Unforgiven (Wanderers #3) (53 page)

“I would, but I have training after classes so I’m
sorry. I won’t be able to help you out,” I politely declined.

“Isn’t Gabe out of town this week?” Lucas
interrupted.

“Yes, but I will still be training with Zane.”

“I think we can work something out. We’d love to help
you Ms. Whitney,” he said, throwing her a charming smile.

I gawked, stunned, and pissed that he would answer
for me. “Great, so I will see you two promptly at four today,” she
said and flitted off before I could protest.

I turned on Lucas. “First off, don’t ever answer for
me and second I can’t skip my training because some people don’t
know how to dance.”

“Okay relax. You’re not going to skip your training.
I’ll find a way for you to work around it and besides, dancing
could actually be your training.”

“How would dancing help me kill a rogue vamp? What am
I going to do, challenge them to a dance off?” I said, my voice
dripping with sarcasm.

“No. Dancing will help improve your moves.”

“What’s wrong with my moves?” I asked a little too
defensive.

“Nothing when it comes to dancing, but in
combat…”

I crossed my arms in a huff. “I think I do perfectly
fine.”

“Says the girl who got taken out by a newbie,” he
winked, walking away to grab his bag.

“For your information I let you win.” I lied.

“See you at four, Ella,” he said without turning
around.

“I have training,” I yelled, knowing he was ignoring
me.

I angrily grabbed my things and headed to my room to
change for lunch. “Hey, so how was class?” Josie asked as soon as I
opened the door. Although by her tone, I knew she was hinting at
something else.

“Fine,” I grunted.

“I heard you and Lucas put on a show today.”

Okay, that happened not even twenty minutes ago. How
the hell this stuff floated around so fast I had no idea? “Ms.
Whitney asked us to demonstrate for the class, no big deal,” I said
nonchalantly.

“No big deal,” she said aghast. “Arianna told me your
eyes glazed over and it was like you two were in another
world.”

“Something like that,” I said a little frustrated. I
still didn’t know what happened today, but I was going to find out.
“I got to go,” I said, abruptly running out the door.

I caught up to Lucas outside the cafeteria. “Hey,
what was that all about?”

He scrunched his brow in confusion. “Helping Ms.
Whitney?”

“No,” I shook my head. I pulled him away from prying
ears. “The dance, when we danced, we…we went somewhere else.”

“I’m touched that you feel like I took you someplace
special, but really Ella, it was just a dance.” I opened my mouth
to retort, but at the thought of sounding crazy I kept it shut. I
knew I didn’t imagine it and either I was the only one or Lucas was
hiding something. “See you later,” he smiled and held the door for
a few freshmen who giggled at his charming smile.

I wanted to run after him and demand he admit he saw
it to. There was no way I had imagined all that on my own. Instead
of questioning him, I decided to do some digging on my own. I had
to be smart about it. So I decided at practice I would dig into
that little head of his and find out the truth.

I decided to skip lunch and just grab something from
the social room. Zane had called me and told me he thought Lucas’s
idea of incorporating dance into training was a good idea and that
he agreed to give up training us for the week in order for us to
work on new techniques in dance to improve our moves. I tried to
argue that Gabe wouldn’t like the idea, but he said he already
talked to him and he agreed.

Damn it!

This sucks.

I fell back on my bed and let my phone drop. I laid
there for about half an hour before I rolled over on my stomach and
snacked on some chips and a KitKat I grabbed from the social room
and then downed a Cherry Coke on my way to the studio. When I got
there, I wasn’t surprised to see some of the people who needed some
help with the lessons.

Dean was one of them and so was Roman. Josie was
there too, although I believed it was just to spend more time with
Lucas because I knew she was not a bad dancer. “Ella, Lucas, would
you like to demonstrate again for the class?” Ms. Whitney
asked.

“No, I think we’ll be good,” I quickly jumped in.

“Alright then, Ella you can start with Dean and Lucas
you can –”

“I’ll go first,” Josie said, jumping forward. Lucas
smiled sweetly at her and Josie melted.

I grabbed Dean and pulled him out onto the dance
floor. “Let’s just get this over with,” I said.

“Please, I know how to dance,” he scoffed.

“I’ve seen you dance and no you don’t.” I went over
the steps with him several times. “Didn’t you do this last year?” I
complained at his lack of grace.

“It’s a different dance every year,” he carped.

“Well you think you could stop stepping on my
feet?”

He stomped on my foot and I kicked him in the shin.
“Damn it, Ella.”

“You asked for it. Now concentrate.” He glared at me.
“Didn’t mom make you and Xander take dance classes when we were
little?”

“Shh,” he whispered harshly, afraid someone would
over hear. He looked around the room and then back at me. “Yes and
if you tell anyone I will kill you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Then how are you so bad at this? I
mean, really Dean?”

“Maybe you’re just a horrible teacher?”

“It’s not me it’s you,” I growled.

“Look, I can dance when I don’t have to think about
it. Remembering all these steps and counting throws me off.”

“When then don’t think about it,” I said. He narrowed
his eyes at me and continued to count. I watched his lips move with
each step and I had to stifle my laugh.

After twenty minutes of trying to keep my anger in
check, Dean was finally starting to get the hang of it. In the
meantime, I decided to try and peer inside Lucas’s head. I couldn’t
get through and the harder I tried the harder it was to pay
attention to Dean. “What are you doing?” Dean grumbled when I
bumped into him.

“Nothing,” I said and went back to trying to get in
Lucas’s head. I sighed frustrated. I was getting nowhere with Lucas
or Dean. What the hell was the point of this power when half the
time I couldn’t use it?
“What’s Lucas’s power?”
I projected
to Dean.

“
I don’t think he has one or it’s something that
can’t be detected.”

“
Why couldn’t it be detected?”

“
It could be new or unknown or maybe he’s not
willing to share.”

“
How can you find out?”

“
Ask him,”
he said simply
.

“
If I wanted to ask him I would have done that
already.”
I rolled my eyes.

“
Why do you care?”

“
I just… something about him.”

“
Do you have a bad feeling?”

“
I don’t know yet,”
I said honestly.

“
If you want, I know someone whose power is
detecting other powers. I could ask her to check it out. You know,
on the D.L.”

“
You would do that, for me?”

He sighed
. “Ella, you’re my sister, of course I
would. But only if you promise to stop kicking me.”

“
Yeah, don’t think I can promise that. You kind of
deserve it sometimes.”

He laughed and nudged me in the ribs. “Okay, what are
you two talking about that is so secretive?” Josie asked.

“We weren’t even saying anything?” I looked at her
suspiciously, wondering if this was some special angel power she
had.

“It was written all over your faces. Clearly you two
were communicating telepathically. So what’s the big secret?”

“Dean decided to come out of the closet,” I
joked.

“It’s about time,” Josie said.

“Please shrimp, you know I would never crush that
little fantasy you have of me and you together,” he said, flicking
her chin.

“Ugh, please Dean. I do have standards.”

“That’s not what I heard.”

And that’s about when I walked away. I knew Josie and
Dean would be at this for hours and I was not in the mood to
participate. I sat down to change my shoes as I watched Ms. Whitney
help Roman learn the steps. She wasn’t having any better luck than
I was. “I think we’re done for today. I will see you all tomorrow,”
Ms. Whitney said, limping to a chair and rubbing her feet.

“Hey, I could give you a private lesson if you like?”
I offered Roman.

Hey smiled wrapping his arms around my waist. “Would
this be a topless dancing lesson?”

I laughed and kissed his lips. “If you’re lucky, I
might wear just these heels and nothing else.” He lifted me up and
turned to walk out the door. I threw my head back laughing. “Put me
down,” I said, hitting his chest. He smiled and planted my feet
back on the floor. I turned to grab my stuff. On my way out I found
Lucas carefully watching me and once again I found myself shivering
under his stare.

I stared at my dress hanging on the closet door. I
was nervous about tonight. Josie had already warned me if anything
big was to happen she would know about it, but everything was
clear. “Ella, relax and have fun tonight,” she had said.

Lately relaxing was not something I knew how to do
well. With Jack still out there and no new news from Billy, my mind
was constantly on edge. Plus, the weird vision I had with Lucas,
and wondering why Mackenzie was keeping her distance made me think
something was waiting in the wings, something bad. I wasn’t
complaining, but the silence just made Mackenzie more
terrifying.

Something in my gut told me tonight was going to
change everything. I was going to have to face my demons. Something
told me tonight I was going to have to fight.

“Hey, where are you?” Josie asked.

“Huh?” I said, looking over at her on the bed.

“I can tell you’re somewhere else. So what’s on your
mind?”

“Nothing and everything,” I groaned. “Did you ever
wish you could go back and change it all?”

“Change it how?” She sat up, looking concerned.

“This, all of this.”

“Ella, I’m an angel, and that’s not something a lot
of people can say,” she winked. I bit my tongue. “I mean, I wish I
could go back and see what it was like to be a vampire a little
longer, but this life, I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”

I looked back at my dress and hung my head low. “I
wish I could say the same,” I whispered.

“Hey, enough of the sourpuss face,” she said, resting
her chin on my shoulder. “If you want, I can ask Kyle to help you
feel better?”

“And how exactly is he going to do that?” I asked
wearily.

“It’s this thing he does, part of his angel thing. He
has a way of making people feel better.”

“Like my mom does?” She nodded. “Couldn’t you just do
it though?”

“I wish, but nope. Only Kyle can.”

I wasn’t surprised. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.
This isn’t something you can just wave a magic wand and poof all
better.”

“Ella, we’re angels. We don’t have wands,” she
smiled.

“You know what I mean.”

“I have a better idea,” she said, skipping out of the
room. The look on her face said she was up to no good.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. I
answered to find Lucas on the other side. “Hi,” I said surprised.
He was the last person I expected and I’d be lying if I said I
wasn’t a little nervous with him there.

“I’m dropping this off for Josie.”

I looked down at the large box he was carrying and
quickly waved him in. I gestured for him to just put it on the bed.
“What is all that?” I asked.

He smiled coyly at me and opened the box. Inside was
a huge supply of liquor, beer, and soda. “I hope this is enough,”
he said.

“Uh yeah, it’s more than enough. Josie does tend to
overindulge. Thank you,” I said, hoping that was enough to get him
to leave. I didn’t feel comfortable being alone with him.

“Is this your dress?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“I think red is more your color,” he smiled, walking
out before I had the chance to comment.

I stood there with my mouth open as Josie reentered.
“Practicing for later tonight? Here’s a tip, you don’t need to open
that wide,” she giggled.

I came out of my daze. “What? Wait, no that’s not
what I was…”

“Uh-huh,” she giggled again.

I looked back at the door where Lucas was just
moments ago. He said red was more my color and I was wearing a red
dress when we danced. He knew. He saw it too. I wasn’t crazy, but
why did he deny it and why did he say that? Was he dropping hints?
What was the game he was playing? “Hey, space cadet?” Josie snapped
her fingers and I turned my attention to her. “What is up with
you?”

“Sorry, just got a lot on my mind. So what’s your
plan for tonight? Besides obviously getting loaded.” I pointed to
the box.

She leaped from the bed. “Awesome, he came
through.”

“You plan on having a kegger?”

“I didn’t think of that,” she said, tapping her
finger on her chin and I could see the wheels turning in her
mischievous little head.

“Don’t even think about it,” I warned.

“You’re no fun,” she pouted. “Ella, you need to
–”

“Live a little, yeah I know.” Taking Josie’s advice
for once, I searched through the box of poison. The first bottle I
pulled out was whiskey and instantly put it back. After Deirdre’s
whiskey I never wanted to touch the stuff again. I tried for
another and pulled out rum this time. “Ahh, good old Captain,” I
said smiling. I needed just a little something to take the edge
off. To keep my mind from wandering to all the horrible things that
could happen tonight. All the things my mind cooped up. I told
myself I was just being paranoid and I had to relax and I thought
this would do the trick.