A Man of Honor (A Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (The Honor Trilogy) (15 page)

Fir
st through fourth period sucks. Not knowing if Honor is safe scares the shit out of me. She texts me at the beginning of each period to let me know she made it to class, but still…it drives me crazy. Third period she has Chemistry. And really…can I honestly trust Jared Moore? No. I cannot.

Therefore, sitting in third period class is for the birds. Raising my hand, I get the teacher
’s attention.

“What is it, Storm?”

“I need to see the nurse. I’m not feeling too well.”

She writes me out a pass and sends me on my way.

Obviously, I don’t go to the nurse. Instead, I stand outside Moore’s classroom. Through the long narrow window on the door, I see Honor diligently sloping over her books, speed-writing whatever it is Moore is yammering about today. Moore’s crooked grin appears as soon as his eyes make contact with mine. Shit. He shakes his head and turns back to teach his class, uttering something I can’t hear. Then Honor’s head pops up. Next she’s getting out of her chair and heading towards the door. I roll my eyes at Moore’s big mouth and step aside so Honor can open the door.

“Is everything all right, Storm?” she asks so innocently.

I close my eyes and let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Yes, princess. I was just worried about you. That’s all.”

She gives me a resigned sigh. “Storm.” She places her hand on my forearm. “I’m fine. As a matter of fact, without your fear interfering with my
own emotions, I’m not afraid of Moore.”

I roll my eyes
like some ineffectual wimp. “Just be careful,” I tell her. “I’m not trusting
anyone
until this is all over.”

Her genuine smile brightens up her beautiful face before she reaches up and kisses me on the lips. “I’ll be fine, Storm. See you at lunch.”

I nod and let her close the door, but I lean against the wall, arms folded in front of my chest, and wait for the third period to end.

After the bell rings, Honor walks back out and shakes her head at my still being there. At least she’
s smiling.

“I just wanted to walk you to your next class,” I explain. “Save you from a text.”

She laughs.

“Don’t laugh at me,” I joke.

“But you’re funny.”

“Yeah, well, just forget it,
princess. You’re not going to change the fact that your life means more to me than anything. I’m not apologizing for that.” I grab her hand and walk with her to her next class, hoping to just shut her up about my being whipped over her.

“Okay,
now
I’ll see you at lunch,” she says when we’ve reached her classroom. “Unless you’re going to be standing outside the doorway when I get out.” Of course, she’s smiling when she makes fun of me.

“I just may be.” I watch her walk to her desk, and then I head for my own class – missing her as I do.

In the hallway on my way to lunch, I spot Elijah caging in Tamlin against her locker. This makes me smile. Tamlin’s a great girl. She deserves someone who’ll give her his full attention. Hopefully Eli will do that, even though he
is
two years younger than she is. I’ll have to talk with him later about that.

Honor is already sitting at the table alone. Rushing to sit down next to her, I straddle the bench and kiss her on the cheek. “Hey,
princess.”

“Hi, Storm.”

“You mad at me?” I’m afraid my overprotectiveness freaks her out.

Her sweet smile relieves my fear. “Why would I be mad at you for caring about me?” She leans in and kisses me.

A kiss like that is such a simple act, but it sends a warm flow through my body that I can’t help but close my eyes to embrace it. I put my hands on her thighs. “Thank you,” I whisper.

“Are you eating?” she asks, changing the subject.

“I guess. Can I get you anything?”

“Nah. I have the sandwich Mom made me.”

“Just like a princess to have her mom make her lunch,” I joke.

She nudges me in the stomach. “Stop. She always asks if she could make you one. You always say no.”

“Yeah, peanut butter and jelly is not my thing.” I laugh, hoping she knows I’m teasing.

“Don’t knock it. It’s good, especially with white bread.”

Chuckling, I get up, kiss her on top of her head, and get on line for lunch.

When I get back, Ethan and Hunter are sitting at the table.

“Hey.” I greet both of them with a nod. “So tell me about Moore.” I put my lunch down and sit next to Honor.

“First of all…he laughed that you went running off like a baby,” Hunter says, laughing the whole time.

“Yeah, yeah. Get on with it.”

Honor gives my thigh a squeeze.

“By the way, where’s Eli?” Ethan wonders.

“
Sucking face with Tam.” I take a bite of my sandwich after supplying him with that information.

Honor laughs.

“You knew about this?” I ask her.

“She mentioned they liked each other.”

“Ah. Anyway, tell me about Moore.” I look at Hunter. “Without the jokes.”

“He’s not after Honor’s blood. Not the way you think,” Ethan makes clear.

I look at Honor to make sure she’s okay. It must be hard knowing all this is about her. But she’s cool today.

“He admitted to taking those vials of blood for his own use, but only to make sure she was
, in fact, Seth’s granddaughter, like he said.” Ethan takes a bite of his burger before continuing. With his mouth full, he continues. “But Gaffer…Asa…will not stop with the elixir you gave him. Moore’s an empath too.”

“But his eyes,” Honor interjects.

“Contacts,” Ethan informs. “Anyway, Moore realizes you made a fake elixir.”

“How?”

“He’s been an empath for a long time. Not only can he
feel
emotions, he can read what you’re thinking based on those emotions.”

“So now what?” I ask.

“He said his brother’s not an idiot. It won’t take him long to figure out that he’s not dealing with the real elixir.” Ethan pauses and looks at Honor, a frown deepening on his face. “He said once his brother realizes it, he won’t only come after you for trying to pull shit over on him…he’s going to come after the missing ingredient.”

Honor gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.

Taking Honor’s hand, I mutter, “Honor?”

Ethan slowly nods. He looks at Honor and apologizes to her in a whisper.

Eli and Tamlin finally grace us with their presence. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Tamlin says with her happy grin, which quickly fades when she sees Honor holding back tears. “What is it, Hon?”

Ethan, Hunter, and I all utter a loud sigh.

“Oh. Mr. Moore’s brother?” she asks, finally realizing. “It’s gonna be all right, Hon. Moore said he has a plan.”

“A plan?” I look at Ethan. “What plan?”

“I was about to fill you in before
she
interrupted.”

“Sorry,” Tamlin says.

“The plan,” I remind Ethan.

Holding onto Honor’s hand and rubbing her forearm with my other hand, I listen to Ethan tell me how Moore wants to lure his brother into the woods near
the reservation by telling him he has Seth’s granddaughter’s blood and he doesn’t need Storm’s bloody elixir.

“Wait a minute,” I interrupt. “So what if Moore is lying to us? What if that was the whole reason he took Honor’s blood in the first place? We can’t trust him.”

“What else we got, man? We’re gonna have to trust him. Besides, the three vials is not enough for the elixir. He’d need pints of it.”

“And what if that’s why they want Honor back in the woods
? The whole reason I took off in the first place.”

“It didn’t sound like that, man,” Hunter chimes in.

Sighing, I relent. “Okay. When does this
luring
take place? And are we supposed to be there with him?”

“Moore said he could use our help,” Ethan starts, “He said
Asa never shows up anywhere alone. He said we’ll disperse throughout the woods. Maybe get there way ahead of schedule to beat his brother there.”

I nod.

“It’ll be risky, I’m not gonna lie. We’re going to have to have some kind of ammunition.”

Honor glances at me quickly. She’s referring to the gun, but I don’t want anyone else knowing I have it. “We’ll think of something.”

“We better,” Tamlin says.

“You shouldn’t be there, babe,” Elijah tells her.

“Oh, Eli, stop worrying about me. You can’t
pay
me to stay away.”

“Moore said he’ll get in touch with you when he schedules the meeting with his brother.”

“Me?” I ask.

“Yeah…he says though you were a wimp the other day, you’re the only one he trusts to see this through.”

I shake my head. I sure hope I’m strong enough to see it through. Loving Honor has turned me into a pussy. “Yeah…I’ll see this through. And I’ll make sure we have some means of protecting ourselves.” I look at Ethan. “Can you take care of Honor today? I need to do some things.”

“What?” Honor asks.

“Things. I don’t want you with me.” I turn back to Ethan. “Will you?”

“Definitely,” he says.

“Don’t leave her alone…At. All. I’ll be back before it gets dark.”

I kiss Honor on the mouth and let it linger. “I’ll see you tonight,
princess.”

“You’re leaving right now?”

Bringing my finger to my lips, I whisper, “Shhh.” Then I walk out of the lunch room and out the school doors. I’m cutting the rest of the day.

Mahlon
Dickerson is right up the road from school so in five minutes I’m there. Today I’m going to scope the place out. If we’re going to do this right, I need to know this place backwards and forwards. Passing the beach where we convened the other day, I decide to forego looking into that area. Anything sinister that’s going to happen will not happen out in the open. Instead, I head up the trail towards the new bridge. Though it’s fairly open, there’s room underneath the bridge to plant one or two of us. I take some pictures with my phone and head up another trail. This trail, different from the trail Honor and I took the other day, is much more secluded. Taking several pictures of most of the area, I continue up the hill. There are so many overgrown trees and bushes, that we could certainly hide. But then so can Asa and his men. Storing that information in the back of my head, I make a mental note to tell Moore to give his brother no advance notice as to where he’ll meet.

After combing the area for several hours, I now search for some large branches I can whittle into something akin to
a stake. I’ll have my gun on me, but no one else will be armed. They’re going to need some type of protection, and I can’t get my hands on another gun.

In the midst of carving my third
stake
with the Swiss Army knife I carry with me at all times, my cell phone rings.

“Honor. What’s up,
princess?”

“Just wondering if you were okay. I was worried.”

She was worried about me. My heart warms with that knowledge. “I’m fine, sweetheart. I’ll be heading home soon. Ethan stayed with you, right?”

“Yes. Even though my parents are now home, he insisted on staying.”

“Good. Can I talk with him?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, Storm. What did you find?” Ethan asks.

“Nothing. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I came to scope the place out.
Y’know, to get the upper hand when Moore meets his brother.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

“Yeah. Listen. Do me a favor. Try to contact Moore. Did he give you his number?”

“No. Did he give it to you?”

“No. I don’t know. Find a way to contact him. The sooner the better. I need you to alert him
not
to give his brother the location of where we’re going to meet. Just the day and time.”

“What? Why?”

“’Cause he’s smarter than me. What makes you think he won’t come up here and set traps or something. I don’t want to take the chance. Just tell him. Maybe email him through the school page and tell him to call you. Just leave your number. For goodness sake,
do not
put anything private in the email.”

“I’m not an idiot, Storm. Fine. I’ll get in touch with him.”

“Good. Let me talk to Honor.”

“Hi,” she says
, and her soft voice turns me to mush.

“Hey, sweetheart. I’ll be home soon, ‘
kay?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry about anything. We’re gonna kick this guy’s ass.”

She chuckles, but I know it’s not heart deep.

“See you soon.”

“Bye, Storm.”

I slide the phone back into my pocket and finish the stake I’m working on. Since it’s just about dusk, I figure I’ll come here tomorrow with more supplies and make some other ammo.

Before leaving the reservation, I hide
the stakes where no one will find them and take pictures of where I hid them.

Then I head home to the love of my life…and maybe make her my girlfriend for real.