What Lies Inside (A Blood Bound Novel, Book 1) (17 page)

I jerked away for him. “What? Where are you going?”

“My father called earlier.” Ty’s eyes shifted to the bedroom door. “It’s a family thing. I really can’t elaborate, not yet.”

He was still keeping secrets? Irritated, I folded my arms over my chest. “Can’t, or won’t?”

Ty blew out a long, slow breath. “Both.” He collected my hands and looked into my eyes, his own rippling with a glint of gold. “It’s for the best. Just trust me on this one.”

The last thing I wanted to do was let the subject lie. But a deepening thirst was rolling through my stomach. Even though I couldn’t detect Ty’s blood, I could still hear his heartbeat and see the pulsing vein along his neck. “Okay. I’ll let it go,” I said, feeling my fangs peeking through, “
for now
. But don’t think I’ll forget.”

Ty’s smiled and he dipped his head, lips meeting mine with restrained force. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

With Ty suddenly absent—a fact that irritated me to no end—I expected the remainder of the weekend to be slow and boring. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Dorian and I sprawled across the soft grass of our backyard under the canopy of a cherry tree with my iPod running through the Lifehouse album
Smoke and Mirrors
. Now that autumn was in full swing, its leaves ranged from burned russet to browning gold. Mom’s first charity event, a fund raising auction, was to take place here next Saturday. Ironically, the proceeds would go to the Department of Hematological Medicine in support of research into rare blood diseases. The event would require a lot of preparation. Decorations and flowers needed to be ordered. Waiters and other staff needed to be booked. Auction items also needed to be sought. Mom took on the brunt of the laundry list. Dorian and I were left to picking out—from the many catalogs she had collected—lighting, a stage, and a podium. There would also be a marquee to accommodate Mom’s extensive guest list of colleagues from the Portsmouth Vampire Council, and local bored-housewife charity volunteers.

A number of vampires were expected to attend—extended royalty
and
turned vampires whom weren’t immune to the sunlight. Because of that, the event would commence at twilight.

We spent the afternoon flicking through catalogs with Dorian continually taking breaks to text Marika. Now the sun was diving for the horizon. The late afternoon temperature began to plummet. Around us, fog began to rise. A thin film of frost began to form on everything in sight, growing like cracked crystal. With the grass beneath us becoming damp and sticking our clothes to our bodies, we got to our feet. I snatched up my iPod and the completed order forms.

In that same second Mom exited the terrace doors. She was making straight for us with light and ethereal steps. To me she had always been delicate-looking and graceful. Dorian with his drawing charisma was more like her than I had ever been. “How’s it all coming along?” she asked.

I narrowed my eyes dubiously. The question hadn’t been out of the ordinary, but her lit face made me curious. What was she up to?

Dorian, oblivious, thrust the order forms into her hands. “All done.”

Mom skimmed the forms then turned her giddy expression back to us. “Well, after all your hard work, I have a surprise.” Her red-painted lips parted with a delighted smile. “We have a visitor.”

She peered over her shoulder towards the terrace doors. A dark figure emerged, partially shrouded by a row of young cherry trees. The guy sauntered our way in a zipped up hoodie. The hood was pulled over his head obscuring his features, and his hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his black cargo pants. Even without the hoodie, which he always wore under his boarding jacket, I would have known who it was.

“Kendrick!” I squealed, bounding across the frosty grass and flinging my arms around his neck.

Kendrick lifted me up and twirled me around on the spot. “Told you I’d visit,” he whispered against my ear, before lowering me back to the ground. He glanced to Dorian and Mom smiling. “Thought I should come and see how you’re all living here in
sunny
New Hampshire.”

“Kendrick,” Dorian said, tipping his head in greeting. “Where are you staying?”

“Here!” I blurted. “You have to stay here.”

My eyes shot to Mom for approval, who nodded. “Of course Kendrick will stay with us. And now that he’s here, Amelia, will you show him up to one of our spare rooms?”

“Definitely!” I collected Kendrick’s hand, and began a rushed tour around the house, flying at vampire speed and talking at a barely intelligible babble. In minutes we were outside the spare room. It was on the second floor and just down the hall from my own bedroom. I flicked on the light switch and the chandelier illuminated. The space housed stained-hardwood furnishings, and had a walk-in closet and en suite bathroom. Two arched windows were positioned on either side of a king-size bed, shielded by thick indigo drapes.

I bounded inside and flung my body onto the satin-sheeted bed, pulling Kendrick down with me. We landed with a bounce, laughing. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Kendrick rolled onto his side, propping up on one arm. “I’ve missed you too.”

“How long are you staying?” I asked, hating to even think of him leaving anytime soon. “Wait, what about school?”

Kendrick bent into a sitting position and ruffled his golden-brown hair. “Weeks, maybe longer. It depends.”

I bit my lip, sensing a hesitation and tenseness from him that moments ago had not been there. “Depends on what?”

“On you,” he confessed, glancing sideways at me and drawing his shoulders back. “Your mom’s concerned that you’re not adapting as easily as Dorian. She thought me being here might help.”

“So that’s why you’re here?” I couldn’t hide my disappointment.

“Of course not,” Kendrick said, drawing me up off the bed and into his arms. “I’ve missed you so much. The Armaya is so bloody boring, and without you nearby to escape to, I feel like I’m contracting cabin fever. I just needed to see you.” His arms loosened around me, but didn’t let go, his fingers entwined at my waist. “So when your mom asked mine, I begged her to let me come. She agreed, so long as I attend school with you.”

With my disappointment waived, I smiled. “What’s it like there?”

Although Kendrick had grown up around our family, I had never been to the place he called home. He had always been reluctant to speak about his family and had always made excuses not to hang out at his place. Now I understood the reason, the secret he had kept of being a vampire before I knew I was one too. He lived at the Armaya with his mom—a beautiful woman I had only ever met when she’d dropped Kendrick off for the weekend. She, alongside our adopted Uncle Caius, held a spot on The Royal Vampire Council.

Kendrick sighed. “It’s monotonous, and structured, everything that sucks the fun out of life.

“Then don’t go back,” I pleaded, unlocking Kendrick’s hands and clutching them with my own. I couldn’t deny how normal I felt whenever I was around him. He’d always accepted everything about me, even my mood swings. “Stay here…with me.”

“Amelia, I can’t ignore my obligations, my birth-right.” He shook his head regrettably then painted a cheeky smile back across his lips. “But I’ve escaped for now!” His arms spread out wide in dramatization that made me giggle. “Tell me about you. How have
you
been? What’s new?”

My breath caught and my throat felt suddenly dry. In all the excitement and shock of Kendrick’s arrival, I had totally forgotten about Ty. How could I tell Kendrick that I was involved with a werewolf? He was my best friend, but he was also royal heir and bound by their laws. In his eyes, Ty was our mortal enemy.

“Amelia, what’s wrong?” Kendrick’s hand found my jaw, tilting my face up. “Your mom was right, wasn’t she? You’re still having trouble settling in, in accepting being a vampire?”

Unable to hold his gaze, I averted my eyes nodding mutely. What would he do if I told him? What would he have to do? The fear of retaliation or condemnation sent shockwaves through my body. I couldn’t force my lips to move, to say what I knew I should and to see the shock and disappointment in his face. I couldn’t tell him. Kendrick could never know.

Kendrick curled his arm around me, pulling me against his chest. “It’s okay,” he said, stroking the length of my hair down my back. “I’m here now, and I’m not leaving anytime soon. I promise.”

~

As I took up position at my easel beside Vanessa, she peered up through narrowed eyes. “So, you and Ty…”

She didn’t appear at all thrilled at the idea. Not that I had expected any different. Before the party she had made it abundantly clear that she didn’t approve of us getting to know each other in any way. Although besides her cryptic warning, I didn’t understand why. Did she know what Ty was? A growing coldness invaded my stomach. Or what I was? Not wanting to meet her icy eyes, I glanced away. Other students stole glances around their own easels at me, but I tried to ignore them. They were babbling over the details of the party, and the jaw-dropping fight they had all witnessed. “Yeah, and?”

“Oh nothing,” she said, flinging her hair over her shoulders. As she did, a glint of gold caught my sight. The broad beams of sunlight that streamed through the glass-paneled fernery had caught on something.

My eyes darted to Vanessa and the supple exposed flesh of her neck. Apart from the gold hoop earrings dangling from her small ears, there was nothing.
I’m imagining things.

“Though aren’t you at all curious of where Ty keeps disappearing to?” Vanessa’s goading expression said more than her words. She knew exactly where Ty was, and why. And I didn’t.

Fed up with her self-righteous attitude, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t suppose you’re in the mood to enlighten me?”

Vanessa smiled a not-so-friendly but devious smile. “
Hunting…
”

I frowned, thinking of the hunting boots Ty and Troy always wore and their erratic and increasing scars. Did werewolves survive by hunting prey, on the flesh or blood of wild animals? The thought was somehow settling, to think that Ty could be more like me than I had ever imagined. But what if I’m wrong? Since learning the truth just two days ago, I hadn’t had the opportunity to discover anything about werewolves. Ty being absent again didn’t help, and neither did Kendrick’s arrival. But I wanted—no, needed—to know who Ty was, how he lived, and what made him so unique.
And
, I thought to myself,
why he wanted me
.

“Hunting?” I questioned.

With a sweeping gesture, Vanessa waved me off. “Yes. But if you want to know
what
Ty’s hunting, you’ll have to ask him yourself.” She turned back to her canvas and resumed painting.

For the remainder of class I stared at my artwork. It was developing much slower than the other students in the class. My continued distraction with Ty was the usual culprit for keeping my mind wandering and unfocused.

When the shrill clanging of the bell sounded, I leaped from my easel and shot through the door and across the courtyard of puddled paths and oak-accompanied gazebos. Once inside the main building, I stopped short in front of my locker. I swung the door open and knocked my elbow. Dammit! I snatched my iPhone from the shelf, speed-dialing Ty’s number. With students hurrying past, the action reminded me of the last time I had called him from this exact location. This time, again, my question for him would be related to his absence.

“Amelia,” Ty’s surprised voice echoed through the speaker. His breath sounded fast and ragged. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just…” I closed my eyes and hung my head inside my locker. “What are you hunting?”

“Who told you to ask that?” His incensed tone struck me, sending a jolt through my body. “It was Vanessa, wasn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter who told me.” Right now outing Vanessa wasn’t my concern. Figuring Ty out was. “I’m not angry,” I added. “I just need an answer.” When Ty remained silent I continued in a hushed voice. “It’s wild animals, isn’t it? You hunt them to feed? Kind of like,” I lowered my voice further, “like vampires hunt animals for blood?”

Ty sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to react that way. Vanessa’s tactlessness seriously grates on my nerves.” He paused, taking a deep breath in before blowing it out. “And you’re right. We do hunt wild game. Now,” Ty said, tone lifting. “Who’s Kendrick, and should I be worried?”

Damn Vanessa!

During lunch she had made a quick appearance, catching sight of Kendrick and demanding an introduction. Then Marika had arrived glued to Dorian’s side. Troy hadn’t been there, which I gathered was due to the secret
wolf expedition
. Vanessa though, after only a few minutes, had politely excused herself. At the time I’d assumed the sight of Dorian and Marika together had offended her. Now I knew better. Her sudden departure had been an excuse to run and tell Ty about Kendrick.

I fought the impulse to bash my fist through the locker door beside mine. That would only direct attention my way. Instead, I took a deep breath. Then I explained who Kendrick was and why he was here. I expressed my concern with telling Kendrick who Ty was. Ty agreed. There was no need to create drama. After that, we quickly covered the charity auction Mom was hosting.

“I can drop past Saturday morning and help with the setting up,” Ty offered.

“I’d like that,” I replied. “But just remember—.”

“Your mom and Kendrick don’t know I’m a werewolf,” he interrupted. “And we’re going to keep it that way.”

~

All hope of holding down my lunch on Thursday faded as I entered the cafeteria. Past the tables of animated teens, laughing, chatting and eating, I could see the scene at our table. Marika sat in Dorian’s lap, thrusting her bust against his chest while twirling her curly, black hair flirtatiously around one finger. This disgusting, physical display had been escalating all week. At least Troy had been absent with Ty. I couldn’t begin to imagine the bloodshed that would have resulted when he glimpsed his ex-girlfriend pressed against another guy. But soon enough I wouldn’t have to.