Chapter Twenty-Five

Fortunately, help arrived in less than fifteen minutes, but by then, I was curled up in a ball, my stomach in knots.

Evelyn and Edna burst in. “Hold on, honey, just a minute longer,” she crooned.

I started to feel more myself seconds after I’d gulped the drink down.

“Thank you,” I told the couple. “You two are lifesavers.” I didn’t tell them that in the last few minutes, I’d craved blood more than I’d ever wanted anything.

“This is not happening again,” Edna said firmly. She started rummaging through the cupboards, searching for ingredients. “Where did I put that lemon verbena?” Her hands were shaking.

I wanted to give her a hug, but my legs were too weak to stand.

“Can we get you anything else, Tansy?” The tonic was starting to work, and that’s when I noticed that Evelyn and Edna were dressed up.

“I ruined date night,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” Edna said. “Pico’s will be there tomorrow night.”

Pico’s was a romantic little restaurant on the water. I was lucky it wasn’t far from our bungalow.

“How do you think this could have happened?” Edna asked. “Your grandmother is going to be furious.”

“Don’t call her!” I said. “Please. I don’t want her to miss her conference. Rose and Thorn will stay with me.”

Edna looked like she wanted to argue, but Evelyn put her arm around her. “I made a double-batch of tonic.”

They whisper-argued for a few minutes, and then Edna said, “We won’t call your granny, but you need to tell her what happened the second she gets home.”

“I promise.”

“And you’ll get rid of the spare key under the fake rock,” Thorn added.

“Yep,” I said.

“This was no accident,” Rose said. “Someone in the supernatural community is out to get you.”

I hesitated. “There was one other odd thing,” I said. “After I came back from dropping Granny off, it seemed like someone had been in my room.”

“In your room?” Rose asked. Her shoulders went tense. “Was anything missing?”

“No, I don’t think so,” I said.

“What about the stone?” Rose was choosing her words carefully, as if she didn’t want Edna and Evelyn to know about the ruby.

“Still here,” I said.

Her shoulders relaxed.

Granny’s friends each kissed me on the forehead before saying good night. I was tired, and my jaw hurt from clenching it. My whole body hurt.

After they left, I lay on the couch and tried to read, but my head was still pounding. Rose and Thorn argued about who would take the first watch, and when Thorn won, Rose went to the spare room to pull out the daybed and get some sleep.

About an hour after Evelyn and Edna departed, Vaughn came back from dropping off the van.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. He rubbed my temples, and I sighed.

“That feels good.”

Vaughn studied my face and then stood and held out his hand. “Let’s go to your room. You need a distraction.”

Thorn made a hooting noise, and I blushed. Vaughn blushed, too. “Uh, I thought we could watch TV or something.”

“Or something.” Now it was Rose’s turn to be a comedian.

I gave them both a mock glare. “We’ll be in my room, fully clothed.”

But as soon as my bedroom door closed, Vaughn shrugged off his white button-down and the tee he had on underneath, then sat on the bed.

“What are you doing?”

“I read somewhere that skin-to-skin was soothing,” he said.

“You want me to take off my shirt, too?” I asked. “But the twins are right outside.”

“I mean it, Tansy,” he said. “I’d be a total asshole to try to get with you right now. I’m trying to help you relax.”

At least I knew that since Vaughn was a werewolf, he’d probably be able to handle it if I lost control and attacked him.

I shivered.

“I’ll warm you up,” Vaughn said. “Werewolves run hot.”

“Yeah, they do,” I replied.

He laughed and then kissed me, just a gentle peck, no tongue.

“You’re distracting me,” I said. I was a weak, weak woman, but he was giving me hope that maybe we weren’t over after all.

“I like distracting you,” Vaughn murmured, brushing his lips along my neck. I knew he meant for this to be comforting, but I hadn’t had the chance to closely examine the changes to his body, so I took the opportunity.

“I like the way you’re distracting me,” I admitted. I ran a hand across his shoulders and down to his biceps and squeezed. “Is this because you’ve been lifting weights and eating slabs of protein?”

He choked out a laugh. “Slabs?”

“I don’t know how else to describe the amount of meat you’ve been putting away,” I teased. I continued my exploration. “Or are these new muscles because you’re a werewolf now?”

He flexed his arm for me. “Are we really talking about my health regimen?”

“Something else you’d rather do?”

“This,” he said and rolled so he was lying on top of me. “Is this okay?” He buried his face in my neck and kissed the tiny scar.

“Yes,” I breathed. “I missed you,” I confessed.

He nipped my lips. “Show me how much.”

So I did.

…

A long time later, Vaughn said, “I have to go home soon.”

“Do you have to?”

“As much as I’d love to stay here all night, I have a thing early tomorrow.”

“What kind of thing?”

He avoided my gaze.

“You can say it, Vaughn. You have a pack meeting in the morning.”

He nodded.

“I’ll walk you out.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Tansy, I’m not choosing them over you.”

It sure felt like it, but it had been a shitty night already. I didn’t want to add to it by fighting with him.

“I’m not,” he insisted, then sighed. “We’ll figure it out.” He gave me a brief kiss. “Now let’s get moving, because I plan to kiss you for at least five more minutes on the front porch.”

His words should have soothed me, but after he left, I still couldn’t shake the idea that we were on opposite sides.

“Did you two make up?” Thorn asked.

I could feel my face getting red. “It’s complicated.”

“I bet,” she said dryly.

I shifted uneasily. I wasn’t used to having chats about my romantic life with anyone but Skyler.

“What about you and Beckett?” I asked.

“I think he likes someone else.”

“Then what about Xavier?”

“I think he likes someone else, too,” she replied.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” She brightened. “But at least I can say my first-ever date was with two hot guys.”

She and her sister were gorgeous, strong, and interesting. I found it hard to believe that no one had ever asked her out before now.

“Were your parents strict?” I asked her.

Thorn nodded. “You have no idea.” She yawned then. “Time to wake up Rose for the second watch.”

I watched her go. I got the feeling, again, that Thorn didn’t want to talk about her parents. Hard to believe they could be worse than my own unknown father and vampire mother.

If what Vanessa had said was true, then I didn’t have a vampire for a mother any longer. Could it really be possible?