
asked Tara. “You were tossing and turning a lot.”

Melanie sighed. “Honestly? I was dreaming
about him. That man that attacked me. He’s still after me, Tara.”

“What? What do you mean ‘still’?”

Melanie went to her dresser and pulled open
the top drawer. She pulled out the note and handed it to Tara. “I found this in
my locker last week.”

Tara read the note with wide eyes. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”

“I’m sorry. I figured you would think I was
crazy and I was scared to show it to you.”

“Mel! I don’t think you’re crazy. I
know
you’re
crazy. But that is beside the point! Did you tell your mom? The cops? Anyone?”

Melanie shook her head and said, “Jeremy
knows. He was with me when I found it. But no, I didn’t tell anyone else
besides you. The police have been calling my mom every few days to report that
they have no leads, but I know they’ll just think this is a prank and that I’m
being paranoid.”

“How do you know it’s not? This smells like
Sissy all over.”

“See? That’s what I mean. And it’s him, Tara.
Read it again. The words ‘little girl’ and ‘perfect match’ are the exact words
he used when he…attacked me. He used those words deliberately, so I would know
it was him.”

“Well, then you have to tell someone, Mel!
This is dangerous and you need protection.”

“Tara, calm down and listen to me. My mom is
already freaked out and if I show her this, that’ll be it. If she doesn’t move
us right out of town, she’d, at the very least, put me on lockdown and never
let me go out. And I have to go out, Tara. I have to see Jeremy. I finally have
everything I ever wanted with him, and I refuse to let this, this jackhole rip
it from me.”

“Jackhole?” Tara laughed, the tension easing.

Melanie smiled back at her. “Yeah, you know,
jackhole. A cross between a jackass and an asshole.”

Tara smiled for about two seconds, then it
fell from her face. “How do we keep you safe?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that. I think
we need to go on the offensive. We need to figure who this guy is and the
suspect pool just got narrowed down extensively. This was in my locker. That
means it’s someone from our school.”

Tara blanched. “Oh my God! That didn’t even
occur to me.”

“With you, Jeremy and me putting our heads
together, we can figure this out. I know it.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She was smart, he’d give her that. But then,
he already knew that about her. He knew how intelligent she was, how witty, how
beautiful. But she was also insecure, something he found incredibly sexy. She
had no idea how desirable he found her, how much he wanted to possess her, body
and soul.

He sat in a car, one he had rented solely for
this purpose, parked a few houses down from hers. He couldn’t have anyone
recognize his vehicle on this street, after all. He wore dark shades and a
baseball cap and he sat, staring for hours, willing her front door to open and
for her to walk out just so he could catch a glimpse.

The weekends seemed to last for ages.
Sometimes he saw her out and about. Sometimes he followed her and watched her.
But most weekends, he played it safe and stayed away. He wasn’t stupid. That’s
how stupid people get caught; going back to the “scene of the crime,” as it
were. Two whole days without seeing that luscious body drove him crazy though,
so here he was, waiting and thinking about how smart she was.

 That note was a work of pure genius.
Precise enough that she’d know it was him, without a doubt, but vague enough
that anyone else would think it’s a prank. He’d been watching when she opened
the note. Saw her face go white and then red. Saw the look of skepticism on
that punk Jeremy’s face. He’d deal with that little pain in the ass later.
After Melanie was finally and truly his, he’d get his revenge on Jeremy Stevens
for touching what belonged to him!

“Maybe I’ll break every one of his fingers
that has touched her. And both arms for holding her. Oh, and his jaw for
kissing her,” he growled under his breath.

Just then the front door of the house opened
and he gasped. Melanie walked out with Tara, whose car had been in the
driveway. She walked Tara to the car, they hugged and Tara got in and peeled
out of the driveway, leaving Melanie standing there alone.

It took all his strength to keep himself
planted in the car. His body surged to life and he got uncomfortably hard, but
he stayed where he was and just watched her. Now was not the time. Broad
daylight, in her own yard? No, not the right time. But soon. Real soon.

He watched as she scanned the street and he
ducked a little so she wouldn’t see him as her eyes glanced past the car. Then
she seemed to shiver as she turned and walked back inside.

“Soon,” he whispered. He started the car and
drove away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Mel, are you okay?” her mom asked when she
came back in from walking Tara to her car.

“Yeah, I just got a creepy feeling outside.
Like someone was watching me or something.”

“Well, no one can blame you for having a case
of nerves after everything you’ve been through.” Melanie shrugged. “Anyway,”
her mom continued, “do you want some bacon and eggs?”

Melanie shook off her unease and smiled.
“Sure, sounds good.”

After breakfast, Melanie laid on her bed for
over an hour, trying to concentrate on her homework, but it wasn’t working. She
was still feeling jumpy about the note and decided to go outside for some fresh
air.

She went out into the backyard and walked
along the edges, peering into the woods. She didn’t see anything and sighed.

“I don’t know why I keep looking for you,
dog,” she whispered.

Just then, she heard a twig snap somewhere to
her left and just about jumped out of her skin. 

“Hello?” she called out. Silence.

“Is anyone there?”

Melanie was just about to move on, when she
heard another noise. It sounded like leaves crackling under a large foot.
S
he
started to panic.

Oh, God, what if it’s him? What if he’s
finally come for me like the note said?

 
“Hello? Who’s
there?” she yelled as she backed away slowly, back towards the house.

Just as she was about to turn and run in
terror, she heard a quick huff then a whine. She stopped her backpedaling and squinted
her eyes, trying to focus on the area she heard the noise coming from.
Suddenly, a dark form materialized from around a copse of trees and slowly
crept forward, head lowered, toward her and out of the woods.

“Dog!” she said excitedly and squatted down,
holding her hand out, palm down. He huffed again and walked slowly toward her
hand, sniffing, then licking it once he got close enough.

Melanie plopped down on her butt and patted
the grass next to her. “Come here, boy. Lay down.”

He complied, lying down right in front of her
and placing his head in her lap. Melanie laughed softly and scratched him
behind the ears.

“Good boy,” she said softly. “You’re a good
boy, dog. I’ve missed you.”

At that, he whimpered and licked his chops.
She laughed again. “You understood me, didn’t you? What a smart boy you are!”

They sat in silence for several minutes while
she pet him. “Well,” she said, “I can’t keep calling you ‘dog,’ can I? You need
a real name. How about...Fido?” The dog lifted his head and chirped out a short
bark.

Melanie laughed. “Okay, okay, no to Fido. What
about Midnight?” This time she heard a growl. “Okay, no to that too.” She
thought it over for a few moments, then said loudly, “I’ve got it! I’ll call
you Ace! How do you like that?”

His ears perked up and he cocked his head to
the side for a moment before he barked loudly and stood up. Melanie stood up
too and started scratching his back and ruffling his fur.

“Good boy, Ace. Good boy. You hungry? Come on,
boy.”

Melanie patted her hand against her outer
thigh and walked slowly toward the house, but Ace didn’t follow. He just sat
back on his haunches and looked at her with his head cocked to the side.

“What’s the matter, Ace? Huh? You’re not
hungry?” She walked back up to him and stroked his head.

He stood back up on all fours and licked her
hand. Melanie leaned down and hugged him around his neck and laughed as he
rained doggy kisses all over her face.

“Oh, Ace,” she laughed, “I love you, too.”

At those words, he jumped back out of her arms
and froze. Melanie looked at him curiously, shaking her head.

“What’s the matter, boy?”

Ace made a chuffing noise and darted out of
her yard and into the woods. He was so fast, she lost sight of him almost
instantly. She called his name a few times, but to no avail. After several
minutes of waiting for him to come back, she gave up and slowly turned and
walked back to the house.

“Weird,” she whispered quietly as she opened
the back door and went inside.