Blood Rule (Book 4, Dirty Blood series) (8 page)

“
Sounds good.”

As soon as I disconnected, Grandma
pulled my face close and planted a kiss on my cheek. That, more
than anything else, let me know something was up. Grandma wasn’t
the type to display affection unless there was a reason.

I slid my hand into Wes’s. “What’s
up?” I asked.

“
Your momma said you need
to eat,” Grandma said.

“
I was on my way when
Angela called. What’s going on? I know you didn’t come all the way
out here to lecture me on missing a meal.”

She stared at something over my
shoulder, as if considering her next words carefully. I glanced at
Wes for some clue. From the glow of the white lights lining the
landscape beside us, his eyes sparkled with things
unspoken.

Grandma looked back at me. “Let’s go
eat.”

I knew better than to
argue.

We wound up in the hospital cafeteria.
I wasn’t hungry enough to care how bad the food might be here and I
didn’t want to waste any more time. It was clear Grandma had
something to say and that she wasn’t going to say it until we were
settled at a table with a plate in front of us.

I ordered a cold-cut sandwich. It
looked the safest. The hot food, a turkey and gravy entrée that
looked as if it’d been sitting for longer than Alex had been here,
made my stomach recoil. Wes bought himself a soda, no food. Grandma
didn’t seem to care whether he ate. I gave him a dirty
look.

We found seats in the corner of the
room, closed off by a loudly humming vending machine. Grandma
watched me expectantly so I took a bite of the sandwich and made a
production of chewing.

“
Tell me,” I said around a
mouthful of food.

It must’ve satisfied her because she
finally began. “They started the inquiry into the events in the
woods,” she said.

I frowned. “I thought they’ve been
doing that.”

“
No, not officially. We’ve
been digging farther back, trying to figure out what Olivia’s been
doing with herself all these years, her connection to Miles and all
that.”

“
She’s his mother. What
other connection do they need?”

“
How she met Leo. When her
intentions turned nefarious. Did she know what Miles and Leo
intended to do with the hybrids? Did she have a hand in the actual
kidnapping and turning of Hunters and humans?”

“
Obviously I would make a
terrible investigator. What’s the story?”

“
She didn’t know. At
least, not until it was too late. Her contact with Miles was very
recent. Hadn’t spoken to Leo in years. I don’t think Leo ever
intended to make a relationship out of it. He wanted offspring.
Mixed offspring.” Grandma’s eyes flickered to Wes. “Leo might’ve
been the first to do it but he never said a word to anyone. Even
after the attack and your parents—he never said a word. We always
thought you two were it.”

“
Why didn’t Olivia come
forward?” I asked. “She must’ve realized at some point that Leo
wanted a son so he could use him. And her.”

“
I think she tried to stay
hidden. Protect Miles from Leo. It worked for a while, but then Leo
found them and took Miles.”

“
And she still didn’t ask
for help? She’s a Hunter. CHAS would’ve gladly gone after Leo on
her word.”

Grandma shook her head. “She’d been an
outcast for so long. You have to remember how it was back then. She
was a Hunter. Leo was a Werewolf. It was even harder than it is
now. Her family disowned her. Every Hunter she’d ever known shunned
her.”

“
So she took to the woods
with Miles and never looked back,” I finished. It sounded
surprisingly similar to my mother’s story. She’d been a Hunter
who’d married a Werewolf and when he was gone, she’d run. Far and
fast and never looked back. All to protect me.

Grandma nodded. “Today marked the
first day of the inquiry regarding her run-in with you.”

“
Run-in? That’s what
they’re calling it?” I said around the mouthful of stale
bread.

“
Tara,” Grandma warned. I
shut up. Under the table, Wes squeezed my knee.

I swallowed. “How bad is
it?”

“
Right now? Not horrible.
But they’re still asking questions. Problem is, none of the answers
are going to make it better. You’re part Werewolf. And you can
shift now. You’re alpha to an entire pack of man-made hybrid
Hunter-wolves whose grasp on their own humanity is tenuous at best.
And you attacked one of the most skilled Hunters of your generation
and almost killed him.”

My chest tightened in response to the
last part.

“
Basically,” she finished,
“they want your head.”

We all took a deep breath. I took
another bite of my sandwich. Chewed. Swallowed. “Oh, well, if
that’s all,” I said finally.

Grandma glared.

“
I thought you said it
wasn’t horrible,” I said.

“
It isn’t. Right now they
don’t have the legal authority to come get your head.”

“
Lucky me.”

“
In other words, it could
be worse,” she said, still glaring.

I hated seeing her angry, especially
when it was aimed at me. My shoulders sagged. “What can I do?” I
asked.

“
Absolutely nothing,” she
said. “And I mean it. Lay low. Do not call attention. Do not break
another rule. I don’t care if it’s the golden rule. Behave. And let
me figure this out.” She rubbed at her temples, a gesture I rarely
saw from her. Grandma was obviously stressed beyond the norm. I
hated that I was the cause.

“
All right. I can do
that,” I said. “I wish I could do more to fix it.”

“
They shouldn’t view you
as the bad guy here,” Wes said. “There are more important things to
focus on. Like Olivia. And what happened to the formula Miles used
to create them in the first place. Or your blood and how it can
heal the hybrids. I mean, shouldn’t we find out what else it can
do?”

Grandma shook her head. “Steppe
doesn’t care about any of that right now. His priority is
dismantling The Cause. Or at least making them susceptible to
Hunter law.”

“
The law is cruel,” Wes
said.

“
Then it and Steppe are
made for each other.” I dropped my napkin onto my plate, over my
half-eaten sandwich.

“
Tara, you should eat,”
Grandma said.

“
I’m not that
hungry.”

“
You should try,” she
argued.

“
I will. Later. Promise,”
I added when her brow rose. “I want to see Vera again.”

Wes grabbed the unopened bag of chips
off my tray. “How about a compromise? You can eat these while you
sit with Vera.”

I looked to Grandma for approval.
“Deal,” she said.

I shoved back from my chair. Grandma
and Wes did the same.

Outside the door to Vera’s room, my
mother was speaking with someone. A large man with pants too tight
in the waist, yet somehow loose everywhere else. Even with his back
turned, he was familiar, though it was odd seeing my mother
speaking to a man—it so rarely happened. I slowed, trying to place
him. Grandma passed me by and walked up to them.

“
Hello, Vernon,” she
said.

He turned to greet her, his face
reddening with the attention. Headmaster Whitfield, the principal
of Wood Point Academy. What was he doing here? Maybe he came for
Vera?

He gave Grandma a tight smile and then
turned to me. “Miss Godfrey, good evening,” he said. A large manila
envelope was tucked under his arm. It had words printed on the
front in letters too small to read.

“
Hello. Did you come to
see Vera?” I asked.

“
Well, err, yes, that is
...” He seemed ruffled by the question. I eyed the envelope. “That
and to speak with you. May I have a word?”

“
Sure,” I
agreed.

I didn’t move. I had a bad feeling
about that envelope.

He lifted a brow, glancing beside me
at Wes. “In private?” he added.

“
I’m good here,” I said
firmly. Wes tightened his grip on my hand.

“
Very well.” He freed the
envelope from underneath his ample arm and extended it to me. I
took it.

He cleared his throat. “My handing you
this letter shall be official service of notice of removal. You are
forthwith no longer a student of Wood Point Academy due to your
ineligibility and your recent assault on a former student. An
appeal may be made within ten days if you choose and a hearing
scheduled.

“
Otherwise, your records
may be forwarded to an institution of your choice. No ill bearing
has been made upon your academic records, nor will the reason for
your removal be disclosed to a civilian. Should you have any
questions regarding this decision, an inquiry may be made in
writing to the board. The contact information is provided in your
separation packet.”

By the time he’d finished, his face
was flushed and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. He threw a
nervous glance at Grandma. “Sorry, Edie,” he mumbled. “It wasn’t up
to me.”

“
Of course,” she said. Her
words were gracious enough, but they were spoken through tight
lips.

“
I’ll be going now,”
Headmaster Whitfield mumbled. The change in his pockets jingled as
he hurried off.

“
You’ll hear from me,” she
called after him.

He lifted a hand in a final wave and
disappeared around the corner.

The envelope was flimsy in my hand. I
didn’t bother opening it or even looking at it. Instead I stared
blankly at the wall in front of me. “Did I just get
expelled?”

“
I think you did,” Wes
said.

“
Again,” my mother
added.

I winced. Two schools in less than a
year. I was on a roll.

Some twisted and traumatized corner of
my brain wanted to throw my head back and laugh. Expelled. Again.
It was hilarious in a so-not-funny-and-actually-sort-of-pathetic
kind of way.

Reluctantly, I turned to face my mom
and Grandma. Both of them wore hard expressions. My mother twisted
her hands together, a sign her anxiety had spiked.

I had absolutely no idea what to say.
I couldn’t even be happy about it. All the time I’d spent hating
being so far away from home, the bullying and mean comments from my
classmates because of what I was. Dirty blood, mixed, impure. It
was a relief not to have to go back again, but the look on my
mother’s face overshadowed all of that.

“
I’m going home,” Mom said
finally, her voice clipped. “I have work in the morning. Tara, do
you need a ride?”

“
No,” I said, though the
word came out sounding like more of a question. I was waiting for
the part where she grounded me for the rest of my life.

“
Fine. I’ll see you
later.” She stopped, held out her hand. “I’ll take
that.”

It took me a second to realize she
meant the envelope. I handed it to her, unopened. She took it and
left.

Grandma mumbled something about
checking on Alex and disappeared in the other direction.

With nothing else left to do I pushed
open Vera’s door. Maybe the beeping of the monitors would drown out
the noise in my head that, for once, was caused by my own internal
voices and not those of the pack.

I stopped short, causing Wes to bump
me from behind. “What …?” he began.

Someone was already in the
room.

He sat hunched over in the chair, his
back to me, his hand wrapped around Vera’s. Unlike my confusion at
seeing Headmaster Whitfield, I recognized the man immediately and
panic surged. Through the bond, concern spiked as George and Chris
both sensed the change in me and reacted. Even a few of the other
pack members tensed up.

I tried taking a deep breath. The
hospital was full of witnesses. And I had Wes behind me. Did that
make this better or worse?

“
Hi, Professor Kane,” I
said.

He turned to look at me, the scars
that marred one side of his face illuminated harshly under the
fluorescent glow of the bedside lights. “Tara.”

Was his tone because of his worry for
Vera or a reaction to me? I hadn’t seen him since I’d bitten Alex.
My memory of that trek back to Olivia’s clinic—if you could call it
that—was hazy. I’d been out of it from the strain of shifting and
the echoing pain of my new pack in my mind.

Kane had led us back and given orders
to the others. By the time I’d woken, he’d gone back to the
clearing to wait for reinforcements. I hadn’t seen him
again.

“
What are the doctors
saying?” he asked.

“
That she’s sick, and
there’s nothing to be done.”

He nodded and the pain that flashed
behind his obsidian eyes was so real, so raw, that I knew he wasn’t
thinking of me or Alex. Not right now.

I took a step closer. Wes followed and
Kane reacted, the pained look vanishing. He jumped to his feet,
still gripping Vera’s hand, and glared at Wes. His lips curled back
from his teeth, an animal-like growl emanating from his
chest.