Blood Lust (11 page)

She agreed, albeit reluctantly, but still fluttered beside
me like a doting mother hen as I made my way into the house and upstairs to my
room. By the time I’d gotten settled down on my bed, she was practically
squawking. “Do you need anything? Are you thirsty? When should we change your
bandages? Did he give you any antibiotics? Oh my goodness, I should have asked
him before we left.”

“I’m fine,” I said firmly. “I’m serious, I really am fine.
Please- please don’t make me feel any worse than I already do. I don’t want you
to worry over me. I feel like such a moron for disappearing like that. If I
hadn’t-“

“Eve, if you were your mother, I’d be tanning your hide
right now,” Gram interrupted me. “But you’re not. You’re you, and you’re one of
the most responsible teenagers I know. I know you never would have done
something like this intentionally. But let me do something. I just…feel so
useless right now.”

I couldn’t help but smile. How was it possible that either
of my parents didn’t get along with Gram? “If you really want to help, I’m
dying
to shave my legs. I was thinking
about taking a bath. Do you think you could run one for me?”

She immediately looked concerned. “Should you be shaving
your legs right now? With your injury?”

“Max said it’s okay, I just have to be careful not to get
any soap into the wounds that are still open.” It wasn’t technically a lie. Max
had said something similar to me the day after the attack.

While Gram was running the bath for me, I retrieved my phone
from beneath my rumpled sheets. There were texts from just about everybody I
knew- including both my parents. I groaned. “Gram, did you call Mom and Dad
about this?”

She emerged from the bathroom with a sheepish expression on
her face. “I’m sorry, honey. I had to let everyone know just in case someone
found you.”

I looked down at the string of text messages from my mom. As
time had stretched on and I still hadn’t responded, she’d turned downright
nasty, accusing me of trying to stress her out to get back at her for the
divorce.

“Would you mind calling Mom and letting her know I’m home
safe?” I asked Gram. “I’ll call Dad right now, but I don’t think I can handle
Mom.”

Gram’s lips pursed, but even she couldn’t deny that my
mother was difficult to deal with. “I’ll call her,” she said. “Is there
anything else you need before I run downstairs?”

“No. Thanks…for everything.” I wanted to say
for talking to Mom,
but I figured that
part was unnecessary.

I dialed my dad’s number and waited for him to pick up. It
rang four times before he answered. “Evie?” He sounded breathless.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Evie! Where have you been? Your
grandmother’s been worried sick about you!“

“I know, Dad. I’m so sorry. My doctor, Gram’s neighbor,
found me early this morning in the woods by his house.”

“In the woods!”

“I guess my fever got so bad it made me delirious. I ended
up wandering out into the woods and passing out.”

“You were in the woods for
two days?
Oh, Evie.”

“I’m okay, Dad. Really.”

I heard him shuffling papers around. “Well, I already booked
my flight out there for tomorrow. I’m coming to see you.”

Great. “Dad, that’s really not necessary. I’m fine, I
promise.”

“I’ve already paid for our tickets, Evie.”

Our
tickets. That
meant Anna was coming too, unless my dad had somehow miraculously patched up
his relationship with my mother, which didn’t seem likely. “Do I need to pick
you up from the airport or anything?” I made a face at the phone, wishing I
could somehow cancel his flight.

“No, we’ll be getting a rental car. I’m so glad you’re all
right, Eve. Anna and I were so worried.”

“Aw. Thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say. It would
probably be good to see my dad again, but I’d hoped for a little bit of time to
adjust to what had happened before having to deal with his drama, too. “Well,
I’ve gotta go, Dad. I’m pretty grubby and I need to take a bath.” I wasn’t grubby,
but I did need to shave my legs.

“Okay, sweetie. I’ll call you tomorrow. Did you call your
mother to let her know you were okay?”

“Grandma Sam is doing it. Mom seems pretty pissed.”

“Can you blame her?”

Just once, I wished my dad would side with me against my
mother. “I guess not, but it’s not like I meant for my fever to make me all
wonky and send me stumbling off into the forest for two days.”

He sighed heavily. “I’m just glad you’re all right.
Goodnight, Evie.”

“Goodnight, Dad.” I hung up the phone and walked into the
bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind me.

Mom texted me while I was in the middle of shaving my legs.
I rolled my eyes when I read the message.
U
could have called me urself. Glad ur okay. Don’t scare me like that again.

Sometimes it was like talking to a petulant five-year-old
with a smart phone.

Love u too,
I
texted back, and put my phone on the edge of the sink before I could get any
more shaving cream on the screen.

I thought back to what Max had said earlier, about alphas
choosing betas for their mates. I wondered why it was like that. Why couldn’t
an alpha choose an omega- or a human, for that matter?

Or a vampire?

 
I rolled my eyes at the annoying little
voice in the back of my mind. As much as I was attracted to Jericho, it would
be naïve to think that there was any future for our relationship. He’d made no
secret of the fact that he wasn’t staying long, and since the pack obviously
had some long-running vendetta against him, or at least the vampire that they
were mistaking him for, it didn’t seem likely that Jericho would want to extend
his visit for my sake. No matter how much I was lusting after him in the
meantime.

I paused while I was drying off my legs, and stared down at
my tanned skin. It was weird to think that last night, these same legs had been
bent backwards, covered in fur. It was outrageous to know that my body had the
ability to change into a wolf, and had already done it twice. I certainly
didn’t enjoy the process of the transformation, but still…there was something
undeniably cool about being a werewolf. I wondered wryly if I should even
bother shaving my legs anymore, then laughed out loud at my own private joke.

My phone buzzed as I was pulling on my pajama pants, and I
reached over to pick it up, expecting to see a response from my mom.

It was a number I didn’t recognize.

Did Gram finally leave
you alone? – Max

I shook my head, lips curving in a smile.
How did u get this number?

Gram sent it to
everyone on her contact list yesterday, apparently. I didn’t get her text till
just now.

I snorted. It wasn’t like my phone had been hidden, but if
the cops had searched my room, they’d done a poor job of it. Gram, too.
Obviously she’d thought I’d taken the phone with me when I’d left. Little did
she know that I was too busy trying not to eat her to even think of my cell
phone when I’d left the house.

I grimaced at the thought. Gross.
That’ll teach u to stay out of cell range. See all the excitement u
miss?

Oh yes,
the reply
came immediately.
Not every day I come
home to find a pretty girl locked in my basement.

He could have said
naked
girl
and I wouldn’t have been any more surprised. Was he trying to flirt
with me? I wrinkled my nose. It seemed wrong to flirt with Max. He was so much
older than me- although I supposed that in the world of werewolves, eleven
years was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Still, I didn’t feel that way
about Max. He was attractive, but…

But…

“He’s not Jericho,” I said out loud.

I sat down on my bed, feeling deflated. I am not the kind of
girl who falls head over heels for the wrong guy, especially not after only
meeting him twice.

And after spending a day and a half in the cell beside him,
and holding his hand, and losing myself in his silver eyes…

I texted Max furiously, trying to get my mind off Jericho.
Glad to hear u don’t make it a habit.

Do you mind if I stop
by tomorrow?
was his response.

I chewed on my lower lip.
Not sure. My dad is flying in with his GF and I have to work the PM
shift at the bookstore. Tomorrow might be kind of busy.
I didn’t have the
faintest clue what time my dad would be getting here, but I didn’t want Max’s
presence to complicate things. I was already in enough hot water without my dad
seeing me flirting with a tall, gorgeous man with hair down to his tailbone- a
man who was far closer to my dad’s girlfriend’s age than mine.

Gram knocked on the door. “All done?”

“Yes, you can come in.” I put my phone down on the
nightstand.

Gram glanced at it when she walked in, carrying a tray
bearing a bowl of soup, a glass of tea and some crackers. “Texting friends?”
she asked mildly.

“Max. He said you sent him my number yesterday, but he
didn’t get your text till just now.”

“I’ll never understand cell phones,” she said. “Where do you
want me to put this?”

I climbed into bed, grateful that I’d put on long pajama
pants so that she couldn’t see that my leg was completely healed. “Here, I’ll
just hold it in my lap. Thank you, Gram. I’m starving.”

“There’s more if you’re still hungry after you finish this.”
She sat down on my bed, watching as I took my first bite of the soup. It was
her creamy ham and potato recipe- my favorite. She must have had it cooking in
the crock pot all day.

“Did you and Max do a lot of talking today?” Gram asked
after a few moments.

I glanced up at her, and saw her looking at me out of the
corner of her eye, trying to be sly about the question. Warning bells went off
in my head. “We did,” I said slowly, trying to figure out a diplomatic
response. “He’s nice. I was actually hoping he might tempt Anna away from my
dad.” My forced laughter sounded fake, even to me.

“Oh, yes- your father. I forgot to tell you that he and Anna
are coming tomorrow. I offered the guest room to them, but they decided to stay
at Adoba.”

I hadn’t been to Adoba Eco Hotel yet, but it sounded
interesting. It definitely sounded more like a choice that Anna had made, and
not my dad. He probably would have picked Howard Johnson, which was where we’d
always stayed in the past when we visited Gram. Anna was definitely the more
environmentally-conscious of the two of them.

“That’s great. I’m excited to see them.” I fixed my eyes on
my soup bowl and continued eating. I was actually surprised that Gram had
bothered to extend the offer of the guest room- she and my dad had never really
gotten along. But she’d probably made the offer when I was still missing. Well.
If the animosity between Dad and Gram had lessened because of this whole
ordeal, at least one good thing had come out of it.

I could feel Gram’s eyes on me as I ate, which was awkward,
but I tried to ignore it. I nibbled delicately on a cracker, trying to think of
something to say that would distract her. Finally I swallowed my food and said
bluntly, “Gram, I’m not going to hook up with Max, if that’s what you’re
hoping. He’s way older than me.”

“Your grandfather was twelve years older than me.”

“Ew. I don’t want to think about you and Grandpa…well,
whatever. It’s not just the age difference. I’m really not interested.”

“Why not, Eve?”

Why not?
Why not?
“I’m…just
not attracted to him that way. He’s good-looking, yeah, but not my type.”

“Honey, you’re eighteen. You don’t have a type yet.”

Yes, I did. Tall and gorgeous. Brown hair, cleverly spiked,
but soft enough to run my fingers through. Silver eyes that matched the studs
in his ears. Abs that made me want to glide my lips over them.

Oh, good grief!
I
was starting to creep myself out. Imagine fantasizing about a guy with your
grandmother sitting right on the edge of your bed. “I’m not interested in
dating yet. By the time I get to law school, I’m not going to have any time for
a relationship.” That sounded more like the old Eve- the Eve that had planned
to attend NYU, the Eve who had completed a map of her entire life before her
sophomore year in high school had even started.

“Oh, Evie.” Grandma leaned over to kiss my forehead as she
took my tray. “Sometimes you are entirely too much like your mother.”

Mom got married right
out of high school,
I wanted to say.
We
are nothing alike.
But I didn’t say it. She was probably just referring to the
fact that Mom always did things on her own schedule. I smiled at Gram and
pulled my quilt up over my legs. “Do you think you could turn out the light,
Gram? I’m so tired.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight.” As she pulled my door shut, I was grateful to finally
have some time alone. I love Gram dearly, but she wasn’t going to be able to
help me stomach everything that was going on in my life. I couldn’t even tell
her the truth.

Max, on the other hand…

He was willing to be a shoulder to lean on. Although I
couldn’t decide if he was flirting with me or not, I supposed there wasn’t any
harm in it. He’d already made his intentions clear earlier when he’d offered to
introduce me to other betas. He wouldn’t have done that if he’d meant to seduce
me himself.

Clearly I was just overreacting.

Tell me something,
I
texted him.

You’re not my alpha
yet. I don’t have to take orders from you until you claim leadership of the
pack,
came the playful reply.

Ok. I claim leadership
of the pack. Tell me something.

It doesn’t work that
way,
he wrote back, much too serious for the conversation I wanted to have.
You have to claim leadership of the pack
at the same time you select your beta. Then I follow orders from you. No
sooner.