Page 22 of Call of the Blood

“Everly Abbott, employee of Alexius the Hunter, out of Savannah. We report directly to Isaiah and Maria, the Vampire Master and Mistress of the Tribunal,” I answered, watching her confusion until I got to Isaiah and Maria’s names. Then her eyes went wide, and she took a step back. “If Declan is safe here with anyone, it’s me.”

“And what if he hurts himself? A simple cut and then what? Can you control yourself?” Lexi snarled. “I don’t eat people.”

“Stop,” a quiet voice said, but it seemed distant.

“You’ll be lucky to be his girlfriend after tonight, so you should really worry about that,” I hissed. I’d never attack my brother. “He wanted out of the supernatural, and here you are, lying to him about what you even are!”

“Stop.” It was louder, but I was too busy glaring at the werewolf in my brother’s condo.

“Watch it. You probably want to make it back to whatever hole you came out of before sunrise,” Lexi threatened.

“STOP!” Declan roared.

It made us both jump, and when I looked at him, I saw a face angrier than one I had ever witnessed. My brother didn’t really get angry. Tonight he was.

“You both need to leave,” he said decisively.

“What?” I was the one hit by that proverbial two-by-four this time.

“Declan…” Lexi went back to pleading.

“We’re not broken up,” he said, but he stepped away from her as she reached for him. “And sis, you can come back tomorrow, and we’ll keep hanging out and… talking about what the future is going to look like now. But right now, both of you need to leave. I can’t do all this in one night. I won’t do this tonight.” He looked between us. “Please leave. And don’t blow up my phone. I’ll reach out when I’m ready, Lexi. It won’t be long. I won’t leave you hanging like that. I just need some space, and Everly is on a really limited timeline for her visit, and she’s my sister. And we’ll talk about that soon. We'll talk about all of it soon.”

Lexi turned and left, and I could see she was already crying before she reached the door.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and started leaving as well.

“Why did you force her out?” he asked as I reached the door.

“Because you would have told me if you knew… and I didn’t like that she was keeping something like that from you. You met her through work, right?” I looked back, searching his expression.

“Yeah, I did. A couple of weeks after I got the job.”

“Send me the details of where… please.”

“I’ll text them right away. See you tomorrow, sis.”

“See you.”

I left, unsure what to even feel in that moment.

A large part of me was just shell-shocked that my brother had thrown me out. Another part of me knew he was justified in doing so. I thought of Lexi and shook my head. I didn’t want an enemy, but she had been hiding what she was from my brother, then looked at me like I was the monster.

When I got to the parking lot, I could smell the wilds and heard her clear her throat.

I turned slowly, trying not to seem surprised or scared. She could have jumped me and didn’t.

“We should probably figure this out for him,” she said, a small sniffle at the end. She wiped her eyes, and I finally took a longer look at her. She had a long brunette ponytail, with thick, defined curls. She had an athlete’s build, the muscle definition hard to miss. What stood out were her werewolf eyes. I thought for a moment, remembering she originally had brown eyes but now they were a brilliant blue.

“I’m his sister and will always be in his life, and there’s no amount of prejudice or fear you can try to project onto him to change that,” I said. The truth. Fact.

“He doesn’t know how dangerous⁠—”

“He does, though. We grew up…” I looked around. There was no one around, but I didn’t like it.

“The cameras don’t pick up audio,” she said quickly. “Just us standing here.”

“Oh, good. Well, he and I grew up around them. He said that. Our parents worked for them. Our dad’s entire side of the family had worked for them for generations. We had an uncle who was… old. He left after our dad died, but the sentiment is there. There are good ones. He and I both knew that growing up. I am one now. He does understand. And if you really want to start that war with him, you can. It will destroy your relationship. So, either you get used to my existence and presence, or you get out of his life. Because I’m family. You’re the girlfriend.” I was snappy at the end, drawing a thick line in the sand, something possessive and pissed off coming up in me.