Dirty Blood

by Heather Hildenbrand

  The minutes ticked by. It was getting late. My mom would start to wonder about me soon. But I still had to know if Wes was okay. At a sudden tap at the window, I jumped and bit back a scream. Wes stood outside. His hair was disheveled and not in the carefully styled way I’d always seen on him. He wore baggy jeans and running shoes and a half-zipped windbreaker. He looked … sloppy, compared to his usual look. I hated that I found it completely sexy.

  I pushed the car door open and climbed out. “What happened?”

  “Not here. Come on.” He turned and headed for the apartment building, sidestepping the front entrance altogether and turning the corner that led around the back. A narrow sidewalk provided a path and I scrambled to keep up.

  I searched for any sign of injury on him as I followed him around the building. I couldn’t see any, though, and his movements were sure. I started to relax a little.

  Around back was a wooden staircase that led up to a second-floor entrance. It creaked under our weight. Wes pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door, stepping inside and holding it open for me to enter. I did, hesitantly. Wes closed and locked the door and then flipped a switch. An overhead light came on, flooding the space of a loft-style apartment. The living room and kitchen were open and flowed into each other. The sparse furniture made it feel spacious and bigger than it was. On the far left was a set of double French doors and tucked in the right corner was an open doorway, revealing a bedroom beyond.

  Wes kicked off his shoes and headed for the fridge. He pulled out a bottle of water and gulped it down. His chest was bare underneath the windbreaker and I remembered the pieces of clothing that had been ripped away when he’d changed.

  “Where did you get the clothes?” I asked, still standing near the front door.

  “I keep a spare set in the woods near your house. I stopped off to change. Sorry it took so long.”

  “Is the wolf …?”

  “He’s alive. But he won’t be back for a while. I think I broke his leg. And he probably has a torn windpipe.”

  “You’re okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he assured me, swallowing more water.

  I wandered toward him and the bar that separated the living space from the kitchen. “Where are we?” I finally asked.

  “My apartment.”

  My pulse sped up a little and my breath hitched. For a moment, I forgot all about the fact that Wes had just fought another Werewolf for me, or that I was mad at him, or that I’d caught George making out with my mortal enemy in the school gym. All I could think about was that this was Wes’s apartment, his private space, and we were alone.

  I realized Wes was giving me an odd look so I did my best to smooth my expression. “So, what now?”

  Instead of answering, Wes set his water on the counter and came around to stand in front of me. He stared down at me for a long moment and then, slowly, his arms came around me so that his hands were tangled in my hair. He lowered his face until it was inches away from mine and then stopped, watching me with a question in his eyes. I held my breath and waited. When I didn’t push him away, or move to stop him, he closed the distance and pressed his lips to mine.

  Heat coursed through me, and I felt my muscles go deliciously soft. Wes’s arms tightened around me and he stroked my hair, deepening the kiss. I could feel his body relaxing against me. It was satisfying to know he was affected, too, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, not sure how long it would last and not wanting it to end. I could smell him again, woods and wind. His breath tasted tangy, and there was a hint of animal still in him that was both exciting and scary.

  Eventually, he pulled away, but he kept his hands on my hair and face. He stared down at me with an intensity that took my breath away.

  “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that,” he said, his voice gravelly.

  “When can we do it again?”

  He smiled at that, but it was sad. “Soon, I hope. I mean, if you still want to. There are some things I should tell you first.” He took my hand and led me to the couch, pulling me down next to him. When he turned to face me again, the smile was gone, but the sadness still lingered.

  “What is it?” I asked, a heaviness forming in my stomach.

  Wes took a deep breath and I braced myself, knowing whatever it was, wasn’t good news. “When you left, I tried to follow you, but you were already gone by the time I got to my car. I called Jack and Fee and had them search for a while, too. Mainly because they can sense you and I can’t. Anyway, I kept driving around, looking for your car in parking lots and gas stations, but, of course, nothing. All I could think was that something horrible was happening to you …” He squeezed his eyes shut against whatever mental image still tormented him. “Vera called. She said she’d ‘seen’ something. Just a flash, but it wasn’t good.”

  “What was it?”

  “It was you,” he said in a grim voice. “Lying in the middle of that intersection, with that Werewolf from earlier standing over you. Your blood was everywhere. You weren’t moving.”

  “Oh,” I said, letting it sink in. I understood why Wes had made me leave without him.

  “I didn’t even know if I would get there in time,” he said quietly.

  Neither of us said anything for a minute. He still looked pained, and I could tell he was berating himself for the whole thing.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  He looked surprised. “For what?”

  “If I hadn’t snuck out, this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “True. Well, not tonight, anyway. But eventually, yes, it would’ve. And it will again. That’s the other thing I need to tell you.”

  “Okay,” I said, trying to read the strange look he wore.

  “Vera saw … something else. She’s been seeing it for a while now. It’s about you.” He stopped.

  “Like that day at Jack’s? The vision you wouldn’t tell me about?”

  He nodded. “It started as just a feeling, I guess. A feeling that someone new was coming. And then she started seeing images. They were blurry at first but got clearer as the time got closer. She said she didn’t know when, but a girl was coming, and she would be a part of our group. An important part. A leader who would finally bring peace. She said the girl would be a Hunter but nothing like we’d ever seen before. The problem was she didn’t know who the girl was or when she would come. So, we all sort of forgot about it. But the other day, when she met you at The Cause meeting …she recognized you …”

  “As the girl from her vision,” I finished for him, though my voice held more than a little skepticism.

  “Yes.”

  I shook my head. “I think she has me mistaken for someone else.”

  “I thought so, too, at first. Or at least, I wanted to think so. But then I saw the face in Vera’s visions.”

  “You saw them? How?”

  Wes took a deep breath, held it, and then released it in a rush of words. “I read it, in her mind. I can read minds.”

  “You can read minds?” I repeated, full of disbelief. Then again, why shouldn’t I believe it, after everything else I’d seen?

  He nodded.

  It took me a minute to understand where this might be going. “Like, anybody’s mind?”

  “Only on a full moon, but yes, anybody’s mind. I don’t know why. It’s always been like that.”

  The admission brought on a whole new list of questions, but I tried to stick to the subject at hand. “Okay, so you saw her vision and recognized me?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I’m supposed to be this big, bad leader?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Huh. What does that even mean? Is that why they keep looking at me like they’re waiting for me to turn water into wine or something?” He didn’t answer. “Is this what you’ve been keeping from me this whole time?”

  “Yes. Vera said it would scare you off to tell you everything. She insisted we nee
ded to let you come into it naturally. So we all had to promise not to tell you. I’m sorry. I’ve wanted to, I just … didn’t know how.”

  “It’s easy. You just say it,” I said, snapping the words.

  “It’s not easy, especially when you’ve been ordered to keep quiet. Jack is the alpha in our pack, and when he gives an order, you don’t disobey.”

  “But you did. Just now.” I wasn’t feeling angry so much as stubborn. He could’ve told me any time. Instead, he kept it to himself and I looked like an idiot.

  “And I could get kicked out of The Cause for it, too,” he said. “It’s a serious thing to disobey an alpha’s order.”

  I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t think of anything to say. Of all the things he could’ve admitted to, this wasn’t what I was expecting. Wes reached for my hand but I moved away. I needed time to think, to process what he was saying, and I couldn’t do that with him touching me. I rose and wandered the room, not really pacing but unable to stay still.

  I stopped in front of a massive bookshelf against the far wall. It held an even mix of books and music, and I scanned the titles of paperbacks, distracted. There was a wide range, from Westerns to documentaries. Even Mark Twain was represented.

  “There’s more,” he said.

  Of course there was. I didn’t turn. “What is it?”

  “The comment Leo made about our blood and its power, I think you guessed correctly. I think it’s possible that you might be—” he broke off, and his voice dropped to a whisper, “like me.”

  I turned, wide eyed, to face him. “You mean dirty—” I stopped, knowing he didn’t like that term. “One of each?” I shook my head. “But you said he was messing with us. That you don’t trust anything he says.”

  “Not usually, but …” He looked away, staring at some spot on the far wall.

  “But?”

  “He has it out for you, bad. It doesn’t add up. I mean, you’re new and not even sure how involved you want to be in this world. But he’s convinced you’re top priority and need to be taken out.” I winced. “Sorry. But I just don’t understand why else he could be so focused on you. Or how he found you in the first place.”

  “So because Leo wants me dead, Vera must be right—I’m some important Hunter leader come to rescue everyone?”

  Wes sighed. “I can understand it’s a lot to take in, but I also thought it was time to be honest with you. Earlier, when you were talking to George … I just didn’t want to keep lying anymore. I want it to be me who you talk to about this stuff.”

  “So do I,” I said. I took a step toward him. His expression clouded, the way it did when he held something back. I stopped. “There’s something else.” He didn’t answer and refused to meet my gaze. “More visions of death? Or some huge destiny?”

  He stared down at the floor. “Destiny. That was the word she used, too.”

  “Who?”

  He looked up at me. His eyes had darkened to a muddy brown. “Vera. She said you were my destiny.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to ignore the chest fluttering his words caused. Something invisible sprang to life, coating the air, thickening it. It made it harder to breathe.

  “She told me she keeps seeing you and me, together, leading The Cause, and finally bringing the two races together.”

  “Like, as a couple?” I asked. Without meaning to, I held my breath while I waited for him to answer. I felt hot and cold, excited and terrified.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.” I tried to keep my voice even and resist the urge to jump up and down or something equally embarrassing. Suddenly, Vera’s vision wasn’t sounding so bad. Then I realized Wes didn’t look nearly as overjoyed as I felt. “You don’t want that?”

  “It’s not that.” He smiled. “I want that very much,” he added quietly.

  Relief flooded through me so hard, I felt light headed. As if to prove his words, Wes rose and walked over to me. He tugged my hands free from where I’d clasped them around my arms and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me and stroking my hair.

  “I owe you an apology, though,” he said, his lips so close to my ear, I could feel his breath on my neck. “I was irritated at having my future decided for me by some vision. I was stubborn and unwilling to admit I was falling for you, even when I already knew I had. I kept trying to push you away, along with my feelings for you. It didn’t work, obviously, but I am sorry because I ended up hurting you.”

  I pulled away and lifted my head so I could look up at him. “That’s the reason for all the mood swings? Vera’s visions?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  I wanted to let him off the hook, I really did, but it still made me mad that he’d kept something so big from me. Whether I believed Vera’s visions or not, it made all the pieces fit, at least about Wes’s behavior these last few weeks. “You should’ve told me.”

  “I know.”

  “Vera can’t, I mean, this pull we feel to each other—did she do that?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “She can’t do something like that. The pull is real. If I’m right about you, it probably has to do with both of us being mixed.”

  “Like our body’s sensors don’t feel danger around the other?”

  “Something like that.”

  I thought about that. It would be nice to believe it was all science. Then, maybe, I wouldn’t have to feel like it was some sort of confusing, made-up attraction. I looked back at Wes. His eyes had lightened again, but his brows were creased with worry. Then I remembered the apology he’d offered. I’d yet to accept. “I forgive you.”

  He smiled, and his features smoothed into relief. “You seem to be taking all this vision stuff pretty well.”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t that it didn’t bother me; I was just too busy enjoying the upside, the part where Wes was my destiny. I didn’t really want to think about the rest of it. Or whether I even believed it. “I guess I’m just glad to finally know what everyone’s been keeping from me. Not that I really believe what Vera saw, but, if I did, well …you can’t mess with destiny,” I said.

  “I guess not,” he agreed, bringing his hand up to brush a lock of hair out of my face. His gaze held mine, burning with intensity. The room seemed to blur and disappear until all that was left was him. His smell, his arms around me, his chiseled jaw. And those eyes. They’d gone dark again, a lovely shade of bark brown. “Tara, I love you,” he said.

  “I love you, too” I whispered, breathless. Then, I put aside visions and war and peace, as I pressed my lips to his.

  His kisses were gentle at first, like our mouths were getting to know one another. Then the heat began, winding its way through my insides. I pulled him tighter against me, needing to feel more of him. Everywhere our bodies touched, was heat. He deepened the kiss, drawing it out, and slipping his tongue into my mouth. I decided then and there that it didn’t matter what Vera envisioned, from here on out. As long as I got to be with Wes, just like this.

  I barely felt my feet touching the hardwood floor, or moving, for that matter, but somehow we ended up on the couch. His kisses were fast now, frenzied, reminding me of the animal that lived somewhere inside him. My breath came quicker, sucking in air between the pressure of his lips on mine. His hands left my hair and traveled down, coming to rest on my hips. I felt like I might explode.

  That was the moment he suddenly eased back. His lips left mine, and he pulled away, removing his hands from my hips and bringing them back to my face. His expression was dark and intense; he’d never looked more gorgeous than this moment.

  “Tara,” he said.

  I sighed, because with that one word, a semblance of reality hit. “My mom will be worried,” I said.

  He nodded, and reluctantly began to disentangle our limbs and get up from the couch. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I grabbed him and pulled him back down. His body fell back onto mine, and I held his shirt to keep him from trying it again. I had n
o intention of leaving.

  “Tara, your mom,” he warned, but he didn’t move to get up again.

  “Can’t we just have one night with no one else dictating our destiny?”

  He smiled and I grabbed for my phone. I sent a quick text to my mom, letting her know I was spending the night with Angela and then quickly powered it off so she couldn’t argue. I knew it was risky; my mom could always call Angela’s house to verify, but right now I didn’t care. I was here, with Wes, alone, and he loved me.

  ~ 24 ~