“Yes,” she said. Her gaze was on the ground and her shoulders hunched over.
“You will stay here with me. We need to have a long chat about your future in this pack.”
“Yes, sir.”
I kind of hoped she got kicked out.
Okay, I totally hoped she got kicked out. The girl was a menace. I didn’t want to know what else was going to happen. All I wanted was a shower.
And something for my arm. And my back. And my ribs. Just generally something for my entire body would be good.
“You guys,” I said to my new friends as we exited the mall. My vision was starting to blur and my skin was clammy. “I wasn’t joking about the whole vampire bite thing. It’s really burning. Do you have, I dunno, some kind of balm or something for that?”
Dastien stiffened next to me. “I thought you were joking about the bite.” He grabbed me. “Please tell me that vamp who had your arm didn’t sink his teeth. Please tell me I killed him in time.”
“Can’t tell you that.” I stuck out my left arm. It was swollen around two large punctures and a ring of smaller ones. “The red and puffy wouldn’t bother me so much if it wasn’t also turning a blackish-gray around the actual puncture marks. Is that a bad sign?”
Meredith said something but I couldn’t make it out. I couldn’t make anything out.
“You guys. I’m not feeling so hot.” I managed the words before my body turned to Jell-o and the world went black.
Chapter Forty
I blinked my eyes open. I threw my hand over them as the sun threatened to make my head explode. My body didn’t hurt, except for one spot.
I’d been in here for the past three days, in and out of consciousness. Today I’d been more in than out. I touched the gauze and tape that covered the bite. A shudder ran through me at the memory of that nasty vampire’s teeth ripping through my flesh.
The chair beside my bed creaked. Dastien. A smile spread across my face that warmed my whole body and I peeked through my fingers.
We were in one of the medic rooms on campus. Dastien sat scrunched in a chair beside my bed. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better.” My voice sounded particularly scratchy.
“How’s the bite?”
“Still burns.”
He grunted. “Vampire bites are nasty.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe all bites are nasty.”
Meredith came through the door. “You’re up!” She threw herself on the bed next to me. She’d been by a few times but I always seemed to miss them. “Thank God. No one could take Dastien being all grumpy anymore.”
“I’m nearly better. Right?” I glanced at Dastien.
“Right,” Dastien said. “The vampire venom had time to work its way into your system before we neutralized it. Another half-hour and you’d have been dead. Although if you told me about it—”
I growled. We’d been over this a million times, but from what I could tell, he wasn’t going to let up anytime soon.
He sighed. “You’ll be out of the bed tomorrow.”
I touched the bandage again. God. Who knew there were worse things than becoming a werewolf? “I’m so glad I’m not going to turn into a vampire. I don’t think there’s enough product in the world to fix what’s wrong with their faces.”
“Gross!” Meredith laughed. “Hey, now that you’re out of the woods, let’s move you to your room. I’m sure Dr. Gonzales would okay it.”
“That would be awesome.” I let out a shaky sigh. “If you give me a sec, I’ll change out of this hospital gown.”
They grumbled about it, but left.
I reached into the bottom cabinet where my clothes were last time. Jackpot. I pulled on a pair of jeans, white T-shirt, and some flip-flops.
By the time I was changed, I was sweating, but I did it. Dastien was going to have to carry me back to my room. There was no way I’d make it.
The idea wasn’t completely terrible.
I yelled through the door to tell Dastien and Meredith to come back, but instead Imogene walked in and shut the door behind her.
She was wearing skinny jeans and a flirty tank. Her hair was pulled back and her face was make-up free. She didn’t look bad, but she didn’t look like herself either. “I’m not here to fight,” she said as she leaned back against the door.
“What do you want?”
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to be friends.”