I sigh. “Well, this day just got a whole lot worse, didn’t it?”
Hudson shakes his head. “You really think it’s any better for me? At least you haven’t been able to hear me for the last two days. I’ve heard every thought you’ve had, and let me tell you, they weren’t all gems. Especially the hours you spend thinking about my dreamy baby brother,” Hudson tells me. “Not fun. Not fun at all.”
“Then do us both a favor and get out!” I turn and yell at him, not caring that Jaxon and the Bloodletter hear me. I’m more than a little embarrassed at the idea of Hudson being privy to all my thoughts, especially the ones about Jaxon.
“What the everlasting bloody hell do you think I’ve been trying to do?” he answers. “You think I decided to pick a fight with an alpha werewolf just for fun? Believe me, there are better ways for me to get my kicks—even when I’m locked up with you.”
Hudson keeps talking about how miserable it is to be locked up inside me—like I don’t know that already—but I stop listening as I try to work through everything he just said about the fight with Cole.
None of it makes sense, unless— “Jaxon? What are the five things the spell says we need to get Hudson out of my body for good again?”
“Four,” Hudson snaps. “You need four things. One, two, three, four. Even a kindergartener can count that high.”
“Temper tantrums are so unbecoming,” I throw at him over my shoulder without taking my eyes off Jaxon.
“Yeah, well, so is ignorance, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping you.”
That gets my attention, and I turn to Hudson and smile. “Maybe I can sew up your mouth while I’m walling you away. Surely there’s a spell for that somewhere.” I keep my voice saccharin sweet.
“Yeah, because I’m totally the one with the temper here.” He rolls his eyes.
Jaxon’s gaze darts between me and roughly the direction I’ve been looking in for a few seconds before he decides to settle back on me. “The first thing we need is a vampire’s bloodstone,” he tells me. “That’s a stone that’s formed when droplets of a vampire’s blood are put under extreme pressure. Like how a diamond is made.”
Wow. If that doesn’t give a whole new kind of horrific meaning to the term “blood diamond,” then I don’t know what does. “So there are a lot of these stones out there, just floating around?”
“That’s the thing. There aren’t that many of them at all. It’s a really difficult process to get right, so very few vampires have them. I mean, my family has several—including the ones in the king’s and queen’s crowns—but they’re very closely guarded. Which is why I’m worried about getting my hands on one to—”
“I already told you that I’ll find a way for one to come within your grasp,” the Bloodletter interjects. “We’re vampires, for God’s sake. Getting a bloodstone is the least of your problems.”
“So what’s the worst of our problems, then?” I ask, because I’d rather have the bad news first. And I’m tired of hearing everything piecemeal. For once, I’d like the whole picture up front.
“Dragon bone,” Hudson and Jaxon both say at the exact same time.
“Dragon bone?” I repeat, mind boggled. “Like a real, live dragon bone?”
“Actually, a real, dead dragon bone,” Hudson answers, poker-faced. “Considering most live dragons tend to be using their bones, and nobody likes a grumpy dragon.”
“Where would we find dead dragon bone?”
Jaxon gives me a weird look at my emphasis on the word “dead,” but he answers, “Dragon Boneyard,” at the exact same time that Hudson does—again.
“Dragon Boneyard?” I repeat. “That doesn’t sound terrifying at all.”
“You have no idea,” Hudson says. “I keep trying to figure out how we’ll navigate the boneyard. It’s going to be a disaster.”
“I don’t think I even want to know yet. One problem at a—” I freeze as something occurs to me. “Hey, wait. You really do know what we need to perform the spell.”
“Nothing gets by you.” Hudson gives me a fake, wide-eyed look, then growls, “No shit, Sherlock.”
“You know, you really don’t have to be so intolerable all the time,” I admonish.
“And here I thought you liked intolerable guys. You are dating Jaxy-Waxy, after all.”
“Your brother’s not intolerable,” I tell him, a little offended on Jaxon’s behalf.
“Says the girl who’s known him less than two weeks.”