Page 59 of Crave

I staggered to my feet, heading for the shower.

Blue eyes pierced mine. “Need help?”

“Please. I’ve so got this.”

Godiva darted between my legs, mewing as if to remind us both she knew man-who-brings-chicken had arrived and why wasn’t anyone feeding her?

I bent to scoop her up. Without warning, the edges of the room blurred. A hollow scream filled my ears like the roar of an oncoming train. The lights overhead began to spin, Dallas’s shout coming from the far end of a tunnel.

Blackness swallowed me.

The next thing I knew, I was on the floor blinking back tears, the light overhead blindingly bright. The twitching was back, my arms jerking uncontrollably like I’d gotten up close and personal with a light socket.

“Are you even listening? I need Naomi back here, now,” Dallas snarled.A pause. “So track her phone. Do whatever you have to do.” Another pause. “Goddamn you, River.”

He dropped his phone, slamming a fist into my cheap Formica countertop.

“Wait.” I started to stagger up, vision graying out the moment I was vertical.

Dallas swore, charging across my living room in two strides and catching me before my knees could give out. “Just lie down. West is on his way. River’s being a little shit, but he’ll get a message to Naomi—”

“No,” I said more forcefully. “I don’t want any of them here.” Gripping his arms, I forced myself to focus on the depthless blue of his eyes, azure bright as a summer sky. “No one can come near me. I shouldn’t have even asked you to come. It’s why I haven’t been returning your calls.”

Understanding dawned in his expression, quickly followed by anger. “How long have you known it was back?”

“I wasn’t sure until this morning.”

He cursed. “And you waited this long to call why exactly?”

Because I knew you’d come running. Because I knew you’d never listen if I told you to stay away. Because love was giving up the last life preserver. Not grasping onto someone’s hand and pulling them under as you drowned.

I backed away, putting space between us. “We’re not sure about anything. Has any of the information on the thumb drive been independently confirmed?”

“Brody and River are working on it. But River doesn’t have a lot of people he can trust right now given the fanged clusterfuck of having a mole on the Council. And Brody doesn’t want this getting out until we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“They’re right to be cautious.But until they get confirmation, I can’t be sure anything London told us was the truth. Which means we don’t know it isn’t contagious.”

His expression gentled. “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Lacey.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Pretty sure we burned that bridge the first night we hooked up.”

“Maybe the effects show up earlier in Bittens than in Borns.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Taking me by the arm, he hustled me into the bathroom, started the water running in the tub and poured in a capful of vanilla scented bubble bath. “In the meantime, you, me and Fancy are going over to my place. You can have your bath first, but no way am I leaving you here alone with a busted door and an empty fridge. You can ride up front with Fancy, or I can hog-tie you and throw you in the trunk. Your choice.”

I growled. Leaning against the doorjamb, he folded his arms.

Half an hour later I was dressed in a thick Irish fisherman sweater over leggings and fleece-lined boots, Godiva perched in her carrier as Dallas drove us back through town. It was an hour past dark, the downtown district in full holiday-chaos mode with the last night of the Yule Festival. Lighted wreaths and garlands had been strung from the lamp posts. Bell ringers stood on every corner. Stray snow flurries swirled down as throngs of tourists and shoppers crowded the sidewalks, sipping hot chocolate and poking their heads into shops. My phone chimed.

Mom: Full moon tonight. Did you take the garlic supplements?

Me: Someone’s been binge-watching Twilight, I see.

Mom: Very funny. I’ve been reading that vampires coordinate their attacks with werewolves because their populations are so small.

Me: Find me any fantasy series ever where that is true and I’ll bring you over cupcakes.