Page 57 of Blood Moon
He fixed his shoulders, swallowed a pride I knew he longed to hold onto. “You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be so short with you. It’s a bad habit I picked up living with my brothers, and Iknow, I shouldn’t use that as an excuse. It’s just—I agree with you. This whole thing is complicated—and Ineedyou …” He pulled away, restarted his sentence. “It’s imperative that you understand what’s happening. There are many pieces at play here.”
“Okay.”
“You forgive me?”
“No,” I said harshly, and then I huffed. “But your apology is a start.”
“That’s fair,” he said, and he tilted his head toward our destination. “Shall we?” he asked, placing his sunglasses back on. I agreed, and we continued. Julian rubbed his hands together anxiously. “Alright,” he breathed. “What questions do you have for me today?”
“Wait.” I raised my brows. “There’s something more dire that needs to be taken care of.”
Julian scoped our surroundings, lowered his voice, and I swore I sensed a bit of panic there. “What is it? Is everything okay?”
“No,” I mumbled, pivoting toward a break in the path, anchoring myself in a long line. “I need coffee.”
Julian sighed, dropped his shoulders. “Good gods,Mira. You could have led with that.”
“Eh, it was fun seeing you freak.”
He made a face, stifled a grunt. “Whatever. I’ll buy this.”
I smiled up at him. “That’s so much better than an apology.”
He twisted his lips, tried to conceal a grin, but couldn’t.
After a reasonable amount of iced coffee—and when I could fully smile without a twitch in my eye—I cleared my throat and said, “In the woods the other day, you said you weren’t following me, but you were following something else. What did you mean by that?” I asked, remembering the piercing screech of the animal from the night before.
Julian grinned in a proud sort of way. “Nowtheseare the questions you should be asking.” I rolled my eyes. “I was tracking an animal.”
“What?How?”
“By scent.”
My face soured, and I took a long sip of my drink. There wasn’t enough coffee in the world to help me make sense of this, but I was trying. “Scent?Like you could smell it?” He hesitated, and I wished he’d take his glasses off. In the shadows of the buildings, it was difficult to read him. “Like you could track the scent in the same way that an animal could?” I added, because that was the only calculation that came to mind. Animals were known to track others by scent. It was how they hunted their prey, how they survived.
“…Yes?” Julian finally said, but as more of a question than an absolute answer. My stomach turned, and I tossed the empty cup in the trash as we approached the Stewart Academic Building. I was conflicted. This new discovery discredited my witch theory. Maybe I wasn’t well-versed on witches, but I was certain they didn’t possess the ability to track animals.
Julian caught the cup before it landed in the trash. “I’ll recycle this,” he said.
“Thanks,” I muttered, seething at how he’d been able to get that so quickly. I circled back to the question about animal tracking. “But why’d you answer the question like that? You seemed surprised that I was surprised.”
He looked at me sideways. “You can’t smell animals?”
I gaped. “Am Isupposedto?” I was fully cognizant of my enhanced sense of smell, but never had I considered tracking animals … “I mean, don’t get me wrong, but that—is that normal?” I felt a twinge of guilt saying it. I wasn’t sure what normal was for him. I wasn’t even sure whathe wasat this point.
Julian opened the door for me, and when we were inside, he took off his sunglasses. There was something hidden in his smile, and his gaze wavered as he said, “Sure.”
I scowled and cocked my head, but when I checked the time, I realized I needed to make a move for it, or I’d be late. “Are you in this building, too?” I wondered. We hadn’t traveled much further down the hallway, and it seemed as if he needed to be elsewhere.
“I’m over in Bowman, so I’ll need to head out after I walk you to class.”
“You don’t have to. It’s on the second floor, plus you’ll be late,” I said, knowing that Bowman was located on the other side of campus.
“I really don’t mind walking you to class, Mira.” His face softened. “Hate to say it, but this … it’s something to look forward to.”
I was perplexed by the notion that I could be part of something he took pleasure in. But I didn’t press him on it. Instead, I allowed him to walk me to the second floor in silence as I wondered what I would ask next.
“I have a couple of things I need to do after this hour, so I’ll be elsewhere when this class ends. Wanna grab lunch around one?”
