Blood Crave 2 (9 page)

Read Blood Crave 2 Online

Authors: Jennifer Knight

Tags: #Social Issues, #Love & Romance, #Vampires, #College Students, #Juvenile Fiction, #Paranormal, #General, #Romance, #Werewolves, #Dating & Sex, #Fiction, #Occult & Supernatural

I swallowed as my smile died as well. “I really don’t know.” I grabbed his arms even though they felt dead and gross. “Listen to me, Derek. You
have
to control yourself. All the time. From now on. If you slip up even once and kill someone, and the pack finds out—they’ll hunt you. They’ll find you. And they won’t have any misgivings about killing you.”
Derek gave me a look as though I was acting melodramatic. If only he knew how serious this was.
“I’m under control,” he said. “I’m not planning on killing anyone.”
“
Ever
,” I said. “No biting. No changing too close to people. No sucking of any blood. Ever.”
Derek nodded, his eyes still hooded with a scowl. “Got it.”
There was a knock on the door and Lucas entered.
I withdrew my hands from Derek’s arms and took a step back.
Lucas’s eyes flipped to me and shifted silver. I think I actually
saw
him bite his tongue.
“Time to go,” he said.
I went to him and took his hand. He was like a furnace. I didn’t know if that was because I’d just been holding Derek’s icicle arms, or because Lucas was ready to change at any second. All I know is that I liked it. Blood rushing, pulse pounding ...
life
.
“Are we going back to campus now?” I asked. And would Derek be coming, too?
“Nope,” Lucas said. “Rolf called. He’s summoning us.”
“What’s that mean?” Derek asked.
Lucas answered for me. “Nothin’ good.”
Panic fluttered in my chest. “But—we can’t just hand him over,” I sputtered. “Rolf will kill him.” Despite Yvette’s assurances to the contrary, I didn’t trust Rolf. At all.
“He won’t,” Lucas said surely, already tugging me out the door. Derek followed closely with a look of immense concern on his face. Katie and Julian were trudging along ahead of us, already at the tree line.
“How do you know that?” I asked. “He’s wanted to kill Derek since he came to the house. How can you just trust him all of a sudden?”
“Because I do.”
I stopped walking. I needed a better answer than
that
.
Lucas rounded on me.
“You trust me, right?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Then you trust Rolf.”
“He put you in the silver room,” I hissed. “I can
never
trust him after that.”
“Rolf won’t hurt Derek. He gave me his word. If he breaks it in front of the whole pack, he might as well resign.”
“How do you figure that?” I asked.
“A pack is based on trust, Faith. I trust Rolf, he trusts me—even though he put me in the silver room,” he said, reading my outraged expression. “If he breaks his word, it’s over for him. Rolf’s been leading this pack for over two decades. He’d never give that up just for a kid who
might
be a danger to us.”
I wasn’t convinced.
“He won’t hurt Derek, all right?” Lucas said. “But it’s one night only. We have till dawn, so unless you want to wait until tomorrow and take your chances, I suggest we get going.”
Defeated, I cast a glance at Derek’s petrified face and set off toward the car without another word. I could only pray that Lucas and Yvette were right.
T
he five of us walked up the slate steps of the werewolf mansion in total silence. Lucas’s vibe was whirling around manically and Derek seemed paler than ever. I couldn’t even begin to think how scared he must’ve been, knowing he was about to enter a house full of werewolves who wanted him dead.
Inside the massive recessed living room, about twenty pack members and all of the Pack Council were convened. They seemed to have been discussing something controversial—probably us—because a lot of the faces were angry. But angry or not, every single face turned to Derek when we entered the room.
For almost ten seconds, the only sound was the crackling of the fire and blood rushing through my ears.
A chair scratched against the wood floor as someone stood up. It was Rolf, looking poised and disconcertingly calm.
I was instantly suspicious.
“Lucas,” Rolf said. “Glad to see you are well.” He smiled warmly at Lucas, but I understood the subtext of that snide little statement:
I’m glad you didn’t go crazy after suffering that sadistic punishment I gave you for no good reason other than to prove my place as pack master.
Jerk.
I glared him down with my most venomous look, but he wasn’t paying attention to me.
“I am also glad that you have found your friend.” Rolf went on, turning his black gaze on Derek. “Won’t you please introduce us?”
“This is Derek Turner,” Lucas said, even though Rolf already knew who Derek was. He probably knew more about him than I did, since he was rumored to have connections with the CIA. “Derek, this is Rolf. The pack master.”
Derek’s eyes shifted to mine, they were lighter than normal—white with black rims encircling them. His wolf eyes. The nerves were really starting to trigger him. I prayed he’d keep it under control. The last thing we needed was for him to change and start trying to rip the house apart.
“It is an honor to meet you, Derek,” Rolf said. “Please, all of you sit down. We have much to discuss.”
Something was definitely up. Rolf was acting way too nice, even if he’d promised he wouldn’t hurt Derek. I reached out for his vibe and felt it boiling beneath his blasé exterior. He was frustrated. But why? I tried to get a handle on what specifically was irking him, but before I could delve deeper, something sliced its way around his emotions, cutting me off.
My eyes flicked to Yvette, who sat next to Rolf. Her steely gray gaze was locked on mine. She knew I’d been feeling Rolf out. I hastily withdrew my feelers and looked away.
Julian sat on the couch beside Melanie and Katie sat cross-legged on the floor by his feet, eyes bright with anticipation. Derek cast a worried look in my direction, and I grabbed his hand. I heard a few people gasp at this, and I glared at the room, holding tighter. I pulled him to the couch in front of the fire and sat beside him with Lucas on my other side.
“So,” Rolf said. “He can touch you, after all. He does not have the blood crave? After the other night, I just assumed . . .”
Lucas answered for me. “He has it. But he can eat regular food, too. If he doesn’t breathe, the crave seems manageable. He hasn’t eaten anyone, anyway.”
“That is good.” Rolf’s face relaxed somewhat. “That is very good.” He observed Derek levelly. “The dawn is soon approaching, and we do not have much time left with you. I assume Lucas and Julian have told you all that you need to know about your condition—at least for now?”
Derek nodded.
“Well, I must admit, that I have questions for
you
, Derek Turner,” Rolf said. “And some words of caution.” His eyes darkened, and he leaned in, clasping his hairy fingers together. “The Pack Council has decided that your life will be spared as long as you remain under
complete
control. If you find that the need for blood is too much, we have ways in which you can satiate your thirst without resorting to murder. We urge you to come to us before you lose control. We do not want to kill you. Despite what you might think”—he shot me a scathing look—“that is not our way. However, if you become a danger to our territory, we will have no other choice. The safety of the humans and of our pack is our priority. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Derek said.
That sounded strangely fair, coming from Rolf. I wished I had the guts to ask him what his angle was, but I remained silent. Maybe he was just trying to prove to the pack that he would honor his word and not hurt Derek for tonight.
Derek opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but pressed it shut again without saying anything.
“What is it?” I asked gently.
“I can go back to CSU now?” he asked softly.
“No,” Rolf said, leaning back in his chair. “I apologize, but that is simply impossible. You’re in an extremely unstable state right now and being in the vicinity of so many humans will put them at risk. I cannot allow it.”
Derek’s face fell.
“Then where will he stay?” I asked, speaking up for him.
“Here,” Rolf said.
Alarm bells fired off in my head.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Derek live here? At the mansion ...
alone?
There was no way that was happening.
“No,” I said at once. “He needs to come back to school with us.”
Rolf’s eyes could have laser-beamed through my head and into the wall behind me. “That is not for you to decide.”
I turned to Lucas, waiting for him to speak up. At first, he looked down at me as though I was being difficult. Then, without even really meaning to, I opened the connection and spoke to him through it:
Help me convince Rolf.
“She’s right,” Lucas said suddenly. But it hadn’t been Lucas’s will that made him stick up for Derek, it had been mine.
Startled by what I’d done, I let the connection drop. I hadn’t meant to
make
him do it—just ask him to. But I guess my power didn’t work that way. Heck, I hadn’t even been sure I could speak to him the way I had. Good information for later, but it didn’t excuse what I’d done.
Lucas shook himself slightly, seeming to come out of a trance. His eyes shifted silver, and I felt the change rage within him like an angry bull. Controlling him that way must have increased my threat and made him want to change.
I was a total scumbag.
“I—I mean,” Lucas said, sounding sluggish. “I’ll be there ... and Katie. We’ll be at CSU to guard Derek.”
But Rolf shook his head with a single jerk. “We need you, Lucas. Now that this mess with Vincent Stone is done with, there is no reason for you to remain at the school. Your duties are here, hunting with your brothers and sisters.”
Lucas’s jaw shifted. “So put me on Derek’s guard.” His tone was reluctant; he was only saying this for me, but I was grateful. “Me and Katie. We can watch him.”
“You and Julian are our most skilled trackers,” Rolf said, nodding at Julian. “We need you.”
“You got along just fine without me,” Lucas grumbled. “And Julian’s still here. Besides—” Lucas’s eyes narrowed and his voice was clipped with contempt. “The Council seems to think the vampires in this area are manageable. There’s no uprising, right?”
Rolf’s nostrils flared with annoyance. “We see no evidence of an uprising.”
“Then one tracker’s more than enough to handle any vampire threats. Julian’s here. He’ll do it.”
I saw Julian nodding adamantly.
“Grant me permission,” Lucas urged. “I’ll guard Derek and continue at CSU.”
For a moment, Rolf seemed cornered, but then he spat, “And what if the crave presents itself in the midst of one of his classes? Then what?”
None of us spoke for a while. He had a good point there....
“I’ll take his classes with him,” Katie said suddenly. All eyes turned to her, and a rather adorable blush crept into her cheeks.
“What?” Rolf barked.
“I—if it’s all right with you, pack master,” Katie stammered. “I’ll take Derek’s classes with him and guard him.”
Rolf studied her for a long time with something close to how I might look at roadkill.
Lucas cut her a crooked grin and turned to Rolf with victory in his eyes. “See? With me there too, there’s no reason he can’t continue his life at CSU. He’ll have to take night classes, but that’s not a problem.”
“Yeah, I work during the day,” Katie chipped in. “Now I won’t be bored all night.”
I beamed at her.
A vein bulged in Rolf’s neck. “If I allow this,” he said stiffly. “I will want weekly reports, and he is to be brought to Gould at every full moon. I will not have him roaming the town during that time. We do not yet know the full extent of his capabilities.”

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