Blood Bond

by Heather Hildenbrand

  Finally, I recognized the entryway and spotted the front door. I pulled it open and stepped out, letting it click shut behind me. Wes had texted during George’s transfusion to say he’d be here soon, and I felt anxious. I hadn’t wanted to tell him via text about my decision to go ahead with George’s transfusion. I’d thought it would be better in person. Now that the time was approaching, I wasn’t so sure. What would he think about this supposed bond? Astor hadn’t been very specific with the details, but the way he’d lost his grip on reality after losing Mary Beth spoke volumes.

  I found my car parked where Mathias had left it and walked around the outside, making sure it hadn’t been bothered while it sat roadside. Nothing seemed out of place. By the time I’d circled it, I was already sweating.

  I opted for the shade of the manmade rainforest where it bordered the circular drive, walking in no direction in particular. It wasn’t that I needed to be outside, particularly, but I had a feeling this might be one of my last chances for a while. After Grandma arrived and hauled me back, I was pretty sure I’d be on house arrest indefinitely. I’d be lucky not to be locked in a closet somewhere.

  A noise startled me. The sound was vague, barely reaching the edges of my awareness. I froze. The tingling on the back of my neck turned to an ache. I scanned the trees, peering between oversized leaves and slim trunks. Nothing moved. I chalked it up to a bird or some desert animal seeking the refuge of the oasis. I lifted my foot, ready to resume my pace through the exotic greenery.

  There.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I detected movement. Slight. Far back in the undergrowth.

  I bent my knees, going into the defensive crouch that had become second nature to me. I held my breath. There was danger here.

  “Tara Godfrey.” The speaker’s voice was not one I recognized.

  “Who’s there?” It came out softer than I’d intended. I swallowed and squared my shoulders. “Show yourself,” I said, louder.

  I spotted a tall plant with leaves the size of canoes ruffling from movement that didn’t match the natural sway of the others. The leaves parted and two figures stepped out from behind the stalks. Two familiar figures.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Lexington.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or confused. Last time I’d seen them, they’d run George and I off the road and then disappeared. Did they follow us?

  I opened my mouth to ask them what they were doing here and closed it again. A strange itch began along my rib cage. I rubbed my palms down my sides. I’d felt something similar the last time I’d almost…

  No. I wasn’t thinking about that now..

  “You know who we are?” Mr. Lexington asked.

  “Of course she knows, dear,” said Mrs. Lexington. “Everyone knows who we are.”

  Their eyes were a matching shade of yellow and their human forms seemed shaky at the edges, as if appearing this way was a strain for them. The itch underneath my skin intensified.

  “I know your daughter,” I said, mostly because I wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “Victoria? How is she?” Mrs. Lexington asked. Her eager expression smoothed out as Mr. Lexington glared at her.

  “She’s fine,” I said slowly, trying to understand. Why were they here? And why hadn’t they sought Victoria out themselves? “She’s spending the summer with a friend from school.”

  “Oh, good, she’s not alone, Douglas.”

  “We didn’t come here for this,” he hissed at her. He looked back at me, his yellow eyes hardening. “You will come with us,” he said.

  “Um, where?” I asked.

  “The location isn’t important. You’ve been summoned. It’s our job to bring you. You can either come willingly or by force. It’s your choice,” he said.

  Mrs. Lexington fidgeted at the mention of force. I couldn’t tell if it was out of discomfort at the situation or if she was simply preparing herself for a fight. My muscles coiled at the threat. I remained carefully still, and stared back at Mr. Lexington.

  If they shifted and attacked, could I take them on my own? I wasn’t sure.

  “I’m not going with you unless you explain what’s going on,” I said. “Why have you been following me?”

  “It’s not important,” he said.

  “It is if you want me to come with you willingly. Why did you run us off the road? Is this about George?”

  “Who?” Mr. Lexington’s brow furrowed. “You mean your changeling friend? No. This is about you and I won’t ask again. Come with us.”

  “No.” I stood straighter, trying to look like I wasn’t anticipating their attack. Maybe if they thought I would go easy, they’d slip up.

  “Just tell her what will happen if she doesn’t,” Mrs. Lexington pleaded. “If she knew, she might come on her own.”

  Tension emanated from each of them. Mr. Lexington’s knees were slightly bent, like he was preparing to spring. His form shook at the edges.

  “Tell me what?” I asked, mainly to keep him talking.

  “If we don’t bring you to her, she’ll come after your friends and family, one by one, until you submit,” Mrs. Lexington said before falling silent under her husband’s furious glare.

  “Who will?” I asked, finally focusing on the conversation as more than a means to delay whatever Mr. Lexington was planning.

  “We stopped you on the road to save you,” she said, her voice shaking. “But then she found us and we had no choice.”

  I shook my head to clear it. This made less and less sense the more she talked. “Killed who? Who found you?”

  “Olivia. Our m-master,” she said.

  Mr. Lexington punctuated her request with a growl. The sound of ripping fabric followed close behind as his clothing tore and fell at his feet. A bony wolf with extra-long claws stood before me, shaking his head back and forth and squeezing his eyes shut as if in pain from shifting. His eyes opened, blood-shot and yellowed, and focused on me.

  I resisted the urge to step back, knowing he’d interpret it as fear.

  “Why does she want me?” I asked.

  Mrs. Lexington sent me a look of pity, but neither one answered.

  I could feel Mr. Lexington’s intentions. Any second now. I held his gaze while stretching my peripheral vision, searching for a weapon to grab at. The only things within reach were tropical leaves. They didn’t even grow on wooden branches, but stalks of greenery. Nothing that would penetrate wolf flesh.

  I tried another tactic. “Why send you?”

  “It’s not just us. Olivia’s dispatched an army to find you,” Mr. Lexington answered. He took a step forward, low to the ground, stalking his prey. I stayed still.

  “An army …? The hybrids.” Finally, things clicked into place. “The one controlling the hybrids is a woman. Olivia. She wants me,” I said. It wasn’t a question. At least now I knew it wasn’t Demi.

  “We’re not leaving here without you,” Mr. Lexington said.

  “You don’t have to do this. I can help you,” I said. I gestured to the house, obscured behind me. “Me and my friends, we could protect you, your daughter—”

  “No!” he growled. “There’s no going back. No more excuses. Last chance to come willingly.”

  I opened my mouth to argue further about Astor’s house being safe. When I did, my foot inched backward allowing my body to twist and my hand to gesture behind me. I knew the second it happened, I’d made a mistake. Mr. Lexington’s eyes narrowed. It was the signal his instincts had been waiting for. My retreat. My fear.

  He lunged.

  I managed to dodge him but the effort sent me sprawling. I tucked my body, keeping my arms in tight, and rolled to a stop on my back, half-tangled in a massive plant. I blinked, realizing too late he was right there. The air whooshed out of me as his paws came down on my chest. I shoved upward with my hands, barely holding him off as his teeth snapped at the air in front of my face.

  “You will come,” he snarled.

  The itching along my rib
s turned to sharp pain, and I cried out. Something alien moved inside me, pressing my bones against my skin, almost as if they were stretching, growing. I bit my lip and tasted blood.

  At the same time, from somewhere behind Mr. Lexington, came a high-pitched howl. It ended in a yelp and echoed against the sudden silence left in its wake.

  “Sandra!” Mr. Lexington shouted. “Are you all right?”

  I pried my eyes open, surprised at the sudden absence of his weight. Mr. Lexington was gone.

  It took me a second to recognize my own hands as I lowered them to my abdomen, clutching my ribs against the pain. The backs of my hands and the entire length of my arms were covered in soft fur the color of caramel. It was thicker than it had been the first time, and darker. I stared, wide-eyed, when another spasm hit me and I doubled over again. I knew I should be trying to get up, to escape back to the house while my attacker was distracted, but I couldn’t move, except to roll side to side against the mind-numbing agony.

  I might’ve cried out again. I wasn’t sure. I could no longer hear past the ringing in my ears.

  Hands on my cheeks roused me. They smoothed my hair back from my face and wiped away the loose leaves and dirt. Still, I kept my eyes squeezed shut. The only thing that kept me from panicking was the knowledge they were human hands, gentle and careful. Mr. Lexington wouldn’t have been so kind.

  The pain pulled back, almost grudgingly, as if it wanted to remain. The ringing in my ears faded. The sound of birds and soft breathing reached my ears. I instinctively rolled toward the hand gently stroking my hair.

  “George? Is that you?” I managed.

  “Not quite,” said a voice achingly familiar.

  I’d barely opened my eyes when my hand shot out and closed around his wrist, just in case this was a dream and he’d be gone when I looked up.

  “Alex,” I said, enjoying the way his eyes softened just a little at the edges when I said his name. The pressure in my chest, the anxiety over what I’d just been through, eased at the sight of him.

  He smiled down at me, the worry etched in lines across his forehead and around his mouth. “Did you have a nice nap?”

  “I was—” I stopped. How could I possibly explain this to him? I’m becoming a Werewolf a little more each day, no big deal. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, not with him. I was too afraid of the way he’d look at me. Then I remembered the fur on my hands. I glanced at where I still held his wrist, dropping it like I’d been burned, and inspected my hands. The fur was gone; in its place was smooth skin, as if it had never been there at all.

  “Stop debating on which lie to tell me,” he said, his smile disappearing. It was the same expression he’d worn the day he found me in the woods on my way to meet Miles. The same one he’d used at the hotel when he’d demanded answers.

  “I wasn’t going to lie,” I said. It sounded weak, even to me.

  He rolled his eyes. “Right. Tell me what just happened. Why were the Lexingtons trying to have you for dinner?”

  “They’re gone?” I twisted around searching for some sign of them. Nothing.

  “For now.” He frowned. “I thought they were locked in a lab somewhere.”

  “So did I.” I took his offered hand and sat up.

  I pulled my knees against my chest and we sat face to face. A rush of warmth spread through me at the sight of him. I had the urge to grin but bit it back as I studied him. His hair was longer than its usual buzz. There were shadows under his eyes, as if he hadn’t been sleeping. The rest of him was deeply tanned. He smelled like the outdoors. It made me ache for the days when I’d trained with him, sparring until I’d been so winded I couldn’t see straight, sprinting through the forest shoulder to shoulder.

  I realized he was studying me just as hard and looked away before he could see what I was thinking. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?” I asked. I missed you.

  The words hung in the air between us, unspoken and heavy. I could see them forming on his lips and then he seemed to think better of it. “No changing the subject. You first.”

  I sighed, knowing I wouldn’t get anything out of him until I’d given him an explanation. “They wanted me to come with them,” I said. “A woman named Olivia is behind the hybrids. She sent them to bring me to her. If I don’t come, she’ll go after my family and friends.”

  “And you have no idea who she is?”

  “No. Mr. Lexington called her Olivia. That’s all I know.”

  “It doesn’t sound familiar. Did he say anything else? Where to find her?”

  I shook my head. “He was on me before I could get anything out of him. And then I …”

  “Sprouted fur?” I didn’t answer. “Talk to me, Tara,” he said quietly. “I want to help.”

  “Yeah, right,” I said. “You say that, but I doubt you could really handle it. If you hadn’t known it was me, you would’ve attacked me.”

  He opened his mouth—probably to argue, though I wouldn’t have believed him—but was interrupted by the sound of someone approaching. A strange feeling, something between goosebumps and the tingling I’d felt earlier on the back of my neck, came over me, strong enough that I shuddered. The skin around my arms tightened.

  Alex narrowed his eyes, let go of my hand and jumped up. In his other hand he held a stake tipped in metal. Alarm shot through me. I followed Alex’s gaze as he scanned, expecting Mr. and Mrs. Lexington to reappear, ready to finish what they started. A Werewolf appeared, its coat the color of golden sunshine.

  It halted at the sight of Alex and me, looking momentarily confused. Then it zeroed in on Alex, teeth bared, and hurtled forward. Alex rushed forward to meet it.

  “Stop!” I yelled as I recognized the wolf. Panic shot through me and I scrambled to my feet. “Alex! George! Stop!”

  At the sound of each other’s name, they faltered. I held my breath, sure Alex would follow through with the swipe of his stake. At the last second they each turned away. Alex’s stake barely missed catching George’s shoulder. They righted themselves and glared at each other.

  “Watch it, mutt,” Alex said.

  George growled. “Attacking you before was reflex. Don’t make it premeditated next time.”

  “George, you shifted,” I said. For some reason I slowed when I got close, suddenly unsure at seeing him like this.

  He ducked his head. “Do I look …?” He didn’t finish. He was more nervous than I was.

  “You look amazing.” I reached out a tentative hand, and ran it over the back of his neck and down his shoulder. When he raised his head to look at me, we were almost eye to eye. I sucked in a breath.

  “What is it? Do I look like a freak?” he asked. He tried twisting his head around to see his torso, and did a full spin. It looked a little like he was chasing his tail.

  Alex snorted.

  “No, you’re not a freak.” I smiled. “I was just thinking that for once, we’re the same height.”

  His lips curved, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth, and he let out a growly laugh.

  “How do you feel?” I asked.

  “Amazing,” he said. “I never imagined … is this how it feels all the time?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. It didn’t hurt?”

  “Not at all. One minute I was running on two feet, trying to get here and thinking I needed to be faster, and the next I was on four paws. The speed’s incredible.”

  I thought of the excruciating pain of my almost-shift. He hadn’t felt any of that?

  “And your … um … mind? I mean, do you feel like you?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I mean, I can feel something underneath, like a pull. It happened when I saw him.” He nodded at Alex. “But then it cleared and I remembered myself. I heard you and I felt … grounded.”

  “Good,” I said, giving him a wobbly smile and relief hit me like a tsunami.

  His brows wrinkled together. “What about you? Do you feel different?” he asked.

  “Me?” I blinked distracted.
We’d done it. George was himself. Humane, compassionate, rational. My blood had saved him. “I’m fine, why?”

  “You know, the bond?”

  “The bond?” Alex echoed.

  “It’s nothing,” I told him quickly, not wanting to explain just yet. “I don’t feel anything,” I said to George. “Do you?”

  “Nope. Maybe we won’t.”

  “Maybe. Do you think you can shift back?”

  “I don’t know. How do I do that?” he asked.

  “Um.” I looked at Alex, but he only shrugged. “Maybe just concentrate on being human,” I suggested.

  “Okay.” He closed his eyes. His wolf form seemed to shimmer at the edges and then he was human again. Two legs, two arms—and completely naked.

  “Uh, George.” I turned away, my cheeks flaming hot. Alex snickered.

  “Oh! Uh … yeah. I think I’ll just stay like this for a while longer.” I turned back to find him a wolf again. “I guess your clothes don’t shift with you,” he said.

  “They sure don’t,” Alex said, his voice strained with barely controlled laughter.

  George’s gaze shifted to Alex and his wolf eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “Saving Tara’s ass, as usual,” he said. He flipped the stake idly in his hand. George snarled at it, which only made Alex laugh.

  Alex walked over and touched me lightly on the shoulder. I winced. “What the …?”

  “He scratched you,” Alex said, his attention on the red lines left on my skin. I hadn’t noticed the burn of it until now. It wasn’t nearly as bad as past scratches. I wondered if that was due to my wolf side becoming more dominant. Alex’s fingers traced the line of them until they disappeared underneath my shirt. I shuddered at the contact.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. His voice dropped low, just above a whisper, and for a moment, I forgot all about George and the Lexingtons and nearly shifting.

  “I missed you.” The words were out before I could stop them. I held my breath for his reply, wondering if I’d crossed a line or broken the rules.