Blood Bond Read Online Free PDF

merged onto the highway in silence. I
took a few more sips of water. The tightness in my stomach loosened
as the miles stretched on. Vera’s face reflected in the mirror and
I found her watching me. I forced a smile and then looked away,
feeling exposed for a reason I couldn’t even name.
     

Chapter Four

     
    Mom agreed to Cambria staying with us way
easier than I’d expected. She said having another Hunter my own age
around would be a good influence, keep me out of trouble.
    Clearly, she didn’t know Cambria very
well.
    But, she did give us permission to go to
Fee’s the next morning. It shocked me, after the way she’d acted
about The Cause before I left, but who was I to argue? I had a
feeling her willingness had something to do with Wes’s absence.
Once he returned, I was sure she’d take up her usual “The Cause is
the devil” attitude.
    “We’ll take my car whenever you’re ready,”
Grandma said, as Cambria and I loaded our breakfast dishes into the
dishwasher. I bolted upstairs to dab on lip gloss, hurrying now,
and beat everyone back down again.
    My mother met me in the foyer, a spray
bottle of water in her gardening-gloved hands. “Oh, good, I wanted
to speak to you alone,” she said.
    I followed her into the sunroom. I didn’t
want to talk. I wanted George. She went to a flat of planters
sitting on a table near the window and began spraying them. I
stayed near the door. “What’s up?”
    “You’re going to be a senior next year, and
it’s got me thinking.”
    My shoulders fell. This didn’t sound quick.
“About what?”
    “I know you think I sent you to Wood Point
because I don’t trust you, but that’s not true. I did it to protect
you. I ignored what you are for too long, and now you’re suffering
the consequences. You aren’t trained, and it puts you in
danger.”
    “Jack and Fee were training me,
remember?”
    “I know that, but you have so much time to
make up for. You deserve to learn from the best. Having you so far
away has been hard on me too. I just want you safe.”
    “I know, Mom.”
    “I think you and I should work on things.
Try to find a common ground. I know you think I don’t trust your
judgment, but I do. I’d like us to start fresh, a clean slate.”
    “That sounds great.”
    Her words had been surprisingly accurate. So
often my mother would lose herself in running the shop and fail to
realize how little credit she gave me for how I handled the
responsibility of so much freedom. We’d both kept secrets and lied
to the other. Maybe that made us even. “Does our clean slate have
anything to do with you letting me go to Fee’s?”
    “Like I said, I trust your judgment. Or I’m
trying to.”
    “And Wes? Are you going to let me see
him?”
    Her sunny smile dimmed. “I’m a work in
progress.”
    “Mom …”
    “I’m not going to keep you from seeing him.
I just wish you’d pick someone … safer.”
    “You mean someone human.”
    “I know that’s probably unreasonable. I
can’t explain it to you. Maybe one day you’ll have kids and
understand. I need you safe, and a Hunter’s life isn’t ever
safe.”
    “There’re no guarantees for anyone.”
    “I know that. It’s just …” Her expression
crumpled, turned desperate. She crossed to me and grabbed my hands.
“Please don’t give me a reason not to trust you, honey. I’d really
like it if I didn’t have to worry so much.”
    My heart pricked at her pleading tone. I
hadn’t lied to her, not exactly, but there were several things I
hadn’t been entirely forthcoming about, either. George was one such
issue. I’d been too afraid she would freak out and bring up moving
away like she did the first time I’d been in danger.
    “You’re going to worry no matter what,” I
said instead of promising what I couldn’t deliver.
    “True, but the appliances can only take so
much scrubbing.” She held up the spray bottle still in her hand. We
shared a smile.
    Footsteps sounded on the stairs and