Dangerous Lovers (31 page)

But at the very least, I needed to talk to him about Soraya. It may have been misplaced, but I wanted an explanation. I wanted an explanation as to why his niece was living in such horrid conditions, while he was here living a plush life. I knew that wasn’t entirely fair. Hell, I had known about the village for a couple of days now and hadn’t come up with any ideas on how to help, so what should I have expected him to do? All I knew is that something had to be done, and—whether I liked it or not—he was my best hope as to figuring out what that something was. I was going to have to talk to him. And I needed to do it before my body completely gave out from lack of food. Classes were already becoming painfully difficult for me.

“Do you know the answer, Miss Montgomery?” the teacher asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t even heard the question.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Redman, the answer to what?” I asked.

She smiled at me, teeth gleaming behind red lipstick. “Do you know why Warrior Basil would lead a revolt against the people he had long protected?”

I had read about this Warrior on that day I’d spent in the library doing research on my people. Basil was an infamous Warrior who had led the revolt of my race against the other races when they’d tried to enslave the Warriors. He’d given his life by taking a stand against the king of his time, and he’d died for it. He’d been the first to die, actually.

“Because he felt that no one else could do it,” I said. “And one life is worth sacrifice when it’s given for the lives of countless others. He did it for freedom, so that his people could live out of the reach of slavery.”

Mrs. Redman nodded slowly and her smile grew. “Very good,

Warrior, very good.”

Yeah, that was just great.

Chapter Fifty-Three

By lunchtime, I was unsurprisingly famished. I felt as though my feet were dragging cinder blocks, and my muscles seemed to be reluctant against the command to walk. But, I knew I was so close to figuring things out, because while my body was weak, my mind was clear and strong. If I could just keep fasting for a little longer, maybe I would find my answers. I just hoped I didn’t die of starvation first.

At the lunch table, Nelly shot me worried looks as I pushed my food around on the plate. I had lied and told her that I’d eaten already, but like always, Nelly knew something was up. I was never one to skip meals. My pale skin and drooping eyelids probably didn’t help either.

“You okay, darling?” Jackson whispered to me. “You look a little sick.”

I gave a weak smile. “I’m fine. Just been having trouble sleeping.”

Concern filled his features. “Is there anything I can do?”

I shook my head. “No, but thanks. I really am fine.”

I turned to the others, who were engulfed in conversation. “Do you guys want to go to the fight this weekend?”

Tommy leaned back in his chair and gave a sly smile. “Yeah, Alexa and I are going.”

Jackson’s eyes narrowed slightly, and I was pretty sure that was Tommy’s intention. I tried not to sigh in frustration. I didn’t have the energy for this right now.

Right on cue, Nelly came to the rescue. “Sure, we’ll go.” She looked at Daniel, who nodded and then at Jackson, who nodded as well.

“Great,” said Nelly. “I was hoping to spend some time with you this weekend.”

I smiled. “Me too.”

After lunch, Jackson walked me through the courtyard as the others split for their next class. I broke the silence first.

“What’s up, Jack?” I asked, though I had a feeling I knew what.

He ran a hand through his hair and his green eyes looked down at his feet. “I don’t want you to think that I’m the jealous boyfriend type or anything, but…”

I raised an eyebrow and gave a half smile. “But, you kinda are?”

When he didn’t respond, I placed my hand on his cheek. “You have nothing to worry about. Tommy and I are just friends.”

He smiled. Pulling me into a tight hug, he said, “Sorry, I should’ve known that. It’s just the Wolf in me. We tend to be a little territorial.”

I laughed. “Well, you don’t have to pee on me or anything.” His smile turned genuine. “I’m not interested in Tommy that way, so you have nothing to worry about,” I repeated. It was only half a lie.

He kissed my forehead and stepped back. “I better go before I’m late. See you later.”

I gave him another quick kiss and headed off to my next class, which was Conditioning. I had a feeling that it might be a little more difficult for me to keep up today. I just hoped that we weren’t running up stairs this time.

We ended up just doing a circuit of weight-lifting exercises, and I struggled through with less-than-impressive efforts. The instructor even asked me if I needed to see the nurse, but I declined, using my lack of sleep excuse. He gave me a suspicious look and told me to take it easy today. I didn’t tell him that I
was
taking it easy.

At the end of the day, I was cutting across school grounds to go get some sleep. I felt so drained and exhausted that I only wanted to go lay down, even though it wasn’t sleep I needed. I was
starving
, and it was really beginning to take its toll. I didn’t even want to smoke, so I knew I was getting sick.

As I passed around a building that I thought was home to the Wolf students, I spotted someone I wanted to have a word with. I tried to forget about my weak state as I approached Victoria, who was walking by herself, with her back to me.

There were many ways to do what I was going to do next, but I decided to take the non-violent approach, as difficult as that was for me. Just seeing her made the anger in me flare, and the heat of it warmed my stomach. Taking a deep, calming breath, I strolled up so that I was walking alongside her.

She jumped at the sight of me, and a little fear passed behind her heavily made-up eyes. She recovered quickly, though, her expression turning into a sneer. “What do you want?” she spat. Glancing all around her, she said, “I see Jackson isn’t here to come to your rescue. Lucky me.”

I had an overwhelming urge to grip her by the throat again, but I clenched my fists tight and tried to ignore it. “I came to call a truce.”

Her pale blond hair whipped to the side and her blue eyes snapped to me. Seeing I was serious, she laughed. “You’re scared, aren’t you? Well, you
should
be. If Jackson hadn’t jumped in, I would’ve killed you.”

My nails bit into my palms hard enough to draw blood. “Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, as calmly as I could manage. “You could never beat me at anything. I’m not suggesting friendship. I’m saying you leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Laugher erupted from her yet again. “You’re as much a coward as that little sister of—”

I slammed my fist into her face, cutting off her words midsentence. I just couldn’t hold on to it anymore. I didn’t want to. It felt wonderful to see her hit the ground and know that I had done that to her. I didn’t even feel bad; this girl had it coming. She’d tried to kill me, and now she had the nerve to insult Nelly after I’d tried to make peace with her. I guess I hadn’t really expected this to go smoothly, but I was going to get my message across one way or another. Luckily for her, my strength wasn’t at its best, so the strike didn’t knock her unconscious. I’m sure it hurt like hell, though.

Her nose was streaming blood as I stood over her. The way her eyes lit up with fear, the rivulets of blood webbing her face made me lick my lips involuntarily. A dreaded, welcome feeling came over me. I was once again a hungry predator, that other me pushing itself to the front of my being. I held her eyes and forced the murderous beast inside of me to back down. This wasn’t who I was. It wasn’t the reason I’d approached her.

Swallowing hard, I spoke in a quiet voice. “Consider this your last warning. Don’t test me, Victoria. You have no idea what you’re provoking.”

A look of pure hatred came over her bloody face, but I turned around and walked away. It was harder than it should’ve been. Everything in me wanted to do something terrible and eliminate any future threats.

But this was the third time I’d lost it, and it confirmed my suspicion that I was indeed losing my battle for control. I wasn’t quite sure whether I’d just made a very serious mistake by letting Victoria live. She’d already proven that she was playing for blood.

My mother’s lessons flooded back to me at this thought.
Never underestimate your enemy.
I hoped that my message had gotten through to Victoria. Instead, I think I only managed piss her off.

Chapter Fifty-Four

I went to my room and promptly collapsed on my bed. I still planned on talking to Kayden tomorrow, but tonight, I just needed to sleep. As usual, I didn’t get what I wanted. At least it was the next best thing.

Nelly came by to visit me.

It was perfect timing, because any later and I would’ve already been asleep. As it was, I barely had the strength to tell her to just come in.

She entered my room, and her hazel eyes lit up with concern. Typical Nelly, always worried about me. She sat down beside me and pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. “Are you sick?”

I shook my head. “I don’t get sick.”

She gave me a stern look. “I know. That’s why I’m worried.”

When she kept staring at me, waiting for an answer, I decided it was time to tell her the truth—as much of the truth as I felt I could. After all, I couldn’t trust anyone if I couldn’t trust Nelly. “I may have missed one too many meals, that’s all,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Her brow furrowed in confusion, but then, she nodded, as if she’d known this all along. “I knew you were lying earlier when you said you’d already eaten. Why the heck would you stop eating, Alexa?”

I smiled at her unwavering refusal to use a curse word, and again, told the truth. “I needed to think clearly.”

“How will not eating help you think clearly?”

I made the decision quickly and told her about my theories. I told her about everything except Soraya and the village, and only because I’d promised Soraya that I wouldn’t say anything. But, I did tell her about Kayden being a Libra.

When I finished, she sat silently, giving me a look that said she was seriously worried about me. “Oh, come on,” I said. “Don’t tell me you don’t think that something strange is going on here.”

Her eyes searched mine for a moment before she spoke. “Of course it’s strange, Lex. It’s a world you never knew anything about, with people much different from the humans we grew up with. It’s supposed to be strange, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.”

I shook my head stubbornly. “What about the fact that everyone here is virtually perfect? I mean, seriously, have you met or even seen anyone who is old or ugly or handicapped or overweight?”

She seemed to consider this, but then she just smiled one of her pretty smiles. “Well, no… But we age slower, we’re not like humans. And people here like things to look good, so obviously they’d take good care of themselves. That doesn’t mean there’s some kind of conspiracy going on.”

I balked. “Fine, but what about the way everyone here seems to believe that I’m supposed to save them? They wouldn’t need saving if there wasn’t something bad happening.”

Her brow furrowed. “Maybe they just think that because you’re a Warrior. Maybe they want you to exterminate all the Lamia in the world. Who knows? But you don’t owe them anything, and some folks are just plain crazy.”

I stared at her for a long time, unable to believe that Nelly didn’t trust me when I told her that something was definitely wrong here. Also, her arguments didn’t really make much sense, not for Nelly. She was one of the smartest people I knew, and she wouldn’t usually argue for something when so much evidence pointed to the opposite. But mostly, I was upset that she didn’t trust me enough to believe me. Nelly always trusted me.

But Nelly
was
still eating the food here, and if I was right—and I was beginning to believe I was—she was under the influence of the same thing everyone else was—the same thing that had kept me from seeing things clearly before. I couldn’t be mad at her for this, but it also meant that there was no point in trying to convince her.

“Look,” she added, cutting into my thoughts. “Can’t you just try to be happy here? I know we’ve been through a lot and it’s changed us both… but I’m happy. Jackson’s happy too. The only one who isn’t happy is you, Alexa. You seem to believe that you have to save the world from something, but really, you don’t have to do anything except be a teenager. Who cares what some nut-job wrote down in his diary? You decide what you make of your life.”

I nodded and she smiled, assuming that I was agreeing with her. In truth, I was confirming my thoughts that there was no way to convince her. Not as long as she was being influenced by whoever was behind this. I wasn’t going to ask her to stop drinking the blood and eating the food just so that I could have a partner in my mission. Besides, if she was happy, I wanted her to stay that way, even if it meant her remaining ignorant to what was happening around her.