Blood Rule (Book 4, Dirty Blood series) (3 page)

My blood injection had saved him, or
it had at the time. But then he’d fallen into a coma and by that
time we’d transported him here, a civilian hospital with a wing
paid for and dedicated to Hunters—CHAS didn’t skimp on health care.
And yet, the doctors were unable to coax him out of it.

I came every day. Sometimes twice,
when my music-fueled runs led me this far north. I didn’t know why.
The sight of Alex’s face, unmoving, pale, so devoid of anything
that made him Alex, always made my throat constrict and my chest
ache. And then there was the anger. I was furious. Still. After
days, and now weeks, of wondering whether he’d even get well, I
still found it in me to be mad at him for what he’d
done.

The hybrids weren’t happy with him
either. Maybe that was part of what fed my own anger. Their
irritation pricked whenever they found out this was where I’d been.
I told myself that was the reason I spent so much time with them.
That I did it to avoid their complaining and snarky remarks.
Because the truth was, I felt shaky and on edge when I stayed away
from them for too long. It was a fact I hadn’t admitted to anyone,
in case it wasn’t normal pack-alpha behavior. The last thing I
wanted was one more anomaly due to my weird blood
connections.

I made my way down the stretch of
hallway hidden behind a non-descript door that led to the Hunter’s
wing. I had the impression the civilian staff thought it was for
government agents, maybe spies. They weren’t wrong.

Alex’s door swung open easily and I
stepped inside. It looked the same as I’d left it the afternoon
before. Across the room, on the table underneath the window, sat a
large vase stuffed with carnations courtesy of Grandma. There’d
been a smaller vase with lilies from Logan and Victoria, but they’d
already died off and been removed. No one else had sent anything.
No one else ever came.

Grandma would if she wasn’t tied up in
CHAS business every day of the week. She’d been furious at Alex for
what he’d done but her anger wasn’t like the others. I knew she
cared about Alex despite his betrayal. That and she’d recovered her
Hummer. I suspected things might be different if she hadn’t. No
flowers, for one.

Grandma hadn’t said much about the
purpose of the meetings yet. She didn’t have to. I knew Gordon
Steppe was getting all he could out of his new prisoner. Not that I
expected Olivia to talk, but Gordon didn’t seem like the type to
give up easily. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be
concerned. Both Gordon and Olivia would do anything to see me fall.
And in Gordon’s case, that included taking down all members of The
Cause. But between the voices humming inside my head and the
unconscious boy in front of me, I couldn’t bring myself to care
very much about a crooked politician bent on exacting vengeance
from his corner office throne across the city.

I lowered myself into the chair and
stared at the boy I’d almost killed with my poisonous teeth.
Remembering that day always choked me up. The moment when I
realized it was Alex I’d sank my Werewolf teeth into. Coupled with
the realization he’d betrayed me by coming with a strike team of
Hunters and the intent to kill what was now my pack. I wasn’t sure
which broke my heart more—the fact that he hadn’t trusted me enough
to let me get Olivia on my own or that I’d almost killed him for
it.

I fought back the tears that burned at
the edges of my lids and dropped my face into my hands.

“
I’m so sorry, Alex,” I
whispered, remembering how the doctor had encouraged us to talk
because the sound of our voice could be comforting. “I know I did
this. It’s my fault. You can be mad if you want.” I hesitated,
wondering if it was okay to go off on a coma patient. But I’d held
it in all these days and I needed to vent. Even if it was to an
unconscious version of the boy I was angry at. “I’m mad, too. You
always said you trusted me to handle myself and then to go behind
my back … to bring in Kane …” The heat of guilt crept up my neck,
replacing the anger. It was cyclical. One replacing the other.
“Wake up so we can yell at each other and get on with it.
Please?”

There was no answer. I hadn’t expected
one.

I used my hand to wipe my eyes and
sat, staring without really seeing at the tubes that connected Alex
to the monitors above his bed. I didn’t really know what all of the
numbers meant but the steady beeping was better than focusing on
the hum inside my head or the ache inside my chest.

From the doorway, someone cleared
their throat. “I thought I’d find you here.”

I shifted in the chair, the cheap
cushion protesting my movements. Our eyes met and I attempted a
smile, knowing it didn’t fool him for a second. “Hi,” I
said.

Wes was across the room in three
steps. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I blinked
any lingering tears away and focused on the singular sense of
inhaling the scent of pine and rich dirt that clung to him
underneath his human cologne. The wolf in me couldn’t get enough of
that smell. The girl didn’t mind either one.

“
What are you doing here?”
I asked. “I thought you were leaving.”
And
you hate this room.

“
Jack sent Derek and Cord
instead,” Wes said, his mouth moving against my hair.

I looked up at him sharply, my stress
level spiking at his tone. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing. I think …” His
gaze was fixed on the wall behind me. “Cord needed to get away for
a while. Derek agreed to take her.”

I nodded, understanding the reason for
his worry. “I see the way she looks at them,” I said quietly. “They
make her think of the ones who killed Bailey, don’t
they?”

“
A little,” he
admitted.

Bailey had been like a little brother
to us all, but especially to Cord. She’d taken him under her wing
when she’d found him stuck in the foster care system and he’d been
like family to her ever since. A pack of hybrids, under orders from
Olivia, had attacked and killed him in an attempt to get to me.
Cord still hadn’t recovered from it. Not that I’d deemed her
mentally healthy before that, but Bailey’s death had really pushed
her into new territory.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want
to admit I was just as concerned for the hybrids’ safety as Cord’s
emotional state. Maybe more. I couldn’t help that I cared about
them, but I wasn’t sure how to explain that to Wes.

“
She needs a few days to
clear her head. She’ll be fine,” he added.

“
Did Cambria go with
them?”

Lately, she’d been attached to Derek’s
hip. I knew it was partly due to me being such poor company so I
couldn’t fault her. I spent most of my time either here at the
hospital or in the woods.

“
Yes. They’re stopping on
the way back so she can see her mom before school starts
again.”

“
CHAS released
her?”

“
I guess so.”

“
Cambria’s going to see
her mom? I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”

He shrugged. “I guess it happened too
fast. Her mom called yesterday and said something about meeting
up.”

“
Wow. That’s huge for
her,” I said.

CHAS had taken Cambria’s mother into
custody when she’d had too much to drink and let slip about the
world of Hunters and Werewolves in a very human bar. From the way
Grandma had sounded, I hadn’t expected a release anytime soon. “I
can’t believe Steppe let her go so easily.”

“
He’s got Olivia. His
attention is on bigger things now. I think Edie used that to her
advantage,” Wes said. At the mention of Steppe, his tone took on an
edge.

It reminded me of the first time I’d
met Gordon Steppe, director of the Council for Hunter Affairs and
Security, otherwise known as CHAS, the governing force behind all
Hunters. Steppe wasn’t the nicest guy and Wes had almost lost
himself and gone after the guy. It wouldn’t have been smart, since
Steppe already disliked Wes and was looking for a reason to
overlook the peace treaty that gave amnesty to all Werewolves who
belonged to The Cause. Wes had walked away that day but not without
further angering Steppe. I knew Steppe was still looking for his
reason.

“
I feel horrible. I
should’ve heard this from Cambria herself, not secondhand from you
after the fact. She’s been so worried about her mom. I’m such a
sucky friend lately.”

“
Don’t beat yourself up
about it. You’ve got a lot on your plate. She’ll be home in a few
days and you can catch up then.”

I sighed. “I can do that.”

I laid my cheek against his chest and
stared at Alex. It should’ve been strange or confusing to stare at
one while being held by the other, but it wasn’t. I’d made my
choice the day Wes had helped me save the guy who’d betrayed us
all, and I grew more certain of it as the days passed.

I missed Alex terribly. Our banter,
his sarcasm, my grumpiness, his twisted pleasure at my dislike of
exercise. There were little things, like the way he swiped a hand
over his face when he was frustrated with me or the way he bit his
lip in concentration when he hunted. But all of those things felt
more and more settled into a place of friendship. Like George. Or
maybe not quite like that. Certain memories still had the power to
make my insides twist—like the goodbye we’d shared during our last
night at Wood Point Academy. When he’d promised to always find me
and I told him he was my family. The first kiss we’d shared that
day in the woods. Or the second kiss, in the hotel room after he’d
rescued me from feral hybrids.

I felt mostly friendship toward Alex
Channing. Mostly.

But being held by Wes—that was
something I wouldn’t give up for anything or anyone. And when given
the choice I would choose Wesley St. John every single time. I
sighed and leaned harder against him.

His arms tightened around me. “You
spend too much time here. It’s making you sad.”

I didn’t answer.

Disjointed thoughts, voices that
weren’t my own, passed through my mind like a headline news ticker
on a television screen.

Exhaustion.

Jealousy.

Confusion.

Hunger.

“
I do need to get back,” I
said after hearing the last one. None of the hybrids had hurt
anyone yet but I didn’t want to take a chance. Usually, I kept
Chris close by whenever I came into town but today he was running
an errand for Fee. The hybrids were on their own at the camp we’d
set up in the woods behind Jack and Fee’s house. I didn’t want to
leave them hungry for too long.

“
We’ll go whenever you’re
ready.”

“
I have my car,” I said.
Normally, I ran in and caught a ride home with either Wes or
Grandma, but today I’d lost time breaking up the scuffle at camp so
I’d driven myself in.

“
I know. Jack dropped me
so we can ride back together.”

“
He wouldn’t come in?” I
tried to ignore the pang in my ribs. I understood their reasons for
hating Alex, but that made it harder to explain to them why I
didn’t share their sentiment.

“
He had stuff to do,” Wes
said.

It was a lie. But I let it
go.

“
Yeah, okay. We can—” A
new thought distracted me, this one more urgent than the others. I
concentrated, trying to understand. It was more emotion than words,
making it abstract and hard to read at first. Whatever was causing
it distressed the one experiencing it. Words formed, startling in
their clarity.

Master. Come
quickly.

I recognized the voice as Chris, my
second in command with the hybrids. I was better at reading him
than the others but it still unnerved me to hear a voice that was
clearly not my own inside my head.

The rest of his thoughts washed over
me. I shuddered, my jaw going slack.

“
We have to go,” I said,
stepping free of Wes to grab my stuff. I wound the cord to my
headphones into a messy ball and stuffed them in my
pocket.

“
What is it?” Wes
asked.

I cast one last look at Alex and
headed for the door, tugging Wes along with me. “It’s Vera,” I
said. “She collapsed.”

A spray of gravel flew in our wake as
the car careened around the sharp turn onto the driveway. We
narrowly missed clipping the bumper of Jack’s truck as Wes jerked
the car to a stop. He’d driven the entire way here with eyes on the
road but his focus on the updates I gave from Chris’s thoughts. I
breathed a small sigh as Wes pushed his door open and climbed
out.

With both feet planted firmly on the
ground, I eyed the faded paint on the hood. My car had never been
driven quite like that before—and I wasn’t entirely sure it was
going to move from this spot again. The engine—or some part
thereof—continued humming even after the car had been shut off.
Probably not a good sign.

“
How is she now?” Wes
asked as we hurried toward the house.

Before I could answer, the front door
opened and Chris stepped out. His eyes flickered to Wes and then
locked on mine as his thoughts passed to me.