Chapter 401: Paranoid
His icy blue eyes scanned her up and down. "Do you know what you are doing? "Is it really happening or is it just in your head—"
"I think I do." She glanced at the man.
Levi didn’t seem to believe her, but he didn’t push her for an answer either. He calmly nodded and then chased after the rest of the pack. Inez was about to follow him as well, but before she could take another step, her phone started ringing. She pulled her phone out of her pocket with a shaking hand, as the sound of her ringtone sounded much harsher. When she saw Killian’s name flash on the screen, uneasiness filled her heart. Suddenly, she started to get worried. What if something happened to Killian? Why was he calling her out of nowhere? Was everything okay?
Her finger tapped the answer call before she could even straighten her thoughts.
"Inez?"
Killian’s voice filled her ears, sounding slightly breathless as if he had just finished running a lap. "Are you okay?"
He snatched the words right out of her mouth, and relief flooded through her.
"I am fine—"
"Yet." Killian finished her sentence, but the sarcasm sounded strained. "What is happening? Can you tell me?"
"Will you believe me if I say I really don’t have a clue?" said Inez, sounding utterly frustrated with her own inability. It was as if she were walking through a thick layer of fog; the deeper she moved, the harder it became for her to navigate her way through it. "It’s awkward as fuck for me too, but I cannot give you a proper answer. It’s like I know that there is something, but I don’t know what. It has never happened before."
"Breathe, baby." Just as Inez was feeling thwarted with the lack of answers, Killian whispered from the other end. "Don’t worry about the judgement or anything else. Just do what you think is correct. I will be heading over once I am done with Seth—" There was a pause and then, "I swear I will kill him for this. He could have let me go, and yet he wouldn’t. He really thinks he is all that just because he is the head of the council."
His words brought a smile to her lips, and Inez felt a bit better. At least she could breathe better than before.
"Thanks."
"For what?" He asked, his voice sounding filled with smiles.
"For calling." She told him, ignoring the dread that kept trying to slither up her spine. "I feel better. I mean it."
"Hmm? Really?" he didn’t sound convinced. "You really feeling good?"
"Yeah. listen I—" Inez trailed off when she heard someone call Killian. She bit her lips and lowered her voice, realising that the man was busy with his own things. He shouted back at the person who was calling him, and when he returned to the call, his voice had gone all soft again. "Sorry? You were saying?"
"It’s alright, I was just saying that I want you to take care of me," said Inez, changing her words at that exact moment.
"You do that for me, alright, bubbles?" Killian answered as he hung up.
Once the call ended, Inez spun on her feet and took out the dagger that she carried with her before stabbing it at the person behind her.
"Woah, woah, woah—"
Matt stepped away from her in a hurry. He dodged her attack, and Inez staggered due to the impact with which she had attacked him.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked as he caught her by the arm.
Inez closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then straightened up before saying to him, "I should be the one asking you this question. What were you thinking, sneaking behind me like that?"
"I went to pee, and when I returned, you were standing alone. What was I supposed to do?" Matt immediately wailed, wanting to clear his innocence. "You are wronging me. Goodness, Moon Goddess, from the next time I wouldn’t bother you."
Inez clenched and unclenched her fingers. She realised that she had allowed her paranoia to take over her mind and heart.
Sucking in a breath, she said to Matt, "I am sorry. Maybe I am too tired."
She then turned to look behind them and asked, "Where are the rest? What are they doing?"
"They found a little cave and stopped there." Matt pointed over his shoulders and Inez’s frown hardened.
She walked over in the direction of the cave and asked, "Shouldn’t we be driving away?" She breathed shakily, annoyed that no one was taking this seriously. Maybe some were, but they were too tied up to do anything to these brats.
"Selene did say that. She told everyone that since they are done with the break, they needed to go back to the RV but—"
"But?" Inez prodded.
"But Ally and Fenric are unwilling. Morrineth agrees with them." Matt replied, and Inez had to run her hands over her face to calm herself down because she felt just that frustrated.
When she dropped her hands to her sides, her breathing was coming out in shallow puffs, and the feeling of being watched intensified. Inez paused and turned to look behind her, but she didn’t see anything other than the moving trees. Nothing was moving except the leaves stirring in the soft breeze.
’I am just being paranoid,’ thought Inez.
Swallowing hard, she turned to face the front. She raised her feet and continued walking without looking back, but the feeling – she just couldn’t shake it off. Sweat trickled down her neck and made her shudder under the chill air.
She picked up her pace and nearly sprinted to the little cave where the rest of the pack was. And just as she came to a skidding halt, she felt something move in the trees behind her —a flash of shadows. A crunch too loud for her to mistake it for wind.
She froze and turned to look behind her, her heart jumping to her throat.