Blood Rule (Book 4, Dirty Blood series) (7 page)

The beeping had embedded itself inside
my brain. It mixed with the hum of voices that permeated my
subconscious until the whole thing became some strange techno beat.
I hated techno.

Alex was the same; stable yet
unreachable. I’d checked in on him earlier and now I was sitting at
Vera’s bedside in a room identical to Alex’s, right down to the
matching beep of the equipment that read her vital signs. Her beeps
came fewer and farther between than his. Not a good sign. And her
cheeks were pale. Too pale. If I looked closely enough, I could see
the purple veins that ran across her eyelids. Her chest barely rose
and fell with each breath.

Her hair was disheveled, probably from
being jostled when they’d brought her in. For some reason, that
bothered me most. The Vera I knew would never have messy hair. Even
in the weeks she’d spent inside her room at Fee’s, barely strong
enough to walk from the bed to the couch, she’d always had her
silver hair combed to perfection. I blinked and looked away, sad
for so much more than the state of Vera’s hair.

Beep ... Beep.

The voices in my head hummed. Many of
them were thinking of Nick, not necessarily sad. More like
cautious. Concerned. They knew what’d happened without me
explaining. They could sense their own darkness and the threat it
represented. We all knew any one of them could be next. A lump
settled somewhere between my throat and chest.

I pressed my fingers to my temples and
squeezed.

“
Tara?”

My head snapped up. “Mom.”

She hadn’t come in until late last
night. I’d already been tucked in bed, halfway between asleep and
pretending to be. I hadn’t wanted to tell her about Nick. I wasn’t
ready to take on her stress over the whole thing. But this—Vera
being sick—I could share this.

Something about the fear of losing
someone you cared about to the soundtrack of a hospital computer
monitor made it easy to put aside months—or even years—worth of
differences. All I wanted was to hug my mother. And for her to hug
me back.

She welcomed me with open arms. I slid
into them and squeezed out all of my fear and uncertainty and
stress. I squeezed for all of the noise in my head and
responsibility on my shoulders. And for all of the things I
couldn’t share with a mom who loved me in a way that meant she
wanted no part in the life I’d chosen for myself.

My mother was a Hunter by blood, not
lifestyle. A choice she’d made for herself when I’d been a baby and
my life was threatened. For a long time, I’d assumed her refusal to
acknowledge that side of her had to do with protecting me. Here I
was knee-deep in Werewolf and Hunter politics with a peace-seeking
group that had no problem using violence as a means to the end and
she still wouldn’t budge. She’d rather stay home scrubbing ovens
and countertops to counteract an anxiety that I suspected had more
to do with losing my father all those years ago than seeing me in
danger.

The longer I watched her with Wes, the
more I became convinced of it. She didn’t hide her disapproval of
him, nor was she very nice about it. But she’d let some things slip
and I wasn’t entirely sure it was about Wes anymore so much as my
future with someone non-human. When it came to me, my mother was a
fan of boring.

Boring meant safe. And making safe
decisions. I sucked at boring.

But she was my mother and I loved
her.

She held me and smoothed my hair until
I was ready to let go. When I pulled back and smiled at her, there
were tears in her eyes.

“
Mom, are you okay?” I
asked.

“
Yes,” she said, smiling
through the glassy sheen. “Worried for Vera. And what you must be
going through. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I had to wait on
a last-minute customer. We’ve been swamped lately.”

“
It’s fine,” I assured
her. “I heard you come in late last night too. I wanted to let you
rest.”

My mother owned a flower shop in
downtown Frederick Falls. She’d opened it when I was little and
always managed the shop and me all on her own. Despite all the
secrets between us, I was proud of her for all she’d accomplished
as a single mother.

“
How is she?” she asked,
frowning over my shoulder at Vera.

“
Not good.” I swallowed
hard. “They said there’s nothing else they can do for
her.”

My mother squeezed my hand and walked
slowly toward the bed. She rested her free hand on Vera’s forehead,
gently smoothing the hair back.

“
She looks so fragile,”
she murmured.

“
I wish they could figure
out what’s wrong,” I said. “These are Hunter doctors. Shouldn’t
that mean something?”

“
Vera’s condition is tied
to her ability, hon. When it comes down to it, magic and medicine
aren’t the same.”

I sighed. I didn’t like that answer.
“Have you heard from Grandma?” I asked.

I caught the hint of hesitation before
she said, “Yes. She’s battling rush-hour traffic. She’ll be here as
soon as she can.”

My mom and Grandma were a little like
oil and water. It made me wish I’d known my grandpa, so it would
make sense how one could produce the other.

“
And the meetings?” I
asked. “Did she say any more about what they decided to do with
Olivia?” Or me? I didn’t add that part. My mom didn’t need to be
reminded.

“
No. She said it’s better
left quiet for now.”

I nodded, unsurprised at her answer.
Grandma didn’t exactly confide in my mother even when things
weren’t hush-hush. Their relationship was one that worked best from
long distances with minimal conversing. Confined spaces brought out
the claws. I tried not to be around when that happened. Since
Grandma had come to stay with us, that wasn’t always
possible.

But with Olivia in custody and all of
the meetings CHAS had called, she was rarely home lately. She
stayed in an apartment in DC most weeknights so her commute wasn’t
so bad. She’d offered to let me stay there too, so I could be close
to the hospital, but I refused. I’d rather deal with traffic than
take the chance of being away from the pack if something
happened.

“
She said she has some
questions for you. She’ll find you later,” Mom added.

This was news. Grandma had yet to
really question me on anything that’d happened that day. She’d been
there when I’d given my initial recounting of events and that had
been good enough for her. It made me wonder what had changed to
make her want to bring it up again. The thought of Steppe having
made any sort of progress in his witch hunt exhausted
me.

“
Fine,” I said.

Something about my tone, the weariness
in it, must’ve caught my mother’s attention. She turned away from
Vera to study my face. “Have you been here long?”

I shrugged. “I sat with Alex for a
couple of hours before coming in here.”

“
I’ll sit with Vera. Go
grab some food and fresh air. Hopefully Grandma will be here when
you get back.”

“
Mom, I’m
fine—”

“
Humor me. There aren’t
any kitchen appliances to scrub if my worry spikes.”

I smiled at that. “All right. You want
me to bring you something?”

“
No, I’m fine. Go,” she
said, waving me away.

I hesitated a moment longer, watching
as she pulled a chair across the scuffed linoleum and sat next to
the bed. In profile, I was struck by how much my mother resembled
Vera. I’d never noticed, although I’d never really looked either.
The shape of her chin and nose, slim and narrow and almost regal in
the way they held their heads up, made it impossible to deny the
relation.

It made me sad. I’d only recently come
to know Vera and already, I was losing her.

I was always losing people.

As I made my way down the hall, my
phone rang. I fumbled with it a moment, my fingers clumsy in their
haste to silence it inside the hospital’s walls. The two nurses at
the desk shot me dirty looks but I ignored them once I read the
incoming name. I accepted the call with a smile and quickened my
pace, heading for the closest exit.

“
Hey, Angela,” I
said.

“
Tara, wow, it’s good to
hear your voice. How are you? What did I miss? Any change? Is he
awake?”

Angela had been gone for the past ten
days. Family vacation. Even though she’d been allowed to keep her
memories and knowledge of my world, family vacation was sacred.
She’d had to leave and forfeit cell phone reception since towers
were scarce in the part of Mexico her family visited. She’d tried
calling a few times but it was always so patchy and full of static,
I wasn’t sure how much of my words got through.

It was good to hear her voice,
uninterrupted by static and dead air.

“
Sam’s got a new crush,” I
said.

Angela snorted. “I asked what I
missed,” she said and we both laughed.

Sam had stayed but I hadn’t really
spoken to her much. She remembered nothing since Wes did his
memory-wiping thing, probably good after her breakdown the night
Olivia’s hybrids went after her and Angela. Alex had saved them
both and been rewarded with a stab in the leg from Angela, who
didn’t know whether he was a friend or enemy in the confusion and
shock of all she’d seen.

The blast of warm air on my cheeks as
I exited the hospital helped too. “No change,” I told her. She
sighed and I sensed her disappointment. I appreciated her concern
for Alex. It was amusing to see a sort of friendship developing on
her end, especially after she’d basically tried to kill him.
“There’s something else, too.”

I told her about Vera and Nick,
abbreviating the second part as much as possible, downplaying the
violence that had overcome him at the end. I didn’t want to scare
her, but I needed to vent. I paced back and forth on the sidewalk
that led to the parking garage. The area was empty of foot traffic,
but I kept my voice low anyway.

“
I think I need to move
them but I have no idea where,” I said.

“
Tara, I hate to say it,
but even if you move them, if they lose themselves and go off the
deep end, there will always be a town close enough for them to hurt
someone.”

Angela’s words were gentle, but the
stark truth of them still stung. She was right. There was nowhere I
could take them that would protect the rest of the world, not
completely. And what about protecting them from themselves? If one
of them lost it, I felt the pain like it was my own. Even now, with
my mind engaged in conversation with Angela and the worry for Vera
and Alex that lay under that, I could still hear the hum of voices
and feel the emotions of the pack as they settled in for the night.
There was no escaping the bond.

Or the almost subconscious hunger they
all struggled with, for something they kept telling themselves they
couldn’t have. What happened when one of them stopped believing
that?

“
You’re right, but I … I
can’t let them hurt others. Or themselves. I feel it all,
Ang.”

“
That must be exhausting,”
she said. “Is that Chris guy still helping?”

“
Yes. They listen to him.
And George. He’s a big help.”

“
George, a big help. Who
would’ve guessed? How’s he doing?”

“
George is great. Better
than great. He loves being a Werewolf and now that he’s got his
shifting under control, he’s back home with his
parents.”

“
They didn’t wonder where
he’d been?”

“
Sports camp, remember,” I
said wryly.

“
They bought
it?”

“
Wes may have helped sell
it,” I said cryptically, but Angela chuckled. We both knew what
that meant. “Things are good for him now. He even has a few wolfy
admirers.”

“
George is being
responsible
and
moving on from Tara Godfrey? We’ve officially entered the
Twilight Zone.”

“
I don’t think he’s
noticed his admirers.”

“
Maybe someone should
point them out.”

“
One thing at a time.
Let’s be happy the moving on part is happening.”

Angela laughed. “Agreed. And the bond
between you?”

“
Crystal clear. Always
on.”

“
How’s Wes doing with
that?”

“
How do you
think?”

“
Struggling.”

“
Good guess,” I said and
she laughed. “No, really, he’s good, he’s—”

A hand closed over my shoulder and I
jumped and whirled around. It was Wes. With Grandma behind him—and
something about Grandma’s expression made me nervous.

“
He’s here, actually. Let
me call you back.”

“
Okay. Is it all right if
I come by the hospital tomorrow? Can you get me in to see
Alex?”

“
Um, I can try.” I had no
idea how I’d get a human into the Hunter wing, but that was
something I could figure out later. “Call me when you’re heading
over and I’ll meet you.”