Made By Design (Blood Bound Series Book 2) (3 page)

My reserved-only-for-Pure-Bloods spirit ability, compliments of Caius’s experiments on me as an infant, had given me The Sight and all the visions that entailed. It had also created the blood bond between Kendrick and me, joining our souls and minds. Connecting with the dead was another trait of the spirit ability, one which I seemed to have escaped. Thank God. Dorian developing his own ability was just more evidence of how he too was affected by Caius’s experiments.

“That’s…” I wanted to say scary, terrifying, and proof that Caius used Dorian to experiment on too, but the accomplishment on Dorian’s face made me reconsider. I crouched to get a closer look, seeing the water line left along the petal’s length. “Amazing.”

Dorian’s smile grew wider. His hand still holding its place above the tiger lily trembled more violently than the second before. Frustration creased his face. “Come on,” he said through gritted teeth. His eyes strained, their whites beginning to tint red from the outside in.

Just like when I had visions.

I went to grab his arm, to tell him to stop, but stalled. Another drop of water emerged from the same petal, then another in a consecutive clockwise motion from each of the other petals. Each drop grew larger than the last, each falling faster as more and more drops emerged and fell. The flower’s vibrant orange shade began to dull, turning moss-colored then brown. There was an audible crackling as the tiger lily wilted, drying in on itself until it became as dry as parchment paper.

I reached out to touch the scrunched tip of one of the petals. As I did the entire flower came apart, turning to dust in the breeze.

~

“Amelia Athobry-Lamont, it’s time for that chat.” Mom’s stern voice called through her open office door as I entered the house with Kendrick and Dorian.

I stalled and winced, feeling as though someone’s hands were wrapped around my throat. Usually Mon would have already left for The Council. Had she waited back for me? Through the opening I couldn’t see her, but I could practically feel the invisible tension thickening between us.

“Good luck,” Dorian shrugged before turning to walk into the kitchen.

Kendrick bit his lip, wavering.
Want me to stay?

I sucked in a deep, rattling breath and shook my head.
No, it’s okay. I need to do this alone.

I’ll be here if you need.
He squeezed my hand then followed after Dorian.

I gulped, trying to loosen the grip around my throat as I stepped into her office. Time to meet the thing I’d been dreading since our return from the Armaya. “Look, Mom…”

“Close the door behind you.” Dressed in sleek black pants and a lacy top, her desk an organized mess of post-it covered piles of stapled papers, her eyes tracked me. “I’m already late for work, but this must be dealt with.”

Irritation made my forearms tense and my hands curl into fists. Forcing them open, I closed the door and took one of the two seats across the glass-topped desk. Foreboding ran up my spine. Being closed in in this office, with busy book shelves and light-shielding drapes, reminded me of being back at the Armaya and sitting opposite Caius. The thought of him, more than knowing what was to come, twisted my stomach. But I wouldn’t let him or anyone dictate my life, not now, not ever.

“I know what you’re going to say and it’s not going to change a thing,” I said before she could talk. “I still want to be with Ty and I won’t stay away from him, for you, Caius, or anyone. I’ll be seventeen soon and I am old enough to start making my own decisions.”

“That is Uncle Caius to you.” Mom crossed her arms over her chest, scowling.

Huh, what a crock!
My fingernails dug into my thighs. “He’s not our freaking uncle.”

Mom gasped, hand going to her throat.

Of course the statement was true, but she didn’t know what fueled my hate-drenched words. She had no idea why I would respond this way, had no idea that Caius had tried to kill me to become immortal. Even before my attempted murder, he’d rendered me into a comatose state nightly through compulsion, so that his fangs could pierce my neck to test my blood. Instead of the pleasure a human feels when bitten, pain I couldn’t consciously respond to had followed, searing through me as he drank my blood. That same pain had flooded my body when Caius had drained me to the point of death, or so he thought.

“How can you say that, Amelia? After everything he’s done for our family, we owe him our lives.”

The belief in her face at her own words and clear trusting devotion to Caius shot daggers through my heart.
I don’t owe that creep anything!
I held my tongue and pinned my lips shut. The urge to storm out of my mom’s office was overwhelming, to scream the house down over everything that monster had done to me.

Amelia, chill,
Kendrick voiced through our bond.
She doesn’t know, remember?

I know,
I hissed internally.

I wanted to tell her so bad. Only, doing so would put her life in danger. Caius had made that vividly clear.

I took a few deep breaths, forcing myself to calm down. “Mom, I know. I didn’t mean anything by it, and I am sorry. But my feelings for Ty stand. I won’t stay away from him. I can’t. And besides, you’re the one who wanted us to live normal lives. Well, I’m sorry to say but this is as normal as it’s going to get. At least you don’t have to worry about me killing him. He’s stronger than me. And he knows what I am. And Mom,” I said, reaching out to take her hand across the desk, “he accepts me, regardless.”

Mom shook her head, a blond lock falling from her tight bun before she drew her hand free to push it back. “You’ve always been so headstrong, Amelia. So much like your father…”

The mention of the father I never knew spiked unusual sensations within me: sadness, regret, and most of all, anger. Caius had admitted to murdering my father in cold blood, solely so he could infect us like lab rats for his malicious plans.

Mom shook away the reminiscent expression from her face and lifted her glassy eyes to me. “So, I guess there is nothing I can say to change your mind about Ty?”

I shook my head.

She stacked her hands on the desk. “Well, I still believe you will grow out of this, out of
him
. It is only a matter of time before his life begins to fade while yours surges on. I am sure I don’t need to tell you that you’ll out live him ten times over.”

I dropped my gaze, frowning at the indents my fingernails had left in my thighs. “Yeah, I know, but I don’t care.”

“The Council would not tolerate this,” Mom continued. “As long as you’re involved with him they must never know.”

I already knew what The Council’s punishment was for forbidden love. Even if I wasn’t a Pure Blood, my association to Caius put not only me, but also Ty at risk. “I want nothing to do with The Council or vampire politics.” I was about to tell Mom she was right for trying to keep us human and away from everything vampire for as long as she could, when her words hit me. “You’re going to let us be together?”

Mom heaved a sigh and began sorting a stack of papers. “Love is never perfect, Amelia. After losing your father I know that better than anyone. So for now I will allow it.” Her gaze returned to me. “Under strict guidelines, of course.”

Waiting for the
I can’t believe you bought that
moment, I clutched the desk’s glass edge. “And they are?”

Mom leaned back in her white-padded office chair. “If The Council in any way becomes suspicious, your contact is to end. Immediately. I will not let you risk your life for this. I will take you away if necessary.”

“That won’t happen, Mom,” I said. “I want nothing to do with their racist laws.”

“Furthermore.” Her hand came down on the desktop. “I trust you have not slept with this boy?”

My jaw fell to the carpet in complete horror. Embarrassment burned my cheeks. “I—uh…”

“And don’t lie to me, Amelia. You’re terrible at it.”

I dragged my jaw off the floor and forced myself to speak. “No, of course not. And I would rather not talk—”

“What you would or would not like to talk about,” Mom said cutting me off, “is irrelevant. I am the parent here. If you cannot agree to my terms I will force you two apart. Don’t think I don’t have the means to do so.”

I swallowed hard at the deadly seriousness on my mom’s face. Would she try to force me back to the Armaya and Caius? There was no way in hell I would go, but then what would she do? Force the whole family to move, again?

“It is never to happen,” she warned, wriggling a finger at me. “It’s far too dangerous. The wolves are reactive creatures. They can’t always control their animal side. After this boy’s daytime transformation in the forest that you stupidly tried to witness, I know he can transform on demand. And you must know a wolf’s bite is deadly to us.” Mom stood up, graceful and willowy while looking anything but soft. “No transformations. No sex. No exceptions or the deal’s off.”

Like we were even close to that anyway. With Kendrick clouding my mind with jealousy and revulsion through the bond, being intimate with Ty wasn’t an option. At least not anytime soon. Still these conditions aside, I wondered why she was giving in so easily. Was there more behind this agreement than I was aware of?

Mom cleared her throat, waiting for my response. Ulterior motives or not, the faster I got out of this the better. “Alright, I promise,” I said, nodding. “Anything else?”

“You will invite Ty over here. I think it is time we all got to know each other a lot better.”

Knowing I had no option, I shrugged in defeat. “When?”

“Next Tuesday for dinner,” she said, her silvery-blue gaze piercing. “I have the night off. So no excuses. If he doesn’t show, all bets are off.”

~

I threw open my bedroom window and jumped onto the sill, sitting with my legs dangling outside. My iPod hummed with Skillet’s rock words from my bedside table. Outside it was already dark with night, the fattening moon rising into the sky. My new iPhone was clutched in my hand and pressed to my ear. After two rings the line picked up.

“Hello beautiful,” Ty answered.

I swallowed my mouthful of chocolate, anxious to reveal the outcome with my mom. “Mom caught up with me.”

“Hmm,” Ty’s deep voice buzzed. “Should I brace myself?”

The news wasn’t bad, bar the
I can’t sleep with you ever
bit, but he still had to endure an evening with my mom. And who knew what she was up to for that formal introduction. “No. It went quite well, I guess.”

“But…”

I took a deep breath, clutching the sill with my free hand. “She wants you to come over for dinner so she can get to know you better.”

“Now?” There was movement through the speaker. “I can be over in about ten minutes.”

Shocked by his eager outburst I rocked forward, quick fingers clutching the sill to keep me from falling to the garden below. “You’re okay with this?” I thought back to my total reluctance to meet Ty’s father while knowing our races were born and raised to be mortal enemies. “With meeting her and being in a house of vampires?”

Ty laughed. “Well unless there’s going to be any surprise appearances, I think I can handle Dorian and Kendrick. And besides, mothers love me. Plus I was the one who wanted us to come out in the first place.”

“Well yeah, I guess…”

“Amelia, look,” Ty went on. “I’m not worried. I want this. I want us to be out in the open, together. Not hiding our feelings from everyone who matters to us. Deep down I know you want that too. So, when is this dinner?”

“Tuesday night,” I said. The enormous elephant of my promise to never go all the way with Ty lingered in the back of my mind. With the bond keeping a gulf between us, it didn’t need to be said. Well, not yet.

“I wouldn’t miss it. And I’d love to sneak over now to see you,” he said, a clank and clatter vibrating through the speaker. “But my father’s scheduled training for the next few hours. Call me tomorrow?”

“Yeah sure. Tomorrow.”

I hung up, swinging my legs back over the sill—and almost jumped out of my skin. Kendrick sat waiting on the foot of my princess-style bed. With our bond I could usually tell where he was at any time, but somehow he’d managed to surprise me.

“So, the talk with your mom went well.”

Of course he’d had a front row seat in my mind’s eye during the entire discussion. Thinking back now, it was amazing that I hadn’t sensed his pained emotions at my insistence to stay with Ty. “How did you do that?”

Kendrick smiled and patted the purple comforter next to where he sat. “Do what?”

I blew out my breath and dropped down next to him. “You know what. Block your thoughts from me. And it’s not the first time. You’ve slipped away before. I’ve felt it. Tell me how you did it?”

“I’m not sure,” Kendrick said, leaning back on his elbows. “I guess I tried to focus on something small and mentally tried to form a barrier around it. I had no idea it would work, but I figured it was worth a try.”

I knew the real reason behind his efforts. The inner turmoil he suffered at seeing and feeling Ty and I together crushed him. In all truthfulness he had been extremely well behaved considering what he was subjected to. If the positions had been reversed I doubted I would have taken everything this well. “Can you teach me?”

“It’s worth a try.” Kendrick got to his feet, pulling me up beside him. “Try this. Stand with your back to mine, close your eyes, and focus.”

I followed his instructions and faced away from him. Leaning against him I could feel the bones and slight muscles of his back through the thin material of his polo shirt. Kendrick breathed in at the touch of our naked arms. A split second internal image of his hands and long fingers running along my arms before settling at my neck scored my mind. My cheeks grew hot as I realized I’d just witnessed his physical desire for me. Oh God. What else had he imagined doing to me? The possibilities tied my stomach in knots and made me want to somehow escape.

Kendrick cleared his throat, his arms retracting enough to break the physical connection. “Um…keep your eyes closed,” he instructed, thoughts snapping shut like a vault. “Imagine you’re building a wall around your mind. Once you’ve done that, hold up a number of fingers.”