Chapter 13
Chapter thirteen
Tate
I loved Kyren with every part of my being, but if he didn’t stop fighting with Julian, I was going to stake him in the heart and take us both down together.
“I just don’t understand how you think you can just come waltzing back here after blowing her off and think that Jack will take you back with open legs,” Julian seethed, pacing back and forth in front of Kyren and me in his apartment.
Apparently there was a hunter, Jack’s replacement, in his office, and he didn’t want him to see him collaborating with us.
I didn’t know why he was so worried. We're the ones hanging out with a hunter and a professor, no less. If I cared even a tiny bit about our reputation, I’d be worried it was completely tarnished.
Kyren smirked, a look that I knew all too well meant he was up to no good. Usually I was all for it, but this time, it just made me tired.
“I do not think you know our girl as well as you think you do,” Kyren antagonized back. “If you don’t recall, it was my doorstep she showed up on when she needed help. It was my blood she drank to heal. And it was me she was practically begging to take her afterwards.”
I sighed, placing my face in my hand.
We were supposed to be trying to find the people who attacked Jack so she could come back to the school, but so far, all we did was terrorize another student and spend hours spitting insults one another. We were getting nowhere fast.
“And yet,” Julian held his hands out before him, “you did not have her. Tell me? Is it because you can’t perform without seeing your sire’s face, or were you just not up to it?”
Kyren's shadows began to gather around him.
Nope. Not happening. This was my breaking point. I was not going to be the one to explain to Jack or the administration why these two were fighting each other.
I stepped between the two of them, the flat of my hand warding both of them off. “That’s enough. This bickering is getting us nowhere.”
“Mi lobo,” Kyren tried to appeal to me. “The hunter started it.”
“And I’m ending it,” I snapped back before either one of them could argue further.
The two of them didn’t say another word, but I could feel the heat of their glares as they bypassed me to each other.
I had to get us back on track before I lost control of the situation.
“Now,” I took a deep breath and blew it out, “what have we learned so far?”
It took a moment, but eventually Julian answered, all business now that I’d taken the heat out of their sails.
“There are two groups at the school who are opposed to the Durands or the council in general where we thought there was only one.”
“Gavin and Marianne are one,” Kyren supplied next.
“Yes,” Julian clipped, his jaw tight as he spoke. “However, from what you were able to pull out of the vampire, they are not the physically violent type.”
“That we know of,” Kyren added quickly. “He could be lying. They had offered me the first taste of her blood.” He licked his fangs with a wicked grin. “Of course, they don’t know I have already tasted la mia.”
Julian stepped forward, his eyes hard.
“You,” I pointed at Julian, “chill. And you?” I gave Kyren a disapproving look. “Stop antagonizing him.”
My love shrugged, his grin far too smug. “I was simply stating the truth. Something I don’t that pendejo knows how to tell.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Gavin,” I quickly added, my eyes ping-ponging between the two of them. “He meant Gavin.”
Julian shook his shoulders out, violent energy radiating off of him, tickling my own beast awake.
“If you think he was lying, then maybe you should have spent more time torturing it out of him, huh?”
Kyren closed the distance, so I was the only thing between them. “If someone hadn’t stopped me, then maybe I would have.” He started cursing in Spanish so quickly I couldn’t make out everything.
“Would you two stop it?” I shoved a hand into each of their chests. “Look all of us love Jack and want to keep her safe, but I did not sign up to be werewolf in the middle. So if you two can’t cool it…”
Kyren muttered more Spanish under his breath.
I shot him a warning look, letting him feel how much their fighting was causing me distress, which thankfully made him pause. Still seething, he closed his eyes for a moment and then his shoulders droop. The shadows that had been clinging to him, dissipating.
“Very well, mi lobo.” Kyren placed his hand on top of mine on his chest. “I am sorry to have put you in the middle of our squabbles. But you are right. We have learned nothing of importance that would lead us to her attackers.”
“What we need is that note,” Julian said interrupting our soft moment.
“Note?” Kyren asked, his brow raised.
I’d forgotten Kyren hadn't been around when everything went down and didn’t know that Jack had basically been lured to her death.
“Jack got a note, I’m assuming during lunch or something, but she didn’t say,” I explained, finally feeling confident enough that they wouldn’t kill each other to lower my hands.
“It had to have been earlier during the evening, because she snuck out of bed to go meet them.” Julian leaned against the counter and crossed one leg over the other, his eyes focused on the floor.
Kyren cocked his head to the side, his eyes quizzical. “But she has gotten notes before, has she not?”
“Those were mostly warnings. Or vague invitations from some well-intentioned witches.” Julian shook his head. “This one was very specific.”
Kyren's lips twisted to one side. “And what did this note say?”
There was a moment of hesitancy before Julian replied. “I haven’t seen the note, so I don’t know all the details. However, we do know it was a taunt for her to meet them alone if she wanted to save her family.”
“And you let her go? Alone?” Kyren snarled, flashing his fangs. “She almost died. If you had seen her on my doorstep, if I hadn’t been home…” He shook his head and huffed. “Some partner you are.”
“I did not let her do anything,” Julian snapped, shoving off the island once more to prowl forward. “Jack did not follow protocol and went off half-assed on her own. Like always.”
“Maybe if she had a better partner, then she wouldn’t feel the need to put herself in danger.”
“Maybe if someone was still watching her like a creepy stalker, then she wouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place!”
I blew out a breath, realizing we weren't going to get all our issues out in one go and be a big happy family. Julian and Kyren were both too alpha to be the bigger man and focus on our objective without sniping at the other.
A laugh almost escaped me.
I’d spent so long fighting against being the leader. Against being the one everyone relied on and, here I was, about to do just that because neither of Jack’s other lovers could pull their heads out of their asses long enough to get what needed to be done.
If only my dad could see me now.
Without a word, I stepped back from between the two of them. With me no longer in the way, they were inches from each other’s face as they yelled and cursed at the other.
I was a bit sad that I was being completely ignored, but figured it was better this way. I walked out of Julian’s apartment. Pulling my phone out, I sent Jack a text.
Me: hey pretty girl. I miss you.
Jack: you just saw me.
Me: that was over 24 hours ago. And you ended our date early.
Jack: No. I think the murder ended our date early.
I chuckled, maneuvering through the hallways of the academy while texting her back.
Me: Well, then I demand a makeup date.
I waited, watching the little dots while she typed a message and then stopped before typing again. Though I rode with Kyren, I still had my car parked in the academy parking lot. By the time she answered, I’d already reached it.
Jack: tbh. I’m not really up to going out. Sorry
I smiled.
If she thought that would deter me, she was sorely mistaken. Not only did I have an ulterior motive, but I needed to see her and the calm she brought to me after playing referee for the last hour.
Before I could text her back, another came through. This time from Kyren.
Vamp Daddy: Where’d you go?
Shaking my head at how predictable my vampire was, I sent back:
Me: To see our girl.
Vamp Daddy: You’re leaving me with him.
I sighed. Even now he was giving me a headache about the hunter. Deciding enough was enough, I sent Kyren one last text.
Me: You two fight it out or fuck it out. Idc but keep me out of it. I’m going to get this note that caused all this.
Honestly, I could totally see Julian and Kyren banging each other’s brains out while I was gone. Not that they liked each other in any capacity, but you know what they say.
Hate sex is the best sex.
Cranking my car, I sent Jack a message back.
Me: So an at-home date. I'm good with that.
It took a moment before she replied.
Jack: Fine. But if my dads find you here, I’m not saving you from their interrogation.
I laughed, putting my car into drive before taking off through the academy gate and toward Jack’s house.
If she thought her seven dads were enough to scare me away, then she’s never faced down a pack of angry wolves, all demanding that you stay and be their alpha.
I’d face her dads any day of the week versus going through that again.
By the time I pulled my car into the driveway at Jack’s, I had a missed call and several text messages from Kyren. All of which I ignored. Kyren was practically ancient but could be such a baby sometimes.
Still, I had all faith that he could handle one hunter who wasn’t actively trying to kill him.
Walking up to the front door, I prepared myself for the inquisition that was about to come. Except before I could even knock, the door opened, Jack standing there, out of breath.
“Come on.” She grabbed my hand and yanked me inside. Without an explanation she dragged me behind her up the stairs.
I chuckled under my breath.
“Shhhh,” Jack said over her shoulder as she paused to listen.
My ears twitched, searching for the sounds of her parents in the house. There was muffled talking and then something slammed against the wall.
“Crap. Come on.” Jack’s panicked expression was so adorable it was hard to keep from grinning as we raced up the stairs and into her room where she closed and locked the door.
Barely two seconds later, there was a knock on her bedroom door.
“Go away,” Jack called out, gesturing to me to sit on the bed.
“Oh, come on, Jackie,” a voice called through the door. “We just want to talk to him.”
“That’s the werewolf, right?” another voice murmured on the other side of the door.
“Shhh,” the first voice shushed him.
Jack scowled at the door. “After the other day? No way. You’ve lost all privileges to my love life until you can act like the mature vampires you are.”
There was a collection of groans out in the hallway that made me snort in amusement.
Jack sighed and turned back to me. “I love them, but they are so nosy. So…” she collapsed on the bed next to me. “Sure you want to spend time here with me? I can’t promise they won’t break down the door.”
I grinned, leaning over her body so my nose brushed against hers. “There’s nowhere else I want to be.”
“It’s your funeral,” she muttered against my lips.