Free Blood Moon by Alyxandra Harvey Page B

deadly. I shivered, not afraid of him but afraid for him. There was something stark in his gray eyes, glinting in the moonlight.
    “Let me guess,” I said. “Apocalypse, disaster, blah blah blah. I feel like we’re constantly living out a season ender of Buffy .”
    “With any luck this won’t be that bad.”
    “Notice your luck lately?” I asked. “A hundred rabbit’s-foot charms wouldn’t help you.” Not that I’d ever do that. I happen to like bunnies and cutting off their feet is barbaric.
    “True. You know, you could’ve been attacked by the same vampire that got Kieran last night,” he said, and I knew that wasn’t what he was really upset about. “What if it was an ambush?”
    “It was,” I snorted. “But I handled it. Solange didn’t tell you?”
    “Tell me what? Wait, she was there?”
    I stepped back. It was hard to think when he was standing that close to me. Embarrassing but true. “Hell yeah, she was there. I Tasered her.”
    He blinked. “You used a stun gun on my baby sister?”
    “Right after she tried to eat Kieran and then have me for dessert.”
    Nicholas just blinked at me again. It was rare that I could surprise him into speechlessness. He lowered himself slowly down to the ground as if he were suddenly an old man too weak to stand. The weeds and grass swallowed him up. “She could have killed you.”
    I sat too. “But she didn’t. And she didn’t want to, that much was obvious.”
    “Still.”
    “Yeah. Still.”
    “I can’t believe she didn’t say anything,” he added tightly. “And I just went with her to see Kieran.”
    “He’s okay?”
    “Yeah, he’s fine. Except they broke up.”
    “They broke up ?” I reached for my phone. No voice mails except the one Nicholas had sent earlier and no texts. I switched it on. The dial tone chirped in my ear. “It’s not broken.” I scowled. “She didn’t even call me! Is she all right? Does she need ice cream?” Not that she really ate anymore, but some rituals were sacred.
    “She used her pheromones,” he said, his fangs poking out. “She compelled me to back off and leave her alone. She’s getting stronger, Lucy.”
    I stared at him. “Again? She did that to you again?” Just last week she’d forced him to kick me out of the farm house because I’d mouthed off about the annoyingly mysterious Constantine.
    Nicholas just sat there looking shell-shocked and hurt. Fury sizzled inside me. It was bad enough she’d attacked me, but now she was messing with my boyfriend.
    And that just would not do.
    Fury turned to rage, burning like an ember inside my chest.
    Nicholas winced. “You’re mad.”
    “You think?”
    “No, I mean you’re mad .” He licked his lips.
    “Oh, right. Sorry.” I took a few deep breaths, and added a few Om Namah Shivayas for good measure. When Nicholas stopped looking like he was in pain, I let out one last long breath. It went to mist in the cold air, like dragon’s breath, which was apt as I felt angry enough to breathe fire.
    Oops. Another deep breath.
    “We have to tell your parents,” I said when I was calm enough to unclench my fists. “We can’t keep covering for her. Not now.” A part of me felt like a traitor. My job as best friend was to cover for Solange. But we were in way over our heads. We couldn’t save her from herself without help.
    And fast.
    “I know,” he said, sounding just as conflicted. “But she saved me tonight too.”
    I went cold. “What?”
    “London was attacked. I got caught by a Huntsman, and he would have had me too, if it weren’t for her. They’re worse than Helios-Ra hunters.”
    “Are you okay?” I catalogued the mud and grass stains on his clothes, the tear in his shirt collar, the blood I hadn’t noticed on the cuff of his left sleeve.
    “I’m fine,” he assured me.
    “You and I know her better than anyone else. What do you think she’ll do?”
    “I don’t know,” he admitted. “That’s what scares me.” He shook his