Page 17 of Barely Breathing

I don’t have a name yet for what he is.

I don’t have a name for what we are together. Althoughstupidcomes to mind.

Ill-fated. Ill-advised. Mistake.

“Tam, seriously,” Anthony insists when I forget to answer.

“Of course not. Does that sound like me?” I touch the amulet for reassurance. “I’m just gathering information.”

“Liar.” He bumps my shoulder. “You’ve got that look.”

“What look?”

“The same one you had right before you convinced Conrad to chase that ghost in Jersey.”

I start to laugh, but then I picture Conrad’s face, and all the humor in the memory leaves me. “Jersey Devil. Conrad wanted to find the Jersey Devil.”

“You two drove into a cemetery and nearly got possessed,” Anthony says.

“Only a little possessed,” I joke. In reality, we only told our parents that because the cops picked us up for trespassing. We had to tell them something.

“I’m hurt I wasn’t invited,” he says.

Suddenly, the world feels like it tilts. Heat radiates from the amulet and floods through me. Anthony catches my arm when I trip on the sidewalk, but I barely feel it. I see flames engulf a nearby building. Draakmar’s consciousness intrudes into mine, more urgent than ever before. Images flash, and I see blood running down stones, moonlight through glass, and wolves circling. As fast as the hallucination hits, it dissipates like smoke in the wind. But the danger whispering through me lingers.

“Blood and moonlight?” Anthony’s voice sounds far away.

“What?” I blink several times to get my bearings.The vision fades, leaving me with the lingering sensation of a sunburn.

“You said blood and moonlight,” he insists.

“Did I?”

“What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

He frowns and presses his hand to my forehead. “You’re not fine. You’re burning up.”

Before I can answer, Costin materializes from the shadows beside us, his interruption making the air thick with tension. When he looks at me, I see the predator in his eyes. The possessive gleam makes my pulse quicken. As mad as I want to be at him, there is no denying he stirs my blood.

“Planning an adventure?” the vampire asks, his tone deceptively calm.

Anthony leans close to me. “Just taking my sister home.”

“Actually,” Costin’s gaze fixes on mine, “I can see her home. Tamara and I need to have a discussion.”

“There’s nothing to discuss,” I tell him. “A friend needs help, and I owe it to him to help. I’m not waiting for your permission.”

“So I gathered from your conversation with the wolf.” His lip curls slightly. Had he been eavesdropping? “Tell me, castoff, do you think storming werewolf territory alone is the wisest course of action?”

I hate that nickname. It’s so dismissive. Hefirst used it when he found me in the forest with a burned hand. “I wasn’t going to?—”

“You were.” He moves closer, and even Anthony takes a step back.

“You can’t know that,” I say.

“No?” He arches a brow as if daring me to finish the protest.

---