My Blood Approves (36 page)

Ordinarily, he would’ve pushed me away by
now, but he let me linger in his arms. My thoughts went back to
that amazing kiss, and I tilted in towards him, hoping he’d let go
just long for one innocent kiss.

“
Hey! Look! A shooting
star!” Milo shouted.

It was just enough for Jack to realize what
was happening, so he pushed me back and swam away. Jack did
everything he could to keep from letting things get out a hand, and
sometimes that meant that he’d physically push me away. It was
getting harder to shrug off, though.

Although I hadn’t asked about it, his
temperature only seemed to rise when things between us got
physical. During the crazy passionate kiss, his skin had felt like
it was on fire.

“
Did you see it?” Milo
asked.

I meant to shoot him an angry glare for
disrupting my rare moment with Jack, but then I saw Milo just
staring blissfully at the sky. He hadn’t been paying attention to
anything but the stars, so he hadn’t known that he’d
interrupted.

“
Nah, sorry, I missed it,”
I said

“
They’ll probably be
another one,” Milo assured me, and I probably sounded very heavy
with regret. Sure, I do love a good shooting star, but kisses with
Jack were even a rarer commodity.

“
I hope so.”

I treaded water, and Jack moved on to
harassing Matilda. He’d gotten very good at finding ways to ignore
me. Poor Matilda stood at the end of the dock, barking her refusal
to jump in. Milo tired of his stargaze so he went over to join Jack
in cajoling the dog in the water.

Being in the water suddenly didn’t feel like
much fun. The adrenaline from the near sea monster death, followed
by the near kiss, left my body feeling achy and tired. I knew Jack
would do his best to steer clear of me for awhile, and even if I
understood the routine, it didn’t feel good.

“
I think I’m gonna head
back inside and see if Mae needs a hand,” I said to no one in
particular, which was just as well. Matilda was far more
captivating than I was.

By the time I made it to the shore, I heard
the loud splash and their shouts of triumph. Matilda finally jumped
in the water. If only my resolution with Jack could be that
simple.

Wrapping the towel around me, I stepped in
through the French doors. My skin froze instantly, thanks to the
artic draft from the air conditioner. Amy Winehouse blasted out of
the stereo, Mae’s one new guilty pleasure. Jack was always trying
to get her to listen to new music, and so far the only things that
took were Winehouse and Norah Jones.

Mae danced around the kitchen, singing into
a spatula, and despite my aggravation over the Jack situation, I
couldn’t help but laugh.

“
Oh my gosh!” Mae put her
hand over her heart and her golden eyes flashed with embarrassment.
“You scared me!”

“
Couldn’t you hear me come
in?” I asked as she turned down the stereo. “Aren’t you guys
supposed to have super hearing or something?”

“
Well, yes, when we’re
paying attention,” Mae smiled sheepishly at me. The fruit snack
looked complete and nicely arranged on the island, and she was just
cleaning up when I interrupted.

“
Do you need a hand?” I
offered.

“
No, and you need to go put
some clothes on first.” She nodded at me, and I had begun to
shiver. “Unless you’re not done for the night.”

“
Oh, no, I’m definitely
done,” I replied grimly. The thrill completely wore off the instant
Jack pushed me away.

“
I should probably go
change too.” She started untying her apron.

“
You don’t need to stay in
on my account.” I held up my hand to stop her. “You can go out
there and swim while I clean up.”

“
Nonsense,” Mae laughed, as
if she would ever let me clean up after her. She whipped off her
apron and set it on the island. “If you and Ezra are in the house,
I can’t imagine what kind of fun I’d even have with the boys.
They’ll probably throw frogs at each other.”

She wasn’t that far off of base. When left
to their own devices, Jack and Milo turned into very silly little
boys. Once, when it was raining, I split up a mudball fight in the
backyard. It’s very similar to a snowball fight, except with mud.
That seemed like a genius idea to them both until Milo started
getting bruises, because as it turns out, vampires can throw much
harder than weakling sixteen-year-olds.

Mae shook her head and headed off down the
hall to change. I followed her to the main bathroom across the hall
from her bedroom.

In the bathroom, I changed into my ordinary
clothes, and I wondered if I was being too stubborn not letting Mae
buy me new clothes. After she’d spent decades buying for only boys,
it would thrill her to take on me on a shopping trip. The suit I
set in the tub to dry had cost over a hundred dollars, and she’d
bought me three of them. But then again, they already gave me far
too much, and I returned so little.

I tried to dry my hair as best I could and
clean myself up. Before I had even finished washing my face, I
heard a yell. I turned off the faucet, and Mae was shouting Jack’s
name, so I rushed out into the kitchen.

Jack was yelling, and he sounded
terrified.

Mae stood on the patio when I ran outside.
Jack was still several feet away from her, standing closer to the
shoreline. When I tried to run past her, Mae grabbed my arm, and
her face blanched.

It was too dark for me to really see what
was going on, but I could feel pure heartbroken terror. Something
terrible had happened, and Jack felt worse about it than he ever
had before.

“
Ezra!” Jack bellowed, and
he stopped walking forward. “Ezra!”

“
I’ll go get him,” Mae
whispered nervously. Her hand squeezed my arm so tightly it hurt,
but I barely noticed. “Alice, you stay right here. Don’t move. I’ll
be right back.”

“
Hurry!” Jack pleaded, but
she was already gone.

Even though I didn’t move any closer, my
eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the moonlight splashed on him
through the branches of a nearby tree. Something lay limp in his
arms, and my breath caught in my throat.

Immediately, I thought that something had
happened to Matilda. The boys had gotten too rough, and she’d
gotten hurt somehow, and Jack knows how freaked out I get when
animals are hurt.

Then Matilda whined by his feet, her white
fur soaking wet. I noticed dark patches running through it,
dripping off whatever Jack held in his arms. But I still couldn’t
see it.

It was perfectly visible, but my mind just
couldn’t process. I felt dizzy and disoriented, like I was looking
down at the world from an amazing height. I couldn’t make sense of
anything.

A wind rustled through the trees, moving the
branches, and the moonlight struck him just right. I saw his face,
his eyes rolled back into his head, and I saw exactly what Jack
held in his arms.

“
Milo
!” I screamed, and Mae wrapped
her arms around me just in time to keep from running at
Jack.

About the author:

Amanda Hocking is a lifelong Minnesotan whose love
of the paranormal, Red Bull, and John Hughes played heavily in
writing this book. She has written two sequels to
My Blood
Approves. Fate
is currently available online, and
Flutter
will be available online soon. She’s writing the
fourth, as well as a few other paranormal romances and a graphic
novel about cannibal unicorns.

Connect with Me Online:

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/amanda_hocking

My blog:
http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/

Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amanda-Hocking/109562195746290