how I want to be treated. This is how I want to be loved.
“Ne,” Caelan growls suddenly. I lift my head to look at him, only to see that he’s baring his teeth angrily at Maalik. Reule’s doing the same, and Audun jumps in by shouting something furiously at their red-haired roommate. Maalik is only able to get a couple of words out before the other men start yelling at him in outrage.
Poor Maalik glances at me for a quick second, and then he sets his jaw and crosses his arms in a defiant manner while he stares his roommates down. I have no fucking clue what this is all about, but Reule, Audun, and Caelan honestly look like a pack of angry puppies barking at their friend.
“Cut it out!” I pull away from Caelan and Reule, and spin around so I can face all four guys at once. I narrow my eyes and point at the three shouting idiots one at a time so they know I’m irritated with them. “What the hell are you all going on about? It’s not like it’s Maalik’s fault I was bitten by a fucking vamp!”
They’ve all just reminded me how dramatic and short-tempered shifters can be, and I roll my eyes when the four of them just stand there staring at me like I’m the one who’s insane. It’s probably good timing because I’m getting way too comfortable with them way too quickly. Stupid. Fucking. Moons.
Maalik blinks his pretty blue eyes at me like I’ve stunned him, and his face reddens as he continues to stare. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Eventually he clears his throat and turns around, and he motions at me over his shoulder to follow him.
I ignore the other guys when they whine at me, and I follow Maalik over to the front door. I’m pretty curious to see what he was building while Caelan cooked dinner, and I wonder if it has anything to do with making sure the guys don’t try to mate with me tonight.
On either side of the front door, there are these large, metal brackets hammered into the frame. There are three on each side, with about two feet between each of them with the highest brackets being about a foot above my head.
“Uh…?” I stare at them for a few seconds, and turn to look at Maalik quizzically.
He looks so uncomfortable, and he completely avoids my eyes as he gestures awkwardly to a few beams of wood lying propped against the wall. I hadn’t noticed them before, and I watch as Maalik picks one up and fits it into the brackets so that it acts as a barricade on the door.
It takes me more than a few seconds to figure out what the hell he’s showing me, and I feel my heart drop into my stomach and the blood drain from my face. I wrap my arms around myself and stare up at Maalik with wide eyes, shocked he would be so cruel to me. Even though the other three guys are clearly upset with him, I still thought for sure that Maalik was on my side.
“You’re going to lock me outside?” I point to myself, and at the door and the window to the right of it. I hate how weak and terrified I sound, but I’m honestly panicking at the thought of being stuck in the cold again. I’m not sure I’ll be able to survive it again, and certainly not overnight.
“Ne, Isla!” He exclaims, shaking his head frantically. My heart stutters a little, but I’m still too anxious and frightened to feel any kind of relief yet. Maalik flinches when he meets my eyes, and he seriously looks devastated. He says something else in his language and glances behind me a few times like he’s waiting for one of the other guys to jump in, but the three of them remain surly and silent.
A frustrated growl leaves Maalik’s throat. He points exaggeratedly at himself and his roommates and points outside. His gaze softens when he points at me, and he points at the floor and waves his hand to gesture around the house. “Isla, zůstaň.”
Oh. I guess that makes a little more sense, but now I can’t help staring at the beams of wood dubiously. They’re thick, and they look really heavy. I watched Reule tear apart that metal cage like it was made of paper yesterday. There’s no way in hell three hunks of wood