Blood Bond (41 page)

“Better than I expected. Worse than I’d
like. Mostly, I think she’s angry that she was the last to
know.”

“Betrayal is harder to forgive than murder.
My mother said that once.”

“Great, so there’s no hope.”

Vera smiled, a rare, genuine gesture. “You
should know my mother was clinically insane by the time she was
fifty.”

“I see.”

She laughed. “Hopefully, you don’t.” She
glanced at my mom. “She was worried about you.”

“Me?” I frowned. “I was here the whole
time.”

“I don’t think that matters at this point.
She knows what you’ll choose.”

“With her, I don’t have a choice.”

“Your fate, your choice.” I didn’t say
anything to that. If my mom had her way, she’d choose for me and
lock me in a closet, but I didn’t argue it. If Vera said I’d get a
choice, somehow I knew I would. “George came earlier and sat for a
while. Your bond with him is strong.”

“I guess,” I said.

“Could come in handy, if you decide to
go.”

My head came up. I stared at her, suddenly
alert. “The bond … he could feel what I’m feeling. He’d know if I
was in danger.”

“Naturally.”

I shook my head, though I wasn’t all that
surprised anymore. Vera seemed to have a knack for quietly pushing
me against the tide. “I’d have to convince them to let me go.”

“They’ll vote on it.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s our process. Everyone gets a vote. As
I said, your fate, your choice.”

“Even George?”

“Especially George.”

“What does that mean?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet? He’s more a
part of you than they are. He’s your pack.”

Chapter
Twenty-Five

My mind wouldn’t shut up. It didn’t help
that I’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours. Or that everyone
else seemed to have a job but me. Wes, Derek, and George were still
outside. I wondered if they really expected an attack or if they
were too wired to sleep and couldn’t stand the thought of being
cooped up inside. George’s exhaustion was evident through the
bond—which only added to my own—so I assumed the first.

Grandma was in the kitchen, cooking more tea
for Sam and Fee—just in case. Alex had gone to shower, muttering
something about the whole house smelling like dog. I pretended not
to hear. Cambria was upstairs, showing Angela to George’s room to
let her sleep. Sam was there, still under the effects of the drink.
I hoped she stayed that way a while longer, for her sake.

Angela still hadn’t spoken to me. I wasn’t
sure what that meant. I didn’t go to her when she’d finished
talking to George. I couldn’t, not until I knew what she thought,
where she stood. If, after all of my honesty, and all of the shock,
she rejected me because she thought I’d chosen George instead of
her … I wasn’t even sure what to say to that. So I curled up in
Jack’s chair and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep.

I awoke to footsteps on the stairs,
disoriented by the fresh sunlight streaming in through the blinds.
Cambria looked up from the mug of coffee she cupped in her hands.
Her lids drooped despite the caffeine. I sat up and twisted back
and forth, trying to loosen the kinks in my back for having slept
curled in a chair.

Cord poked her head in. “Fee’s awake. She
wants to see you. Both of you.” She spun and left before I could
respond.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Almost noon,” Cambria said.

“I was asleep that long? We only have—”

“Four hours, give or take,” Cambria said,
interrupting my mental math. She rose and held her mug out to me.
“Here, this will help the numbers make sense.”

I took the mug and gulped. “Nothing helps
numbers make sense,” I said, following her upstairs.

Fee looked … like Fee. She looked
rested—more rested than I did—and her eyes were bright and
clear.

“Hey girls,” she said, waving us into the
room while she rubbed a towel over her damp hair.

“Where’s Jack?” I asked, taking a seat on an
oversized chair dragged in from one of the spare bedrooms.

“I kicked him out at dawn. He was on my
nerves.” She rolled her eyes. “It was a dislocation, not a loss of
limb.”

I hid a smile. It brought a rush of relief
and happiness to hear her talk about it like no big deal, like she
was completely fine. Then again, Fee always dealt with the medical
stuff that way. Jack was the baby.

“Here’s the deal,” she said, sitting on the
edge of the bed, grimacing as she settled herself. “I need to shift
so I can finish healing. I’m going for a short run with Jack to
check the perimeter. Two birds, one stone, if you will. After I get
back, we’re having a house meeting.”

“To vote,” I said, remembering what Vera had
told me.

“Right. Everyone needs to be present, so
make sure your mom is up. And your friends, Sam and Angela. Wake
them too. We need to figure out what to do with them.”

“Um, I think Sam is better left out of
this,” Cambria said.

Fee looked at us questioningly. I filled her
in on Sam’s reaction to everything, her shock. “Altering her memory
is probably the best thing,” she said, nodding. “What about
Angela?”

I exchanged a look with Cambria. “I’ll talk
to her,” I said.

We rose to leave but Fee stopped me. “I
called you girls in here for a specific reason,” she said. “You
know this thing is going to be put to a vote. The decision will be
final. Everyone gets a say, but majority rules. That’s how we work.
I know you are used to doing things on your own, however you see
fit.”

She pursed her lips and looked at Cambria.
“I also know about your methods,” she said pointedly. “So, I’m
telling you now, because I won’t say it again, the decision is
final.” I’d never seen Fee so stern. Her disapproving glower
weighed heavier than Jack’s. She reminded me of my mom, only
scarier, since I wasn’t sure exactly what she’d do if I went
against her.

“Got it,” I said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Cambria muttered.

“Good. See you in a bit.” She opened the
door and ushered us out, like we’d just left the principal’s
office.

George met us in the hall. “Angela’s in my
room,” he said. “And Wes will be up in a few to, um, deal with
Sam.”

“Does Angela know that’s what he’s going to
do?” Cambria asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. She knows.”

“Is she okay with it?”

“I think so. She knows it’s the best thing
for Sam,” I said.

“Are you going to have him do the same with
Angela?”

I shared a look with George. “I don’t know,”
I said.

Wes came up behind George and slapped him on
the shoulder. “Party in your room,” Wes said.

“Looks like,” said George. “You ready?”

“Let’s do it.” He looked at me. “We’ve got a
vote to get to.”

George knocked once and pushed the door
open. Angela turned from the window and our eyes met. Everyone
stopped, waiting for her response. I watched her glance once at Sam
asleep in bed, then Wes. “Let’s take a walk,” she said to me.

I nodded and followed her out.

We ended up in the front yard, since there
wasn’t much empty space in the house with everyone wandering
around, gulping coffee, trying to wake up.

“That night you broke up with George and
called me for a ride … that was the night you killed that
wolf-girl, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“If I’d come to get you—”

“There would’ve been another Werewolf,
another time,” I said. “Don’t put this on you.”

“I’m not, I just … I want
to be here for you. I thought about it all night. I know you could
have Wes erase my memory, make it so I don’t remember—like he’s
doing with Sam—but I want to know.” She squared her shoulders,
pulling herself up taller. “I
can
handle this. I think. I want to try.”

I resisted the urge to throw my arms around
her just yet. “Why?” I asked softly.

“Because we’re family, you and I. And
because the truth should always be faced, even if it’s hard or
ugly.”

“It’s messy,” I warned. “And dangerous. This
world isn’t safe for humans.”

“Neither is the one I left behind.”

I stared back at her, still contemplating.
“All right,” I said slowly. “If it gets to be too much—”

“I’ll say so,” she promised.

She stepped forward and we threw our arms
around each other at the same time.

“You know I’d choose you over George any
day,” I said.

She laughed. “No way. With that bond thing
you guys have? Guys are emotionally dead inside. It must be a piece
of cake.”

I rolled my eyes. “Such a lie. He’s just as
bad as a girl.”

“What do you feel right now?” she asked.

I paused, searching through the mood in my
head, trying to separate what was mine and his. “Worry,” I said
slowly. “For you and Sam. For me. And confidence. He’s more sure of
himself as a Werewolf.”

“Wow. That’s pretty good. And what about
you?”

“Worry.”

“About the hybrids?”

“About the vote Fee called. That they won’t
let me go.” For a moment, neither of us spoke. My thoughts wandered
to the coming evening, when Mr. Lexington would show up looking for
me. What would he do if I refused to join him? Who would he go
after next?

“You’re also happy,” she said quietly,
startling me.

“Happy? Today?”

“Maybe not today, exactly,
but in general, with this new life. I’ve seen it on your face for
weeks. Even before you left for Wood Point. It’s how I knew
something changed.
You
changed.”

Any answer I might’ve given was interrupted
by the door opening. Wes came out. “It’s done. She’ll sleep for a
while yet. I think Edie gave her another dose of that tea. Oh, and
the vote’s in five. We should head around back.”

“Outside?” I asked.

“I think Fee’s worried about tempers.
Everyone has a very specific opinion.” His voice took on an edge,
and I slipped my hand into his. He held on firmly but he didn’t
look any more assured.

“Do I get a vote?” Angela asked as we
walked.

“Yes,” I said, cutting off whatever Wes had
been about to say. “You get a vote.”

Cord blocked my path as I joined the circle.
“You’re on board with this, right?” she asked.

Her directness startled me. “With going?
Yes. I’m on board.”

“You do know they’re all going to vote
no.”

“Wes won’t,” I said quietly.

That silenced her. Her brows rose at him and
then she glanced at Angela. “What about her? She’s not going for
the Alzheimer’s scenario?”

“No,” I said. “She’s one of us now.”

Cord snorted but didn’t argue. “Fine, it’s
another yes, anyway. Let’s hope it’s enough.” She stalked away and
stood next to Fee.

“What’s her problem?” Angela asked me.

“Life.”

“We’ll go around the circle, one at a time,”
Fee began when we’d all assembled. “Give a yes or a no, that’s it.
When we’re done, the vote stands. No arguments.” She looked at me,
then Cord. “Also, the vote is for both of you. No one is going
alone. It’s both or neither, understand?”

“Do we know yet why they want both girls?”
my mom asked. Her hands twisted nervously. She looked better,
rested. I wondered how long she’d commandeered Vera’s bed for,
because Vera looked ready to collapse. Dark circles ringed her
eyes, her cheeks flushed bright pink.

“No. Olivia, whoever she is, hasn’t
said.”

“I think it would be better if we waited,
maybe called CHAS—”

Fee cut my mother off with a sharp look. “We
are not calling CHAS. I’m allowing you a vote. That’s more than
fair, Elizabeth, since you want nothing else to do with us.”

“Tara’s seventeen. She’s a minor. Legally, I
can make the decision—”

“And any deaths will be on your hands.”

My mother pressed her lips together, her
face blotchy red.

Fee looked from face to face. “I’ll begin. I
vote yes.” She looked left. “Jack?”

“I vote no,” he said.

“George?” Fee prompted.

“No,” he said, looking straight at me.

“What?” I stared back at him. “Why?”

Something in the bond spiked. Determination.
Protectiveness.

We hadn’t spoken much over the course of the
night, not since the others had arrived home. I’d just assumed he’d
be on my side. I hadn’t even had a chance to mention Vera’s idea
about the bond providing reassurance to the others.

“No explanations. No interrupting,” Fee
said. “Edie?”

“No.”

“Elizabeth.”

My mom untwisted her hands and balled them
into fists. “No.”

“Vera?”

“No.”

I sighed. I’d suspected as much. Her support
was “under the table.”

“Tara?” Fee promped.

“You skipped Angela,” I said.

Fee’s mouth tightened. “Angela’s here as
your guest. She’s an observer.”

“This affected her as much as the rest of
us,” I said. “She should get a vote.”

“Humans have no place in this world, Tara,
as evidenced last night. She’s lucky we’ve allowed her to remember
it.”

“Are you threatening me?” Angela asked.

I shushed her and turned back to Fee. Her
tone had been clipped and short, a clear message to let it go, to
stop arguing. But I couldn’t. I’d waited too long to tell Angela
the truth. I wasn’t giving it up easily.

The skin on my hands and arms stretched and
tightened. My neck tingled but I ignored it and stared at Fee
across the circle.

“Tara!” Wes hissed.

I knew he was trying to warn me, probably to
insist I back down in the power struggle I’d ignited, but I
wouldn’t. More accurately, I couldn’t. The wolf in me had woken and
it refused to lose.

“Fee, humans are just as much at risk as we
are by all this. Those hybrids represent everything humans need
protecting from. If anything, they’re more at risk than we are.
They’re frail, easy targets, and they have no idea they’re in
danger to begin with. Angela should be able to represent them, to
speak for a race that has no advocate.”