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“Are you wearing Rook’s jacket?”
“What?”
He’s eyeing the jogging jacket I have on with distaste. My cheeks flush. I’d forgotten all about the jacket and the fact that I would smell like werewolf all night. “Sorry. It’s the warmest thing I’ve got at the moment. I keep meaning to go buy a coat and just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
“Right.”
Parker finally turns up the heater and buckles his seat belt. When he heads away from downtown instead of toward it, I frown. “Where are we going?”
“Macy’s.”
“Macy’s?”
“We’re going to buy you a coat before dinner.”
He’s taking me shopping?Aww. That’s really sweet of him, even if he is only doing it so that I’m not wearing a werewolf’s jacket on our second non-date. “Thanks, but, I can buy a coat another time. I’m really looking forward to food.”
Parker slides me a sideways smirk. “Then it’s a good thing Macy’s is at a mall, where there will certainly be several restaurants and an entirefoodcourt.”
“Haha. When did you turn into a comedian?”
“Maybe I’ve always been one, and you’ve just been too scared to get to know me.”
He looks at me again, a long, meaningful look that makes my pulse spike and urges me to lecture him about keeping his eyes on the road. “Would you watch where you’re going, please? Delicate human cargo, here, remember.”
His gaze turns back to the road. “I remember,” he murmurs under his breath.
Why does everything he says somehow make me want to blush? I have to clear my throat in order to speak. “So what’s so important you had to tell me in person and privately?”
He sighs, as if this is the last conversation he wants to have right now, but knows I won’t talk about anything else unless we get it out of the way. He’s right about that. “Do you remember, last month,” he asks, “when we got kidnapped by those dark magic users, and you had to feed me your blood so that I could escape?”
I snort. “Yes. I remember that. Feeding a vampire your blood isn’t exactly something you forget.”
Actually, most times itissomething a human forgets because the vamp sucking their blood compels them to forget, but Parker didn’t compel me. I wouldn’t have let him, and honestly, I doubt he’d want me to forget that experience. The feeling I got when he drank from me was…euphoric and orgasmic.
I turn red again, my entire body heating up at the memory of being so intimate with Parker. His lips twitch as if he’s fighting a smile. He knows what I’m thinking about. That’s so embarrassing. I huff in exasperation. “Yes, I remember. And why are we bringing this up now?”
“There’s something different about your blood,” he says quietly, staring out at the highway. “It’s highly addictive. I’ve craved it since that day, and for the first two weeks I couldn’t drink anything else. I had to have Henry compel me to go hunt someone else.”
I rear back in shock, and a shiver races down my spine. Not a good shiver. “Seriously?”
He grimaces. “Yes, seriously. You aren’t human, Nora.”
“What?” That isn’t what I expected him to say.
“You don’t just have a little underworlder blood in you; youarean underworlder. A very strong one. One I can’t identify.”
The news is so shocking that I realize I believe him. If I didn’t, I’d be laughing right now. But I’ve always felt different from the people around me, and my gifts have to come from somewhere. It makes sense that I’d be an underworlder. I just have one small problem. “Every underworlder I’ve ever met has said I’m human, and underworlders can tell.”
“You’re wearing a glamour.” Parker squints at me until he’s forced to pay attention to driving again. “It’s so strong that even now, knowing it’s there and looking for it, I can’t see it.”
“If you can’t see it, then why do you think I’m wearing one? What makes you think I’m not human?”
“Because of your blood. Glamours wrap around a person like a cloak. They hide you, but they can’t change your blood. Youarean underworlder, just one I’ve never had the pleasure of tasting before. I can’t identify your species.”
I sit back in my seat and digest this. I’m an underworlder. I belong in this crazy life I’ve stumbled into. But what am I? I don’t seem to have the power that most other underworlders have. I have gifts they don’t, and I’m physically weaker, like a human. I also don’t have the built-in radar for knowing the difference between humans and others. “If I’m such a strong underworlder, then how come I’m so weak? Yeah, I have some strange psychic powers, but I don’t exactly fit in with the monster crowd.”
“A lot of underworlders are physically as weak as humans, Nora. But in your case, I believe your glamour is suppressing your power as well as hiding what you are. I think you’re a lot more powerful than you realize. Your blood would suggest it, anyway. You can’t share it with anyone ever again. No matter what.”
