Chapter 25 – Pushed to the Limit

I held my breath, waiting for her answer. While I really wanted her to say yes, I expected her to say no, and if she did, I couldn’t get mad. I dropped way too much on her tonight, and she probably needed time to process everything. I would if I were in her position.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Relief swamped me. I still had a chance with her, and I was going to make the most of the next two days.

“But I need to know something,” she said.

“Anything,” I said without hesitation.

“Do you regret any of this? Telling me the truth? Kissing me?” Her voice dropped.

“Regret it?” I took her face into my hands. She seriously though I regretted kissing her? That kiss, that moment when she’d been in my arms, was the single best thing to happen to me in a very long time. “The only thing I regret is putting you in a position where the Zoya know who you are.”

She smiled.

“C’mon, let’s get you back to your friends.” I took her hand, but before we could make it into my truck, I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tight. I needed the momentary reassurance that she was here and still with me.

She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my chest. “How are you always so warm? Aren’t vampires usually cold?”

I laughed. “You really need to stop getting all your information from movies.”

She nudged me. “It’s not like there’s a vampire handbook laying around or anything.”

The drive back was made in silence, and I kept sneaking glances at her. She stared out the window, her face a mask of confusion and hurt. Was there anything I could do to make this easier on her?

When we arrived back at Bushnell Falls, twice as many people were there. Where had all these people come from? I took Chloe’s hand, and we walked around the party looking for Ellie.

Jax found us first, though. “So, you tell her all our dirty family secrets?” he asked me, arms crossed.

I was in no mood for my brother’s attitude, nor would I let him say something to Chloe to upset her. Or worse, make her change her mind about spending the next two days with me. My hold on her hand tightened, and I stepped closer, a clear warning that he needed to back off.

“She knows about the curse,” I said.

“Hmm.” Jax’s dark gaze slid over to Chloe. “And yet, here she is.” He nodded subtly toward our clasped hands.

Chloe stood perfectly still. I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed or terrified that she didn’t back down from Jax. She had no idea what he was capable of, and I hoped she’d never have to find out.

“Well, either you’re incredibly stubborn, or you’re just stupid,” Jax said to Chloe.

“Jax!” I snapped.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at Jax. “Stubborn or stupid, huh? I’d take either of those choices over being a jerk like you.”

I whipped around to stare at her. Did she have a death wish? Then again, I hadn’t gotten around to telling her about bloodlust, so she had no idea what she was doing. I’d have to warn her about that—soon.

Jax’s lips tipped up in a faint smirk, and his eyes sparked with mischief. He leaned toward Chloe, and she didn’t so much as flinch. I watched him through narrowed eyes, body tense and ready to intervene if he took things too far. Right now, he was just trying to intimidate her, which was bad enough, but if he crossed the line…

“Sweetheart, you haven’t seen me be a jerk. Yet.” He straightened.

If I had my way, she’d never see that side of my brother. “All right. That’s enough.” I put my hand on Jax’s chest and shoved him away from Chloe. “C’mon, let’s go.”

I gave Jax a dirty look, then led Chloe away. Her heart was hammering, and her breaths were labored. From fear? Or something else? She didn’t smell of fear, but why else would she be having such a visceral reaction?

“You really need to stop doing that,” I said. I stopped and faced her.

“Doing what?”

I glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Arguing.” I leveled my gaze back on her.

“Excuse me?” Her brows rose. “Are you seriously telling me to stop arguing with Jax?”

“Yes. And with me.”

She yanked her hand from mine and crossed her arms. “If you think for one second that I’m just going to shut up and go along with whatever you say, maybe you’re the stupid one here.”

I scowled, jaw clenched, eyes dark. Then I took a step toward her, our bodies nearly touching. My eyes morphed into black puddles, and she sucked in a sharp breath. Honestly, I really wanted to smile, to show her how proud and impressed I was with how she stood up for herself, but bloodlust wasn’t a game, and if she didn’t use a little caution, she could get hurt.

“Bloodlust isn’t just a side effect of the curse. Everyone like me has it. It’s just who we are. When we feed, we’re in bloodlust. We become hyper-focused on the hunt, finding our prey, feeding. Nothing can deter us.”

She stared up into my eyes, the faint scent of fear permeating around her. She was finally getting it.

“Certain things can trigger our bloodlust. The smell of fear. When someone tries to run from us. Arguing.” I said that last word with anger.

She blinked.

“We’re predators, Chloe.” I closed what little distance remained between us. “And while we can control ourselves, certain things make it extremely difficult to do so.”

She swallowed hard. “So, what? You expect me never to disagree with you?”

“No, of course not.” My eyes shifted back to their natural color, and a hint of a smile played across my lips. “But you need to be aware of what it does to me when we argue.”

“It makes you want to… feed on me?” She inhaled deeply. “I thought you only fed on animals.”

“We do.” I tenderly trailed the back of my hand down the side of her face. She stood perfectly still. “But there’s a lot more to it that you don’t know yet. It makes me—”

“It’s about time,” Ellie snapped as she marched up to Chloe. “I thought you’d ditched us or something.”

Chloe smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Ellie. I didn’t mean to go MIA like that. Trent and I had some stuff we needed to work out.”

Ellie’s gaze lingered to where my hand rested on the side of Chloe’s face. A little of the anger eased from Ellie’s expression.

“Well, we need to get home before my mom figures out we lied to her.” Ellie clutched her keys tightly in her hand.

“Yeah, okay. I’m ready to go,” Chloe said eagerly.

Was her eagerness solely for Ellie’s benefit, or was Chloe really just that eager to get away from me? I dropped my hand from her face and shoved my hands into my pockets. As badly as I wanted to spend more time with her tonight, she’d already committed to her friends, and I wasn’t going to get in the way of that. Not anymore than I already had, anyway. I’d have the next two days with her, just the two of us.

Ellie continued to glare at me as if I were somehow responsible for ruining her entire night.

“Where’s Abby?” Chloe asked, glancing around.

“She wasn’t feeling well so Isach took her home. She said you can drive her car home tomorrow,” Ellie said.

I stiffened. When I’d arrived, Isach had been all over Chloe. Now he was suddenly interested in Abby. Why? What game was he playing now? One way or another, I was going to find out. As soon as Chloe left with her friends, I’d find Jax, and we’d check in to make sure Isach really had taken Abby home.

“C’mon, we’ve really got to go. My mom already called once, and I told her we ran into some friends at the movie theater. She’s not going to buy another lie,” Ellie said.

Gina and Tonya now stood right behind Ellie. Tonya chewed on her fingernails, her gaze trained on her fingers like she was bored, and all of this was nothing more than an inconvenience to her. Gina had a grin from ear to ear.

“Okay,” Chloe said.

I turned toward Chloe, prepared to say goodbye for the night when she suddenly whipped around. Her heart raced frantically, and terror swirled around her. My instincts kicked into high gear, and I glanced around. Nothing was out of the ordinary. People still danced and laughed and drank.

Chloe gagged, stumbled forward, then shoved her way through the crowd. What the hell was going on with her?

“Move. Get out of my way,” she said each time she pushed someone from her path. “Abby?” she hollered, her voice frantic.

Why was she screaming for Abby? She wasn’t even here. I followed behind her, my senses alert for any danger—or whatever else was happening right now. What was she seeing and hearing? Then the truth smacked me in the face. She was hallucinating again. Isach wasn’t here, though, so who was doing this to her?

“Chloe,” Ellie called, but Chloe continued to push her way toward the base of the falls.

“Chloe.” I grabbed hold of her shoulders, giving her a firm shake. “Chloe?” I moved my hands to her face. “Did you hear me?”

“I have to get to Abby.” She pushed against my hold, but I didn’t release her. “Let go of me! I have to make sure Abby is okay.”

Yeah, she was definitely hallucinating again. I needed to snap her out of this. I wrapped my arms around her in a bear hug and spun her around so her back was to my chest. “Abby isn’t here. She left, remember?” My voice was low at her ear. “It’s not real, Chloe. Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real,” I repeated.

She momentarily stilled, whimpered, and attempted to take a step back, bringing her closer to me. “What…?” she glanced around.

I let out a small sigh of relief. Until I noticed Ellie, Gina, and Tonya watching Chloe with confused and horrified expression. How the hell were we going to explain this to them?

“Is she okay?” Ellie asked.

“I think you should take her home,” I said. I eased my hold on her, and she moved away from me.

Ellie nodded. “Yeah, we should really get home.”

“Okay,” Chloe said, dazed.

“It’s going to be okay.” I placed a lingering kiss on her lips. “Go home and rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“C’mon, let’s go.” Ellie headed toward her car.

Gina and Tonya were right on her heels, and Chloe rushed to catch up. As soon as I heard the car doors shut and the engine start, I spun on my heel and searched for my brother. I found him standing near a tree, arms crossed, looking as bored as ever.

“We’ve got a problem,” I said.

He straightened. “What?”

“Chloe just had another freak out, exactly like the one she had at the cemetery.” I glanced over my shoulder, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge. “Someone was messing her again.”

“Who?” Jax narrowed his eyes. “Marc’s dead. And I saw Isach leave with Abby not too long ago.”

Dread coiled in my chest. “Exactly. Which means there’s probably more Zoya in town.” I frowned.

Jax muttered several curses. “We have to warn Dad.”

I nodded. “Agreed, but first, we need to make sure Isach actually took Abby home. And we need to scour this party to see if we can find any other Zoya here.”

“I’ll check out the party. You check on Abby.” Jax moved past me, then stopped and turned back. “Where’s Chloe now?”

Unease slithered through me. Why did Jax care where Chloe was? If he had his way, we’d have left town—and Chloe—far behind. “She went home with Ellie. Why?”

Jax shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure she was out of harm’s way. Don’t need you making a mistake because you’re worrying about her.” Without another word, he disappeared into the crowd.

With a shake of my head, I quickly make my way to my truck and climb in. We’d had one problem eliminated when Marc was murdered, but then Isach showed up. Who knew how many more Zoya were in town? Dealing with one was bad enough, but if we had to deal with the entire coven… How would I ever protect Chloe from all that danger?

I started the engine and sped away from the falls. My conversation with Chloe earlier hadn’t been easy, and still not knowing what her ultimate decision would be was like a weight on my chest. But all this stuff with the Zoya… I’d been pushed to my limits, and if something didn’t give soon, I was going to snap.