Bloodmark (25 page)

I could feel everyone watching now. Their curiosity and whispers broke into my own thoughts, muddying the waters of my mind. Adomnan’s smile was pure evil. There was no mistaking his happiness at our reaction.

Grey stood so close in front of me, I could feel his hair when the wind blew.

“This isn’t the place, Adomnan,” Mund said.

Adomnan just smiled.

“You need to leave.”

“What? No hello for an old friend?” Adomnan asked.

I wanted to vomit. Just looking at his face made my skin crawl. He scared the shit out of me.

Bento twitched with anxiety. He seemed uncomfortable with all the humans seeing them. He must not have trusted Adomnan’s ability to keep the situation from escalating. But it was Eamon who looked the most out of place; he watched me with curiosity. His attention wasn’t on all the humans around, his brothers, Grey, or even Mund. He studied my appearance, from my straight hair to my leather jacket.

“Beth, Emma . . . why don’t you guys go into school? We have to talk to our old friends for a moment,” Mund said. I let go of their hands, and they slowly and reluctantly walked toward the school.

“Playing with your food, Ashling?” Adomnan said. “A little beneath you, don’t you think? They are food, after all. And what does his little fleshy body think he can do to protect you from
me?
” He gestured toward Grey, appalled by his mere presence but not directly speaking to him.

We didn’t move, and I didn’t take his bait to start the fight. I didn’t know how strong Grey was or what he was capable of, but I didn’t want to find out either. I didn’t want him to get hurt. If he died, I would die. With our physical connection, his fighting could kill us both.

Adomnan continued to egg me on. “What would your father say about your new little friend? I could save your father the trouble and kill him right here, if you want. It would be more humane that way. Your father would instead use the old punishments and stone him to death over several days or use him as bait in the Bloodrealms. I could do it quickly for you, as a personal favor.”

I lunged forward at Adomnan, trying to break past Grey to rip him apart. I wanted his flesh in my hands and his blood on the ground. I wanted to exterminate him like the rabid dog he was. But Grey sensed my movements before I even made them and blocked my path, holding me to his side, though his eyes never left Adomnan’s. His concentration was superior to mine. Mund had leapt down and was between them and us, a light growl tearing up from his throat.

“I told you Adomnan. This isn’t the place,” Mund said so firmly it felt like a decree from the Elder Gods themselves. “Grey, please escort Ashling into school. I’d hate for her to be late for class.”

“Mund, no. I’m not leaving you,” I said.

“Disobedient,” Adomnan said, shaking his head. “I could
train
her for you, Redmund.” His voice was dripping with cruelty, and his mouth twisted into a sick smile.

He disgusted me—I would never be his. I would die before I would submit to
him
, of all creatures on earth. He had to know I would die fighting, but maybe that was his plan after all. I suddenly felt like throwing up. Mund was shaking with rage, there were so many of him that I couldn’t focus on his form. He was nearly going to shift. Panic rippled through me, and I didn’t know what to do.

“Aren’t you a charmer,” Grey said to Adomnan.

Grey turned me toward the school and nudged Mund on the way. The nudge was just enough to get Mund to move with us. Mund walked backward, never letting his eyes off Adomnan. My legs felt as though I were walking on gelatin, but Grey’s strength held me together. His arm was wrapped around my back as we walked into the school; his arm felt so right there. Protected in the cloak of his arms. The parking lot had emptied, and they were gone, but their scent remained. It was only a matter of time before they really did come for me. Today was only a warning.

“Thank you,” Mund said to Grey. “For a moment, I wasn’t sure I could control myself, and this wasn’t the place. So thank you. But do everyone a favor and stay out of it. You’ll only get yourself killed and hurt Ashling in the process. You aren’t one of us.” Before Grey could respond, Mund ushered me away, leaving Grey standing in the hallway. No matter the distance, no matter how many people were around, I was alone if I wasn’t with Grey. It would always feel that way. A love lost.

“They found us. They will come back,” Mund said, dragging me down the hallway. His face was stricken with worry and anguish. “I’m sure they have already followed our scents to the house. Tegan and Nia are there. With Tegan and Gwyn protecting Nia, that leaves Quinn to . . .” Mund said, not able to finish his sentence.

“Go to them. Make sure they are safe,” I said. He shook his head no, but the panic on his face was plain. I knew he was torn between love for his family and his duty to protect me. I placed my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “Come back for me when they are safe.”

He nodded and was gone. My hand lingered in the air where he had just stood. I hoped Mund would make it home in time, before Adomnan dared to show his ugly face. And what if he smelled the baby? Mund told me how Adomnan had went on a murder spree, killing all the babies of his enemy’s packs. He had nearly as many babies on his death list as adults. It made me sick with worry. I felt so overwhelmed. I wanted to help my family, but I didn’t know how.

I realized Mund had left me in front of the nurse’s office just as the door opened and the portly little nurse jumped back startled.

“Ms. Boru, can I help you with something?” she asked.

Half-smiling, I replied, “Yes, ma’am.” I held my stomach for dramatic effect. “I think I don’t feel well.”

“Oh golly,” she said as she swooped me into the small office, her tone completely changed. “Go lie down on bed four. I’ll be right there with a bucket.”

She was waddling around the office in frenzy. I didn’t hear a thing she said to me. I just lay there on bed number four and watched nothing and felt everything. Maybe there was something Calista had written that I had missed. Or maybe I translated it wrong. There had to be an answer to this . . . a foretold moment that could help me. Or maybe that stupid old journal didn’t hold a lick of truth. Maybe it was left to torment me. There was no way to know what or who to trust anymore. I needed a break from this madness. At least it was the last school day before break and the Winter Solstice.

“Her temperature is one-o-two!” the nurse said. She was on the phone. Great. She must be talking to Baran. Just what I needed right now. And my temperature was always 102 degrees. “Okay . . . okay. Great.”

She hung up the phone and stared at me with her big eyes. She must have thought I was about to burst into flames like a phoenix and turn to ash. I had always envied the phoenix, with her ability to start anew. Instead I was a wolf, feared by man.

“Ms. Boru, your uncle will be here to take you home.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. You’ll be okay, won’t you, dear?” she asked. I nodded, and she waddled away, her paisley dress waving goodbye to me. It was clearly too much paisley for one person.

I was finally alone again, I sighed.

The door slammed open and Grey darted in. His scent filled the room with his delicious pheromones, swirling through my senses. “You have to come with me,” he said. What was he doing here—trying to torment me further, or trying to be my knight in shining armor? “Now.” The urgency in his voice sprang me from the bed, and I was at his side, breathing in his scent.

“What’s going on?”

“They’re in the school. I can smell them.”

“There’s nowhere I can hide—they can smell me too.”

“Not when you are touching me,” he replied. What on earth had come over him? First he turned his back on Mund, and then he stands between Adomnan and me when he was directly ordered to stay out of it? Now he was convinced his scent hid mine. He had to be stark raving mad.

“Didn’t you notice the strange look the calm one gave me when I held you?” he said.

“Eamon?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Not the chatty one. And not the twitchy one. The other one.”

“Eamon.”

“He was watching your every move, but when you tried to get past me and I grabbed you, he finally broke his concentration and was distracted by the scent in the air. At that moment, I noticed it too. They can’t smell you over me.”

“They’re here in the school?” I said as I finally caught their scent. It was barely there, but I could smell it now. They were getting closer.

“But you’re safe with me,” Grey replied, wrapping his fingers with mine. “As long as we are together, all you have to do is hold my hand.”

My skin pulsed from his touch and tingled all the way up my arm and spider-webbed across my chest. Consuming my whole body in his warmth. We sat down on the bed, still holding hands. He seemed calmer now, the deep furrow of his brow relaxed, and there was even a hint of a smile on his lips. Why was I always infatuated with his kissable lips? I had to get my mind back on my safety and the safety of my family—and get my mind off all the parts of Grey I wanted to kiss.

“Why can’t they smell me?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “And I don’t care why. I just need you to be safe.”

His hands were rough on my delicate skin, but it was utterly arousing. I was trapped in that moment. So many emotions poured through me. My emotional turmoil raged like a bull crashing into itself.

“I can’t live without you, Ashling. I tried.”

Did he actually just say the words I had been dying for him to say? I finally got my wish, yet it wasn’t enough to heal the hurt I had endured. I was still bloody angry at his betrayal. I thought all I needed was for him to come back to me, and yet here I sat, and it wasn’t enough. I was still angry.

My breath rasped in my throat. “I love you, but I just can’t forgive you so easily.” I looked down at his hands—they were shaking in mine. I was hurting him. The pain was clear all over his face. “I’m sorry, Grey. I’m not sure I can trust you.”

I stood up, letting his hand drop back to his side. I walked to the window and slipped outside, silently dropping two stories to the ground. The ground sponged with my weight, releasing the smell of the frozen earth. I started running for home. I heard the thump of something falling behind me. I turned back to see Grey leaping up from a crouch; he looked just like a wolf in his movements. He was by my side in the blink of an eye. I ran harder than I had ever run before, faster than I thought I was able. My cheeks grew wet with my tears, and I rubbed them away.

He matched my pace, running next to me, side by side. He reached over and linked his fingers with mine. The heavens opened up and the sky cried with me. As though Old Mother was weeping for my soul and washing away my pain. Old Mother always reclaimed what was hers.

I caught Mund’s scent across town, and we followed it north to my home. There was no sign or scent of Adomnan as we neared the house.

We leapt up onto the porch as Baran’s Land Rover screeched into the driveway. The smell of burned rubber filled the air. Mund appeared from inside, standing over us. The look of disapproval on his face was overwhelming. I would regret this memory if Grey hadn’t been in it. Before Mund could say anything, Baran appeared behind us, and his large shadow cast over all of us.

“Care to step inside?” Baran said through gritted teeth.

We all obeyed. I dropped my gaze to my feet, and there it stayed.

“Can anyone explain to me why I had to drive all the way to the school, only to catch your scent leaving the school, then to have your scent die out instantly in the middle of the street? I thought you were dead. Don’t you ever, ever do that to me again,” Baran said.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Sorry? Sorry!” he said. “Then why do you keep disobeying me? Do you want to die?”

“No, Baran it’s just that . . .”

He interrupted me, “Damn it, Ashling, how can anyone be expected to keep you safe when you are told to stay at school and then you leave?”

“Baran,” Grey stepped forward. “We had to flee, they were in the school.”

“Do you think you can protect her, Grey? You know, I like you, kid, and secretly I’m rooting for you. But it’s time to grow up here. This is life and death, not playtime at the park. Those are werewolves out there, and they will stop at nothing to get Ashling. You are nothing more to them than a moist, fleshy wall between them and what they want. How long did you think you could stand there before they tore you apart?”

“I don’t know. I’m not one of you, but she means as much to me as she does to you, maybe even more, and I am hollow without her. I’d gladly die for her,” he said, his voice unwavering and strong. It sent a shockwave through my body.

“You will likely get your wish,” Mund said, taking a step closer to Grey, their noses almost touching. “I told you to butt out. Did I not make myself clear?”

I was tired of all the testosterone and fighting. It was exhausting. Tegan walked into the room with the sleeping baby swaddled to her. It was like a little baby hammock made of pink silk. It complimented the ivory silk dress Tegan wore. Looking at her, you would never know she had ever given birth.

“Baran, Mund, if you boys are done having your macho contest, please join us in the kitchen. I’d like to have a word with you. In the other room, please.” She smiled lightly and walked back out of the room with Mund right behind her. Baran followed quietly, leaving Grey and me alone in the living room. Grey cleared the ten feet between us in one beat of my heart and knelt before me.

“Ashling, I know you aren’t ready to forgive me. I let you down, but I won’t give you up. I’m yours.” He bent his head toward the floor in a bow. “I’m yours.”

“Do you even know how much you hurt me?” I nearly choked just saying the words.

“Would you both care to join us?” Tegan said from the doorway. “We are having a family meeting, and that includes you both.”

Looking at Grey, I grabbed his hand, and he followed me to the kitchen. I looked around the kitchen at my family—Baran, Mund, Tegan, Quinn, Gwyn, Nia . . . and Grey. They were so much more than I ever realized. They were strong and fearless, and they all sacrificed things for me. I owed each of them the world.