Cold Blood (33 page)

The line went dead, and I lowered the phone.

“
Well? What did the ass have to say?” Cord demanded.

“
The usual. Threatened me with affection, then with death, I think,” I said. “He’s determined to get me to come to him.”

“
He sent that Werewolf tonight, didn’t he?” Alex asked. His hands were balled into fists at his sides.

“
Yes.” I nodded. “He said the guy was supposed to kill you and then come get me and tell me where to meet Miles.”

“
He still thinks you’ll go willingly?” Alex asked.

“
He says I will one way or another, whatever that means.” I shuddered without meaning to because there had been a real threat in the way he’d spoken the words. I couldn’t shake the fact that Miles was way too determined to give up or utter empty threats.

“
You think he’ll try again,” Cord said, watching Alex.

“
Without a doubt,” he said.

“
Good.” She raised her chin and her eyes glittered. “He doesn’t know I’m here and I, for one, can’t wait to see him again.”

There was something underneath Cord’s threat, but I had no idea what it was. There was no way she was acting like this out of protection for me. Or duty to Wes. There was more. But I knew better than to ask, or expect an honest answer if I did, so I let it go.

Cord blinked and the hungry look in her eyes faded as she focused on Alex and me again. “Say good night and let’s go already. I’m tired.”

I looked at Alex, feeling suddenly very self-conscious with Cord so close. I wanted to ask how his head was feeling, and if he was okay, but I was pretty sure that wouldn’t be appropriate as far as Cord was concerned. “Um, I guess I’ll see you later,” I said.

He nodded. “Be careful.”

I followed Cord down the stairs and out into the courtyard towards the dorm. The last thought I had as I drifted off was of Miles and how he’d described that Werewolf as his pet.

Chapter Thirty

Cambria woke me up on Saturday. It took me a minute to realize it wasn’t an emergency. I wasn’t used to her being so wide awake before me. Even on school days she was dragging and gulping coffee until the end of second bell before she resembled a person. But today, she was wide awake, shower bag in hand as she stood over me and shook me awake.

“
What the hell?” Cord mumbled, from her cot across the room. “Shut the noise off. It’s the middle of the night.” She wore a padded eye covering, like something you’d wear in a spa, and didn’t bother removing it to yell at us. Then she rolled over and went back to sleep.

“
I’m going to shower,” Cambria said. “You coming?”

“
Sure.” I grabbed my stuff and followed her out. Cord didn’t move except to burrow further underneath her blankets. At least I’d get the morning away from her.

“
She’s a dream in the morning,” Cambria said.

“
Late night, remember?”

Cambria stuck out her tongue.

I’d made a stop at her room last night on the way in from Griffin Hall and filled her in on what had gone down at the garage, and then at the meeting after.

“
And again, I miss the action. I’m getting real tired of that, you know,” she’d said when I was done.

And that was it. No “Wow, you’ve got a big, political choice to make,” or “What are you doing about Miles-the-crazy-stalker?” or “How pissed do you think Wes will be when Cord calls him behind your back about Alex?”

Those were all the things going through my mind, but all Cambria could think about was how often she was left out of the action. I’d give almost anything to be left out of the action, for once. I didn’t tell her that, though.

We reached the showers and Cambria slipped into the stall beside mine. “So, what are we doing today, Mission Impossible?” she called over the steady stream of hot water.

“
Mission Impossible?”

“
That’s your new nickname. You’re always on something new and dangerous and against the rules,” she explained. “A girl after my own heart.”

I shut off the water and stepped into the stall to change. “I hate to disappoint, but I was going to find Logan and make him help me with my lineage project.”

“
Eww. You’re talking about the library, aren’t you?”

“
That’s the place.”

Cambria sighed, long and loud. I rubbed a towel over my hair and stepped into flip flops before yanking the curtain aside and heading for the mirror.

“
You don’t have to come,” I said.

Cambria’s curtain slid open, and she followed me to the mirror, adjusting her lacy black sleeves. “I’ll manage. Nothing else to do. I can’t even sleep in these days. Too wired with everything going on. Besides, I want to hear from Logan anyway. He needs to spill the details about how he came to be walking Victoria to her getaway car. I need to hear this.”

We found hot coffee and prepackaged donuts in the cafeteria and that was fine by me. I swiped a helping of each and went in search of Logan. I figured we could head to the library first since, even on a Saturday, that was the most likely place to find him.

I wasn’t wrong.

Logan sat at our usual table, surrounded by stacks of books – all of which could rival Webster’s in thickness and word count – and was hovered over an open one on the table in front of him. His hat was pulled down low, facing front, so it was hard to see his expression except that he seemed to be concentrating extra hard.

“
Hey,” I said.

Logan’s head snapped up, and he quickly pulled his hands underneath the table and into his lap. I caught sight of a black cell phone at the same time shades of red began creeping up his neck.

“
Hey,” he said, trying – and failing – to sound casual.

“
What are you doing?” Cambria asked. She stared down at Logan with a sharp gaze.

Logan shifted, and I was pretty sure he was sliding the cell phone into his pocket. “Nothing, um, I mean reading,” he said, gesturing to the open book in front of him. “What are you doing? In the library? On a Saturday?” His brows went up, turning the attention back to Cambria.

It worked, a little. “I’m at an all-time low for boredom. And I needed a good story to go along with my liquid breakfast.” She raised her coffee cup in salute and sank into a chair. “So? Are you going to tell us?”

“
Tell you what?”

“
We want to know how you came to be the one walking Miss Ice Queen herself to her getaway vehicle yesterday. It’s a mystery no one can seem to unravel,” Cambria said.

Logan looked from Cambria to me. I sipped my coffee and waited. I wanted to hear this as much as Cambria did. The redness was creeping in again; up Logan’s neck and into his cheeks. He pulled his hat down lower over his eyes and glared at us.

“
None of your business, that’s how,” he said.

Cambria and I exchanged a look, eyebrows raised.

“
Wow, that sounds sort of serious,” I said.

Cambria nodded. “Kind of covert. And pre-meditated. Maybe I should call
him
Mission Impossible.”

Logan’s brows wrinkled. I laughed and that must’ve finally pushed him over the edge. Logan glared at Cambria, then at me, then at Cambria again.

“
Look.” His voice had lowered to a sort of hissed whisper. It got our attention. “I don’t have to explain myself to you two. Just because I hang with you doesn’t automatically make me one of the girls. I’m not going to sit here and gossip with you about my love life, okay? You have each other for that. I’m a
guy
. Guys don’t feel the need to share about that crap. And I’m not dumb enough to tell you, anyway, since all you’re going to do is give me a hard time seeing as how you hate her.”

He stopped and let that sink in. I stared at him and neither Cambria nor I said anything. “And for your information,” he went on, “She’s not as mean as she pretends, you know. She’s got layers.”

With that, he slammed his book shut and stuffed it into his backpack and stalked out. Silently, of course, but still… it was Logan. I’d never seen him mad before, so it was kind of shocking.

“
Did he say the Ice Queen has layers?” Cambria asked.

I looked at her. “I think he did.”

We stared at each other for a beat and then burst out laughing.

“
Like an onion?” Cambria hissed, between giggles.

That made us both laugh harder, and I had to put a hand on the table to keep from falling onto the faded carpet. I couldn’t breathe. Cambria was wiping tears from her one exposed eye.

That’s how Cord found us.

“
What the hell, you two? Are you off your meds or what?” Cord took Logan’s empty seat and gave us a dirty look and the stacks of books an even dirtier look. She had her hands wrapped firmly around a coffee cup and still looked half asleep.

I wheezed, trying to catch my breath, but I didn’t bother to answer her. Cambria was pulling it together, too.

“
Oh, man. I feel kind of bad for making him so angry. I’ve never seen him like that before,” I said.

“
He’ll be fine,” Cambria assured me. “For all his talk about being one of the guys, he’s really kind of sensitive, but he’ll get over it. Always does.”

“
He really likes her,” I said.

“
Are you talking about studious surfer boy?” Cord asked.

“
Uh, Logan? Yeah, I guess you could call him that,” I said.

“
He’s not bad looking. If you’re into that type,” she said.

“
And what type is that?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Smart. The kind of smart that’s also sensitive. Not my thing.”

“
What, smart? I agree,” I said. Cambria snorted.

She sneered. “Funny. I was thinking the same about you, two-timer.”

That hit a nerve. I could feel my temper kicking in. I set my coffee cup down a little harder than I’d anticipated, sloshing warm liquid onto the table. “I’m not two-timing anyone.”

“
Okay, now that we’ve got that settled,” Cambria cut in, “What’s today’s plan? Besides sit around and wait for Miles to attempt a snatch and grab?”

Neither of us answered. I was too busy biting my tongue, still trying to prove I could control my temper, instead of the other way around.

“
Okaay,” Cambria said, drawing out the word.

“
I’m going to call Wes,” I said.

I stood and grabbed my coffee and what was left of my donuts. Cord stood, too, but I avoided her eyes. I wasn’t calling Wes because I felt guilty, despite what she probably thought.

“
So… roof then?” Cambria asked.

I nodded and we headed for the exit, earning a nasty look from the librarian on our way out.

Halfway across the courtyard, Cord’s earpiece went off. It was set to vibrate, but I could still hear the pulsing it gave off. Cord switched it on and said, “Go ahead.” A voice on the other end was speaking but I couldn’t make out any words.

I watched her as she listened and realized I was holding my breath. I let it out and forced myself to calm down. Cord’s comment had me all wound up. The Hunter in me wanted a good fight, some way to let out some of the energy that was building.

“
Nope, nothing new to report here… Yeah, okay.” Cord signed off and gave me a sideways glance. “Problem?”

“
What did they want?”

“
Just checking in.”

“
Oh.” I forced myself to relax.

I expected Griffin Hall to be busy in light of the attack, but it was as deserted and low key as usual. There were a few staff people coming and going in the lobby, all disappearing down one of the hallways. A few students, probably working as aides or needing extra credit, wandered by, heading for the administrative offices, but no one I recognized enough to speak to, and no one interested in stopping us, thankfully. I guess if they had, I could use Cord’s presence to smooth it over, but I didn’t really want to resort to that. It would feel too much like owing her one. And I did
not
want that.

I led the way to the access stairs and then up and out into the open air. The sky was bluer today than it had been, with an added hint of warmth that made the breeze feel good against my arms and face. It was amazing how different the weather felt up here, compared to down in the coolness of the trees. Down there, it seemed like all one season. Cool and damp. Up here, it was spring already.

I wandered off to the side, away from Cambria and Cord, and took out my phone, waiting for a signal. It came up, and I dialed Wes.

He picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

His voice did things in my stomach and I stopped walking and dropped down to lean against an air handler.

“
Hey,” I said.

“
Tara. It’s good to hear your voice.”

And it was obvious he meant it. I could hear the relief and happiness that came through in his words; it fueled the guilt that I’d been pretending I wasn’t feeling. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on how the sound of his voice made me forget all of the confusion and stress I’d been carrying. It dropped away; none of it mattered. All that mattered was Wes.

“
Yours, too,” I said, and my voice cracked.

“
Is everything okay?”

“
Everything’s fine. I assume someone called you about last night?”

“
Yeah, Cord called while they were disposing of the body. Alex took care of him?”

“
Yes.” I held my breath, waiting for whatever he was going to say next. I was terrified Cord had told him whatever she thought she’d seen.

“
I still want you to keep Cord close. And maybe that Cambria girl, too. Don’t go anywhere alone, okay?” There was the usual concern in his voice, but otherwise, he sounded like business as usual.

I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Okay,” I said.

Wes paused, and I wondered if I’d agreed too easily, if I should’ve argued more.

“
Are you still mad at me?” he asked.

“
No, I’m not mad. I just –” I stopped and took a breath. “I just miss you. Things are really… different here.”

“
It doesn’t feel the same without you here, either.”

I supposed what he’d said was close enough to what I’d meant, though it was so much more than that. But I let it go. “How are things going for you? With The Cause, I mean. Is it getting any easier?” I asked.

“
It’s a process,” he answered. “What about you and Cord? She is still alive right?”

“
Ha ha. Funny,” I said, but I let a smile creep into my voice. “We’re managing. She gets a daily quota of nastiness she’s allowed to exude, and then I cut her off.”

“
Seems fair,” he said, and I could tell he was smiling back. It was the first light moment we’d had since I’d come here, and it felt so good it literally warmed me. Then, just like that, it was over, and we were back to serious. “I know you’re not happy with her being there so I appreciate your effort.”

“
I don’t get why she has to hate me so much,” I said. I left the usual anger out of it because deep down I still really didn’t know what the problem was. She’d said she didn’t like how everything was so much easier for me, but now that she was spending time with me, she could see it wasn’t as simple as it appeared. I felt like I was missing something.