I grinned and poked him in the ribs. Just testing how well the connection works.
“Crystal clear,” he said. There was a decidedly mischievous look in his eyes.
“Are you guys having a telepathic convo?” Cambria demanded. “I feel like I missed something.”
I linked her arm in mine as we neared the woods. “You miss something? Not possible.” Movement caught my eye just as my goosebumps—which had dimmed to a comfortable zing while inside—intensified.
“Wes,” Derek called as he jogged across the yard. He clasped Wes’s hand and then pulled him in for a one-armed hug. Over Wes’s shoulder, he sent me a cursory nod. “Hey, Tara.”
“Hi.” I kept it short and polite. Derek hadn’t given me reason to think he disliked me, but he hadn’t given me any reason to think he did like me, either. I wasn’t sure where he stood. It made me nervous around him.
“I saw Cord out front,” he said, his attention back on Wes. He grinned. “She’s already bitching about Fee letting the grass get too long.”
“Bitching makes her feel at home,” Wes said. “You know that.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” His gaze wandered to Cambria and lingered.
“This is Cambria, Tara’s friend from school,” Wes said.
Derek extended a suntanned hand. Cambria took it slowly. “Nice to meet you,” he told her in a distinctly deeper voice.
“Nice to meet you too,” Cambria said softly.
Beside me, Wes shook in silent laughter. “Uh, you want to walk with us?” he asked Derek.
“Sure,” Derek said, falling into step beside Wes. I hung back with Cambria and listened to them talk. “How’d the hunt go? Cord wouldn’t say much, just acted all pissed off that she didn’t get to kill anything.”
“We didn’t have much luck,” Wes said. “Every trail we found was a dead end.”
Derek rubbed his jaw and the little bit of stubble he had there. “They don’t want to be found.”
“Yeah, but the human-hybrids aren’t smart enough to hide themselves this well.”
“You think someone is helping them?”
“Maybe. Either way, we’re going to need help if we want to keep looking. We can’t afford to waste any more time on these wild chases.”
“What do you mean ‘if we want to keep looking?’” I increased my pace until I matched Wes and Derek. “We can’t stop. You know what will happen.”
“I know,” said Wes. “I didn’t mean we should give up. We just need to figure out another approach.” He took my hand, his thumb rubbing soothing circles against my palm.
“God, it’s hot out here,” Cambria said, pulling her shirt away from her body in disgust.
And it was. Even under the shady canopy of the forest, the humidity penetrated. Derek and Wes shared a look. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Derek asked.
“Dude, full moon. I’m hearing what you’re thinking.”
“Point taken.”
“What are we thinking?” Cambria asked.
“Swimming,” the boys said in unison.
Wes and Derek led the way. It wasn’t long before the trees thinned and a lake shone through the leaves. The water was brackish but not swampy. Most importantly, it had to be cooler than the air.
“Water never looked so good,” I said, pulling my shirt away from my sticky skin. I started to take it off and then changed my mind. If it had been only Wes, maybe, but not in front of Cambria and Derek.
Cambria hesitated. “Do you think there’re snakes in there? I do not swim with reptiles.”
I pulled on her arm until she inched forward. “Who cares? It’s a thousand degrees outside. Besides, you take down Werewolves. What’s one little snake?”
“Snakes are way scarier than Werewolves,” she said.
I rolled my eyes and gave her a crooked smile. “Race you.”
She eyed me and began pulling off her shoes. I did the same, tensing, waiting for her to bolt. I knew Cambria. She couldn’t resist a challenge. We finished pulling off our shoes at the same time. Cambria’s lips curved up. “Last one there
We took off running. Behind me, Wes and Derek laughed. I reached the bank and dove in head first. The second I plunged into the cool water, my whole body relaxed. Cambria surfaced beside me, grinning.
“Who won?” she yelled to the boys on the bank.
“It was a tie,” Wes called.
He and Derek pulled off their shoes. I waited for them to get in, but they kept walking, dodging roots and branches as they skirted the edge.
“Where are you going?” I called.
“You’ll see,” Wes said.
I spotted the rope just as Derek reached the tree and began to climb. Someone had nailed pieces of wood to the thick trunk, creating a makeshift ladder. Derek scaled it easily and made his way onto a branch that overhung the lake. He inched forward and grabbed the rope, pulling it back until his feet reached the edge, and then launched himself out over the water. He swung wide and then released, falling with a splash just a few feet from where Cambria and I treaded water.
I turned my head to keep the water from splashing in my eyes. Cambria shrieked and flailed to get out of the line of fire. I’d just finished wiping the water from my face when another body dropped, this time closer to me. I tried to get away, but Wes surfaced and grabbed my leg, grinning madly.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he said.
I splashed him and spun away, shrieking when he gave chase. Cambria twisted under Derek’s grip on her wrist, frantically trying to swim away. Each time she tried, Derek twisted her back and sent her a faceful of water so she couldn’t keep her eyes open.
“Can the sight of cliché flirting make you sick, Bailey?” Cord’s voice rang out over the lake, dripping with sarcasm.
“Glad you could join us,” Wes said.
Cord ignored him. “I’m serious, Bailey. Are you nauseated or is it just me?”
“It’s just you,” Bailey said cheerfully. He stood beside Cord, his wiry frame way too tall for his fifteen years, especially since his open smile always made him look even younger than that. “Hi, Tara,” he called.
“Hey.” I waved.
He nodded at Wes from underneath a mop of blond hair that he’d apparently grown out over the spring. “Glad you’re back, even if you did bring her with you.” He jerked a thumb at Cord and rolled his eyes.
“Take the good with the bad, I guess,” Derek said.
“You boys are hilarious.” Cord stood with hands on her hips, staring disgustedly at the briny water. Bailey peeled his shirt off and moved toward the lake’s edge.
“You coming in, Cord?” Wes asked.
“No, thanks. I’ll take the choking humidity over the shameless flirting.”
“I see,” said Wes, a glint in his eye. “Bailey, if you would?”
Bailey grimaced. “You know I’m taking my life into my hands.”
“I’ll protect you,” Wes said.
Derek chuckled. “No offense, but my money’s on her.”
Bailey crept up behind Cord and grabbed her just as she realized his intention. I clamped my hand over my mouth and waited for her wild swings to connect with Bailey’s face. Somehow, he managed to get her into the water. When it reached knee-deep, he let go and Cord fell under. She came up sputtering, her hair falling in strings against her face. She glared at Bailey with an expression I’d only ever seen directed at me—and Miles. Bailey was already running for the rope swing.
Cord let out a growl that could’ve rivaled a Werewolf and took off after him. Wes and Derek high-fived.
“She’s going to kill him,” I said, horrified.
“Nah, she’s harmless. Watch,” Derek said.
Bailey swung out and splashed down just as Cord reached the tree limb. She didn’t waste time with the rope. Instead, she ran to the end and launched herself out over the water, doing a perfect dive and coming up inches from Bailey.
He tried swimming away, but Co
rd caught him around the ankle and yanked him back. He was pulled under—only his arms could be seen above the surface, flailing in a blind attempt to grab Cord.
She yanked him to the surface and scowled at him. “Give up! Say you’re sorry,” she demanded.
“Never,” Bailey sputtered, half laughing, half coughing.
“Then suffer the consequences,” she said as she dunked him again.
Derek shook his head, swimming toward them. “Pick on someone your own size,” he said. He jumped and pressed down on Cord’s head, taking them both underwater. She came up sputtering and … laughing?
“Twilight zone, right?” Wes’s voice in my ear was an echo of the thought in my head.
“Exactly,” I said. “Why isn’t she trying to murder them?”
He shrugged. “They’re family.”
And for them, it was that simple. It didn’t matter that Cord was a Hunter and the boys were Werewolves. Just like with George and I, being family had nothing to do with DNA.
“How did you guys meet, anyway?” Cambria asked, coming up beside me.
“Derek and Cord met in foster care,” Wes explained. “They lived with the same family for about eight months or so. Then Derek was sent back to the orphanage and met Bailey. He kept in touch with Cord and the three of them became peas in a pod.”
“How’d they end up here?”
“Bailey got into a fight in school and almost shifted. Foster care isn’t a great place to grow up, anyway, and Cord found out about The Cause and Jack and Fee living here, so they showed up one day a few years ago and never left.
“Bailey was pretty quiet and shy when Cord first started bringing him around. He’s opened up a lot now, become pretty independent, but I think he looks up to Cord like a mother. And she’s just as protective of him as a mom would be, so it fits.”
Cambria lifted a brow. “I have a hard time picturing Cord protecting anything but herself.”
“Cord’s not all bad. You have to let her warm up to you,” Wes said.
“Right. Warm up to me.” I shook my head. “That would be like melting the polar ice cap with a space heater.”
Wes laughed. In a lightning move, he grabbed me again and yanked me under. I came up clinging to what I thought was his ankle. It wasn’t.
“Ow, what the …?” Cambria yanked free and glared at me. I splashed her and Wes in one move.
Our scuffle spilled over into Derek and Bailey’s war with Cord and soon it was a blur of splashing and shrieks.
Wes and I ended up near the far bank. My ribs ached from laughing. My chest heaved with the effort of breathing and swimming and defending myself from his attempts to dunk me.
“Give up,” I said, ducking out from under his hold and twisting his arm behind his back.
“Never.” He whirled, freeing his arm and pulling me against him. I stared at his bare chest, dripping and smooth, against my wet shirt. The playfulness vanished.
Behind me, I could hear the splashing and yells from the rest of the group as each one tried dunking the other, but it sounded faint. I couldn’t focus on any of it. Something about the way Wes stared down at me made me tremble.
“I missed you,” he said in a low voice. I shivered, though not from cold. I wanted to press harder against his chest, wrap my arms around his neck. I tightened my grip on his arms, waiting for him to read it in my head so I wouldn’t have to say it out loud.
“Let’s take a walk.” His voice was hoarse.
I let him pull me up the bank. No one seemed to notice our exit. The sounds of splashing water and squealing laughter faded as the trees closed in around us. When we were out of sight, Wes spun and encircled me with his arms. Despite the droplets that clung to him, his skin warmed my fingertips as I ran my hands up his shoulders and around his neck. He pulled me tight against him and lowered his head so our foreheads touched.
“Is this how you pictured it?” he whispered.
“Almost. You’re not kissing me yet,” I whispered back.
“Fixing that in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1.”
His kiss was gentle at first, but I pressed back, wanting more. The pull I often felt when he was near urged me on, not that I needed any extra push. My hands tangled in his hair. More. I needed more. He pulled me hard enough against him that my feet left the ground, and then he kissed me back just as hard, just as desperately.
We broke apart, gasping for air. Wes’s eyes were wide. “Where did that come from?”
“I don’t know.” My face heated as I realized what sort of mental images he’d picked out of my head. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t apologize. Is it—? Um, I mean, do you always think like that about me?”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or be thoroughly mortified. “No,” I said. “Well, maybe. Not usually so, uh, vivid, I guess.” I shrugged, trying to brush it off. “I’ve missed you.”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I missed you too, but if it’s like that, maybe I should go away more often.”
I swatted him, but not before his comment incited another mental image. One that involved very little clothing. The backdrop distinctly resembled our current location. “I don’t know about this mind-reading thing,” I grumbled.
He laughed. “Fine, let’s talk about something else. How was school?”
I hesitated, unsure whether he meant actual school or something more, like a certain trainer he wasn’t fond of.
“I just mean school.”
“I passed my classes,” I said. “For now. No small thing considering some of the last-minute papers and quizzes Professor Hugo had me do. That guy has it out for me, I think.”
“And Alex?” he asked. He turned to face me, looking guilty. “I’m sorry, but I picked up on something when you thought of him. You seem worried about him. Is everything okay?”
I eyed him, brows raised. “You don’t care about him enough to want to know.”
“You’re right, I don’t care about him, but I care about you, and if something bothers you, I want to know about it.”
I sighed. Wes was the last person I wanted to vent to about this, but I needed to talk about it. And he would understand at least most of my reasons for worrying. “Alex got accepted for one of the special teams they’ve assigned to hunt the hybrids.”
Wes didn’t answer right away. I imagined he was reading all of the worried emotion that was bouncing around inside me right now. Images I’d concocted of Alex killing hybrids—some of them with familiar faces—along with images of the hybrids attacking and hurting him in return.
“Did you think he would do anything else?” he asked quietly.
My temper flared, but then I realized he was right. “I guess not. He’s a Hunter and he hates Werewolves more than anyone I’ve ever met, but—” I broke off, not wanting to voice the last part.
“But you thought he’d be different after getting to know you,” he finished.
I scowled. Stupid mind-reading thing. “Something like that.” The ache that had lodged in my chest since the night of the dance, a pain that had eased since seeing Wes, flared up again, leaving a small hole in my heart. It happened so fast, I couldn’t bury it. Wes’s expression remained neutral, but I knew he’d sensed the truth: I missed Alex.
“I think you’re wrong about one thing, though,” he said quietly. “He’s different for having met you.”
My heart leaped into my throat before I could stop it. “You read that? In his mind?”
“I didn’t have to. No one who’s ever gotten to know you is the same person afterward. I know I’m not. My entire life changed when I met you, and not because you’re a dirty blood. It’s because of who you are inside. It’s because you’re amazing, and surprising, and you challenge me every day. In a good way,” he added, seeing my expression. “You’re strong, and fun, and unpredictable, and I’m sure he thinks the same. How could he not?”
The worry still lingered, of how Alex’s choice would alter our friendship, but
I pushed it to the back of my thoughts and concentrated on the moment. “Thank you,” I said. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
A smile spread slowly across his face as his mouth dipped lower to mine. Our lips met and the earlier fire reignited. The fire burned brighter and hotter than before. I had to restrain myself from pulling him down to the ground right where we stood. He shivered as I brushed my fingers over his ribs, which only made me hungrier. A sound erupted from deep in my throat. I didn’t recognize it as my voice until Wes pulled away and stared at me.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Um …” Now that the steamy haze had cleared, I had a pretty good idea, though I couldn’t bring myself to admit it.
He leaned down and sniffed my hair, then pulled back abruptly. “You smell like wolf,” he hissed. He looked around, as if expecting to see someone lurking, and then bent closer. “Has it happened again? You said you would tell me if it happened again.”
His hands were like a vise around my shoulders. I set my jaw. Deliberately, I conjured images of us kissing, arms wrapped around each other.
“Don’t try to change the subject.”
Under other circumstances, I would’ve laughed at that. Instead, I rubbed my hands over my face. “It hasn’t happened again,” I assured him. “Not completely. There was an incident coming home from school, but it was nothing.”
“What sort of ‘incident’?” I let my mind replay the images of what happened at the gas station. It was easier than trying to explain it with words. “Geez, Tara, it almost happened,” he said when I’d finished.
“But it didn’t.” I crossed my arms. “I’m not even convinced it happened the first time.” Okay, that was a lie.
He glared at me. “I saw it, Tara. You were a wolf. Or, sort of a wolf. You were this in-between thing, like your body didn’t know how to get there all the way, but you were definitely trying to shift when you killed those hybrids.”
“I wish I remembered.” I stepped away, needing some distance to clear my head. I hated thinking about the killing I’d done, even if I didn’t remember it. And I hated not being in control of whatever was happening to me.
“I think you should talk to Fee about it, see if she can help you.”
Blood Bond Page 5