Blood Ties (17 page)

I did feel better. In fact I felt great. The near-constant nausea I’d had ever since I’d met James had transmuted into an indescribable connection to him. Though we were two bodies, it felt like we were one. Up until that moment, I hadn’t believed in the concept of soul mates. But I finally knew the reason why I was sick all the time—because my soul was trying to unify with his. And until that happened, I was going to feel like puking my brains out every other minute.

James and I didn’t need to fall in love because we had
always
been in love. Even the term
falling in love
was inappropriate. It was more like rising up to it. But I could see he regretted what he had done.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, not understanding how I could be so deliriously happy while he seemed so sad.

“I didn’t want to do that to you. I should have asked your permission first. But you were dying. I didn’t have a choice,” he said with his head down.

“James, I feel great, and you saved my life. What’s the problem?”

“I knew the moment I saw you that we were destined to be together. But still…even when fate is involved…a man wants to be certain a woman made the choice to be with him of her own free will. This is why witches do not drink the blood of another. They become linked to each other in an unbreakable bond whether they want to or not. I want you to love me on your own. I never want to wonder if it was just the blood that made you want to be with me.”

“When you walked through Aunt Evelyn’s door for the first time, I knew it then. So you don’t ever have to wonder if it was the blood or not. I do love you. I’ve always loved you.”

James looked at me for a moment and then suddenly reached for me. I grabbed him in return. Our lips met like they had been searching for each other for a thousand years. We pressed our bodies together as hard as we could, like we were trying to merge into one person. The boat wobbled with our movements, and James steadied it with a swipe of his hand. Ripples started to extend from underneath the boat, and the water heated up with the intense energy we generated. The water became agitated like a small-scale hurricane on the pond.

James slowly rubbed his cheek against mine. Then, with one hand, he cupped my face, which was flushed with desire. With the other he pulled my hair back until my neck was exposed, and slid his fingers to hold it firmly in place. Then he kissed and gently caressed it with his tongue. He stopped at my chin. I raised my head to see why, and he gazed deeply into my eyes. I could see myself reflected in his. James parted my lips with his tongue, and mine met his anxiously. I let him take the lead like the man he was, and I loved every minute of it.

I’d heard about people feeling like they were melting when they kissed someone. I’d thought that was an exaggeration. Not anymore. I literally felt like I had melted into James, the boat, the water… I was at one with everything.

We pulled back and looked into each other’s eyes. We couldn’t deny it any longer. There was no way we could fight the base urge to become one soul, one body. James rowed us to the bank of the pond, and we got out as fast as we could. He took me by the hand, and we ran into the forest like little children. I trailed him to a clearing in the middle of a group of massive oak trees. He swung me around in front of him, never letting go of my hand.

My skin flushed, and my body trembled with anticipation. I could tell he wanted me too—the dampness of his hand and his dilated pupils gave it away. He stepped toward me and placed his ember-hot fingers on my hips. But as James leaned in to kiss me, something stopped him. He held me at bay with a pained expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. I was practically lunging at him as I attempted to make lip contact.

James held my body stationary. His grip was firm and resolute. He pushed away a wisp of hair that had been covering my eye. “Grace, you are so beautiful. The last thing in the world I want to do it is hurt you. But…”

Aw, no
, I thought
. The dreaded “but.” Nothing good comes
af
ter that.

“I don’t take the idea of making love to you lightly,” he continued. “And trust me, you and I making love is nothing to trifle with. We just can’t do it right now, if ever.”

But James couldn’t fool me. I saw through that stoic look, straight to his hidden torture. A battle raged inside of him. One side wanted to take me right there, and powerfully so. The other struggled against it with all its might. James, for some reason, was trying to inhibit his desire and stay in control.

I was still on fire, though, and wanted to totally lose control. My lust was an F5 tornado rolling over an old trailer park. “I want you,” I panted as sweat burst out of my pores. “I’m pretty sure you want me too. What harm could it do?” As I started feather-kissing James on his neck, he grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a slight shake. I could see the anguish on his face as his half-closed eyes gazed back at me.

“Tell me what you need and I’ll give it to you. Tell me what you want and I’ll go to the edge of the universe to get it. But for your benefit, making love is the one thing I can’t give you right now. I am not going to allow this to go any further. Damn it, Grace, my entire being wants nothing but to be with you. But I can’t do it. You’ve got to believe me when I say I’ve got your best interest at heart.”

Then he looked away, toward a crumpling sound coming from the woods. “Did you hear that?”

“No, nothing,” I said. The truth was that a freight train could have run through there and I wouldn’t have heard it. That’s how much I was into James at that moment. The very essence of my being was totally zoned in on that man. It was more than mere sexual arousal. Something in the blood I had ingested had
enhanced
me.

James dropped my hand and walked over to the clearing’s perimeter. Forever vigilant, he scanned the woods for
something
. And indeed there was an unwanted spectator in our midst. Adrian lurked behind a tree; he’d been watching us the whole time. His blood had grown so hot with jealousy, he singed the tree where his hand touched it. With thoughts of revenge, he ghosted out of the woods.

“Something’s there,” James said. He had seen a streak of Adrian, but did not know what it was. Neither did I at that point.

I sucked my teeth, disappointed that James wasn’t going to let it go. “Where?”

“In the woods. We’ve got to go.”

“Why? We just got here,” I argued. At first I was convinced this was some ruse to distract me. But I could see James was genuinely concerned, and I had to learn to trust his instincts as well as my own.

“Alright then. Let’s go,” I reluctantly said. If I had been male, I would have been standing there with a massive case of blue balls.

James hurried us out of the woods. I could barely keep up. Though we didn’t know it, we passed right by the tree Adrian had been creeping behind. The burnt-on imprint of his hand still smoldered a bit.

In my ignorance, I said to James, “Do you smell something burning?”

When James and I arrived at Aunt Evelyn’s, everyone else was back from their excursion, and we were trying to pretend nothing had gone down between us.

Julie was in the kitchen with Aunt Evelyn, but when she saw James and me together, she just walked out. I blew it off, making an excuse for her behavior:
Obviously I didn’t hear her say hello. Yeah, that’s it
.

“Where have you two been?” Aunt Evelyn asked as she unpacked groceries. All the cabinets were wide open as she filled them with cans of tuna, sardines, and Vienna sausages. Yuck.

James and I looked at each other slyly and said in unison, “Training.” Aunt Evelyn gave us a suspicious look.

“I think I’ll go take a shower,” James said. He gave me a light squeeze on the hand and was off.

Aunt Evelyn pointed at a chair. “Sit.”

I sat down, trying to act as nonchalantly as possible. “You want some help with the groceries?”

She waved her hand, and all the cabinet doors shut. “I know.”

I got a little scared. “Know what?”

“I know about you and James. I can feel it. I should’ve talked to you about this possibility before he got here, but I just didn’t get around to it…considering everything else that’s been going on. If it were going to happen, I didn’t think it would happen this fast.”

“What are you talking about?” I said, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

“You two like each other—a lot. I won’t tell you what do to in regard to the relationship. But I will say, don’t let it become a distraction—not only for you but for the group as a whole.”

“It won’t,” I said, feeling relieved that I wouldn’t have to hide it from her. Aunt Evelyn hugged me and started to tear up.

“What?” I said, trying not to cry as well, especially since I didn’t know why I would be crying.

“You’re really grown now. With so much work to do,” she said with pity in her voice.

“I’m okay. Really. I’ll be fine.” I returned Aunt Evelyn’s hug, hoping she wouldn’t smell James all over me.

With the emotion in there getting way over the top, I just had to get out. I went to Julie’s room and walked in without knocking. Addison wasn’t there; she was relaxing on the porch. Julie lay across the bed reading
Popular Mechanics
.

“What’s shaking, Dog Soldier?” I said, popping her on the behind. Normally this would have elicited an awesome comeback, but she ignored me and just kept turning the pages of her magazine—which she wasn’t really reading.

“Julie, what’s up with you? If you have something to say to me, just say it.”

“Well, Grace, it’s not hard to figure out that something disturbing went down between you and James. My question is what?” Julie finally decided to look at me. “What did he tell you? What could he have said to make you cavort with the enemy? That’s your problem, Grace. You are so trusting. And top that off with selfish. You didn’t even care about my part in all this. My sacrifice.”

“First off, Julie, you really have no clue what you’re talking about. Second, I am well aware of what you’ve sacrificed to be here. Don’t you dare say I’m not.”

Julie got off the bed and started toward me. I could see little hairs starting to sprout on her body. “What happened this morning between you and James?” she asked with all sorts of accusation in her tone.

“I got sick, and he fed me.”

“Aw, shit. You can’t be serious. You ingested his blood? You are so damn stupid. Do you have any clue what you did? Now you’re bonded to him. Forever!”

“I could have died, Julie.”

“If he couldn’t summon Evelyn or me, he should’ve let you.”

I couldn’t believe she said that. And I could tell from the mystified expression on her face she couldn’t believe it either. I swore, this shit with James. First Aunt Evelyn had to warn me about its impact on the mission, and now Julie was losing her mind over it. James and I must have been the witch equivalent of Romeo and Juliet. All I could do was shake my head and refuse to acknowledge Julie anymore by not looking at her. But she wasn’t having that. She raised my head and started to read my face.

“Aw man, Grace. Did you fuck him too?”

“No, I didn’t, but I wanted to. Now what?”

“Grace, this is getting worse and worse. Please tell me you are not in love with him.”

I didn’t want to disappoint her, but there was no way I could deny what I felt for James. “Julie, I’m sorry, but I am.”

She collapsed into a chair. “Why did you let this happen?”

“Is it so bad? James saved my life not once, but twice. There has always been a connection between us.”

“You mean like soul mates?” Julie said, mocking me. “Let me tell you something. You aren’t soul mates. How can you be? He’s hundreds of years old. You’re twenty-one. And you weren’t there during the bad times, when those fucking Bolingbrokes decided to be total assholes and set out to destroy the Valoises.” Her eyes glowed yellower the more she talked about James. She was about to turn. I just knew it. Her body shook uncontrollably.

“Please! Stop!” I yelled. But she phased right there in the middle of the bedroom. She didn’t look like the beautiful wolf she had morphed into before. She was now just a hideous monster. I was scared to death. If we were bound for life and I was going to have to deal with this werewolf bullshit, I needed to stand up to her and make a statement.

I knew she couldn’t control me as my immortal self. Every last conversation I’d had with her flooded my head, and now my life was about choices. Who had I been? Who was I now? Who would I be? Acceptance was now the rule. I would own it all. And from then on I did. I closed my eyes and let anger take hold of me. It was the quickest way I knew to change. My fangs descended, and the vibration from my snarl nearly knocked me over.

“You don’t scare me,” I said to Julie. She growled at me, furious that I was challenging her.

“Now what? Do you want to fight?” I asked. “Whatever. I’m not backing down. But does it need to go that far? I’m fairly certain once my aunt finds out, she’ll be pissed. Less at me, more at you. So I advise you to phase back, or fight your best friend. Either way I’m staying with James.”