“He sounds like such a smart boy.” Grams swooned.
“Polite, too,” Gramps added.
I had to smirk at the fact that they didn’t know about the arrogant, know-it-all, Mr. Rock-Star-National-Geographic.
“Is that Kyle?”
Grams’s question snapped me to attention. I craned my neck to try and get a better look at the shadowed figure sitting on the front steps of our farmhouse. I squinted. Another figure entered my mind. Cloaked. Faceless. Pointing at me. I shook my head until my curls covered my face. No time for that. Gramps parked his truck by the garage and we all slid out, making our way to the front porch.
“You off to take my granddaughter somewhere?” Gramps stood at his full height, puffing his chest out like a silverback gorilla.
“No, sir,” Kyle said. “Just planning to sit outside.”
“I asked him to meet me here,” I added.
“Good! Wouldn’t want her out late. That dog killer’s still out there.”
“Don’t scare the children, David.” Grams’s voice sounded a little unsteady.
“I’m just telling the truth, dear.”
“I know.” Grams touched his cheek. “Now, let’s leave these two alone. I’ll bring you some iced tea in a while,” she said to Kyle and me before she tugged Gramps up the steps.
“If you see anything, boy…” Gramps’s forehead wrinkled.
“I’ll be sure to holler.” Kyle tipped his head in a brief nod.
I raised an eyebrow as Gramps and Grams disappeared into the house.
“What?”
“That look between you and Gramps.”
Kyle shrugged. “What look?”
“Don’t pretend it didn’t happen.”
“I’m not.”
I sighed. If Kyle wanted to clam up, I’d need the Jaws of Life to get anything out of him. So I changed the topic. “Today was all kinds of weird.”
The top step creaked when I sat down. I spread my legs in front of me and leaned back on my hands. He sat down beside me and rested his arms on his knees.
“Define weird.”
A cold finger ran down my spine. I’d been keeping way too much from him. My dream. The puppets. And now, the black dog. Oh, and the fact that Dillan admitted to being an Illumenari and how all that made sense in my head. When did having visions of the future become the least weird thing I had to deal with?
I puffed out my cheeks. “I actually don’t know how to answer that.”
He let out a slow whistle. “Sounds serious.
“You have no idea.”
“So, what are you thinking about?”
“Dillan.” It was true.
“How did we suddenly go from your day being weird to him?” His expression shifted from confused to complete guy shutdown. “Is this a girl thing?”
“He…” I paused. What to confess? “He said some things to me this afternoon.”
“Okay, officially lost me.”
“That’s pretty obvious.”
“I thought you spent the day with Bowen? He asked Penny and me to stay away so he could have some ‘alone time’ with you. His words, not mine.”
My heart stopped. “Yeah, about that…”
“Whoa! Is that why you and Bowen were fighting?”
A groan escaped. “You heard about that?”
“Penny and I were in the crowd. That was one nasty blow up. We knew better than to follow you while you were still pissed.”
Lips pursed, I said, “Anyway, it’s safe to say Bowen and I are officially done.”
“He doesn’t and will never deserve you, Selena.”
“He cheated on me. I get it.”
“It’s not just that. You deserve so much better.”
Crickets chirped around us. I studied Kyle’s profile from where I leaned on the newel post. When did I start keeping things from my best friends? I used to tell Kyle and Penny everything. It was time for me to trust someone.
“Have you ever felt like someone was watching you?” I asked.
He winked at me. “When don’t I? Particularly when I’m in the shower.”
“Oh, shut it!” I shook my head in disbelief. Trust Kyle to make jokes when I needed total and complete seriousness from him. “Come on. I’m trying to tell you something here. No jokes.”
“What’s life without jokes?”
“Anyway,” I continued with an eye roll, “this afternoon I came out of a booth at the flea market and the feeling hit me like a slap in the face. At first, I was just uneasy. Then the feeling got more intense. And then I thought I saw this huge black dog with red eyes. I ran.”
His eyebrow twitched.
“That’s when I ran into Dillan. He thinks I’m being targeted.”
“Targeted? What the hell does that mean? By who?”
“I know you think this is crazy, but it gets worse.”
“Worse than spouting weird stuff about you being a target?”
“Dillan told me he’s an Arbiter for this group called the Illumenari. And the weirdest part is…” I paused. “I think I believe him.”
All the color in his face drained like a bucket with a hole. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. He stood up and practically ran to his car.
“Where are you going?” I blurted out.
“It’s getting late,” he said.
“Kyle?”
“I need to take care of something.”
Slack-jawed, I watched him go. He didn’t even look back when I called his name again. He got into his Prius and drove away. When I’d thought my day couldn’t get any stranger, it did.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dillan
Sucker-Punched and Grass-Stained
Dillan grimaced at what had once been a golden retriever. From the rigor and the dried blood, the carcass couldn’t have been dead more than a day. He’d ruled out wild animal the second he saw the first dog. That many teeth marks didn’t belong to anything the animal kingdom could come up with.
Tonight’s find made twenty. His gut told him there were many more. The prairie was too big for him and Sebastian to cover every inch of it, but every day the number of missing dogs reported increased. He shook his head. How was this thing getting away with it without being seen? Surely a rancher would have noticed something by now.
He didn’t see a pattern until they found more bodies. The one he stood beside now was a little over a couple of miles from Selena’s house. Whatever killed the dogs seemed to leave the bodies for the Fallons to find. But why? What for?
Worry unsettled him. He stifled the urge to run the last few miles and stake out the farmhouse all night. That wouldn’t be creepy at all. The worse part? He’d actually risk it, wincing at the truth of the thought. Christ. One second she twisted him up. The next she pulled him apart. He blamed those damn aqua eyes. They turned a clear shade of blue when she looked up at him through tears.
Sloan.
Pulled from dangerous thoughts, he lifted his head at Sebastian’s call. His partner was close, but not enough to where he could see him. He didn’t have to wait long for the hellhound to continue what he was about to say.
Tracks. A mile east of where you are.
“You sure?”
He growled.
Using the stars above to orient himself, Dillan shifted to his left and took off at a run in the direction Sebastian indicated. They finally had a lead. He believed Selena was the target of the Maestro and whatever was killing the dogs. His protocol mandated he go straight to eliminating the potential threat.
He jogged up a hill and stopped. Sebastian snorted, pointing his snout down. He crouched and studied the tracks that led away from their location. They looked like some kind of paw print.
“A lion?”
Insane, but yes, Sebastian confirmed.