Blood Bond
By Heather Hildenbrand
Published by Heather Hildenbrand
At Smashwords
© Heather Hildenbrand 2012
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons (living or dead), is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication, in any format, can be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, without express written permission from the author.
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Cover design by SM Reine
ChapterOne
ChapterTwo
ChapterThree
ChapterFour
ChapterFive
ChapterSix
ChapterSeven
ChapterEight
ChapterNine
ChapterTen
ChapterEleven
ChapterTwelve
ChapterThirteen
ChapterFourteen
ChapterFifteen
ChapterSixteen
ChapterSeventeen
ChapterEighteen
ChapterNineteen
ChapterTwenty
ChapterTwentyOne
ChapterTwentyTwo
ChapterTwentyThree
ChapterTwentyFour
ChapterTwentyFive
ChapterTwentySix
ChapterTwentySeven
ChapterTwentyEight
ChapterTwentyNine
ChapterThirty
ChapterThirtyOne
ChapterThirtyTwo
Acknowledgements
Whisper
Chapter One
Wood Point Academy crawled with bodies. And even though they weren’t killer hybrids or attempting any sort of attack, it made me claustrophobic. It was Thursday. Tomorrow signaled the end of the school year. Parents had arrived to cheer on their graduates. Unlike most high schools, where completing twelfth grade was the main celebration, Hunters considered it a milestone to complete each and every year of high school. From freshman to senior, everyone got some sort of ceremony. I guess when you trained as hard as we did, passing your classes was something to be admired.
The junior class had voted on a prom sort of thing, complete with a crepe-papered auditorium and a sound system with enough bass to induce a heart murmur. I shoved aside the flash back to the last school dance I’d attended, the one where I’d caught my ex-boyfriend, George, making out with my arch-nemesis, Cindy Adams. Listening to her smug comments over that night, I’d lost control of my temper and punched her in the nose. An action that had gotten me expelled and landed me here at Wood Point, a private boarding school for Werewolf Hunters like myself. The irony of the connection between that dance and this one wasn’t lost on me.
The thump-thump of the beat as it slammed out of the speakers echoed in my ears and vibrated through my bones. Some kid with red sunglasses and a suit jacket to match bobbed his head to the beat of a remixed version of something that sounded suspiciously like reggae. I hated reggae.
“You look thrilled,” Cambria said. We stood shoulder to shoulder, surveying the room.
“There’s just so much to see and do, I can hardly contain myself.”
She grinned. “Just because you’re antsy to get home and see your sexy wolf-boy doesn’t mean you can be grumpy with the rest of us.”
“Did you just call Wes sexy?” My eyebrows shot up.
“Please, you have nothing to worry about and you know it.” She flipped her hair, which she’d highlighted with streaks of ghostly white. It glowed in the black light. “Besides, you’re supposed to be my wingman tonight.”
“There’s not much to choose from, unless you count that guy.” I pointed to the brightly dressed kid still grooving to his own beat.
“Uh, pass.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re being sulky again. You’ve been like that all month.”
“What can I say? I was ready for summer a month ago.”
“No, you were ready for Wes a month ago. Do you know where he is this week?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t talked to him in a few days. Last I heard they were passing through some hick town in Nebraska.”
“What the hell are they doing in Nebraska?”
“I don’t know. Grandma said they caught a trail that looked like it could be hybrids and decided to chase it down.”
“Is he coming back to take you home?”
“Not enough time. Grandma’s coming tomorrow.” I shrugged, trying to pretend I didn’t miss Wes so much it hurt, and bumped her with my shoulder. “Speaking of home, what are your plans?”
Cambria hesitated. She’d been trying to reach her mom for weeks now with no luck. I wasn’t sure what that meant because Cambria wouldn’t come out and say, but I knew it wasn’t good.
“I think I’m going to become a hippie.”
“What?”
“Like a nomad, a wanderer. You know, road trip. See the country.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“A hitchhiker, then. I’d get a lot of pickups. My thumb is pretty sexy.”
“What happened with your mom? Why aren’t you going home?”
“She’s unavailable.”
“And that means what exactly?”
Her shoulder rose and fell against mine. “She’s in rehab. Or so my building manager tells me. She hasn’t returned any of my calls. I checked with the place she stayed at for a while last year and they ‘can’t confirm patient records.’” She used her fingers to air quote the phrase. “Which basically means she’s there and can’t be reached.”
“What are you going to do?” I tried not to look sorry or pitying. I knew Cambria would hate pity.
“I don’t know. She’s got a van. Or she did last time I was home. If it’s still there, I can use it and maybe take a trip somewhere. I think I have a cousin in Biloxi.”
I didn’t know much about Cambria’s relationship with her mom. Conversation about it was rare, except the occasional allusion to the fact that they didn’t get along when her mom was around—something I could sympathize with. But even with the fighting, this seemed worse. My chest ached at the thought of Cambria going home to an empty house. “Come home with me,” I said.
“Are you serious?”
Disco boy moonwalked by us and winked. We ignored him.
“Seriously, Cam. You have nothing better to do and my mom is probably going to house arrest me for that crap with Miles. I would love having a friend under the same roof.” I smiled. “You’d be doing me a favor.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re trying to get me to feel better about mooching off you all summer, aren’t you?”
“Maybe,” I squeaked, keeping the smile plastered to my face. “Is it working?”
“Totally,” she agreed.
We grinned at each other until something behind me caught her eye and her expression faltered. Her eyes flickered back to mine. “Uh-oh. Trainer with bedroom eyes headed this way.”
“Trainer with …?” I twisted to see who she meant, though part of me knew the moment her eyes had shifted. Alex headed this way. He wore a black suit and a white shirt tha
t contrasted against his tanned hands and face. He would’ve been breathtaking except for the pained look on his face and the way he pulled at the tie knotted at his throat as he moved through the crowd.
Cambria whistled loud and low. “Trainer boy cleans up good.”
His eyes fell on me and swept up and down. I smoothed the silk dress I’d stolen from Victoria. My breath caught a little and I forced it in and out evenly. We’d been training together for weeks now without crossing the line from professional to personal. Somehow, this night felt different. Maybe it was the fact that we’d be leaving tomorrow. A last chance to say everything. Not that I had anything different to say. My heart belonged to Wes.
Sometimes I wondered if my heart had selective memory.
“Tara.” The way he spoke my name sent a shiver down my spine. “May I have a word?”
“Sure.” I nodded at Cambria and followed him outside.
Stars twinkled overhead. People milled about in the courtyard; parents gushed over their offspring and couples engaged in a last make-out session before returning home.
“Can we take a walk?” Alex asked.
I nodded and fell into step beside him, my heeled sandals making clicking on the sidewalk that wound around the outskirts of the courtyard. Soft, white bulbs strung about the shrubs illuminated the pathway. It was meant to be romantic, but instead, it left my stomach tight.
The entire month there had been a sort of resigned tension between Alex and me. After the stir caused by Miles subsided, Wes and the others had gone home. School was restored to order. Classes resumed. It all felt so normal. Then there was Alex.
I don’t know what I’d expected my first day back at training. Closeness over a shared near-death experience? Distance caused by the secrets I still kept? I felt neither.
Alex was business as usual. Painfully so.
It was as if none of it had happened. Or as if he’d experienced it all separate from me somehow. He had a singular focus: the hybrids were running around leaving a trail of dead humans in their wake. A fact Alex made painfully clear in his never-ending rants about how he couldn’t wait for the special team selections. He was itching to hunt them. Except, unlike Wes, who’d gone searching for hybrids willing to choose peace over death and destruction, Alex would hunt to kill. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake that.
“Are you enjoying the party?”
“It beats running.”
Alex chuckled. “I could’ve converted you if I’d had more time.”
More time.
Tomorrow we’d go our separate ways. I swallowed against the lump in my chest. “Alex …” I didn’t know how to put any of it into words.
“Kane called me into the office today.”
“Oh.” I stopped. We were at the edge of the courtyard now, closer to the trees than the cobbled path. Movement caught my eye. I swiveled, muscles bunching. My body was more alert for danger than my mind, though, because it took me a moment to realize what I was seeing. “Logan?”
He broke from Victoria’s embrace. Even in the dim light, I could see him flush. “Tara, hey.”
Victoria glared at me. “Is that my dress?”
“My wardrobe is gone, remember? And you have more than you need. Doesn’t it look nice?” I pivoted right, then left, showing off the silky fabric that ended a little higher than it should’ve since I was taller than its rightful owner.
“Breathtaking,” Alex agreed.
“Stay out of this, Channing. What are you doing with her anyway? She’s rabid.”
“Lay off, Vic. Summer starts tomorrow. Kick back. Relax,” Alex said.
“Evil never sleeps,” I muttered. Logan shot me a dirty look. I lifted my eyebrows in mock innocence.
The animosity between Victoria and I was old news. Since the incident with Miles, and more than that, since the day she’d cried to me about her parents disappearing, there’d been no more exploding bags of dog food. No more shredded clothes or attempts to shave my eyebrows in my sleep. Although, she never missed an opportunity to insult me in conversation, which was almost daily since she and Logan were practically joined at the mouth these days. I figured wearing her clothes was an even trade.
“I was relaxing just fine until you and Barking Barbie showed up,” Victoria said.
Alex laughed, and this time I shot him a dirty look. “Sorry,” he said, still grinning.
“Are you guys passing through or should we pick another spot for privacy?” Logan asked, giving me a pointed look.
I opened my mouth, snarky comment at the ready.
“We were just leaving.” Alex took my elbow and led me away before I could protest. Victoria said something I couldn’t hear and Logan shook his head like he was too beaten to argue. “Let it go,” Alex said as we headed for the woods.
A few steps in, the light from the string of bulbs faded and blackness closed in. My eyes adjusted quickly so that shadowy stalks rose around us and the trees ran closer together. Alex stepped off the path; I had to watch my step to keep from tripping over undergrowth. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see past his shoulders in front of me. I knew where he was headed. My heels crunched over the gravel that led to the shed.
“I can’t believe it. Logan and Victoria,” I said, shaking my head.
“Definitely an unexpected pair,” Alex agreed.
Something about the way he said it sent a warm ripple over my skin. Part of me wanted to confess how much I would miss him. How even though my feelings for Wes had only solidified after all we’d been through, it hurt to think about being separated from Alex. Especially when I had no idea if we’d ever see each other again. But I couldn’t say that. It was against the rules we’d set, and I refused to be the first to break them.
Instead, I picked up our earlier conversation. “What did Kane want?”
Alex didn’t answer until we’d reached his work-in-progress—a shabby pickup truck. Tools were strewn around the bed and tailgate, which was permanently down since the hinges were rusted out. He picked up a wrench, twirling it deftly in his hand.
“I got picked up for special teams,” he said.
“Oh.” It was the same response I’d given before we’d been interrupted, but I didn’t know what else to say. This was the moment he’d been waiting for all month, the moment I’d been dreading.
Special teams were what they called the Hunters being sent by CHAS to search out the crazed hybrids Miles had created and then loosed. Some were capable of becoming human at will, some weren’t. All of them had these weird, yellowish eyes. When you looked into them, even into their farthest depths, you were struck by their lack of humanity. But, despite their viciousness and thirst for blood, most of them had been Hunters once—some were friends and family to the very same Hunters who searched with orders to kill on sight.
Hopefully, Wes, Jack, and Cord would find them first. If they could get the hybrid to swear allegiance to The Cause, legally they couldn’t be touched by CHAS. They were neutral. Or so we hoped. So far, neither side had located a single one of them.
It was a wedge between Alex and me, his wanting to join these teams. The fact that he was volunteering to kill something that represented a part of me—a bigger part than I was willing to admit—was hard.
“Which team?” I asked quietly.
“A scouting team to start, but if I do well,” he shrugged, “I should be promoted quickly.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice, and stared at a pile of nuts and bolts on the tailgate.
He sighed and dropped the wrench. “Say something.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, but your silence is weirding me out. Usually you just yell or wave your arms or something.”
“I’ll remember that for future arguments.” As soon as I said it, my eyes watered. What future? This was it.
“Tara …” Alex took my hand.
“Don’t,” I whispered, but he ignored it and laced his fingers through mine.
“I
’ll miss you. Will you miss me?”
All I could do was nod. He leaned closer, his eyes on my mouth. His free hand traced an invisible line down my jaw and rested on my shoulder. I held my breath, sure he was going to kiss me. I had no idea what I would do if he did. My feet became anchors, holding me in place.
At the last minute before our lips touched, he exhaled. His breath was warm on my lips before he leaned away. He let go of my hand and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I hugged him back and tried to ignore the sting in my eyes and throat. We didn’t move for a long time.
When he spoke again, his voice was rough. “This is harder than I thought it would be.”
“For me too.” It was easier to talk standing in his arms, without him looking at me. “Alex? Will I see you again?”
“Absolutely.”
“Promise?”
He pulled away, facing me squarely. His hands rested on my arms. “I’m going to tell you something, and then I’m going to walk away because it’s late and also because I don’t want you to feel like you have to say anything.”
“Okay.”
“I love you, Tara Godfrey. I love you so much that I walk around breathless from the exertion. No, don’t talk,” he said when I opened my mouth to respond. “Just listen. I don’t have family. I don’t get attached. It’s easier that way. Which is what I kept telling myself about you, but it happened despite my best efforts to prevent it. It’s not going away and it’s not fading. If anything, it’s gotten worse.
“I understand you have feelings for me but you love him. The only option that leaves me with is hunting hybrids. And even though you hate the idea, it’s not what keeps us apart.”
“Alex, I—”
“No, don’t.” He attempted a smile but it looked pained. “I’ll see you again. I’ll always see you again. No matter how much you hate what I do in between. I also suck at goodbyes. So …” He dropped his hands from my shoulders and buried them in his pockets. When they were safely tucked, he leaned in and planted a kiss halfway between my mouth and my cheek. It was quick, chaste, his expression strained. How much had that cost him?
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