Book of Love (39 page)

I raised one brow, looking at him strangely.
I looked back at the list, aghast with how many things I hated.

Max shrugged. “But to me, you are one of
only two enemies. Except as I said, I have a particular dislike for
Pixies,” Max added. “You are one of the only things out there that
stands a chance against me in a fight. I know you wouldn’t hurt me,
though. Once we get past the animal instincts, I believe we’ll form
a great friendship.”

I snorted. “What makes you so sure?” Hearing
him say the word friendship in reference to me sounded
unlikely.

“
Have you seen that list?
There’s just about no one you don’t hate except beings like Jane
and Emily, and they’re special cases. At some point, you’re going
to want more friends.”

Max had a know-it-all look on his face and
it annoyed me, as though he thought he was better than me. I also
knew that it was likely my natural hatred for him that amplified
this, but still, it was there.

I exhaled and placed the book back on a
nearby pile of debris.

He’d turned his attention back to Jane as
she roamed the room. “So, what happened between you and Emily?” His
voice was low, as though making sure Jane couldn’t overhear.

I chuckled, finding it hilarious that he was
trying to be best buds by discussing relationships. “Nothing,” I
said bitterly. My body suddenly felt warm at the mention of her
name.

Max smirked. “You do love her. You just
don’t know that yet. I can see why, though. You’re confused by your
previous emotions for Jane, and you mistake that feeling for true
love. Trust me, the feeling you have for Emily is the real
thing.”

I furrowed my brow. “What do you know?”

Max laughed. “It’s not a shameful thing,
Wes. I know what happened to your ideas of love in the past, but
you need to let go of the guilt. Emily is the one you really want.
You haven’t lived as long as I have. You have yet to learn through
trial and error, but in the end, you will agree with me.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.
I hated to be told what I wanted.
“Whatever.”

I blew him off and walked away, grumbling
under my breath. As he’d predicted, my thoughts were now filled
with Emily. She was beautiful, fun, and adventurous. Jane had
always been rather boring, calm and in her head—what I imagined was
just Max’s type.

I looked at Jane. Perhaps the jealousy
wasn’t over love for her at all. Perhaps it was the type of
jealousy a protective brother might feel. I didn’t like to see Max
with her, or anywhere near her, but it was because I knew what he
was capable of, and that was breaking her heart. When I thought
about kissing Jane, it wasn’t the same as when I thought about
kissing Emily. Emily’s was filled with fire and passion, whereas
Jane’s felt platonic and dull in comparison.

I shook my head, hating that I’d let Max get
into my head. I felt something sharp enter my heart then. I stopped
dead in my tracks. The feeling began to burn, and then a heartbeat
formed, beating in tune with my own, attached to me in a way that
felt like longing.

I turned on my heel, my eyes wide. “They’re
here.” I saw that Max was already frozen, but Jane had not yet felt
what we had.

Max lifted his hand to his mouth, moving
quietly. It was then that he suddenly braced himself. The next
moment, I saw why. Someone crashed into him suddenly, appearing
from thin air. It had moved so fast, that there was no warning of
his arrival.

Max heaved, but held his ground as the floor
crumpled beneath him. I heard laughter then, and I saw Greg form
from the blur of bodies, buckled over as though his impact had hurt
him as much as Max. Max shook his arms, standing out of the crack
that had formed in the floor. I heard soft footsteps approach from
the hall—the sound tickling my ears, and my heart.

Emily entered the room,
and my jaw dropped. I’d not yet seen her, and had no idea just how
bad it had gotten. She was frighteningly pale, the skin around her
eyes shadowed, and not just from her heavy makeup. The bruise on
her hip, were I’d grasped her after the party, was still there. It
was showing just below the hem of her skirt, though considerably
faded. My chest stung—I wanted her back. I
needed
her back.

Emily’s dark eyes scanned the room before
resting on me. She did not smile. Her expression was as cold as
ice. I’d forgotten to breathe, the breath in my lungs beginning to
sting.

Emily’s mouth was sullen
as she looked away from me to Greg. I wanted to cry, I missed her
soft gaze so much. She walked up to Greg, and he put his arm around
her. I clenched my fists. Greg stopped laughing, looking from his
brother to me. “Oh, look. Its Emily’s
ex.
How nostalgic.” He
grinned.

I locked my jaw, my palms beginning to sweat
as the pain in my muscles quickly spread. I didn’t even have to
think it, and already I’d become the lion. I let out a loud
growl.

Greg pretended to look
shocked. “Look at that!” His voice was demeaning. “You found
yourself a
shifter,
didn’t you, Brother? You should know that they’re a deceitful
friend to keep. You remember the way his parents treated you…” Greg
looked at me, his eyes blazing. “And the way they left him
behind.”

My mouth remained open,
showing my teeth. What was he saying?
Max
knew my parents?

“
This shifter’s got a
fierce little heart, doesn’t he? So chivalrous!” Greg continued to
laugh, angering me further.

I saw Max put his hand up toward me, telling
me to stay back, but there was something else. I perked my ears,
hearing his voice in my head.

Let me talk, you need to focus on saving
Emily.

I hissed, shaking my head like a race horse
yearning to be released from the gate. Max reached in his pocket,
discreetly grabbing the bottle that contained the toothpick from
earlier. My attention and anger toward Greg switched to concern,
and I remembered why we were here. Max tossed the bottle behind his
back, his brother too fixated on Max to notice. I quickly changed
back into my human form, standing naked in the middle of the room
as I caught it, but I didn’t care.

“
Greg, listen… Give us
Emily. She is not yours to keep.” Max’s words were heartfelt, but I
knew he was just buying time.

I untwisted the lid, carefully grabbing the
toothpick and shoving it in my mouth like I did after a visit to
the steak house. I grinned as the poison numbed my tongue, quickly
switching into the snake as my whole body dropped to the
ground.

Jane:

I stared at Wes. Despite all that was
happening, seeing him as a lion was fascinating. His hair was
standing on end, his tail snaking behind him. His whiskers lifted
and fell as he breathed hard, his teeth showing below his lip line.
My heart raced watching him, seeing why it was possible that Max
and Wes could be enemies.

It was then that I saw something fly through
the air. I focused on it, seeing it was the bottle that contained
the toothpick. Wes was suddenly human again. I blushed, eyes fixed
upon his beautiful, naked body. He twisted off the top, placing the
toothpick in his mouth with a smug grin. The next moment his body
disappeared, a black snake falling to the ground in his place.

“
Greg, you know you only
want to do this to her because of me, and my love for Jane.” Max’s
words broke my attention, drawing it back to the center of the room
where their stances mirrored each other.

Emily was standing like a shadow behind
Greg. I saw now that I needed to separate her from Greg, so that
Wes could get to her. I took a step forward. Emily’s head snapped
to the side, her eyes meeting mine. There was a murderous glimmer
that played at the edges of her blackened gaze, but I knew that
somewhere in there, the Emily from my dream still lived.

I took another step, and her face tightened.
Her weight shifted, and she took a step toward me, and then
another. She was determined to protect Greg, and as long as she
thought I was coming after him, she would continue to advance
toward me, and away from Greg.

I glanced down at Wes, seeing his dark
scales blended with the charred room, making him almost invisible.
He advanced toward us, at the same pace Emily advanced toward
me.

My heart began to pound as I found myself
within her reach. Her eyes narrowed, her face twitching with
energy. I saw her weight shift back as though in slow motion,
knowing she was about to attack. I looked over her shoulder,
wishing Max would help me. To my dismay, I saw him and Greg now
wrestling across the floor, Max’s grey wings tangled with Greg’s
pitch black pair.

Looking back at Emily, time sped back up.
She lunged, toppling into me and we fell back. My back hit the
ground. I heard my spine crack, but not break. She had a strength
she’d never had before, and I hoped that it wasn’t too late—I hoped
that she wasn’t already dead. She pinned me to the ground, and
that’s when I felt her heart beat against mine and the warmth in
her hand as she locked them around my wrists. It wasn’t too
late.

She growled at me, as though all conventions
of speech had been stolen from her, leaving her savage. She let go
of my wrist long enough to slash at my face, her nails grazing the
skin on my cheek, leaving it stinging. I winced, trying to push her
off me. She sat up, her legs locking me to the ground.

Her lips formed the most vindictive smile
I’d ever seen, her eyes showing that this was it—this would be my
end.

I shut my eyes, not wanting to see her face
when it happened—not wanting that to be the image that would haunt
me forever. I waited for the end, but when I heard the scream erupt
from her throat—a scream so full of agony, and so full of death—I
knew that Wes had bitten her.

I opened my eyes as she rolled off me,
clasping at her ankle as the screaming continued. I saw Wes swing
in the air as she flailed, attached to her skin, his jaw clamped
tight.

“
No!”
Greg yelled. He threw
Max off of him, sending Max flying across the room and crashing
into the wall.

Max slumped to the ground, shaking his
head.

Greg ran up to us, shoving
me away from Emily. He grabbed Wes’s tail, ripping his teeth from
her body. “What have you done?
You
imbecile!”
He discarded him to the side in
a coil of black scales.

Wes looked stunned, but otherwise fine. I
made my way to him, petting his head as he blinked a few times.
Wes’s body tightened then and he slithered up, hissing wildly at
Greg as Greg tried to bring Emily back to his side. Greg heard the
hiss, looking over his shoulder with a surprising hint of fear.

Wes slithered toward him—so fast, it was
more like a leap. Greg covered his face, trying to shield himself.
I was confused by his cowardice, but as Wes clamped his fangs into
Greg’s arm, I heard Max’s yell.

“
Wes!
No!”
Max winced as he said it, reacting to the same pain that Greg
now felt. He pushed himself off the ground, stumbling toward
us.

Wes released his bite on Greg’s arm,
reacting to Max’s cry. Wes’s body fell to the ground, now
human.

“
Wes!”
Max reached us, his
eyes filled with alarm, the life in them fading just as Greg’s
were.

Wes looked at me, not knowing what he’d
done.

“
Wes…”
Max’s voice was weak
now. “You can’t… do…” His eyes fluttered closed, his breathing
suddenly labored.

I felt my skin burn with fear. “Wes, what’s
happening?”

His eyes were wide. “I—I
don’t
know.”
His
eyes darted about the room, and I saw there was an idea forming.
“Quick, help me find a book about angels. There was one for me.
There must be one for him.
Quick!”

I leapt to my feet, running toward the pile
where Max had pulled the book about shifters moments ago. I shoved
the pile over with both hands, covering my fingers with black. I
searched and flipped through the books, my hands frantically
grazing each cover.

“
Demons…
Faerie, Dragon…”
I mumbled. There
was nothing. I shuffled through another stack.
“Alchemy, Unicorn, Angel, Gho
—Angel!” I screamed, jumping to my feet and lunging back to
Wes’s side. I gave him the book, and he quickly searched the
contents.

“
Mortal Enemies…” he
muttered, lacing his fingers through the pages. He then listed the
names. “Shifters… and…” he looked at me, his eyes grave.

“
And what?” I
screeched.

“
And
snakes…”
Wes was frozen, and so was I.

“
Wes, what do we do?” I
cried. My skin was covered in a cold sweat. Emily let out a moan,
rolling on the ground.

“
Should we try to suck the
poison out?” he suggested.

I shrugged. “Yeah, but
you’ve got to do it. You’re the one that can stand the poison.” My
eyes looked frantically upon his, pleading him to do the right
thing.
Don’t let him die!

Wes pressed his lips together, and then
leaned toward Greg as he lay unconscious beside him. He reached for
his arm, clamping his jaw across the wound in the same way he had
when inflicting it. He sucked on the gash, blood seeping down his
chin. His eyes were shut tight, his expression showing disgust.