a word. He just stares at the Bloodletter with his sharp, watchful gaze.
When I turn back to Jaxon, it’s to find him and the Bloodletter watching me expectantly. “I’m sorry, did I miss something?” I lift my brows in question.
“I asked if you wanted to try the wall thing,” Jaxon says.
I don’t even pause to give Hudson a chance to react. “Good God, yes.”
Because a thought is starting to take form in my head that has dread pooling in my stomach. If Hudson already knew how to get out and was taking control of my body to make that happen… What was he planning on doing once he was out? Kill them all?
“There’s that mean streak in you again, Grace.”
It’s only after Hudson walks into the shadows and disappears that I realize he never answered my question.
37
Sweet Dreams Are
Made of Anything
But This
Turns out, building a mental wall isn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Just placing individual bricks around a part of my mind. And the Bloodletter was right: my own defense mechanisms had gotten started all on their own, so the only thing I had to do was finish piling them higher and mortar them in place with sheer grit and determination.
Several hours later, after the Bloodletter had satisfied herself that the wall would hold, she lowers the bars and sets me free again.
I all but run out of the room and throw myself into Jaxon’s arms. No offense to the Bloodletter and her ice cave, but I can’t get back to school soon enough. Something about being trapped in a frozen cage and having no control over my life or my fate just does that to me. Shocking, I know.
Turns out, leaving isn’t quite possible yet, though, not when Jaxon has gone to the trouble of setting out the meal Uncle Finn had insisted we pack for me.
“Thank you so much,” I tell him as I all but devour the turkey sandwich and chips he’s arranged on a napkin beside a thermos of water. “This might be my new favorite food in the world.”
Jaxon raises one eyebrow. “And what would your old favorite food have been?”
I laugh. “I’m from San Diego. Tacos, of course.”
Now that I’ve eaten, I can feel, maybe, a little bit more hospitable to the woman who kept me locked in a cage all night. Maybe. So I force myself to smile and say, “Thank you for all your help.”
She waves in the general direction of the cave entrance. “It’s time for you two to be leaving.”
And just like that, we’ve been dismissed. Which is fine with me. I’m more than eager to finally say goodbye to these caves and this strange, ancient vampire who seems to have more secrets than I ever want to know.
The trip back isn’t quite as exhilarating as the trip to the Bloodletter’s cave—partly because we’re both so tired and partly because Hudson keeps up a running commentary in my head that makes it hard to concentrate on anything Jaxon has to say. I know I’m going to have to figure out what to do about that sooner rather than later, but for now I just concentrate on keeping the peace.
Because wrangling what amounts to a shit ton of testosterone with fangs is not exactly easy.
I’m completely exhausted by the time we make it back to Katmere. Hudson seems to have fallen asleep again, thank God, and I know Jaxon wants me to come to his room for a while, but all I want is my bed and about twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. But since we have class tomorrow, I’ll settle for eight.
And Jaxon looks plenty fatigued himself, with dark circles under his eyes I’d only ever seen on him once before, when he first showed up in Uncle Finn’s office. I don’t know why I ever assumed Jaxon’s power was infinite. Of course it isn’t.
Still, he walks me to my room—of course he does—and once we get there, I go up on tiptoes and hug him as hard as I can.
The embrace startles him. Maybe because more often than not, lately, I’m backing away from him. Still, it takes only a second for him to wrap his arms around me and lift me off the ground in return.
As he does, he buries his face in my neck and just breathes me in. I recognize the move, because I’m doing the exact same thing to him. Even after hours of fading, he smells so good—all fresh