Blood Bond
Authors: Heather Hildenbrand
Tags: #romance, #urban fantasy, #love, #political, #paranormal, #werewolves, #teen, #ya, #bond, #hunters, #shifting
Blood Bond
By Heather
Hildenbrand
Published by Heather
Hildenbrand
At Smashwords
© Heather Hildenbrand
2012
This is a work of fiction. All of the
characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are
either products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons
(living or dead), is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No
part of this publication, in any format, can be reproduced or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical,
without express written permission from the author.
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the hard work of this author.
An Accendo Press Author
www.heatherhildenbrand.blogspot.com
Cover design by SM Reine
Chapter One
Wood Point Academy crawled
with bodies. And even though they weren’t killer hybrids or
attempting any sort of attack, it made me claustrophobic. It was
Thursday. Tomorrow signaled the end of the school year. Parents had
arrived to cheer on their graduates. Unlike most high schools,
where completing twelfth grade was the main celebration, Hunters
considered it a milestone to complete each and every year of high
school. From freshman to senior, everyone got some sort of
ceremony. I guess when you trained as hard as we did, passing your
classes
was
something to be admired.
The junior class had voted on a prom sort of
thing, complete with a crepe-papered auditorium and a sound system
with enough bass to induce a heart murmur. I shoved aside the flash
back to the last school dance I’d attended, the one where I’d
caught my ex-boyfriend, George, making out with my arch-nemesis,
Cindy Adams. Listening to her smug comments over that night, I’d
lost control of my temper and punched her in the nose. An action
that had gotten me expelled and landed me here at Wood Point, a
private boarding school for Werewolf Hunters like myself. The irony
of the connection between that dance and this one wasn’t lost on
me.
The thump-thump of the beat as it slammed
out of the speakers echoed in my ears and vibrated through my
bones. Some kid with red sunglasses and a suit jacket to match
bobbed his head to the beat of a remixed version of something that
sounded suspiciously like reggae. I hated reggae.
“You look thrilled,” Cambria said. We stood
shoulder to shoulder, surveying the room.
“There’s just so much to see and do, I can
hardly contain myself.”
She grinned. “Just because you’re antsy to
get home and see your sexy wolf-boy doesn’t mean you can be grumpy
with the rest of us.”
“Did you just call Wes sexy?” My eyebrows
shot up.
“Please, you have nothing to worry about and
you know it.” She flipped her hair, which she’d highlighted with
streaks of ghostly white. It glowed in the black light. “Besides,
you’re supposed to be my wingman tonight.”
“There’s not much to choose from, unless you
count that guy.” I pointed to the brightly dressed kid still
grooving to his own beat.
“Uh, pass.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re
being sulky again. You’ve been like that all month.”
“What can I say? I was ready for summer a
month ago.”
“No, you were ready for Wes a month ago. Do
you know where he is this week?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t talked to him in
a few days. Last I heard they were passing through some hick town
in Nebraska.”
“What the hell are they doing in
Nebraska?”
“I don’t know. Grandma said they caught a
trail that looked like it could be hybrids and decided to chase it
down.”
“Is he coming back to take you home?”
“Not enough time. Grandma’s coming
tomorrow.” I shrugged, trying to pretend I didn’t miss Wes so much
it hurt, and bumped her with my shoulder. “Speaking of home, what
are your plans?”
Cambria hesitated. She’d been trying to
reach her mom for weeks now with no luck. I wasn’t sure what that
meant because Cambria wouldn’t come out and say, but I knew it
wasn’t good.
“I think I’m going to become a hippie.”
“What?”
“Like a nomad, a wanderer. You know, road
trip. See the country.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“A hitchhiker, then. I’d get a lot of
pickups. My thumb is pretty sexy.”
“What happened with your mom? Why aren’t you
going home?”
“She’s unavailable.”
“And that means what exactly?”
Her shoulder rose and fell against mine.
“She’s in rehab. Or so my building manager tells me. She hasn’t
returned any of my calls. I checked with the place she stayed at
for a while last year and they ‘can’t confirm patient records.’”
She used her fingers to air quote the phrase. “Which basically
means she’s there and can’t be reached.”
“What are you going to do?” I tried not to
look sorry or pitying. I knew Cambria would hate pity.
“I don’t know. She’s got a van. Or she did
last time I was home. If it’s still there, I can use it and maybe
take a trip somewhere. I think I have a cousin in Biloxi.”
I didn’t know much about
Cambria’s relationship with her mom. Conversation about it was
rare, except the occasional allusion to the fact that they didn’t
get along when her mom
was
around—something I could sympathize with. But
even with the fighting, this seemed worse. My chest ached at the
thought of Cambria going home to an empty house. “Come home with
me,” I said.
“Are you serious?”
Disco boy moonwalked by us and winked. We
ignored him.
“Seriously, Cam. You have nothing better to
do and my mom is probably going to house arrest me for that crap
with Miles. I would love having a friend under the same roof.” I
smiled. “You’d be doing me a favor.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to get
me to feel better about mooching off you all summer, aren’t
you?”
“Maybe,” I squeaked, keeping the smile
plastered to my face. “Is it working?”
“Totally,” she agreed.
We grinned at each other until something
behind me caught her eye and her expression faltered. Her eyes
flickered back to mine. “Uh-oh. Trainer with bedroom eyes headed
this way.”
“Trainer with …?” I twisted to see who she
meant, though part of me knew the moment her eyes had shifted. Alex
headed this way. He wore a black suit and a white shirt that
contrasted against his tanned hands and face. He would’ve been
breathtaking except for the pained look on his face and the way he
pulled at the tie knotted at his throat as he moved through the
crowd.
Cambria whistled loud and low. “Trainer boy
cleans up good.”
His eyes fell on me and swept up and down. I
smoothed the silk dress I’d stolen from Victoria. My breath caught
a little and I forced it in and out evenly. We’d been training
together for weeks now without crossing the line from professional
to personal. Somehow, this night felt different. Maybe it was the
fact that we’d be leaving tomorrow. A last chance to say
everything. Not that I had anything different to say. My heart
belonged to Wes.
Sometimes I wondered if my heart had
selective memory.
“Tara.” The way he spoke my name sent a
shiver down my spine. “May I have a word?”
“Sure.” I nodded at Cambria and followed him
outside.
Stars twinkled overhead. People milled about
in the courtyard; parents gushed over their offspring and couples
engaged in a last make-out session before returning home.
“Can we take a walk?” Alex asked.
I nodded and fell into step beside him, my
heeled sandals making clicking on the sidewalk that wound around
the outskirts of the courtyard. Soft, white bulbs strung about the
shrubs illuminated the pathway. It was meant to be romantic, but
instead, it left my stomach tight.
The entire month there had
been a sort of resigned tension between Alex and me. After the stir
caused by Miles subsided, Wes and the others had gone home. School
was restored to order. Classes resumed. It all felt so
normal.
Then there was
Alex.
I don’t know what I’d expected my first day
back at training. Closeness over a shared near-death experience?
Distance caused by the secrets I still kept? I felt neither.
Alex was business as usual. Painfully
so.
It was as if none of it had happened. Or as
if he’d experienced it all separate from me somehow. He had a
singular focus: the hybrids were running around leaving a trail of
dead humans in their wake. A fact Alex made painfully clear in his
never-ending rants about how he couldn’t wait for the special team
selections. He was itching to hunt them. Except, unlike Wes, who’d
gone searching for hybrids willing to choose peace over death and
destruction, Alex would hunt to kill. No matter how hard I tried, I
couldn’t shake that.
“Are you enjoying the party?”
“It beats running.”
Alex chuckled. “I could’ve converted you if
I’d had more time.”
More time.
Tomorrow we’d go our separate ways. I
swallowed against the lump in my chest. “Alex …” I didn’t know how
to put any of it into words.
“Kane called me into the office today.”
“Oh.” I stopped. We were at the edge of the
courtyard now, closer to the trees than the cobbled path. Movement
caught my eye. I swiveled, muscles bunching. My body was more alert
for danger than my mind, though, because it took me a moment to
realize what I was seeing. “Logan?”
He broke from Victoria’s embrace. Even in
the dim light, I could see him flush. “Tara, hey.”
Victoria glared at me. “Is that my
dress?”
“My wardrobe is gone, remember? And you have
more than you need. Doesn’t it look nice?” I pivoted right, then
left, showing off the silky fabric that ended a little higher than
it should’ve since I was taller than its rightful owner.
“Breathtaking,” Alex agreed.
“Stay out of this, Channing. What are you
doing with her anyway? She’s rabid.”
“Lay off, Vic. Summer starts tomorrow. Kick
back. Relax,” Alex said.
“Evil never sleeps,” I muttered. Logan shot
me a dirty look. I lifted my eyebrows in mock innocence.
The animosity between Victoria and I was old
news. Since the incident with Miles, and more than that, since the
day she’d cried to me about her parents disappearing, there’d been
no more exploding bags of dog food. No more shredded clothes or
attempts to shave my eyebrows in my sleep. Although, she never
missed an opportunity to insult me in conversation, which was
almost daily since she and Logan were practically joined at the
mouth these days. I figured wearing her clothes was an even
trade.