Page 31 of Consume
I shook my head at Pop as I rounded the gurney to sit next to him, Mase close behind. “I’m so glad we got that out of the way,” I said, rubbing the tense knot between Pop’s shoulders. “Because I’m never going through the nonsense of ever introducing you to another man in my life.”
“Just doing my duty as an overprotective father who would do anything for his daughters,” he said to us, his eyes shining brightly. “I’m happy for you. Really.”
“Oh, Pop.” I wrapped him up tight in a hug and breathed in his engine oil scent that had become as much of a part of me as it had him. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he whispered into my hair. “You can speak again?”
I nodded, not wanting to get into the why right now, and then settled myself between him and Mase at the gurney in case Pop went weird again.
As she took her seat across the table, Ellison caught my eye and gave a thumbs-up.
“How’d it go?” I asked under my breath while Mase asked Pop a question about the ship’s engine.
“He’s beyond happy. He already met Josh, so all that are-you-good-enough-for-my-daughter posturing is out of the way.” She shook her head and scooped a huge spoonful of soup into her bowl. “Men.”
“Men,” I agreed.
Mase leaned in closer, trying to hide his grin with a smirk. “About those men... You mentioned introducing other men to your pop. Were you planning on there being more men?”
“You’ll do for now.” I hooked my pinky through his underneath the table and allowed myself a moment to revel in the thrill of his touch before turning my attention to the challenges that lay ahead. There was so much at risk now, more than there ever was before.
We couldn’t fail. No matter what.
Chapter Nine
The next day, SmixtonCollege, the place where I’d spent a year and half of my life soaking up knowledge, over one hundred students were murdered. Violent, horrific deaths, and all of them happened in the same dorm where I used to live with Moon, Jezebel, and Franco.
Naturally, the news painted me as the prime suspect, but witness accounts said otherwise. According to them, multiple people did the slaughtering. People with glowing green eyes.
One girl, in a drunken bender, had smashed her fist through a tenth-floor window. The resulting blood had triggered destruction all the way up to her floor. Why her? Because the dorm’s water supply had likely been contaminated with consumectalons, the same parasite that swam through my blood and drove Saelis/ human hybrids into killing sprees.
I sat in the Vicious room with my phone pressed to my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. I’d called Moon as soon as I found out the news but hadn’t heard a peep back yet. This not knowing if she, Franco, and Jezebel were okay was torture. Even if Moon and Franco weren’t there when it happened, Jezebel would’ve been all alone. Though if a stranger had tried to hurt her, she would’ve ripped their faces off. No joke. I’d never seen it happen, but according to Moon, there had been a few instances in high school when her boyfriends had run away with a lot less skin. Three-inch claws and razor teeth would do that easily. Still, I didn’t think I could deal if any of the three of them had been hurt or...killed.
All those people dead... I hadn’t caused it. I couldn’t have stopped it, and yet guilt threatened to swallow me whole.
“Come on, come on, Moon,” I growled at my phone.
