I rubbed at my temples, trying to relieve the pounding ache. I understood why Sam had hit me. I’d almost outed myself to every vamp in that room, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still painful.
Kyle’s golden features hardened. “Sam and Markus are investigating now, but we think that maybe this was allowed because of you. Somehow the vamps know how important Tessa is to you, and now they have her exactly where they want.”
Shit! I had never even thought about that, always just assuming and hoping that the normal rejections would happen with Blake’s request.
Blake! “I’m ripping that bastard’s throat out. What the hell was Blake thinking? He almost killed her.”
The rage was back. I didn’t even care that he said he loved her, you don’t do things like that to people you love. Blake was a vampire. He should know that it’s not all perfect nighttime strolls and blood milkshakes. His emotions had blinded him and he put his own needs before Tessa’s. Not good enough for me, and not good enough for my BFF.
No one tried to stop me as I stormed from the room. In the hallway I glanced around, trying to orient myself. I’d been spending enough time here lately that this place was becoming way too familiar. I was pretty sure I was at the far end from where Tessa had been. Ryder probably stashed me there in the chaos and told the boys to keep an eye on me. By the time I made it to room five again, Kyle and Oliver were right on my heels. Both of them had their hands resting close to their guns.
“Is there something else I need to know?” My words were hard. I was at the limit of my niceness today.
Kyle’s eyes flicked to Oliver for a second, and I was just about to scream some more when they both met my flinty gaze.
“The vampires want to test your blood again. They want to know why you think your blood would help Tessa when the doctor clearly said they needed vampire plasma, not ash.” Kyle sounded sympathetic and a little pissed on my behalf as he explained.
Shit. Damn. Shit.
Okay, I totally didn’t regret trying to save my best friend. I would have cut my arm off if that was what it took. Though now that she was going to survive all on her own, all I had done was raise suspicions about my blood and cast attention back on me and the enforcers.
“Is it safe for me to walk into this room?” The hallway was empty. If we had to run, I could do it, but we’d be grabbing Tessa and bringing her too.
Oliver nodded, lowering his voice. “So far there were just some comments, but Ryder shut them down pretty fast. Hopefully once the excitement dies off, they’ll forget about your little slip.”
Sure, because that sort of luck just happened for me. Sucking in a deep breath, I clicked the door open and stepped inside. The room was a lot emptier now, just a few nurses scattered around. Ryder and Jared were standing vigil either side of Tessa’s bed, and it kind of warmed my heart to see how much they cared, how much diligence they were putting into her safety. That was for me. I knew without any doubt the boys thought of me as one of their team now, and since I loved Tessa, they protected her for me.
I jerked as I realized Lucas was also in the room. He was sans his usual white trench coat, wearing just a dark shirt and slacks. I almost hadn’t recognized him. He rose from his chair and crossed to my side.
“Charlie, I’m so sorry about your friend. I tried to dissuade Blake, but he … he couldn’t see the situation clearly. I voted against it on our council, but was in the minority.”
His silver eyes were swirling at me and I felt he was trying to tell me so much more than what those few words were saying. Was this entire freaking Hive bugged?
“I thought it was very rare for the council to approve something like this. I was sort of wondering why they jumped on board?” My voice was low and casual. There were way too many witnesses around for me to lose my shit like I wanted to. We were laying low now apparently. I knew what that actually meant: more days of being locked in the damn Hive.
“I don’t know for sure. There must be something in the files.”
Again, Lucas was telling me shit with just his eyes, and again I was having trouble speaking silver swirl. He dropped his head and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of your enforcers.” As he pulled back, I heard the barest of whispers: “Be prepared to run.”