Cold Blood (22 page)

“
You do that.” He winked, which made me almost take a step back. It was supposed to look friendly, I’m sure, but all it did was scrunch up his scars and make him menacing. “Get going now, and we’ll both pretend you weren’t skipping class.”

I hurried out without looking back.

Chapter Twenty

Training was strained. It felt like Alex was waiting for me to do or say something, and I didn’t know what it was. He didn’t bring up Miles again, or anything that had happened that day, and neither did I. We worked on tracking some more, and then evading. Alex was really good at that part.

When I failed to find him for the third time, he dropped silently from a tree branch above my head, straightened, and smirked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Evading females is a trait all men are born with.”

“
I thought it was evading questions?”

“
Same thing.”

“
True.”

His smirk turned into a genuine smile, flashing white teeth at me, and my stomach jumped into my ribs. I found it hard to look away from his mouth, and an awkward moment passed where all I could do was stare. He looked back at me without a word, and again he seemed to be waiting for something. I swallowed hard, surprised and irritated at my body’s reaction. It was reflex; I hadn’t meant to do that, so it didn’t count…
right
?

We ran after that, which I was grateful for. I still hated running, but at least it left me out of breath enough that I had an excuse not to talk.

“
You feel stronger today,” he said, when we finished. He popped the top on a bottle of water and drank deeply.

“
What do you mean?” I guzzled my water in shorter bursts, so I wouldn’t hyperventilate in between sips.

“
I don’t know. You feel different today. Stronger, more alert.”

“
Hmm.” I frowned, trying to figure out what he meant. I felt the same to me. Still ragged after running three miles.

“
Maybe you’re getting better with the running,” he said.

“
Maybe,” I agreed, letting it go.

We parted ways after that – Alex jogging back into the trees to finish his run and me heading for civilization.

I met up with Cambria and Logan in the cafeteria and we headed out for more patrolling. I hoped and prayed that Alex wouldn’t realize this was going to be a regular thing. But I could tell Cambria and Logan were kind of hoping the opposite, since Alex had the earpieces. In the end, it didn’t matter; he showed.

When he held out the earpiece, Logan actually slapped him five, and I glared so hard that my eyes almost closed. Logan purposely didn’t look at me, but Alex noticed.

He cleared his throat. “I was thinking we could mix it up today. You girls want to go together?” He was looking at Cambria, whom he’d clearly decided was in charge.

“
Sure,” she said, reaching over and taking Logan’s earpiece out of his hands. “Let’s go,” she said, jerking her thumb to the trail and looking at me. I didn’t waste any time following.

“
Check in every fifteen, like yesterday,” Logan called out to our backs.

Cambria held up a hand with a thumbs-up as we disappeared into the trees.

“
So…?” she asked, when we were out of earshot.

“
Not talking about it,” I said.

I didn’t have to look at her to know she was pouting. “You’re no fun sometimes, you know that.”

“
I talked to Wes today,” I said, instead.

She perked up at that. I guess any boy gossip was good gossip right now. “About time. What did he have to say for himself?”

I sighed. “Nothing, actually. The connection went bad and cut out.” I quickly told her the conversation we did manage to have.

“
Where was he off to in such a hurry?”

“
I don’t know. I guess things must be stressful for him there, learning to lead. He said there’s been resistance because he’s a… you know, hybrid.”

“
That’s stupid.”

I gave her a sideways glance. “Not everyone’s as willing to live outside the rules as you are,” I said.

Cambria smiled, flashing her teeth and making it look half menacing and half winning. “I am one-of-a-kind, aren’t I?”

I felt a smile forming in response. “Definitely.”

Daylight was beginning to fade around the edges of the blue sky that poked through the branches overhead. I could feel the temperature dropping as the sun dipped lower. Air tickled the back of my neck, drafting down my spine. I drew my jacket more snugly around myself and stopped. Yes, it was getting cooler out, but not enough to be cold. And I didn’t have goose bumps. So, what was I feeling then?

I stopped walking and concentrated.

Cambria stopped too and looked at me with an eyebrow raised. I waved a hand to keep her quiet and concentrated on my body. I took a step forward without realizing it. Then another. I stopped and stared down at my feet like they were strangers. I was pretty sure my brain hadn’t told me to do that. Cambria was watching me like I was a new brand of crazy. I tried to ignore that and looked in the direction my feet were pointed.

Cambria’s earpiece crackled signaling it was time to check in with the guys, but I didn’t pay any attention. I was staring into a darker part of the trees, straight towards the wards.

Something was there.

I wasn’t exactly sure how I knew it, especially without goose bumps, but I did. Just like I knew I had to get to it.

“
Everything’s fine,” Cambria said into her earpiece.

She didn’t sound convinced of her own words, though, so I turned to her and nodded in reassurance. I didn’t know how to explain this to the guys until I knew what
this
was. Even then, I wasn’t so sure I wanted them to come running. Whatever I was walking towards – it didn’t feel like a threat.

Logan seemed to be satisfied with Cambria’s answer, and the line went quiet.

“
What’s up?” Cambria hissed at me as soon as the boys signed off.

“
There.” I pointed at a dark stand of trees where I could feel the pull originating. “Something’s there.”

“
Werewolf?” she hissed back, even sharper.

“
No,” I said slowly. “I don’t think so. No goose bumps. But it’s something.” I bit my lip trying to figure it out. I didn’t put it past Miles to have some sort of trap laid out, but I couldn’t ignore it. Not even if I wanted to. My feet twitched again and my whole body felt itchy with the need to move.

Cambria squinted into the trees. She stayed like that for what felt like forever to my twitchy limbs and then bent down and took out her stake. “Right then. Let’s do this.”

I took my stake out, too, and we set out. I let my body lead me, or pull me, towards the shadows and concentrated on keeping my pace even and slow. Part of me wanted to run, but I managed to tell that part to shut it.

We walked in silence; our footsteps sounded too loud as we crashed through the fallen branches and pine needles. Whoever – or whatever – was waiting definitely knew we were coming.

I gripped the stake tight enough that my knuckles turned white and I had to ease up to let some of the blood flow back in. Cambria fell in behind me when the way became too thick, and I knew she was wound as tight as I was. The way was blocked by thorn bushes more than trees. We were getting seriously close to the wards line. Cambria must’ve felt it, too, because I could feel her hesitating behind me.

I knew what she was thinking. We could
not
let ourselves cross that line unless we wanted to bring the cavalry running. I slowed my pace, feeling my way forward with instinct so I didn’t wander too far towards the line. I couldn’t see anything except a face-f of thorn branches. I pulled them apart with careful fingers, but even so, I stuck myself and drew blood. I sucked on the injured fingers absently and kept moving.

All at once, the thorn bushes gave way and the space in front of me was open woods again. The vibrating feel of the wards was stronger here, and I knew we’d come as far as we could. I stopped and Cambria came up next to me, both of us scanning the trees for any sign of movement.

“
We can’t go any farther without alerting Vera,” she whispered.

“
I know.” My feet still felt twitchy, and I was frustrated. “There’s something here, though. I know it.”

“
Tara–”

“
There.” I pointed to a large oak twenty yards away. Something behind it had moved – I was sure of it.

Cambria didn’t answer. She squinted at the tree. We waited.

A face appeared from behind the tree and then the body that went with it. I sucked in a big gulp of air.

“
Wes,” I said, letting all my breath out on the one word. I lurched forward, ready to run to him, but Cambria’s hand came down on my arm. Hard.

“
Whoa. What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

“
It’s okay. It’s Wes,” I said, frustrated at having to explain it – and that she would stop me from going to him in the first place.

He walked towards us with a small smile on his lips and his eyes on mine, locked in some private, silent reunion.

“
You can’t cross the wards, remember?” Cambria hissed at me.

“
She’s right,” Wes said. He was still coming closer, and I wondered why he didn’t just break into a run already. Didn’t he miss me as much as I’d missed him? He was still looking at me with an intensity that I figured would be impossible to achieve if he didn’t feel happy to see me.

“
You can come to us,” I said.

He had almost reached me now but came to an abrupt halt about eight feet away, eyes still shining but sad. “No, I can’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I tried. Before you got here. I even changed into wolf form and tried that way but it didn’t let me through either way. Vera’s got pretty good security going on here.”

Cambria and I exchanged a look. For a second no one spoke.

“
Well, that sucks,” Cambria said. “Of course it would work on him and not the rest.”

Wes’ eyes, which had been glued to mine, flickered to her. “And you are?”

“
This is Cambria. She’s a friend,” I said.

“
It’s nice to meet you. I’m glad Tara found someone she can trust.” He smiled at her, big and dazzling, and I had to force myself not to stumble forward and go to him.

Cambria smiled back. It took me a minute to realize she was too busy staring at him to really respond. That might’ve made me laugh, seeing Cambria speechless, but I was too frustrated with the situation. Wes stood right in front of me, a few feet away, after weeks of being separated, and I couldn’t touch him. I couldn’t hug him or hold his hand or anything. That is what he’d come for… right?

“
What are you doing here?” I blurted.

He broke off in mid-conversation with Cambria and turned to look at me. I waited, but he didn’t say anything.

“
Right, so, I’m going to wait for you over there,” said Cambria, waving her hand indistinctly behind her. “See ya.” I listened to her retreating steps until they faded behind me.

“
Why did you come?” I asked when we were alone.

“
I missed you and–” He broke off and looked away, like the answer wasn’t easy.

“
And?” I braced myself. If there was an ‘and’ then it wasn’t good, obviously. If he’d missed me, which is all the reason I would’ve needed, he wouldn’t have stopped himself. What else was there? “Wes? Did something happen? Oh gosh, is my mom–?”

“
You’re mom’s fine. Everyone is fine.” He ran a hand through his hair. “You said on the phone that there was a breach here, in the wards.” I nodded. “I wasn’t told about that.”

“
Probably because they don’t believe me,” I muttered.

“
No excuse.” He shook his head, waving away the entire explanation with a frustrated hand. “This is the last straw. It’s been like this for weeks now.” He took a step and for a second, I thought he was going to come to me, but then he turned to the side, pacing. “They say I’m in charge, or going to be, but they still only tell me what they think I need to know in the moment. I’ve been dealing with it and biting my tongue until now, but this… this is the last straw. Keeping things from me about you.” His voice dropped to a growl and he stopped pacing to stare at me over the empty space that separated us. His gaze was so intensely personal that for a second, it was like I was across the wards and in the circle of his arms. He blinked. “They shouldn’t have done that. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“
Me?”

“
You have to keep me informed. I need to know you’re safe. I’ve been going crazy….” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair. He was looking past me now, into empty space. “I need you to tell me everything, okay? No secrets.”

“
I am telling you everything. That’s the whole point. I told Vera and Headmaster Whitfield everything, too, for all the good it did.” I took a deep breath. Here goes… “Okay, there is one other thing.” That got his attention. I let the breath out that I’d been holding and blurted, “I saw Miles.”

“
Miles was here?” He didn’t sound happy but he didn’t seem too surprised, either. I nodded. His body had gone rigidly still, with his hands held in fists at his sides. The only thing that moved was a small muscle in his jaw that always twitched when he was angry and trying to keep control. “When?”

“
Um, yesterday. I was going to tell you, but I can never get a hold of you with the stupid signal up here.id signaka