Jamie
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with me.
I should be asleep.
It's past midnight, and the room is dark except for the streetlight bleeding through the blinds on my window. My hands are still shaking, my pulse is still pounding from what happened earlier. With him. I still don't know how I was strong enough to push that guy that hard. I don't fucking understand any of this. At first, I thought I could ignore it all. If I didn't think about it or talk about it, then it didn't exist.
But how do I ignore it when Adrian Vega is somehow entangled in my life? He knows something that I don't.
He has the answers, and he doesn't want to give them.
Adrian's words replay in my head.
You kissed someone else when you promised to kiss me.
I've been trying to push them out, to calm down. But every time I close my eyes, I see his face. Those eyes. The way he looked at me was like he knew something I didn't.
And the bite... the one I keep pretending doesn't exist... it burns inside my skin. Not sharp, or in a way that hurts. But I can feel it. It's there. Steady. Like a fucking heartbneat that isn't mine.
I sit up, running my fingers through my hair. My body feels too hot, too fucking tight. The air in the room is suffocating in a way that I feel like I'm about to pass out. I get up. Open a window.
Cool air rushes in, but it doesn't help. If anything, it makes my senses sharper. Louder. The vibration under my skin grows stronger, crawling down my arms, into my chest. A pull, low and insistent.
Something's calling me.
It's not a sound. It's not even a thought. Just some kind of... direction. Like gravity shifted and decided I belonged somewhere else.
Before I can even second-guess it, I'm moving.
The hallway is silent, the dorm empty. My footsteps echo too loudly on the tile floor. Every light seems brighter than it should be, every shadow deeper. I don't remember locking the door behind me or crossing the courtyard.
I just feel the pull.
It leads me past the parking lot, past the running field, and straight toward the trees.
The trees have been calling me. The woods. The place where it all began. This is crazy, but I need answers. Maybe this is the way I can get those answers.
The woods loom darker than I remember, almost black under the moonlight. But I don't hesitate. I can't. My pulse thrums in my ears, my breath coming short.
Each step feels guided, not by thought, but by instinct.
The air smells like earth and rain, sharp enough to sting. The deeper I go, the quieter the world becomes, until all that's left is the crunch of leaves under my feet and the hammering in my chest.
And then I hear it.
A whisper. Soft, almost like a calling.
Jamie.
I freeze. "Hello?"
No answer. Just that same faint voice, threading through the trees.
My throat tightens, but I move toward it anyway. The shadows shift as I step into a clearing, the same one as the night of the camping trip. The same spot where everything started.
The moonlight spills over the clearing like water. My skin prickles. The burn in my neck flares, and for a second, my knees nearly give.
I press a hand to the bite. It's hot beneath my fingers. Alive.
Something's wrong.
And then, movement.
A figure steps out from between the trees.
Adrian.
He's in nothing but running shorts, breath fogging in the cool night air, sweat glinting across his collarbone. His eyes catch the light, pale and sharp... too sharp.
For a moment, neither of us speaks.
"What are you doing out here?" he asks, voice low.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. How do I tell him that something called me out to these woods? I still hear the voice in my head, and I don't even recognise it. There's something really wrong, but at the same time, what are the odds that he's here in this moment?
Who is he?
"Jamie." He takes a step closer. "You shouldn't be here."
"I couldn't sleep," I manage. "I just… ended up here."
Adrian's gaze flickers to my neck. "No, you didn't 'just end up here.'" His voice cuts through the dark. He is angry, but I don't know why. What's the big deal if I'm here? His reaction shouldn't make sense. Unless he is worried about me.
Could he be worried about me?
I freeze, the cold air burning my lungs. I should have put on a jacket or something. "I..."
"What the hell are you doing out here?" he snaps, cutting me off and stepping forward. The moonlight catches on his bare shoulders, skin slick with sweat. The same scowl is plastered on his face that makes me feel small and seen all at once. "I told you to go to bed. I dropped you off at your fucking dorm. Why don't you ever fucking listen? You think this is all some fucking joke? Wandering into the woods at night like—"
"Like what?" I fire back, even though my voice shakes. "Like I was supposed to?"
That stops him. His jaw tightens, his chest rising and falling too fast. "You're supposed to be in your dorm. Safe."
Safe from what?
What is out here that he wants to keep me away from?
I don't understand any of this.
"I tried," I swallow hard. "I tried to go to bed even though everything that's been happening is so fucking weird. You mention a kiss, one that should have happened in my dream. You act like you know something, but you don't tell me what it is. I tried to stay in my room. But I couldn't... I kept hearing something."
"Stop." The word is sharp, almost panicked. "You didn't hear anything. You are looking for something that's not out there."
Silence drops between us. He's refusing to listen to me.
Adrian looks away first, staring into the trees like they've betrayed him. "You shouldn't have followed whatever you think you heard."
"I didn't try to," I whisper. "It just... pulled me."
He turns back to me, and for a second, there's something in his eyes I can't name. Fear. Guilt. Recognition. "Go home, Jamie," he says again, quieter this time. "You don't belong here."
"I don't think that's true. You know something and you're going to tell me."
"Jamie." His tone hardens, but his hand flexes at his side, like he's fighting the urge to reach for me. "You have no idea what's in these woods."
"Then tell me. Tell me why I shouldn't be here. Tell me why all I can think about is you. I just want some answers."
He curses under his breath, a sound almost lost to the wind. When he looks at me again, his expression is all steel, but his eyes betray him. They flick to my throat, then my lips, then back up, as if he hates himself for even looking.
"Go," he says one last time, voice hoarse. "Before I forget why I should stop you."
And even though every instinct says run, I don't move. Because the woods aren't the only thing calling me anymore.
He is.