Blood Bond (2 page)

“I was relaxing just fine until you and
Barking Barbie showed up,” Victoria said.

Alex laughed, and this time I shot him a
dirty look. “Sorry,” he said, still grinning.

“Are you guys passing through or should we
pick another spot for privacy?” Logan asked, giving me a pointed
look.

I opened my mouth, snarky comment at the
ready.

“We were just leaving.” Alex took my elbow
and led me away before I could protest. Victoria said something I
couldn’t hear and Logan shook his head like he was too beaten to
argue. “Let it go,” Alex said as we headed for the woods.

A few steps in, the light from the string of
bulbs faded and blackness closed in. My eyes adjusted quickly so
that shadowy stalks rose around us and the trees ran closer
together. Alex stepped off the path; I had to watch my step to keep
from tripping over undergrowth. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t
see past his shoulders in front of me. I knew where he was headed.
My heels crunched over the gravel that led to the shed.

“I can’t believe it. Logan and Victoria,” I
said, shaking my head.

“Definitely an unexpected pair,” Alex
agreed.

Something about the way he said it sent a
warm ripple over my skin. Part of me wanted to confess how much I
would miss him. How even though my feelings for Wes had only
solidified after all we’d been through, it hurt to think about
being separated from Alex. Especially when I had no idea if we’d
ever see each other again. But I couldn’t say that. It was against
the rules we’d set, and I refused to be the first to break
them.

Instead, I picked up our earlier
conversation. “What did Kane want?”

Alex didn’t answer until we’d reached his
work-in-progress—a shabby pickup truck. Tools were strewn around
the bed and tailgate, which was permanently down since the hinges
were rusted out. He picked up a wrench, twirling it deftly in his
hand.

“I got picked up for special teams,” he
said.

“Oh.” It was the same response I’d given
before we’d been interrupted, but I didn’t know what else to say.
This was the moment he’d been waiting for all month, the moment I’d
been dreading.

Special teams were what they called the
Hunters being sent by CHAS to search out the crazed hybrids Miles
had created and then loosed. Some were capable of becoming human at
will, some weren’t. All of them had these weird, yellowish eyes.
When you looked into them, even into their farthest depths, you
were struck by their lack of humanity. But, despite their
viciousness and thirst for blood, most of them had been Hunters
once—some were friends and family to the very same Hunters who
searched with orders to kill on sight.

Hopefully, Wes, Jack, and Cord would find
them first. If they could get the hybrid to swear allegiance to The
Cause, legally they couldn’t be touched by CHAS. They were neutral.
Or so we hoped. So far, neither side had located a single one of
them.

It was a wedge between Alex and me, his
wanting to join these teams. The fact that he was volunteering to
kill something that represented a part of me—a bigger part than I
was willing to admit—was hard.

“Which team?” I asked quietly.

“A scouting team to start, but if I do
well,” he shrugged, “I should be promoted quickly.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice, and stared
at a pile of nuts and bolts on the tailgate.

He sighed and dropped the wrench. “Say
something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but your silence is weirding
me out. Usually you just yell or wave your arms or something.”

“I’ll remember that for
future arguments.” As soon as I said it, my eyes watered.
What
future
? This
was it.

“Tara …” Alex took my hand.

“Don’t,” I whispered, but he ignored it and
laced his fingers through mine.

“I’ll miss you. Will you miss me?”

All I could do was nod. He leaned closer,
his eyes on my mouth. His free hand traced an invisible line down
my jaw and rested on my shoulder. I held my breath, sure he was
going to kiss me. I had no idea what I would do if he did. My feet
became anchors, holding me in place.

At the last minute before our lips touched,
he exhaled. His breath was warm on my lips before he leaned away.
He let go of my hand and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me
into a tight embrace. I hugged him back and tried to ignore the
sting in my eyes and throat. We didn’t move for a long time.

When he spoke again, his voice was rough.
“This is harder than I thought it would be.”

“For me too.” It was easier to talk standing
in his arms, without him looking at me. “Alex? Will I see you
again?”

“Absolutely.”

“Promise?”

He pulled away, facing me squarely. His
hands rested on my arms. “I’m going to tell you something, and then
I’m going to walk away because it’s late and also because I don’t
want you to feel like you have to say anything.”

“Okay.”

“I love you, Tara Godfrey. I love you so
much that I walk around breathless from the exertion. No, don’t
talk,” he said when I opened my mouth to respond. “Just listen. I
don’t have family. I don’t get attached. It’s easier that way.
Which is what I kept telling myself about you, but it happened
despite my best efforts to prevent it. It’s not going away and it’s
not fading. If anything, it’s gotten worse.

“I understand you have
feelings for me but you
love
him. The only option that leaves me with is
hunting hybrids. And even though you hate the idea, it’s not what
keeps us apart.”

“Alex, I—”

“No, don’t.” He attempted a
smile but it looked pained. “I’ll see you again. I’ll
always
see you again. No
matter how much you hate what I do in between. I also suck at
goodbyes. So …” He dropped his hands from my shoulders and buried
them in his pockets. When they were safely tucked, he leaned in and
planted a kiss halfway between my mouth and my cheek. It was quick,
chaste, his expression strained. How much had that cost
him?

“I’m going to head back. Get some sleep. I
leave early so you won’t see me in the morning. Bye, Tara.”

He spun on his heel and began a long retreat
down the gravel path that led back to school. I stood there, torn
between wanting to respect his wishes and needing to give him what
I could. The ache won out. My dress flared up around my legs as I
sprinted. I held it down and kept running.

“Alex, wait!”

I threw myself into his arms. He staggered
backwards before catching his balance, holding me to him and
lifting my feet off the ground. He didn’t complain that I’d come
after him.

I wrapped my arms tightly around his
shoulders, burying my face in his neck. I breathed in his scent of
outdoors and bar soap and committed it to memory.

“Be careful,” I said when he finally lowered
me to my feet. “And—you’re my family, too.” His expression clouded.
“I know you said not to respond.” I grabbed his jacket lapels to
brace myself and rushed on, not caring whether the gesture was
right or not. “I just had to say that, so you know it’s mutual. No
matter what.” I squeezed my eyes against all of the rest that I
couldn’t respond to and added only, “Always find me, okay?”

“Okay.” His voice was hoarse. His hands
closed over mine, gently removing my fingertips from his jacket
front. “I have to go.”

“See you later, Alex.” I dropped my hands
from his.

This time I let him leave.

Chapter Two

I couldn’t work up the motivation to return
to the party. I wandered, surprised at all of the memories that
sprang to mind as I passed various locations on the grounds.
Vincent Hall library, where I spent more and more time these days
on the computer, emailing Sam and Angela even though their
responses were fewer and fewer.

The courtyard, which I still avoided at all
costs because even though Victoria’s torture had subsided, most
other kids still called me “mutt” or tried to trip me when I walked
by. I’d grown used to it enough to ignore it most days. Like an old
shoe.

Then there was Lexington Hall and the dorm
nestled underneath it, both of which felt like home, even after
only a couple of months. It would be strange to sleep in my own bed
again.

My phone rang, startling me since it rarely
had a signal unless I was on the rooftop of Griffin Hall. I pulled
it from my bra, where Cambria insisted all girls tucked their cells
in the absence of purse or pockets, and read the incoming
number.

“Hi, Grandma. What’s up?”

“Just checking on you. How’s your last night
at school? I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“You didn’t interrupt anything.”

After the Miles-slash-hybrid fiasco, Grandma
and Mom had driven up several times. Mom, so she could lecture me
and hug me and shake me for scaring the crap out of her. Grandma,
so she could throw her influence around with CHAS and make sure
they got a new security person out here to handle the wards in
Vera’s place.

During their whirlwind stays, I’d felt the
weight of Grandma’s sharp eyes more than once when Alex was around.
She suspected something more between us, and I had a feeling as
much as she liked Wes, she was pleased with the idea.

“How’s George?” I asked, changing the
subject to the only reason I called home anymore.

“He’s holding up.”

“Is Fee’s healing preventing the change?” I
asked.

“It’s slowing things down a great deal but,
honey, I don’t think there’s anything that can stop it.”

I ignored that. I couldn’t think about such
a scary possibility when I was so far away. “What is everyone in
town saying? Have you spoken to his mother?”

“Your momma says George convinced his own
that he was going away to some training camp for sports this
summer.”

“That’s good.” I exhaled.

When I’d made arrangements for Fee to care
for George while we figured out his condition, I hadn’t taken his
family into account. As far as they knew, he’d taken a weekend road
trip here to see me. No big deal. But by the time he’d gone home,
he’d been the victim of a syringe-induced change that would
eventually make him a Werewolf—a human-wolf hybrid creation,
courtesy of the late and creepy Miles DeLuca.

If we were lucky, George would survive.

Miles had sounded certain that George’s
change would end in death—unless I shared my blood with him. Even
then there was no guarantee. Miles had a problem with full
disclosure. I could only imagine what sort of reaction George would
have to an injection of my DNA. It could make him worse, or speed
things up. I’d decided to hold off until we could learn more about
the possible side effects of such a treatment.

“Don’t worry about anything happening here
until you get back. I’ll see you tomorrow around lunchtime. We’ll
figure things out then. Oh, and so you know, Vera asked to catch a
ride back with us. She’s going to Fee’s for the summer.”

“Good. She shouldn’t be driving on her own,”
I said.

Vera Gallagher, built like sinew, was a
powerful Hunter with an extra-sensory gift that allowed her to do
various forms of magic. That probably wasn’t the right word, but
there wasn’t anything better. She could do locator spells, though
they seemed to work only on Hunters, and weave wards, a protective
but invisible barrier that kept Werewolves out of a designated
space. Vera’s official job, besides being a leader of The Cause,
had been to maintain the wards that protected Wood Point from
Werewolves and any other unwanted visitors. The wards also kept
this place off the map for humans.

But Vera was sick. A mysterious illness had
taken hold, slowly robbing her of her magic, and the wards failed.
After the breach with Miles and the hybrids, everyone agreed the
best thing was for Vera to step down.

“How’s she feeling? Have you seen her?”
Grandma asked.

“Um, I had tea with her a couple of days
ago. She seems all right.”

Vera was my great aunt. I’d found her name
in my family tree during my lineage project and confronted her
about it. She’d admitted the relation and ever since, it seemed
like she was edging toward developing some sort of friendship with
me. Every time I sat down with her, I felt like I was facing
aristocracy. I hadn’t visited often, but I didn’t tell Grandma
that.

“Hopefully, her strength is up. It’s a long
trip home and it’s bound to tire her,” said Grandma. “You make sure
to rest up too.”

“I will. Oh, there’s something else I’ve
been meaning to ask you. Who is Astor DeLuca?”

Grandma whistled, long and
low. “I haven’t heard that name in … wait, where did
you
hear it?”

“Oh, um.” Miles had given me the name just
before Cord killed him to save me. I hadn’t mentioned that fact to
Grandma yet. I’d decided I wouldn’t until I knew who he was. It
wasn’t that I didn’t trust Grandma—I didn’t trust Miles. “I came
across it during my lineage research for school. Apparently we’re
related?”

“Huh. Well, I guess the closest thing is
uncle. He’s the younger brother of your grandfather, on your
father’s side.”

My head spun as I struggled to connect the
branches. “So, great uncle then?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Anyway, he’s always
been a little … detached, we’ll say. Genius on paper, but not all
his screws are properly tightened.”

“He’s crazy?”

“And unpredictable to boot. Nobody’s seen
him in years because he never leaves his house. Good thing, too,
since CHAS would probably have a fit if he did.”

“What do you mean?”

“Years ago, he was experimenting with the
properties in metal that allow us to kill Werewolves. There was an
accident and a girl died. Ever since then, we all steer clear.”