by Wendi Wilson
“What should we do?” I heard Beckett ask.
“Maybe there’s an unlocked window we can climb through,” Jett offered.
“We can’t break into her house, Jett.” That was Wyatt. “She trusts us. We can’t lose that.”
“Well, she’s not trusting us very much right now, is she?” Jett snapped.
He was right. I loved them and love was supposed to equal trust. I swiped at my wet eyes and pushed myself up. I peered through the peephole, expecting to see them huddled around the front door. They weren’t.
“We have to keep trying.”
I heard Beckett’s voice, loud and clear as if he stood right in front of me, but there was no one on my porch. I twisted the deadbolt and swung the door open. Taking a step out onto the porch, I spotted them over by the truck in the driveway. They saw me at the same time, all three calling my name before hurrying toward me.
As they stopped before me, my eyes flitted from their faces to the truck and back again. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. They were several yards away, speaking in hushed tones and somehow, I’d heard every word.
“I heard you,” I blurted out.
“What?” Wyatt asked, his face screwed up with confusion.
“I heard you talking,” I said. “Over by the truck. I heard Jett say he wanted to find an open window, and Wyatt said no because you all don’t want to lose my trust.” I paused to look in each set of gray eyes, then asked, “How could I hear you?”
“Can we come inside?” Jett asked. “We should sit down and talk.”
I turned without another word and led the way back inside, heading straight for the scene of the crime. I plopped down on the couch and Beckett sat beside me, keeping his distance. I didn’t blame him.
Jett and Wyatt sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of us. I stared at my hands resting in my lap. Shame guided my actions, still overwhelming despite my curiosity about hearing them from so far away. I couldn’t pretend like I was normal anymore.
“Savanna, look at me, please.”
I forced my eyes to lift but stopped at Jett’s chin. He sighed but didn’t comment on it.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
“I bit him,” I murmured.
“People sometimes bite each other when they’re, uh, doing things. It’s perfectly normal.”
Wyatt’s words snapped me out of my guilt-induced funk, bringing my anger to the forefront. I looked into his eyes, narrowing mine.
“Normal?” I asked, my voice sharp. “It’s normal? Is it normal make someone you love bleed? Is it normal to drink that blood…and like it?”
The last three words stuttered out, bringing a fresh torrent of tears. I looked over at Beckett, my eyes skimming over his face and zoning in on his neck. The wound was already bruising, with deep purple streaks around the teeth marks.
“Savanna,” Jett said, pulling my attention back to him. “You’re an Alt. You have sharp teeth and a taste for blood. We all do.”
“That doesn’t make it okay,” I mumbled.
“Did you intentionally set out to hurt Beckett?” Jett asked.
“No! Of course not!”
He turned to his brother. “Do you feel hurt, disgusted, repelled, or any other negative emotion about what happened?”
Beckett shook his head. “No.”
Wyatt chimed in with, “I bet he liked it.”
I looked at Beckett. A pink hue tinged his cheeks, but he didn’t look away or deny what Wyatt said. His eyes held mine as he nodded in response to Wyatt’s statement.
“I did,” he said. “I love everything you do.”
My heart swelled at his words. He really wasn’t upset with me or disgusted by my loss of control. It also wasn’t lost on me that the four of us were discussing me and Beckett making out like wild animals and nobody was angry. We’d come a long way.
“Thank you,” I said, looking from one brother to the next.
“For what?” Wyatt asked.
“For understanding. For loving me, despite my mistakes.”
“Mistake? No,” Wyatt said, his grin appearing for the first time. “In fact, I’m a little jealous it was him and not me you lost control with.”
Jett punched him in the arm with a hiss to shut up. A laugh burst from my lips, making all three brothers smile. They’d successfully talked me down from the ledge.
“What about the hearing?” I asked. “It sounded like you guys were talking right next to me, not through a thick wooden door and twenty yards away.”
“Maybe your sense is developing, now that you’re drinking blood?” Wyatt offered.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ve been drinking blood for months, and nothing like this has happened.”
“Maybe it was my blood,” Beckett said.
“What?” I asked, my head snapping toward him.
“You drank some of my blood. Maybe Alt blood gives you something…like a boost in abilities.”
“Well, there’s one way to find out,” Wyatt said, rubbing his hands together. He hooked a finger in the neck of his shirt and pulled it down, exposing his neck. “Bite me, baby.”
Before I could as much as blink, Jett shoved Wyatt, hard. He slid off the coffee table onto the floor, landing on his butt with a thud. I barked out a laugh. The tension drained from my body and I slumped back.
I looked at Beckett. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” he said, smiling.
I returned his grin. “Okay, then I’m sorry for kicking you out and not listening to you.”
“You don’t need to apologize for that, either. You weren’t thinking straight. I get it. Next time, trust us. We will never lie to you or sugarcoat anything just to make you feel better.”
He scooched closer and opened his arms. I leaned into him, resting my cheek against his chest. I only let him hug me for a moment before pulling away and standing up. I gave Wyatt, who was still sitting on the floor, a hand and helped him up. I snuggled into his embrace and wrapped my arms around his middle.
Pulling back, I turned to Jett, who’d stood up and was waiting with open arms for his hug. I flew forward, smiling at his grunt as my weight barreled into him. He hugged me hard, dipping his head to whisper in my ear.
“We love you, Savanna. Nothing you do could ever change that.”
Chapter Five
“How is your hearing today?”
I looked across the cab of the truck at Jett as I answered. “Back to normal. It only lasted a few hours and let me tell you, it was long enough. Hearing my parents in their room last night was just…ugh.”
He laughed. “Welcome to my world.”
“So, where are you taking me?” I asked, hoping to change the subject and get my mind off the sounds I overheard the night before.
“I don’t really have anything planned,” he said. “I figured we’d drive around until we come up with something to do.”
“Well, we can’t go back to my house. My parents are home all day.”
“I thought your mom usually volunteered on Sundays?”
“She does, but she’s taking today off.”
“Well, we could always go to our house.”
My teeth gnawed my lower lip. “I don’t know, Jett.”
“I’m telling you, Savanna. I searched my room from top to bottom and there’s nothing there. Not a camera to be found.”
I hummed a non-answer.
“Beck and Wyatt searched their rooms, too. There was nothing there. Apparently, Uncle Earl is affording us a little privacy.” He took his eyes off the road and glanced over at me before taking my hand. “I’m not going to try to bully you into going, but I just wanted you to know that if you did, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Is he home today?”
He shook his head. “No, he has some meeting at the club.”
Their uncle often disappeared to “the club.” He’d never volunteered information to the boys about where it was or what he did th
ere, only that he was leaving and would be back later. They, of course, never asked for clarification. They talked to him as little as possible, especially after the way he coerced me into submitting to his tests.
I sucked in a breath. “Okay.”
He looked at me, again, a smile stretching across his face. “Really?”
“Sure,” I said. “I trust you.”
He turned his attention back to the road, but the smile didn’t leave his face. It made me happy to make him happy, but there was still a sliver of doubt niggling at the back of my brain. The first time I went there, Dr. Patton was supposed to be gone all evening. He’d come home unexpectedly, and I was sure it was because he saw me in the surveillance footage from his outdoor cameras. There was no guarantee the same thing wouldn’t happen again.
Anticipation crowded out the doubt as we pulled up to the house. I’d never seen Jett’s room before. Wyatt’s either, for that matter. I’d only been in the main part of the house and on the back lawn since that first day. And only under the close supervision of Dr. Patton.
“Are your brothers at home?” I asked as he led me inside.
“Yeah, they’re around here somewhere. Did you want to go find them and say hi?”
“No, that’s okay,” I said, sensing the tension in the question.
He was offering, but really didn’t want me to say yes. It was our day, and I was sure he wouldn’t appreciate his brothers crowding in on our date. The beaming smile my response got proved I was right. I smiled back as he took my hand and led me up the stairs.
We passed Beckett’s room, and I could hear the strains of his guitar through the closed door. The music paused for moment as we walked past, then picked back up. He must have heard our footsteps but decided to leave us alone. His thoughtfulness made me smile.
Jett stopped at the next door, releasing my hand to swing it open. “Sorry for the mess,” he said, ushering me inside. “I wasn’t really expecting you to come.”
I looked around without comment. It wasn’t really messy, except for a few articles of clothing draped across the desk chair. My eyes wandered across the space, noting the set up was the same as Beckett’s—bed, desk, balcony overlooking the back lawn.
Jett grabbed the clothes from the chair and chucked them into the closet, closing the door on the mess. I laughed before walking to the bed and sitting gingerly on the edge. Jett’s movements stuttered a bit, seeing me there, but he shook it off and walked to the desk and fiddled with his laptop.
“Want to listen to some music?”
“Sure,” I said, my eyes roving over his back.
Soft guitar strains flowed from his speakers as he turned around to face me. He held out a hand.
“Dance with me,” he said.
I took his outstretched hand and stood, excitement filling me. We hadn’t danced since that day at the beach. I remembered it being so romantic and amazing until I screwed up and inadvertently persuaded him. I was more than ready for a do-over.
He wrapped his free arm around my waist, keeping my hand in his and holding it against his chest. We swayed to the beat of the music, our eyes locked. My heart picked up its pace, Jett’s intensity ratcheting up my excitement. My tongue darted out to wet my lips. A slight flaring of his nostrils was his only response.
Heat poured off of him, soaking into me where our bodies touched. An image of my hands exploring his naked torso flitted across my mind, a memory of our star-gazing date so many weeks ago. Everything since then had been rated strictly PG, as if by some informal agreement the brothers had decided to give me time to adjust to our new life of dating and secrets and tests. My make out session with Beckett the day before had been the first time in weeks any of us had done anything more than a quick kiss.
I shook my head, attempting to clear it of Beckett and what our time together had led to. Me tasting his blood…and liking it.
“You okay?” Jett asked.
“Yes,” I said smiling. “This is wonderful.”
I ran my hand up his shoulder and into his hair, using it to pull his head down for a kiss. His lips were tentative, brushing across mine, softly exploring. I wanted more. Needed it.
I pressed against him, releasing his hand so mine could join its partner in his hair. His arms locked around me as I took over the kiss, opening my mouth and brushing my tongue against his. A growl vibrated in his chest and he started to move, walking me backwards until my legs bumped against the bed.
I fell backwards, taking him with me, his weight pressing down on me. His lips broke away from mine and he started to rise, but I locked my legs around his waist, holding him in place. He stared at me, his eyes intent, for several seconds before lowering his mouth back to mine.
My hands roved across his back, brushing up and down and back again before slipping lower. As my fingers skimmed across his butt, his kiss deepened with a groan, his mouth pillaging mine. My heartrate skidded out of control as his hand left my waist and travelled upward.
His fingertips circled around my breast, not touching it directly, like he was waiting for me to protest. I kissed him harder, tacitly giving him permission. He got the hint because before I took my next breath, his palm cupped the entire thing. He moved his hand in a kneading motion, sending sparks of fire shooting straight to my core.
My breath came in short pants as his mouth left mine and forged a hot trail down my neck. I writhed against him, trying to get closer though the task was impossible. We were as close as two fully clothed people could get. Thoughts of getting naked flitted through my mind, causing my body to freeze.
I was enjoying the hell out of what we were doing, but I knew, without a doubt, that I wasn’t ready to take the next step. Ever in tune with me, Jett’s hand moved back to my waist and his lips lightly trailed back to my mouth, where he kissed me before pulling back to look into my eyes.
“You okay?” he asked, a soft smile on his lips.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Things just got a little…heated.”
He rolled us over so we were lying on our sides, facing each other. His fingers smoothed a strand of hair away from my forehead. My eyes drifted closed, enjoying the soft touch. I felt his breath on my mouth a second before his lips touched mine in a soft caress.
“I’m sorry if I went too far,” he whispered as he pulled away.
I opened my eyes at his words, my head shaking out a denial. I pressed my palm against his cheek and he turned his head to press his lips against it.
“You didn’t,” I said.
He searched my eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” I said. “Everything you did was amazing. I just got a little carried away and…”
“And, what?” he asked when my words trailed off with a blush.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me,” he whispered, daring me to say it with an arched brow.
“I was so worked up, I thought about us, together,” I said, my next word barely a whisper, “naked.”
I expected him to laugh, but he didn’t. He just held my stare, his eyes looking more silver than gray.
“I was thinking about that, too,” he admitted.
My pulse spiked for a moment, then settled back into a steady rhythm.
“I froze because I’m not ready for that. Not yet,” I said.
“I know,” he said, leaning in for another quick kiss, “and I would never intentionally try to push you farther than you’re ready to go.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” I said. “You didn’t.”
He leaned in close so that his lips brushed against my ear. “I love you, Savanna.”
He kissed me again, making me feel the truth if his words. I kissed him back, attempting to show him the depth of my own feelings. Feelings that were growing stronger by the minute.
Chapter Six
“Hey, girl.”
The metallic clang of my locker door slamming closed reverberated through my body after Lizzie’s voice startled me and it flew from my
fingers. I turned, my palm pressing against my chest in an attempt to hold in my heart. In the silence on the deserted hallway, I should have heard her coming. I’d been lost in my own head, replaying every moment of my time with Jett the day before.
I arched a brow. “Hey Lizzie,” I said. “What’s up?”
I hugged my notebook tight to my chest. I’d forgotten it, which was why I was at my locker in the middle of class. What Lizzie was doing out there, I had no idea, but that, coupled with the fact the she was being pleasant toward me made it very suspicious. Her sudden friendly demeanor reeked of mean girl tactics.
Fiona Butler, her life-long bestie, couldn’t verbally abuse me anymore thanks to Jett’s persuasion. Maybe this was some plan they cooked up together. Lizzie could get close to me, earn my trust, and then use it in some way to hurt me. I needed to keep my eyes open for any buckets of pig’s blood.
“I’m supposed to be in U.S. History” she said, rolling her eyes, “but Ms. Halibut sent a few of us out on a scavenger hunt to find these.”
She held out her hand, revealing a copper coin. I couldn’t suppress my smile. Ms. Hallicutt, otherwise known as Ms. Halibut by some of the snottier kids in school, loved a good scavenger hunt. She would hide Civil War relics all over campus and send kids out in pairs to follow the clues and find the treasure.
“Hey, S-s-s-s-savanna.”
I groaned, closing my eyes. When I opened them, Jonas Wiggins was standing next to Lizzie. He held out his hand and she plucked a coin from it. Ms. Hallicutt must’ve paired them up for the hunt. Just my luck.
“What are y-y-y-you d-d-d-d-doing out of class?” he said, mimicking my stutter from elementary school.
“Knock it off, Jonas,” Lizzie said, her voice angry, “or I’ll tell the whole school about the river incident.”
With a red face, he huffed, “You wouldn’t.”
Lizzie nodded. “I would. Now, go find the next coin.”
He stared at her for moment, his eyes hard, before turning on a heel and stomping away. Lizzie watched him go before turning back to me with a triumphant grin.
