Page 46 of Love Bleeds

Chapter Seventeen

Ifelt like shit when I came down for dinner. Not because I was sick or anything, but because I could see how much I'd worried everyone. Collin was right. I hadn't thought about my family at all when I'd run off on Jared.

The worst part was that I didn't regret it. Not even after everything that had happened. Not even after almost dying. I got Damian back. Nothing else mattered.

It was an extremely selfish thought, but I couldn't help it.

I didn't even care that he was a vampire now. My friend was still in there somewhere.

He'd remembered my name after all.

And he'd kissed me.

Somehow, my thoughts always circled back to that.

I licked my lower lip in thought as I sat down at the table--next to Damian, of course--and my siblings started swarming me.

"How are you feeling?" Elena asked.

"I could make you some soup instead of the roast," Remy offered.

"He might need more blood," Talon cut in.

All before I had the chance to respond to any of them.

"Give the nerdling a break," Aldrich said from the other side of the table. I hadn't even realized that he was here too. Collin hadn't been kidding when he'd said 'everyone' had come. I looked around the room. There were my siblings, Damian, Talon, Aldrich, Puck... and some woman I couldn't immediately place. Someone with that WAFFER organization. I thought maybe she was called Morgan.

"Are we having a party?" I asked.

"Not quite," Puck spoke up. "But everyone's very curious to hear what happened."

"I can't tell you."

"Don't you worry about that. Just let your brother serve you some soup."

As if on cue, Remy went back into the kitchen. Aldrich got up to follow him, but I paid the two of them no mind. I wasn't really feeling like food. Didn't matter if it was roast or soup. My eyes landed on Jared, who was sitting across from Damian. My big brother was studying me, and I found it impossible to meet his gaze. Not after Collin told me how badly I'd hurt him.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, knowing that it wasn't enough.

On the table next to me, Damian's hand twitched. Almost as if he wanted to reach out to me but kept himself from doing so at the last moment.

"Will you be okay?" Jared asked.

"I feel okay." If we were talking strictly about my physical health, that wasn't a lie.

It seemed to be enough for Jared, anyway. He nodded and his gaze cut away from me. Remy and Aldrich were starting to serve food. It was kind of odd to see Aldrich do that, since he wasn't going to be eating himself. Maybe he was just in a helpful mood, or maybe he'd just wanted to escape the room for a few seconds. I kind of felt like bolting myself.

Puck thanked Remy for the meal, everyone else agreed, and then we started eating. At least, those of us who weren't vampires. Remy had set a bowl of greenish soup in front of me. I made myself eat it because I didn't want people to fuss over me, but I didn't taste much. We were only a few minutes into the meal when Aldrich started talking.

"So, I listened in on the grapevine last night."

"Any news?" Talon asked. The two sat at the end of the table, across from each other. At Talon's side, Collin looked up from his meal.

"I thought you stayed in last night."

Aldrich waved Collin off. "There's a lot of commotion right now. Everyone's trying to figure out who Alice is. I've had to abandon that persona, but I have a few others up my sleeve." He shook his head. "It’s kinda hilarious they’re thinking it was Alice who poisoned Nicolai. I don't mind taking credit, but I figure there's only one person here who can tell us who's actually responsible." He looked at Damian.

Damian returned his gaze with a confused expression. "It wasn't you?" he asked.