by Aileen Erin
I chortled and it felt really good.
The back door slammed. Dad walked down the back steps in his work clothes. Even in this heat he wore a suit.
“Just what in the hell are you doing to my daughter that she runs—runs—the whole way home from school?” His tie hung loose around his neck. “You’re supposed to be taking care of her because apparently we can’t and it seems to me you’re doing a shit job of it!”
Mr. Dawson tried to step in front of us, but I skirted around him.
“Dad!” I swallowed him in a hug. He smelled good, even if it was an overwhelming mess of things—anger, dryer sheets, shampoo, relief.
He pulled away and looked at my face. “You okay?”
“I’m okay.”
He kissed my forehead.
“Your mother called me. She’s worried about you.” He handed me a pair of white gloves.
I put them on. “Didn’t seem like she was too worried. She called Mr. Dawson to come get me.”
“Tessa. Your mother loves you very much, but we have to do what’s best for you. We’re both struggling to figure out what that is. How to handle this…” Dad looked beyond me and tried to push past. “I thought we agreed he would stay the hell away from my daughter.”
Michael shoved his hands in his pockets. “I said he would, unless he was her mate. And he is.”
“What is this bullshit! You can’t marry off my daughter. She’s only seventeen.”
I stepped in front of him, but he moved me to the side. I was scared to push him back. I didn’t want to accidentally hurt him.
“Calm down, Dad. You know I’m going to be eighteen really soon.” He had a right to be upset. Hell, I was still a little upset. But I didn’t want him to yell at Dastien.
“No one is going to make her marry me tomorrow. I would never force her to do anything she didn’t want,” Dastien said. “I know that’s a lot coming from me. I can’t ever take back what I did, but I hope eventually you’ll be able to forg—”
Dad’s face turned a bright shade of red. “You can get the hell off my property. Now.”
“Oh my God, Dad! Seriously. Calm down.” I grabbed the back of his jacket as he strode toward Dastien. The cloth’s rip stopped all motion in the back yard. Dad tried to get a look at his now ruined suit coat. “Oops.” I hadn’t meant to tear it.
“Teresa. Did you just rip my coat?”
I gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I honestly didn’t mean to.”
Dad pulled off the two pieces that used to be a jacket. “It’s okay. I guess one less suit won’t kill me.”
The back door slammed again. “Tessa. What happened to your father’s coat?”
“It was an accident. I’m sorry, okay?”
Dastien’s chuckle was too soft for my parents to hear. My cheeks burned.
“Would everyone like to come in and have some lemonade?” Mom said.
“No, thank you. We should head back to campus,” Mr. Dawson said.
Dad pulled me into his arms. “I don’t care what he says, if something isn’t right there, you come home. There are other options.” His lips were set in a firm line when he pulled away from me.
“I’m going to be fine, Dad.” I hoped I wasn’t lying.
“Forgive me?” Mom said.
“Totally.”
She came down and wrapped her arms around me. “Call if you need me.” She pulled away. “And call your brother. He’s freaking out.”
“I bet he’s having an awesome time in Austin and isn’t thinking about me at all.”
Mom grinned. “You’d be mistaken, kiddo.”
We walked around the side of the house to the black Escalade parked in the drive. Dastien pulled a pair of flip-flops from his back pocket. “Missing something?”
“Apparently.”
“They were like a trail to you. One not far from here, one at your front door.”
I yanked them from his grasp. “Thanks.” I slid them on and got in the car.
Dastien held my hand in the backseat as Mr. Dawson drove us to St. Ailbe’s. I watched the trees fly past.
All too soon, we pulled through the gates, and into the small parking lot next to the main building. Dr. Gonzales ran up to the car.
“We have a problem,” she said as we got out.
I barely heard the rumble Mr. Dawson gave before it stopped. “What now?”
“It’s Imogene,” Dr. Gonzales said.
Oh shit. “Is she okay?” I asked. “I mean, is she still—”
Dr. Gonzales held up a hand. “She’s fine, although she might not be for long. Rupert Hoel is here—”
Mr. Dawson’s door slammed so hard that for a second I thought the SUV might flip over.
“Why is he here this time?” His voice was too calm and soft.
“He believes you’ve lost control of the student body. That our prize student has gone Feral and turned a local. That the mutt is uncontrollable and almost killed his daughter. He believes this situation is very serious, and needs to be tended to. He demands that the two of them be held before a full tribunal.”
What the hell did a “full tribunal” mean?
Mr. Dawson’s fists were in tight balls as he looked off into the woods, at seemingly nothing in particular. At least I thought it was nothing until four people stepped out from beyond the thick. Four men wearing all black with no shoes. They flowed as one.
Cazadores. And I sure as hell didn’t like the way they were watching me. Their eyes pinned me in place as they navigated around the last of the forest.
The tallest one stepped forward. “You’ll have to come with us.”
He couldn’t mean me?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Mr. Dawson stepped in front of me, blocking the leader’s path. “She won’t be going anywhere.”
“What would you have me do, Michael?” he said. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen him before.
“She’s done nothing wrong, Trent.” As soon as Dastien said his name, it clicked. He was the one from the bookstore.
“Dude. You’re in trouble too,” Trent said.
Dastien stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Dawson. I had to peek between them to see what was going on. “Fine. This is my fault. I’ll go on trial. Alone.”
“Everyone needs to calm down,” Mr. Dawson said. “No one is going anywhere.”
Trent reached for something in his back pocket. “I’ve got orders from—”
“I’m sure Rupert is forgetting that Sebastian and Donovan have already met and evaluated the situation here.”
Trent’s mouth dropped open before he recovered. He shook his head. “It’s too late. Once a tribunal has been called for it can’t be undone. Can it?”
Mr. Dawson’s growl echoed among the buildings.
Dr. Gonzales put a hand on his arm. “We know full well that it cannot be avoided. But they’re fine here. Dastien is a trusted Cazadore. He’ll not run.”
“And the girl? She nearly killed Imogene.”
He was totally right. The image of my hand dripping with her blood flashed in my mind. I was going to be sick.
“She can wait in her room for Sebastian and Donovan to return,” she said.
“Fine. James will stand guard at her door,” Trent said.
“Where is Rupert now?” Mr. Dawson said. The power in his voice raised goose bumps all over my body.
“He’s using your office,” Dr. Gonzales said.
Mr. Dawson’s fists clenched and released. Clenched and released. “Trent, you can come with me and Dastien. The rest of you can go to hell for all I care.”
What was going on?
Dastien watched me over his shoulder as they walked toward Mr. Dawson’s cabin. I couldn’t help but feel a little lost without him.
Dr. Gonzales closed the distance between us, putting her arm around my shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.”
Jason gave a snort. “I’m not sure I’d promise her anything.
”
Finally someone was being honest. I hadn’t seen Dr. Gonzales since I got to St. Ailbe’s. Pretty much nothing had gone right since then. It took effort for me not to shake her arm off.
Dr. Gonzales’ grey eyes flashed to silver as she growled at Jason. I hadn’t thought of her as a fighter, but there was no mistaking the challenge she’d issued.
He stared at the ground. “Just my opinion. No offense meant.”
“While you’re here, you will show some kindness to Teresa. You wouldn’t believe the pain and the struggle she went through just to survive transformation.” Dr. Gonzales blew out her breath hard. “And now this.”
I purposefully hadn’t thought about what had happened in the week I’d been “asleep.” For the first time, I kind of wanted to ask questions. I looked over at Jason and bit my tongue. Something about the way his accusing, flat brown eyes rubbed me the wrong way.
A hush fell over the girls eating popcorn and chatting in the common room when we entered. Just what I needed—a walk of shame.
“We’re going to sort this out,” Dr. Gonzales said as we climbed the stairs.
I didn’t have much faith in that, so I kept my silence.
Jason cleared his throat when we got to my door. “I’ll be here.”
I stepped inside alone, and slammed the door in his face. The threat under his words totally wasn’t appreciated. I kicked off my flip-flops and collapsed on my bed. As messed up as it was, being in trouble made me feel better about what I’d done to Imogene. Because in the real world, anyone who rips out someone’s throat should seriously be put in jail. Or a mental hospital. Or something.
Meredith tapped on the bathroom door connecting our rooms before peeking in. “People are in a frenzy, and some wolf is guarding your door. What the hell is going on?”
“You’re asking me?” She knew I didn’t understand anything at this place.
She walked over to my desk and clicked a track. A crowd screaming over a live recording of an Eric Morillo mix boomed over the speakers. Meredith settled down next to me. “Tell me exactly what happened,” she said softly.
“Imogene’s dad is here. He called for some sort of a tribunal?”
Meredith jumped up so fast I almost fell off the bed. “No freaking way!” she whisper shouted.
“He’s of the opinion that Mr. Dawson has lost control of the entire school, especially of me and Dastien.”
All of the color drained from Meredith’s face and she sat down hard on the bed. “That’s not good. What you did was no big deal. I mean people get into fights all the time here. Even the Seven know that—it’s normal for new weres.” She was quiet for a second and then got up to pace. “It’s gotta be more than just that. Mr. Dawson and Mr. Hoel have been fighting for years. They hate each other.”
“Why?”
“Dastien didn’t tell you about his parents?”
“He said they died.”
Meredith nodded. “Mr. Hoel has always been kind of against hiding ourselves from humans.”
I snorted. “Kind of obvious from his lecture.”
“I know, right? The guy is a total dick.”
I grinned. “Totally.”
“Back in the day—Mr. Hoel, Mr. Dawson, and Mr. Laurent, Dastien’s dad, were total BFFs. But one day Mr. Hoel got into it with a bunch of humans. He managed to get drunk—which is way hard with our metabolism—at some biker bar and called Mr. Laurent to go pick him up. By the time Mr. Laurent got there, the fight was in full swing. The only saving grace was that Mr. Hoel didn’t shift. Mr. Laurent had brought his wife. They tried to pull him out of the fight, but then one of the humans grabbed the shotgun that the bar owner stored just behind the bar. Close-range headshot will kill anything. Mr. Hoel ran. Dastien was an orphan. Mr. Dawson never forgave Mr. Hoel for being a moron. They fought over Dastien’s custody a bit, and animosity just skyrocketed from there.” She scrunched her nose. “Mr. Hoel has been trying to undermine Mr. Dawson’s place in the pack for a while now. He’s such an asshole.”
I stifled a groan. “And I played right into his hand.”
“Not your fault.” She paused. “I can’t believe he’s actually going for it. I mean he’s been trying to get a foothold with the Seven for years. But this…”
I was starting to feel nauseated. “It might not be all that complicated. I did kind of attack his daughter.”
She shook her head. “No. This is way fucked up. Especially after the whole vampire thing. He might be using you as an excuse, but this isn’t about you. This is bigger.” She headed for the door.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
“Recon. We need more info.”
“Good thinking. Keep me in the loop?”
“What am I? New?” She winked. “I’ll be back in a few.”
As I sat alone in my room, panic built inside of me, making the wolf rise closer to the surface. I closed my eyes and tried to do the breathing Dastien had showed me. I listened to the sound of the air flowing as it entered and left my body. My mind began to wander. I thought about the first time I’d seen Dastien. The intense pull that I felt between us. The day I first saw him. His sexy smile. The day I first heard his voice. I had way too many feelings about him. Mad. Attracted. Angry. Obsessed.
I pictured him pacing in Mr. Dawson’s tiny cabin. Back and forth. Back and forth. His scent—woods, grass, dirt, and something spicy, something just Dastien—filled me. The vision of him grew sharper as my mind focused. His muscles rippled under his shirt as he paced. Heat warmed my body at the sight. Trent and Mr. Dawson were talking at the dining table. Dastien reached the end of the room and paced back toward me.
It took me a second to register the tingle that started in the bottom of my stomach and rippled through my body.
“Tessa?” he said.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I opened my eyes and jumped off the bed.
What the hell was that?
We’d linked. I’d done it again.
I decided that I had to try and lay back down. Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto started playing. It took a second for it to click that it was coming from my cellphone. I grabbed it from the desk, but didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Was that you? Were you here?” Dastien said.
“I think so. Hey, how did you get my number?”
“From Michael. Tess. Stay on topic. I could smell you. How did you do it?”
This was embarrassing. “I uuhh…I was thinking of you.”
“You were?” I could almost hear his grin.
“Don’t get a big head about it.”
“I’m going to hang up now, and you’re going to do it again. Okay? This time try talking to me.”
“Can’t we just—” My phone beeped. “—talk on the phone?” I rolled my eyes. Seemed we were doing fine talking before he hung up.
I closed my eyes, and thought about Dastien. The way he looked after he chased me through my backyard. The tingles came, threatening to overtake me. This was way too intense.
I reached for my cell phone and dialed. He picked up on the first ring. “I need time to—”
“Just do it, Tessa.” The phone beeped in my ear.
Did he just hang up on me? Again. What a jerk! Why couldn’t we just talk on the phone like normal people?
My stomach rumbled. It’d been forever since breakfast. I caught the scent of bread. In the corner of the room, tucked beside my desk, was a silver mini-fridge. It was fully stocked with all the essentials.
I’d totally forgotten Meredith was going to set me up with it. A smile spread across my face. I actually had a real friend, and now I totally owed her one. Going downstairs to get food would’ve been a pain if the girls were still in the common room. And then there was Jason…
I grabbed a carton of whole milk, and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And then made three more. I wasn’t quite sure where all the food was going. Rationally speaking, I was pretty sure I physically could
n’t fit three sandwiches and a half-gallon of whole milk in my stomach. But I ate until the cavernous pit was full, and then settled back down on my bed.
I breathed in and out slowly as I thought of Dastien and the way he smelled. The way he made me feel.
Then it happened again. My stomach dropped like I was falling two hundred feet. My body turned into one giant tingling mess and I couldn’t get enough air. The next thing I knew I was in Mr. Dawson’s cabin.
I stood just inside the front door hovering like a ghost. Being in two places at once was interesting. Talk about a vision overload.
The three guys were sitting at the table now—Trent, Mr. Dawson, and Dastien. Mr. Dawson was on the phone. He turned to me first, lifting one eyebrow, and then continued the conversation with whoever was on the other end of the call.
How did he know I was there?
“Dastien?”
He spun toward me.
“Is she back?” Trent said. “What is she saying?”
Dastien ignored him. “I’ve been reading up on mate-bonds. The thing is, the kind of bond we have, it’s different than the usual kind. What we have is more than what they describe, and nothing I read said anything about this.” He stopped in front of me. “I can smell and hear you, but I can’t see you.” He waved an arm where I was standing, and it went straight through me.
Every muscle ached with pins and needles. “How about you not do that again.” I rubbed my hands over my arms, trying to make it go away. “Can they hear me?”
He settled down on the arm of the couch next to me. “I can’t even. Not really. I hear you in my thoughts, not with my ears.”
Weird. “Can you talk to me through thoughts?”
He sat quietly for a second and made a constipated-like face. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Guess not,” he said.
I wanted to reach out to him, but thought against it. “So is this really better than the cell?”
“It’s definitely cheaper and more reliable. If we’re separated, this could really come in handy.” He paused. “Something’s going on. We just have to figure out what.”
“You’re weirding me out, mec,” Trent said.
