Page 119 of Mortal Blood
The thought of his tongue on my flesh had my breath shortening and an entirely not-helpful reaction happening at below waist level. I gave a shaky nod.
“Yes,” I whispered, feeling my cheeks pinkening. Thaden met my eye and I saw the barely contained lust there, and it was all I could do not to pull him against me, damaged leg be damned. His lips quirked up at one side.
“Patience, sweetness.”
And then he ducked his mouth to my leg.
“Cali, look out!” The shout came from the treeline and I twisted round to Jax bursting through, eyes locked onto Thaden bent over me. “Vampire!”
“Nowhistiming…” I murmured, and Thaden straightened with a chuckle.
“Oh, it’s you,” Jax said, slowly to a walk, with Alina right behind him. “Can’t go anywhere without a vamp showing up.”
“More than you know, pup,” Thessalia’s voice said, and then she, too, stepped from the treeline. The shock on Jax’s face made a laugh burst from my mouth.
“How long have you been there?” he demanded.
“Since about a mile east of here.Outbound.” She smirked at his horror. “Never mind, pup. I’m sure you haveotherskills.”
She plucked Jax’s sack from his shoulder while he stood there, dumbstruck, and tossed it to me. “They found the mushroom you wanted.”
Relief made me weak, and my hands shook as I pulled the carefully wrapped bundle from the sack. Thaden took my hands and carefully extracted it.
“What do we do with it?” I asked, and he unwrapped it.
“Auxilium mushroom?” he asked, and I nodded. “We need to crush it.”
Alina handed him a pair of stones before he could finish speaking, and he nodded his thanks. Carefully, he crushed the mushrooms between them, turning them into a pulp.
“Rub half into his gums,” he told me. “I’ll extend the wound and smear the rest over it. Anything we can do to get it into his bloodstream more quickly.”
I nodded, quickly scooping up some of the mush and rubbing it along Cole’s gums. Thaden loosened my makeshift tourniquet and slashed his fangs along the puncture wound, widening itinto a four-inch gash. I watched anxiously as he covered the open wound with the remains of the mushroom.
“What now?” I asked.
“Now we wait. It should work within the hour.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, and then looked over at the others. “All of you. Cole owes you his life.”
“Let’s save the thanks until after the assessment finishes,” Jax said.
“Yeah, good idea,” I said, though somehow, I knew the worst of the danger was past. We’d survived everything the necklace and Astor had thrown at us—and I hoped the same could be said for Kallan, because I had a score to settle with him.
I sat back beside Cole, and prepared to wait out the final hours until dawn.
Chapter Thirty-Six
My heart poundedas, hand in hand, Cole and I made our way to Astor’s office. This was it: the moment we would find out our final scores for the year. Surviving the final assessment wasn’t enough—though I already knew several people hadn’t managed it—we needed to score highly enough to meet Astor’s standard, too. And, of course, pass the theory tests we’d sat yesterday morning, and Cole’s shifting assessment.
We weren’t the only people to have the idea, and there were already several other people clustered around the results notice pinned on the board outside Astor’s office. It wasn’t until we got closer that I realized who they were.
“Kallan,” Cole ground out, and Kallan turned on him with a sneer.
“You made it then. Shame.”
“The only shame is that my mate was interrupted before she could gut you and the rest of your cowardly sheep.” Cole closed the gap between them. “That’s twice you’ve come after us. Make no mistake, if there’s a third Iwillend you. If my mate doesn’t get there first.”
Kallan eyeballed us both, and then snorted. “Whatever.” He flicked a glance at the three figures with him, without ever taking his eyes fully from Cole. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
