Chapter 50
“You just never stop do you?” I yelled, and tried to lunge at Joseph, but William held me back.
Even though William was stronger than me at the moment, as my powers developed, I would probably be stronger, because I had been an Adlet first. William said he had seen it happen when he hunted a vampire that had been a werewolf first. William said turning into a vampire would probably just add to the strength I’d already developed.
Joseph threw his hands up. “Forget it. I’m out of here,” he growled before storming out of the kitchen.
William let go, and I raked my hair back and sighed, thinking about the awful way I had acted.
“Wait! Joseph,” I called out, and ran after him, glancing over my shoulder at William as I left the room.
I caught up with Joseph at the front door. I would have caught him before he reached the door except I stumbled in the hallway and fell on my face.
“Wait! Please, Joseph. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” I pleaded. “I don’t know what in the hell’s wrong with me.”
He stormed out and I followed him. “I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to believe me.” I unknowingly touched his arm and he jerked it away. I saw only sadness when I looked in his eyes. He felt betrayed and I knew it. I had never told him we were anything but friends, but I felt sure my actions said we were. While in New Mexico we had developed feelings for each other. Neither one of us ever acted on them, but they were still real.
“How could you?” He looked at me like I was dirty, and it cut me to the core. “I cared about you, Gen.” He spun around and started down the driveway.
“Joseph, please don’t leave.” My voice was low and throaty.
He turned around but continued walking backwards down the driveway. “You don’t need me anymore. You’ve got him now,” he said without emotion.
He turned away from me and I watched him walk away and even when I couldn’t see him anymore, I knew he was still close. The air was thick with his scent, and I felt the aching he felt in his chest. I wasn’t sure why I felt it. I was bonded with William and I felt his heartbeat too. His was much slower, and very faint, but his scent filled the air just like Joseph’s, which meant he was close.
When I turned around, William was at the door. “I tried to explain, but he wouldn’t listen,” I said, shrugging my shoulders as if it didn’t bother me that Joseph had walked away.
William didn’t say anything, he simply looked past me. He was thinking about something and I felt his heartbeat grow faster.
“I told you, he’s gone,” I said nervously, but William’s heartbeat continued to quicken, and his expression promptly changed to alarm.
“Get Luna and her brothers, Joseph’s in trouble,” William shouted as he tore out running.
“What?” I shouted, thinking he might just be saying that so he could slip away and battle it out with Joseph once and for all.
“Lycan,” he screamed. “Go!” William disappeared from the end of the driveway.
I rushed into the house screaming for Luna. I found her hurrying out from the den with the twins close behind her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, anxiously.
“Joseph’s in trouble. Something about lycan. William’s already gone to help him,” I replied frantically.
I turned and ran out of the house as soon as I’d finished telling them. I didn’t have to check to see if they were following me, I heard their hearts beating wildly, right behind me. if Luna hadn’t already told the twins I had turned, they would know by my speed.
I was so scared for Joseph and William I didn’t think about anything but getting to them, and miraculously I didn’t stumble and fall. Luna and the twins did pretty well keeping up after they transformed. They still weren’t nearly as fast as me, but they were much faster on four legs than two.
I stopped and listened where the short cut to Luna’s house turned off into the woods. I heard Joseph scream for William to watch out, and I bolted.
I ran straight into the middle of about twenty lycan. Then I understood what William had meant when he said my mind would work faster than my body. Even though everything was moving fast, I had the ability to see it differently. Everything moved in slow motion around me.
I watched Joseph on top of a lycan he had pinned to the ground. His razor-sharp fangs ripped the flesh on its throat, tearing it to shreds. William was slinging lycan—two and three at a time—through the air, helping to keep them away from Joseph. I couldn’t believe he and Joseph were actually working as a team.
More lycan appeared from deeper in the woods and surrounded us. I wasn’t sure how to react. As an Adlet I was just getting comfortable in my skin. Now, I wasn’t sure.
Luna and the twins arrived, leaping from the thick underbrush. Joshua and James tore through lycan like two massive tornados, working like a tag team, biting, ripping, and tearing apart their prey.
I felt the cacophony of hearts beating in my head. The thick smell of flesh and fresh blood filled the air around me.
Luna’s screams quickly pulled me back to reality. I turned around and found two lycan pinning her down. I went nuts, snatching both beasts into the air, biting into their flesh, then ripping their heads off. I threw their lifeless carcasses to the ground. I really don’t remember too much about what the others did after that moment. Once I tasted blood, I was no longer in control. Something inside me took over and I went through the lycan like a Tasmanian devil, biting and ripping out their throats.
The battle ended quickly. William was shaking me, because my adrenaline still surged through my body. “Genevieve! It’s okay. You can stop now, they’re dead.”
I kind of shook my head to clear it, and noticed a strange look on William’s face. He let it fall away quickly when Joseph walked over and shook his hand and gave him a one shoulder hug. For a brief moment I thought I was dreaming.
“Thanks, Gen,” Luna said, hugging me tightly, and smiling. “You saved my ass, girl.”
Ties To The Blood Moon Page 57