“Because the police are going to believe that a man is hunting me for an ability nobody believes in,” she spat back over her shoulder. “What makes you think I haven’t tried those things? You’re the first person who knows anything about it to even /try/ to help — pull the fucking fire alarm or I’ll set it off myself. If I accidentally burn this place down I don’t want anyone in it!”
She skidded to a stop at the corner, looking back at Isaac. “Thanks. Stay safe.”
The police would believe that someone was after her period, no matter what the circumstances were. Safety first. But Isaac didn’t have time to explain that, already rounding the corner, yanking the tab to set off the alarm bells as he went.
His plan was stupid, not much of a plan at all, but it mostly consisted of luring the man outside and leading him away, if not attacking him. They already had enough shit on their plate and the last thing Isaac needed was for Scott to get caught up in a problem that was not their own.
That was what betas did for their alphas, right?
Fuck if he knew, like Derek ever told him.
It wasn’t like he changed his mind, and he took up position in the doorway of the locker room, the one that led out into the lacrosse field, and waited.
Thank god, Summer thought as the fire alarm went off and people began to spill out of every door. She let herself be moved along with them, out to the playing fields. Not as many as during school hours, but enough to rip her apart if things got out of hand. She wasn’t even sure she was capable of what she was thinking of. She could still feel him, or feel his absence, sliding easily, purposefully through the crowd. Moving toward the strange, oddly-wild beacon in her mind that was the boy. She had thought he was leaving her on her own.
Apparently not.
It didn’t make much sense, but she didn’t have time to go into him and untangle the motivations. Not when the hunter was almost to Isaac, not when she was nearly alone on the field.
Summer dropped her shields, body braced against an impact that wasn’t physical in the least, and tried to find the new pathway, the one she’d found a couple of times over the summer.
The one that made fire.
It started with her hands, for some reason, sparks rising off her olive skin into the air. Slow flames twined up her arms, and the void of the hunter’s presence moved toward her.
“Why are you protecting her, boy?” The hunter’s voice was low, calm. Curious. He just kept moving at the same steady pace as he approached Isaac. “Look out there. Look out there, and step aside.”
He put out an arm, to brush Isaac aside.