The Hunt (By Kiss and Claw #2) - Melissa Haag Page 0,124
if you’d like.”
Jenna’s eyes indicated her interest.
“Sure. Can you call us down when it’s ready?”
Mrs. Quill agreed as Jenna hurried up the stairs to join me. Her excitement was palpable. Hopefully, that wouldn’t dim when I asked for her help.
“I can’t believe I’m skipping school,” she said when I shut my door. She held her arms out and spun around. “You won’t believe how close I came to not being able to go. My mom was dead set against it. At first, I thought I’d woken her up too early to ask and she was in a bad mood, but nope. She was worried about me going to the city with you and your mom. I’m pretty sure she was picturing some kind of weird girl orgy or something.” She laughed. “Like either of you would need to take me to New York to make that happen.”
Jenna had a point. If Mom was hungry, location didn’t matter.
“What made your mom change her mind?”
“Raiden. He showed up at our door and said I needed to go with you.”
Some of her humor faded.
“Mom didn’t like that and pulled him into another room. The closed door wasn’t enough to keep me from overhearing their whispered conversation. Raiden said that I needed to go to distract you from Fenris. He thinks Fenris is under your spell.”
I sat on my bed.
“I think he’s right, and I need your help to fix it.”
“Me? How?”
“Well, when I accidentally did the same thing to Eugene, Ashlyn kissed him to bring him out of it.”
Jenna’s eyes rounded.
“You want me to kiss Fenris?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll never hold still long enough for that to happen.”
I smiled.
“That’s why we’re going shopping. When I’m done with you, he won’t be able to move.”
She fell back onto the bed, a grin tugging on her lips.
“This is going to be the best day ever,” she said. “After the earthquake last night, I was pretty sure I’d die without ever having been kissed.”
“You haven’t kissed anyone?”
She sat up and shook her head, completely unconcerned with her lack of experience. However, given that her kind considered a nose lick a kiss, I was very concerned.
“How opposed are you to kissing someone else first?”
“Uh…won’t I forget about kissing Fenris if I kiss you?”
My eyes went black, and I quickly looked down at my hands.
“Not me. That would be too dangerous.”
“Then who?”
The image of Jenna and Eugene rose in my mind, and the dark thing inside me stirred with an intensity that took me by surprise.
“Would you mind going downstairs and asking Mrs. Quill for the bag of chocolate bars? They’re for you.”
Jenna was quiet for a moment then left the room without a word. I took a calming breath, and my hunger immediately settled. It never worked like that before. My hunger ate at me once it stirred. Frowning, I focused on how I felt.
Not hungry.
I was so used to telling everyone, including myself, that I wasn’t hungry that it was odd to actually feel that way. Odd and concerning. I tried to remember the last time I’d fed. It’d been that wreck of a dinner with Adira. How many days ago had that been? Three days? As much as I wanted to believe my lack of appetite was due to that feeding, I knew better. I remembered the hunger clawing at my middle only a day after that feeding. What did it mean that I couldn’t feel it now?
Standing, I went to get my phone from the dresser. I didn’t feel weak when I moved. That meant I was fine, didn’t it?
Too afraid to dig any deeper, I focused on sending a text to Eugene.
Me: I have a huge favor to ask of you. Are you still at Zoey and Kelsey’s?
Eugene: Yep. Still hanging out to keep from going crazy. If the favor involves leaving the house, I’m in.
Me: Sorry. It wouldn’t. But it would involve inviting Jenna in for a few minutes.
Eugene: I’ll ask the girls if they’re okay with that. It might help if they know why.
Me: Jenna’s never been kissed and needs practice. I can’t be the one to show her how.
My hunger stirred again even at the thought of it.
Eugene: I need you to spell out what you’re asking. I don’t want to make any assumptions.
Me: I’m asking if you’ll show Jenna how to properly French kiss the heck out of a guy.
Eugene: Will I live?
The thing inside of me seemed to curl up and go right to sleep. That was definitely not right. It