Beasthood (The Hidden Blood Series) (33 page)

             
He knew she'd be difficult to sway. He took in her appearance, knowing she was a new Pack member, and a thought came to him. “Are you experiencing
pre
-Change spasms?” Jaz simply nodded. “There is not much I can do about that I'm afraid. The risks are certainly too high to give you Hemlock, especially in your current condition. It might kill you.”

             
Just when he thought he'd convinced her she asked, “What part of the plant is less poisonous? The roots?”

             
He paused. “Y-yes. It is
still
very
poisonous but as far as I'm aware, not as strong.”

“
And it is better to have it dried than raw?”

             
He raised a brow suspiciously. “Yes,” he said in a low questioning voice. “Where did you find this information out, if I may ask?”

             
She looked at him with her dark blue eyes and smiled sweetly. “Google.” He stared at her blankly.  “I'll take some dried roots, as much as you can give me. If you could show me how to use it, I'd be very grateful.”

             
It took a moment for the Pharmacist to get into gear; stupefied by this feisty girl's manner and demands. But he saw the calmness in her face, an expression he'd seen on those he'd served hemlock to before. A steady competence. He decided to give her a very small dose, much less than he gave his other clients. He then clearly explained everything.

             
After ten minutes of him telling her how to brew it as a tea and how often to drink it -a quarter teaspoonful once every two days- and then unhappily packing the hemlock roots into a sealed plastic bag, -the unpleasant smell of rodent wafting into their nostrils- he handed it to her.

             
It was Jaz's moment to hesitate. “Aren't I supposed to pay you with something?”

             
He shook his head. “We're a sharing community. Skye tells me you work hard helping her with her chores, I'd say you've earned this.”

             
Jaz smiled politely -glad to find he was an honest man of principal- and held onto the bag without taking it from him, as if frozen. He looked up at her in question and with her beautiful eyes locked on his lined face she said, “I hope I've also earned your discretion?” It wasn't so much a warning but a question with an edge to it.

             
He blinked above his glasses and slowly removed them and his hand from the bag, placing both hands on the desk in front of him. He gazed up at her and said, “If the lady doesn't give reason to cause
alarm
, customer confidentiality is upheld. I hope you understand?” Jaz did and closed her eyes with a slight forward tilt of her head to show it. He smiled. “I wouldn't want to see something so sweet, turn sour.”

             
She smiled lightly, tucked the bag into the front pocket of her hoodie and with a gentle wave and a 'Thank you' she left. 

             
Leaving Egor contemplating whether or not to tell her uncle or keep his nose out of it.

~
Chapter 30-
Stir~

Wednesday, June 22
nd

             
After seeing Driver as a Beast, she'd managed to push both him and Lora from her mind, wiping away any pain or unwanted feelings from her already overloaded brain.               Until two weeks later, a week after her second visit to the pharmacy. Edda had come into the cabin just around noon, carrying a cardboard box. Jaz was about to take another bite out of a slice of buttered toast when she caught sight of the writing on the side of the box, in black marker, and stopped dead. Her eyes widened to the size of golf balls.

             
Edda saw her reaction but didn't say anything until she'd placed it on the breakfast bar in front of her. Jaz slowly lowered her toast back onto the plate staring at her sister's name.

“
Her things,” Edda mumbled.

             
Jaz's forehead creased as the pain of loss stabbed her in the chest. She hadn't felt or understood the pain as much as she did right then.

             
She'd known her sister through a diary, through the words of others and writing on paper, and a horrible nightmare that had plagued her thoughts for a whole year.

             
And here was something personal, something she could touch and smell and look at and know it had belonged to the sister she had never known. The sister who although until recently, she hadn't known had existed, she'd always felt was alive. Never knowing what that empty feeling of being separated from her was. Or that it was even emptiness she was feeling, until the night Lora tragically died.

             
Now she understood the pain.

             
It was like half of her had been hacked away.

             
The crushing, harrowing emptiness had given her sleepless nights and remembering all of that took the wind out of her lungs.

             
She gasped and a sob escaped her lips.

             
Edda stared, frozen.

             
Jaz clamped her hand over her mouth and nose and shuddered. A cry that was muffled into a grieving moan reverberated through her hand and the tears flowed. She removed her hand after giving herself a moment to control herself and breathed.

“
I'm sorry,” she whispered and then sobbed again, exhaling and inhaling as if desperate for air.

“
It's okay. I-I should apologize. I didn't know...I didn't realize how much this would...”

             
Jaz shook her head, wiping her eyes. “It was just suddenly...too much.” She let out a choked sound that was a cross between a sob and a sad laugh, and sniffled.

             
Edda bobbed her head in understanding.

             
When Jaz's cries stopped and settled into silent tears, Edda spoke again. “Nik had these stored. He thought you might want them and asked me to give them to you.”

             
Jaz had looked up at hearing his name. Now she frowned. “He gave it to
you
, to give to me...?” she trailed off, staring at a space by the fireplace.

             
Edda gave her a searching look, her furrowed brow pulling her light brown eyebrows together, before slowly nodding. “He thought it best.”

             
Jaz wasn't happy with that answer though she told herself, what more did she expect?

             
During the days he'd been free from her mind but at night when she was alone she'd spent them trying to think from his point of view.

             
On the night she'd nearly been killed, and saved by him.
She
'd run off,
she
'd recoiled from him and
she
'd been avoiding him. Just as much as he'd clearly been avoiding her.

             
It upset her to think that she'd offended him enough to put the responsibility of delivering something as important as her dead sister's belongings, into the hands of Edda.

“
I guess,” she mumbled. “Thanks.”

“
It's okay. Anyway, I'm going out for a while. You'll be alright?”

             
Jaz nodded. “Edda?” She called after her. Edda turned with her hand poised on the door handle. “Did I offend him?” She regarded Jaz with curious eyes. “Is that why he gave it to you instead of coming himself?”

             
Edda frowned and still frowning, her lips pulled up into a smile. “No of course not! I don't know exactly what happened that night but I do know that you saw him as he truly is. And it scared you. How could it have not? We both understand that. I think he just thought you needed your space... Plus it can't be easy. Seeing Lora's things again. I guess it was too painful for him to bring it himself.” They paused for a moment. Edda wavering by the door, seeing Jaz was about to ask something.

“
What does he do, during the day?”

             
Edda smiled knowingly. “He works a lot. Spends a lot of time in his office, or at council meetings. He's a bit of a workaholic. Today though, what time is it?” She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and Jaz followed suit. “Twelve thirty. He'll be in the gym. He's got a class.”

“
He teaches boxing,” Jaz stated. She'd seen him there enough times, self-consciously feeling his eyes on her whether he was or he wasn't. She didn't know. She rarely looked his way, even when her confidence increased as her power and skill on the bag had flourished.

“
Amongst other things. Martial arts like Tai Chi, Kung fu, Taikwondo. He's very good.”

“
Where did he learn all that?” Jaz asked astonished.

“
He reads. A lot.”

             
Jaz smiled. That pleased her very much but her smile faded as the apprehension of seeing him again gnawed at her bones.

                                                                                    *

12:58 p.m.

              She watched with awe as Nik Driver fought on the mat with a man she didn't know.

             
She'd seen the nameless man once or twice in the gym, maybe passed him on her walks or through the corridors, but now she was unsure if she'd ever recognize him again after this.

             
How easily Driver smashed the guy's pasty face in like playdo. Blood sprayed off the man as easily as sweat. It was painful, horrifying and fascinating to watch.

             
Driver was a skilled fighter. His jabs were sharp and quick. He had a mean left hook. That was where the power was. But that was nothing compared to his kicks. She flinched, slapping her hands to her open mouth as he crushed the man's stomach in and watched as the winded man folded over Driver's leg like a towel on a rail.

             
She hadn't realized she'd gasped aloud until someone made it known to her. The last person in the world she'd ever want to see.

“
Gasping for Driver's hot, sweaty body are we?” The cold voice was so close she jumped back, her hand still clamped on her mouth as her gaze met Fraya's hard, beautiful, charcoal eyes.

             
Jaz slowly lowered her hand, feeling it clench into a fist. Every instinct in her body was telling her to get away. She knew being alone with Fraya was a very stupid and dangerous place to be. To hide her trepidation she flung back her sarcasm. “Not as much as you must be, knowing what you're missing out on.”

             
Fraya's eyes widened momentarily in surprise. She scowled and smiled at the same time. It wasn't a pleasant sight. “Jealous?”

“
No,” Jaz said so matter-of-factly

             
Fraya was again surprised. She wasn't used to being spoken to like this. Not by someone physically weaker than her. They glowered at each other for a long agonizing minute. Jaz was so proud of herself for keeping her cool.

“
I hear you got attacked a few weeks ago. Shame I missed it.” J

             
az was relieved it hadn't been Fraya. Though she had always been sure that the Beast had been male anyway. “Nik saved me in time,” she replied carefully.

“
It's funny, I heard the Weed grew some claws and slashed Rufus's face up.”

             
She tried not to show how much Fraya knowing this got to her. It was personal and she was the last person on the planet she wanted to know about her hand-claw fright. So she lied. “Really? Guess he must have been mistaken. Nik messed him up pretty good.”

             
Fraya scrutinized her with laser eyes. “He said your hand changed into a claw.” Jaz stared, saying nothing. “Do you know why that's so interesting?”

“
I take it you're gonna tell me anyway.”

“
Because no one can do that,” Fraya snarled. Jaz frowned. “We cannot turn parts of our bodies into Beast form. We have to Change completely.”

“
So he's mistaken then.”

“
We
can't Change. But I've heard that unpure bloods
can
. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that,
would
you?”

             
Jaz's body steeled. “Not a lot.”

“
Convenient.”

“
Sorry I couldn't be of more help,” she said unapologetically.

             
Fraya scowled. And then the most evil and spine-chilling smile stretched across her face. Jaz's bladder turned to ice water.

“
I guess I could always talk to the Cur Hunters,” Fraya said ominously. 

             
Jaz hated her ignorance but she had to ask.“Who?”

“
A little organization that exterminates unpure scum like you.”

             
Jaz stared in disbelief. “I think you need to take a serious chill pill and maybe get some counseling to deal with the bitter, twisted bitch in you. You think because Nik rejected you, you can drive away any woman he takes even a little interest in? Even if you might be wrong, like right now? That's like Glenn Close Bunny-Boiling bitch crazy.”

“
I'll prove what you are,” she growled.

             
Jaz glowered at her vehemently. “You don't know what you're talking about. And if you don't want to find out whether I can rip the skin off your face, I suggest you stay the fuck away from me.”

             
Fraya grinned. “I guess I could always tell the Cur's to pay your folks a visit. And I'm not just talking about your real parents. They'll find out what
all
of them know. They have
very
powerful,
painful
ways of persuasion.”

             
Jaz felt something inside of her snap and before she could rationalize or prevent what her raw instincts were telling her to do, she slapped Fraya so hard in the face her hand throbbed afterwards.

             
Fraya's head snapped to the right, almost cracking against the wall. She stared back at her like a tiger that had been bitch-slapped and Jaz swallowed a squeak just before Fraya's fist knocked against her face like a boulder. Jaz's head flopped back, hitting against the heavy wooden door. She clutched her throbbing nose with one hand whilst shielding her face with the other.

             
Fraya lunged at her with both arms, Jaz kicked out, making contact with Fraya's stomach. She wheezed, breathed in hard and with a growl she grabbed Jaz's shoulders and threw her through the double doors.

             
Jaz's back smacked against the wood so hard she was sure something had broken. She didn't realize she was still flying through the air until she met the polished floor and slid along it for a good few metres before squeaking to a stop. Using her elbows, she craned herself up and glanced sharply around the gym. There were at least twenty people standing there, though to her it felt like the whole village.

             
All eyes on her; the 'human' canon.

             
She could feel her back beginning to bruise. She didn't see Driver to her left side who had swiftly stopped his fight. The sound and sight of her being thrown into the gym had caught everyone's attention. But only when they saw a livid Fraya storming into the room did everyone stop to watch.

             
Jaz jumped up, regretting how fast she did it when her spine twinged uncomfortably.

             
Expecting Fraya to run across the gym towards her, she was stunned when Fraya jumped up into the air Matrix-style, flying across the room like a pretty, black-haired demon ninja.