Page 6 of Blood Lust
I couldn’t speak.
“Jen is a shifter, Elle,” Logan said. “They sensed us and our power when we moved into town. They knew you were a Life Blood, and their duty was to protect you until protection was no longer needed.”
“I’m thoroughly confused,” I answered, sitting down.
“The immortal wolf shifters worked with the immortal vampires who hunted and destroyed Enzo’s createdarmy,” Cole said. “They only work with immortals who share their cause. Life Bloods were designed to help immortal vamps gain power and strength. They backed that cause so long as the immortal would not take advantage of their Life Blood.”
“How long have all of you known this without telling me?” I asked, looking down at my pale, fidgeting hands.
“We uncovered it soon after you came to live with us and your mother was taken away. Jon knew that as long as you had them and your mother to fall back on, you would never come to us and fate could never begin her work. They apparently knew of us even though we had never spoken once we got to Oregon.”
“Oh my God,” I said shakily.
“I know this has to be hard to hear,” Logan said, standing behind me, massaging the back of my neck. “Jen was your best friend, but this is how the supernatural works, baby. You will see her again. We just didn’t think it would be this soon and under these conditions.”
“Well, maybe plan A will work,” I said through gritted teeth. “I can’t believe any of this shit, though it shouldn’t surprise me. What was my ex-boyfriend?” I glared up at my vampires. “He was a serious jerk, so I’m guessing he was part of your hated friends, the fairy pack?”
“Baby.” Braden’s voice was calming even though I was furious. “I can explain more later on. You have to know that Jon made the right decision by removing your entire support structure to get us in quickly. If you remember, the collectors were soon in that damn town. It’s like Jon knew they were coming even before we did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? How could you keep that from me?” I asked, not knowing which of the many questions floating around in my mind to address first.
“Look what we’ve been dealing with, baby,” Braden said. “I know that doesn’t seem like a good excuse, but can you imagine trying to process that before?”
“If you think that was a bad time, are you trying to say you think this is agoodtime? You can’t be serious.” I stood from the table. “You know damn well that telling me this long ago would’ve been the best thing. Keeping this from me was a shitty thing to do. Now, I not only have to process this at a horrible time, but I also have the pleasure of knowing you four weren’t upfront with me, and that sucks almost as much as finding this out.”
“You’re a hundred percent right, Elle,” Cole said genuinely. “We shouldn't have kept you in the dark. I take responsibility for this. I made the call to not tell you until it was a better time with less chaos. I didn’t want it piled up with everything else you’ve had to deal with. Now, I see that I’ve only made it worse. Please forgive me.”
The look of shame on his face was enough to melt my heart through my anger.
“Of course I forgive you. I just really don’t want to have to keep telling you guys to stop keeping secrets from me. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is? It’smylife.I have every right to know everything. Is there anything else you want to unburden yourselves of? Speak now, or I swear to God, the next time something like this happens, you will all regret it.”
Logan stifled a chuckle, and Zac hit him in the shoulder to shut him up.
“There are no more secrets, doll,” Cole said. “I promise you that. You are as caught up to speed as we are, okay?”
“Thank you,” I said. “So Jen is a wolf shifter? Meaning, she turns into a wolf? Her whole family? I—I don’t know how I am supposed to handle that.”
Logan grinned, showing off his sparkling, white teeth. “Yep, she’s a wolf, alright.”
“I think the best way to handle this is to just try to process it for a while.” Cole looked at me, “You’ll only see your friend again if and when you’re ready to. We might need her dad’s most trusted shaman to help lift this curse.” Cole looked at my other vampires, “Let’s get on this. The longer we wait, the longer Elle suffers.”
Chapter Four
Ilay in bed, Braden spooning me from behind as I draped my arm in front of me around Cole’s taut waist, both of the vampires I begged to stay the night with me. They seemed hesitant at first, and I could understand why. I was pretty sure neither vampire was comfortable sleeping in the same bed together, but I didn’t care.
Something wasn’t right with me, and I had this new anxiety issue creeping up on me. It came out of nowhere and shrouded my entire being. The only comfort I felt right now was being in between two strong and muscular immortal bodies.
My throat had gone from disturbingly uncomfortable to utterly miserable, and nothing was touching it. Cole made me a cup of hot, herbal tea before bed, but even that didn’t soothe it. No ancient vampire recipe or over the counter drug would faze the pain in my throat. I’d had strep throat plenty of times, and this pain exceeded that a thousand times over.
I lay in bed, and although I was acutely aware of my physical discomfort, I couldn’t help but be consumed by the thought that my so-calledbest friendwas actually a supernatural creature that I could hardly fathom.A wolf shifter. What the fuck?
I couldn’t help but automatically think that she was probably never my friend at all. She was just watching me, doing what she’d been told. Taking orders to watch over the sad little Life Blood. Was that all it was? How could anyone be that good of an actor? I had loved her. We talked about everything, or so I thought. Jen failed to mention that her lovely singing voice could reach such high octaves because she practiced by howling at the moon.
I had the overwhelming feeling that all my life the joke had been on me. It seemed like everyone I’d ever been close to knew what I was, and yet, everyone let me go on living in the dark just the same. All I knew was that being lied to by people you love seemed to hurt a hell of a lot more than being lied to by those you don’t give a fuck about.
I crawled out from under the covers, and both guys sat up and caught me by the arm. “Elle?” Cole questioned. “I can give you another massage if you think it’ll help you rest.”
I patted his hand on my arm. “I’m going to go watch TV on the couch, maybe that’ll eventually get me to sleep. I can’t keep lying here,” I answered. “You guys get some rest. I’ll find my way around that living room and put on a boring documentary.”
