Page 11

Tanner nudges me in the direction of the jetty. Together, we walk to the end and sit in the moonlight. I sit cross-legged while he kneels in front of me. “Just a graze,” he says, twitching his fingers and beckoning droplets of water from the lake to land on my scratches.

I watch the water wash away the blood, then nod and say, “Thanks.”

There’s silence for a moment while Tanner turns his face toward the lake and looks out across its dark, unmoving surface. “You did know, didn’t you?” he asks without looking at me. “You knew Sam would die if he went to The Hollow last night.”

I sigh and reach up to unfasten my hair from its black elastic tie. As it falls loose over my shoulders, the release of tension in my scalp eases the stiffness in the back of my neck. “I knew,” I reply slowly. “I saw it.”

Tanner breathes in heavily through his nostrils. When I glance at him, they’re flared and his eyes are dancing with something I haven’t seen before—disappointment or disgust, I can’t tell. “You let him go,” he says quietly, his jaw tense.

“I had to.” He knows this, but I say it anyway.

“Bullshit, Kole. You didn’t have to. You could have…” Tanner trails off, rubbing his temples with his forefingers.

“Something happened to you back there,” I say, moving so he has to look at me. “What happened?”

Tanner shakes his head as if he doesn’t want to talk about it because he’s still mad and wasn’t done yelling at me.

With a frustrated sigh, The Hunger still gnawing at my stomach, I say, “Tanner, you know how it works. There are rules about what seers can share.”

“Seems to me the rules can be bent when you want them to be.” His eyes meet mine, and this time I know what’s swimming beyond them—anger.

“It might seem that way, but that’s not how it is.” I stand up and brace my palm on the wooden post at the side of the jetty. “You think I wanted to do this to her?” I spin around at the same moment Tanner stands up. “You think I want to be out here, fighting the urge to drive into Red Rock and find the nearest FHB dealer? Instead of in there with Nova? You think I wanted her to look at me that way? As if she’ll never trust me again?” My voice cracks and I turn back to the lake. I breathe slowly and heavily while every muscle in my body twitches with the need to go to her.

Tanner’s hand presses lightly on my shoulder. He sighs and rubs my tattooed arm with his lithe fingers. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “What happened back at The Hollow… it was a mind-fuck. We’re all hurting.” He moves his hand down my arm to grip my elbow, then steps in front of me. “I know you are too.”

Of all the guys, Tanner is the only one I’ve shown any kind of weakness to over the years. But even he hasn’t seen me truly broken. I saved my lowest moments for the times when I was alone.

Before I moved up to The Hollow, before I started to heal, I spent almost every night after the bar closed howling into the darkness of the apartment, hating myself for being so weak I couldn’t fight the FHB. Hating myself for giving The Prophecy to the League because I was too weak to keep it from them. Hating myself for every minute I spent away from Phoenix Falls, for the years I spent floating from place to place, traveling almost the whole of Europe but with barely any memory of it because I was too high and fucked up to notice where I was.

Even that didn’t feel as bad as this. A broken blood bond can kill a vamp. I’m not a vamp, but Nova and I do have the bond and, while it’s not broken yet, it’s strained to the point where it could quite easily snap.

I look past Tanner at the cabin. The lights are off, but a muted orange glow tells me they’ve lit a fire.

“She’s okay,” Tanner says, closing his eyes. “They’re taking care of her.” He frowns, wincing and shaking his head.

For the second time, I ask him, “Tanner, what happened to you back there? What’s going on?”

Tanner pushes his fingers through his dark blond hair and bites the inside of his cheek. “I don’t know,” he says quietly. “I think it was just the force of it… of whatever the hell Eve sent after us. The strength of its darkness.”

“What did it feel like?” I ask him as his face pales.

“Like death, and pain, and cold,” he mutters. Then he inhales sharply and pushes back his shoulders as if he’s trying to snap himself out of it. “I’ll be okay.” He rubs my arm again. It’s an intimate gesture, not the kind we’d usually share, but I don’t pull away. “I’ll be okay,” he repeats, looking up at me.

With my insides still tormented by the need to go to Nova, I hungrily pull Tanner’s lips to mine. Our mouths smash together. He winds his fingers into my hair and pulls hard, moving his lips to my throat. I do the same, half-biting, half-kissing the side of his neck. My teeth are grazing his skin when he stiffens beneath me, and not in a good way.

“Kole,” he mutters.

I don’t want to stop. I want him to ease the ache inside me. I need him to do what he’s always done—dampen The Hunger with his body, and his lips, and his cock.

“Kole,” he mutters again, staggering back and holding me at arm’s length. “I have an idea.” He runs his index finger down his neck to the spot where my teeth left a small red shadow on his bronzed skin.

“I’m not going to bite you, Tanner,” I growl. “That’s not what I need from you.”

“No,” he says, “You’re not. I’m the one who’s going to do the biting.”

9

NOVA