Flutter (My Blood Approves #3)(91)
Bobby was lying next to me, sound asleep himself, and I felt this strange pulling in my heart for him. Not like love or even a crush, but just a connection. He had shared himself with me, and in return, he’d gotten some of me as well. I had never fed on a human before, and I was surprised to find that I felt anything for him afterwards.
I didn’t have time to ponder the details of our relationship, though, because I heard voices talking.
I got to my feet, still feeling kind of dazed and drunk. We were in the balcony of the church, surrounded by pews and crosses, and Jack, Milo, Peter, Ezra, and Olivia were standing at the other end. They had been trying to let us sleep, which was ridiculous. I needed to be awake and strong for this. Their voices were hushed, and I tried to sneak over to them, but I stumbled and bumped into a pew.
“Oh good. She’s awake,” Milo muttered, so apparently he wasn’t ready to forgive me yet.
“What’s going on?” I asked when I reached them. They stood in a circle, and I squeezed in between Jack and Ezra. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We called them,” Jack said, and I couldn’t believe that he’d called Peter. Ezra, I understood, but I was pretty sure he hated Peter now more than ever. “We couldn’t get to the car because of the police, and we didn’t want the lycan to follow us back home.”
“I called Olivia because she’s the only one really equipped to deal with them,” Ezra said.
“And I’d do anything for you, sweetheart,” Olivia winked at me.
She wore leather pants and a tiny leather vest with nothing underneath it. On top of that, she had donned some kind of crossbow apparatus. The leather satchel on her back was filled to the brim with metal arrows.
“Titanium is strong enough to break through a vampire’s sternum and go right through the heart.” She saw me admiring her weaponry and smiled. “The old wooden stake would never work, and even this isn’t fool proof, but it’ll at least slow them down.”
“Great,” I sighed and looked around. It dawned on me that someone was missing. “Where’s Jane?” Jack pursed his lips and nobody said anything. “Jack? What happened?”
“The lycan took her with them,” Jack said quietly.
“Oh my god.” I ran my hands through my hair. “This is a f*cking nightmare.”
“We’ll get her back,” Peter promised. His green eyes met mine, and I felt Jack bristle, but he did nothing. “We’ll make the trade, me for her. They can’t deny it.”
“We are not sacrificing you,” Ezra said firmly.
“Why not?” Jack scoffed. “It’s his fault we’re in this mess! He almost got Alice killed, and who knows what’s happened to Jane!”
“We’re not giving them anybody,” Ezra said, looking at Jack sternly. “We will stop them.”
“What if we can’t?” Peter asked. “We should all die for my mistakes? No. I won’t let that happen. This is my fault. This is my war.”
“We’re all involved in it now,” Ezra said. “Do you think they’ll really just let us walk away if we give them you? That would be too easy for them.”
“You should’ve just let me die in Finland!” Peter shouted, his face raw with pain. “I told you to leave me there! Why wouldn’t you listen?”
“I’m more than happy to let you die here,” Jack offered.
“Nobody is dying here today!” I held up my hands to silence them. “We’ll figure something out! I don’t know what but… We’ll do something.”
“See? Firecracker,” Olivia smiled at me.
“We need a better plan than arguing with each other,” Ezra said. “The lycan will track us soon.”
“Maybe sooner than you thought,” Olivia said, and she reached back for her arrows.
As she set her crossbow, I peered down over the balcony. A dirty, disheveled lycan was walking down the center of the aisle of the church. I heard the click as she set it, and then he looked back up at us, his brown eyes wide and innocent. I can’t explain it, but as soon as I saw him, I knew he wasn’t with them.
“Stop!” I shouted, my voice reverberating off the ceilings, and I held my hand up in front of her crossbow. Leif stood in the center of the church, staring up at us. He would willingly take whatever fate we dealt him.
“What? Why?” Jack looked at me like I was crazy.
“No, she’s right,” Peter agreed. “He’s not like the rest of them.”
“Leif!” I leaned over the balcony, as if I thought that would help me speak to him.
“I’m not with them!” Leif yelled back. “I came here to warn you! It’ll be harder for them to find you with me. I’m the best tracker they have, but you’re so close, and Stellan tasted your blood. I’ve beat them by a matter of minutes.”
“Why would you help us?” Ezra asked. Leif looked at Ezra for a moment, then looked back at me.
“Really?” Milo scoffed. “Does every vampire in the whole world want to tap my sister?”
That wasn’t it, and I knew that, but I couldn’t explain it. There was nothing sexual about the way Leif looked at me, and I wasn’t even remotely attracted to him. It was something else entirely.