Chapter 24 Jack
Chapter twenty-four
Jack
The scent of smoke and clovers filled my senses when I finally woke the next day. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, wincing at how sore they were.
As I got ready for the day, I wondered what was with this place. I hadn’t lost control of my emotions or cried so much since I was a kid. Yet, in the short time I’ve been here, I felt as if I was touching a live wire.
Of course, some of that I could chalk up to the stress of being undercover. Then there was the whole dating aspect. I hadn’t done much of that before Julian, and that wasn't really dating… unless you could call a one-night stand dating.
I had just grabbed my bag to leave when there was a hesitant knock on my door.
Before opening the door, I sniffed the air and stiffened.
Tate.
Fuck. I didn’t want to see him. I was so horrified by what happened, I didn’t know how he would ever forgive me for what I did. How could I forgive me?
I really had to call my dad and get a hold on this power. Until then… I’ll just not talk. Yeah. That’s what I’ll do. Solid plan.
Opening the door, I peered up at the werewolf holding two to-go cups before quickly dropping my gaze.
“Hey,” Tate's usual chipper tone was more muted today than usual.
I gave a tight smile, adjusting my bag strap on my shoulder.
“I brought you some coffee.” He held out a cup to me. “Figured you might need it.”
Taking the cup from him, I nodded and stepped out of my bedroom.
“I’m not mad,” Tate blurted out then shoved his now free hand in his pocket his shoulders around his ears. “I mean… yesterday. I’m not hurt. Obviously,” he held his arms out and chuckled, “I know you didn’t mean to.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Are you not going to talk to me now?”
Shaking my head, I picked my words carefully. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Well, just don’t give any commands and we’ll be good.” He winked at me, his easy-going nature trying to clear the tension between us.
I swallowed, staring down at my feet as we walked down the hall. “I didn’t even know I could do that.”
He bumped me with his arm. “I could tell. You ran like you’d been the one commanded to stop.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” I grimaced.
“Hey, look on the bright side.” He stopped me with a hand, lifting my chin to meet his gaze. “At least you didn’t kill me like those poor crows.”
Scowling, I shoved his chest. “That’s not funny.”
Laughing, Tate cupped my chin, his eyes twinkling with mischief before growing soft.
“You really worried me there. I couldn’t find you and had to go find Professor Fawley.” He shuddered as if he’d eaten something disgusting. “I don’t think my pride will ever recover.”
“Julian told me.” I pulled my lower lip between my teeth. “Thank you… for having him find me.”
“Well, I would have done it myself, but I don’t have that fancy hunter tech assisting me. You really know how to hide when you want to. I couldn’t even follow your scent.”
I shrugged a shoulder, turning to walk again. “You learn a thing or two when you’re out hunting creatures who can smell you a mile away.”
“Creatures, huh?” Tate grinned down at me. “Is that all I am to you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
There was a long moment of silence before Tate asked out of nowhere. “You didn’t happen to see Kyren recently, have you?”
“Uh…” I thought of the last time I’d seen Kyren. It’d been when he’d showed up suddenly, saying I was his and basically threatened me. I didn’t want to cause a rift between them or upset Tate further so I chose my words carefully. “Not lately, why?”
“No reason.” Tate shook his head, tugging on his lip ring with his tongue. “So, what class do you have now? History of Vampirism, right? Isn’t that a bit redundant for you? You live with vampires.”
“Yeah.” I laughed and sipped from my cup. “But we wanted easy classes so I wouldn’t get distracted from…”
“The mission, right?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. We were moving into the herd of students now and couldn’t talk as freely. “But it’s not been all bad. At least, I don’t have to study much.”
The air grew tense between us again. I wanted to fix things between us, but I didn’t know how. This power wasn’t something I ever expected, and the fact that I could have killed Tate made me hesitant. I couldn’t trust myself not to use the power on him again.
“Come here.” Tate grabbed my arm, not waiting for me to answer.
He dragged me through the crowd before pulling us into an empty classroom. He took my bag and cup, setting them to the side before taking my hands in his as he kneeled.
“What?” I blinked down at him rapidly, my mind going to all kinds of places. “What are you doing?”
“I want to make something clear to you, princess.” Tate’s gaze grew serious, his eyes locked on mine. “I love you. You could ask me to crawl through glass for you, and I would do it, no questions asked or powers needed.”
“Tate…” I began my voice soft.
“No, you need to get this.” He placed my hands around his neck and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You could beat me, curse at me, make me even watch you be with that hunter, and I would do it. Because there is nothing you could do that would make me not want you, not love you. I’m yours.”
He pressed his face to my stomach. “Please don’t push me away anymore.”
“Oh, Tate.” I bent over him, hands threading through his braids. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me.” Tate’s head lifted suddenly, his face fierce.
“Tate, I—I can’t.” my heart raced at his words, the kind of power he was giving me over him, the devotion. I didn’t know how to handle it. No one had given me such a thing.
He shook his head. “As long as it’s you, I’d take the pain ten times over.”
“Even if I wanted to, I don’t think Kyren would be very happy with me,” I murmured, peering down at him.
“Princess,” Tate grinned sadly up at me, “if it hadn’t been for your family, Kyren would have held the stake while you shoved it into his chest, if you asked him to.”
I snort-laughed, my eyes misting up. “You’re being absurd.”
“Please,” Tate quietly said, those big brown eyes of his staring up at me. “Don’t push me away.”
I cupped his face and leaned down, our lips brushing each other.
“It looks like you’re not giving me much of a choice. I couldn’t get rid of you if I wanted to.”
“Damn straight,” Tate cried out.
I yelped as he gathered me up in his arms and stood, swinging me around.
“Tate, put me down.” I laughed, clinging to him.
Tate paused, breathing heavily as he held me in his arms. “Hey, your command didn’t work.”
My brows furrowed.
He was right. It hadn’t. If this was the kind of power that every command would be obeyed no matter what, then that should have worked on him. Clearly, there were conditions to be met, and there was only one person who could answer what those were.
My dad, Antoine.
“Now, seriously, I have to get to class,” I told him, pushing at his arms slightly to ask him to put me down.
Tate sighed and relented, letting me slide down his body so slowly and suggestively that it had my heart pounding.
“Can’t we just skip? You can test out your powers on me, I know a few ways to make that fun for both of us.” He wagged his brows at me salaciously.
“No.” I giggled and shook my head. “You might be willing to risk your life, but I’m not. I’ll catch you later.”
He caught my hand and pulled me to him once more. His mouth found mine in a soul-searing kiss that almost made me change my mind.
“Lunch?” he asked when he pulled away, leaving me breathless.
I cleared my throat. “Uh, yeah. Lunch. I’ve got to…” I stepped back and pointed at the door. “Yeah, bye.”
Tate grinned smugly as I walked out the door, trying to get a handle on my raging libido.
The rest of the day went by without incident thankfully. I tried my best not to make any kind of commands even on accident. The few times I did say something command-like, it didn’t seem to have the same kind of response that the crows and Tate had yesterday.
It was making me wonder more and more if it had to do with how out of control my emotions had been yesterday or if it was some other kind of trigger.
“Maybe it was a fluke?” Tate asked, walking me back to my room later that day. “A one-off.”
“But it happened twice?” I winced, though a part of me hoped he was right.
“I’m not sure then, princess. Have you called you dad about it? I really think—” He paused, his nose suddenly sniffing the air, then he put his arm out in front of me. “Hold up. Do you smell that?”
I frowned and sniffed. A sharp coppery scent filled my nose.
“Blood?” I asked aloud, starting toward my room.
“Hold up, princess.” Tate grabbed my elbow, urging me back to his side. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m a hunter.” I arched a brow at him. “Do you really think I need your protection?”
Tate stared at me for a moment and then sighed. “Fine, I guess you’re right. But still, at least pretend you need your big, macho protector and let me go first?”
Smiling slightly, I gestured forward. “By all means.”
I followed after Tate, keeping my ears peeled for any sudden movements or to see if whoever left the blood near my room was still nearby. Reaching into my bag, I pulled my gun out and readied myself.
Tate arched a brow at it.
We stopped before my door, which oddly was closed. We exchanged a glance before Tate turned the knob and pushed the door open.
I gestured to him to let me go first. He pressed his lips into a tight line, clearly not wanting to but relented and let me take point.
It was as if a massacre had happened in my bedroom. Every inch of it was covered in blood. But there were no body parts. It was as if someone had taken buckets of blood and threw them all over the room.
“Jack,” Tate said in a wary tone.
I turned to see him pointing at the wall by the door. Someone had taken the time to pause their artistic work to write a message for me on the wall.
The only good Durand is a dead one.