Free Dahlia (Blood Crave Series) by Christina Channelle Page A

afterthought. “At least not yet.”
    “What?” Dahlia was so shocked she mouthed the words more than spoke them.
    “But there are others that want you dead.” Green eyes piercing hazel ones, he continued to speak as if she hadn’t said a word. “Just know that not everyone and everything is to be trusted. You’re a very powerful girl, Dahlia. And there are people who don’t want that power around.”
    “What powers? What are you talking about?” She feigned innocence as if she had no idea what he was referring to.
    He completely ignored her as he raised himself from the rock then headed away from her. As he walked away, Dahlia had to ask one last question, hoping he’d answer something, anything. “And just who are you?”
    He paused at that, and she saw him tilt his head slightly to the right, shoulders tight. Facing away from her, he finally responded. “That’s not important. Just heed my warning and be careful. You’ll never know what’s hiding in the bushes.” With that, he vanished right before her eyes.
    Alone, she blinked a couple of times not quite believing what she saw or heard.
    That did not just happen. That was definitely all in my head. There is no way in hell that guy just vanished into thin air.
    Echoing my thoughts from days before.
    Dahlia shook her head, feeling slightly lightheaded. She turned around as she stumbled back toward the house and the blaring noise of the party. There was only one explanation.
    She really was going out of her freaking mind.
    “I’m just not getting enough sleep because of these dreams keeping me awake. I should probably eat more, too. I just need to go home, eat a huge meal with tons of vitamins and minerals. Then I’ll take a nice, warm bath and get a ton of sleep and everything will be fine.” She frowned as she mumbled to herself.
    “Are you okay there?”
    Dahlia nearly leaped out of her skin from the voice. She looked up to see Sam standing next to the doorway, gray eyes giving her an odd look as he stared down at her. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing that it was only him.
    “I’m fine.” She loosely brushed away the strand of hair that flew in front of her face.
    He continued to give her a hard, questioning look. “Are you sure? Because I just saw you talking to yourself about food.”
    “Yeah, I am absolutely fine. Just thought I’d go for a walk to get some fresh air and now I’m back. Where have you been?” She looked at him accusingly, as if blaming him for what happened just moments ago.
    “Where have I been?” Sam looked down at her ludicrously. “I’ve been partying—something you should have been doing all along. Instead, you’re off wandering in the bushes rambling about food. How do you eat so much and stay so damn skinny?”
    Dahlia looked down at her small, but curvy, frame. “I’m not that skinny, Sam, so shut up.”
    “Whatever,” he shrugged in indifference. “Are you ready to go home? ‘Cause I’m beat.”
    Confused, she looked down at her watch and realized that hours had gone by. It felt like mere minutes to her but as her gaze flicked into the house, it looked empty, many people having already left. She glanced back down at her watch again, baffled, then looked back toward Meg’s haunting backyard as she shuddered. She then stared back at Sam solemnly.
    “Definitely.”

    ***

    As Dahlia and Sam walked away from the house, both Greyson and Maddox stood, watching them motionless. Maddox decided to break the silence between the two.
    “Why didn’t you just take her now? We could have had this whole thing over with.” Maddox scrunched his face up in confusion as he asked the question, shaking his dirty-blond hair from his face. For someone so large, he sure did have a childlike disposition with all of his questioning.
    “It’s not time yet,” Greyson reminded him, still watching Dahlia from afar, as she entered a red vehicle with the boy. He was the one she lived and spent most of her time with, like