Page 63 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Kidding.” She left down the hall with a chiming laughter.

I shivered and immediately threw that thought out of my head.

I needed to focus on something way more productive, and there was one thing I was looking forward to. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I reached to check the text.

Mystery Man:Everything still on?

Me:Yep.

The cold as we stepped out on the front porch chilled me. My blood was hot with the anticipation of getting to meet the phone guy soon. It had taken weeks, but I’d finally arranged a good time.

Maybe I should have felt guilty for not telling my brother, but when I started to, I remembered that day and the searing pain. If there was anything my older brothers had taught me, it was sometimes you had to take risks.

Luke wouldn’t have liked it, but Zach would have understood.

Twenty-Five

Aaron

Two minutes in and I regretted my decision. Presley and I posted up outside a bar without a single working sign. All of them were missing letters. My jacket kept the cold out, but my body shook for a different reason.

“Shoulda just asked your new besties to come with you,” Presley grumbled.

“You wanted me to come with you, remember?”

He responded with a puff of smoke in my face before pressing his cigarette to his lips for another drag.

He was trying to pick a fight with me again. Presley and I fought in Brooklyn too. This was worse. He just liked to be angry at me. I offered to be his punching bag, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed his animosity.

I needed to feed again and didn’t want to keep taking from Kimberly. It was hard to compartmentalize it as an okay thing even though she didn’t mind. If I could make things normal again, that would be ideal. I had mentioned none of it to Kilian yet, and I didn’t think I would.

“You’re still coming this weekend, right?” I asked.

“As long as you keep your end of the deal.”

I’d been trying to get Presley to come to Kilian’s for weeks. That’s where Kimberly and I spent a lot of our time learning and training. Even if he didn’t want to train, I wanted to get him out of the cabin. It wasn’t good for him to be stuck alone all day, but it didn’t matter how much I begged, he refused. I didn’t like what all that alone time was doing to him.

“Of course, but you have to be nice and try to listen.”

“I won’t be nice to Kilian.”

“I meant me.”

“Fine. And you’ll be less of a fun suck and let me enjoy the city a bit?”

I sighed. Presley wanted to go to Fairbanks—the biggest city near us. He talked about a few bars and things he wanted to do and see. I’d promised we’d go together if he agreed to at least see what we were doing with Kilian.

“Yes. Now let’s play the quiet game.”

“Fine by me.”

Presley didn’t talk again as we waited. It was strange. I’d always hated his carefree spirit when we hunted in Blackheart, but now I just wanted him to smile and crack jokes again.Granted, I asked him to stop talking, but usually, he wouldn’t listen.

He finished his cigarette and was on his way to another until a group of guys left the bar. I didn’t get the smoking thing. He’d done it a few times in Blackheart in social settings, but he never chain-smoked. When I asked about it, he shrugged.

“Hey!” Presley moved his way into the group. “You guys look like you need a ride.”

“We could use one. We were just going to walk home across town,” one said while falling into me. They reeked of smoke and sawdust.