Page 20 of Mortal Blood
“Yes,myhumans. And don’t think I haven’t also noticed the special interest you seem to have taken in one of those humans in particular.” He flicked a casual glance in Sam’s direction, and my blood ran cold. “I might not be able to do much toyou, Ms. Ellis, but rest assured I can do whatever the hell I like tohim.”
Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, ducking my chin a fraction so that I was no longer meeting his eye. “I was out of line, and I apologize.”
I felt his glare on me for a long moment before he grunted his apparent satisfaction.
“Good. It would seem that your...fellow students...have finished feeding. So if you have quite finished monopolizing my attention, we shall move on with the lesson.”
Chapter Seven
The murmuring startedup the moment I emerged from the trees into the clearing where our shifter lessons were held. Well, I say ‘our’ lessons—what I meant was where the rest of the shifter students had their lesson, while I hung around like a spare part. It was becoming a theme of my day. I hesitated for a heartbeat by Cole’s side and he squeezed my hand and glared at the rest of them.
“They can stare all they want,” he said loudly enough that none of them could miss his words, shifter hearing being what it was. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing’s changed.”
Oh, how I wished that were true…and those were words I never imagined I’d be thinking. Cole cut a nod of greeting to Jax, his packmate and closest ally in the academy aside from Thaden.
“Jax. Sorry I missed you this morning.” He flicked a glance at the other shifters before dropping his voice lower. “Things might get rough this year. We good?”
Jax eyed me tightly.
“A dhampir?”
I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Apparently.”
Jax ignored me. “You’re fated to a fucking dhampir.”
“Oh joy, here we go again…” I muttered under my breath.
“You know what trouble this is going to bring for the pack?” Jax asked.
Cole exhaled slowly and nodded. “I do. And it doesn’t change anything for me.”
“I stood by you after she did that weird-ass half shift lastyear,” he said.
“And we’re grateful,” Cole replied. “Both of us.”
I’d bitch about him speaking for me if I wasn’t more concerned about all the things the two of themweren’tsaying right now. The tension was thick enough that you’d never have got a knife through it, and if you had, I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t wind up sticking in my back.
“That was different, though,” Jax said. “That was shifter stuff. This is…vampiric.”
“Well, if it helps, the vampires hate me, too,” I put in, not without a trace of snark.
“You just have a talent for making friends, don’t you?” he asked, shaking his head, and then one corner of his mouth lifted in something that was almost a smile.
“What can I say? I have an infectious personality.”
“You’ve got something, alright.”
“Uh…thanks?”
His expression hardened again, and he shook his head, as though trying to clear it—which was a stretch, because I was pretty sure Jax hadn’t had a clear head for a day in his entire life—and turned back to Cole.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This is…I don’t know what this is. Fucked up.”
“Again, thanks,” I said, but he didn’t so much as glance my way.
“This could make our pack a target—and they’re not going to be willing to fight for a halfbreed vampire.”
