Ungifted (32 page)

“Um,” I said when Ethan opened the passenger door of Preston’s car for me. “My crutches?”

Ethan sighed. “You sure picked a hell of a time to be an invalid, Grace,” he said and headed back inside the restaurant after my crutches.

“Easy, Grace. You’ll give yourself a migraine glaring that hard.” Preston chuckled and swiftly lifted me into his car. “Try not to let Ethan get to you. I’ve heard legends about warriors. The way he’s bound to you is no simple thing. He must be half out of his mind with stress right now.”

“He still doesn’t have to be a jerk,” I muttered.

“No, I suppose not.” Preston sighed. “Let’s get you home and maybe he won’t be so cranky.”

“I don’t know. If Ethan weren’t cranky, the world might be thrown off its axis.”

Preston laughed just as Ethan slipped in the backseat with my crutches. “Glad you guys find all of this amusing,” he grumbled.

Preston stopped laughing and nobody said a word the rest of the way home.

The night had been ruined but Preston, ever the gentleman, still insisted on walking me all the way to my front door even though Ethan was coming in with me.

“Sorry I’m such a disaster magnet. Didn’t mean to ruin the evening. Maybe we should try it again sometime. Without the assassination attempt.”

Preston gave me a sad smile and said, “You be safe, Gracie. Do what Ethan tells you.”

I noticed he didn’t agree we should go out again. He didn’t kiss me, either. He gave my hand a squeeze and then looked at Ethan. “The pack is ready to help any way we can. You have my number.”

Ethan shook Preston’s hand and then told me to get in the house.

Best. Date. Ever.

. . . . .

“No kiss goodnight? I wouldn’t have pegged a future alpha to be such a wuss.”

For the second time that day I stumbled into my house to find Russ sprawled out on my couch. The only difference was that this time he was awake and had apparently been watching out the front window.

The evening was bad enough with Ethan’s hovering and the attempt on my life, but to have to come home to Russ, too? That was just cruel. “It wasn’t like that,” I said, flushing with embarrassment. “It wasn’t really a date.”

“Was too,” both Russ and Ethan muttered at the same time. They exchanged a glance, and while Ethan looked wary, I swear Russ was fighting back a smile.

“Did he drive?” Russ asked me.

“Yeah.”

“Did he pay?”

“I tried to, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“Did he open doors for you?”

“Yes.”

Russ smirked. “Date.”

I couldn’t stop my eyes from finding Ethan. Russ noticed the direction of my gaze and chuckled. “It’s true three is a crowd, but a chaperoned date is still a date, and probably the only sort you’re ever going to go on, so you’d better get used to it. Next time, just go for it. Angel boy can stomach it.”

If possible, I turned an even deeper shade of red. “Aren’t you supposed to get to know someone on a date?” I asked. “Talk about yourselves? Discover common interests and all that?”

“I suppose you’d have to at least a little bit. Can’t make out the
whole
time if you you’re chaperoned,” Russ teased.

“Well then, it wasn’t a date because we didn’t make out, and all we talked about was you.”

My confession startled Russ. His playful attitude was gone in an instant. “Me?”

Ethan glared at me again, but that happened so often nowadays that it barely fazed me. I heaved myself down onto the couch next to Russ, meeting Ethan’s accusing look with the eye roll that drives my dad crazy. “Aren’t you supposed to be making sure there are no crazed witches or obsessed vampires hiding in my closet?”

Ethan made a face and then stomped off up the stairs. When he was gone Russ looked at me, waiting for an explanation. I didn’t think he’d take my news well, but I wasn’t going to keep it from him. He deserved to know.

“Apparently the resistance thinks you’re a hot commodity,” I said. “They want you badly and think that since you came to the Layton kids they’re the best chance at recruiting you. Preston, Caleb, and Cynthia have all been asked to try and earn your trust so that you’ll stay and join them.”

“I figured as much.”

“I’m sorry.”

Russ shook his head. “For what? I’d be shocked if they didn’t try. Doesn’t matter, though. I don’t trust your friends any more than I would trust their parents, and I wouldn’t join the resistance even if I did trust them.”

“I know. Preston knows that, too. That’s why he spent the whole night telling me about all the evil things the council has done, and why the resistance is so important. He asked me to try to befriend you too because he thinks…”

My voice trailed off. Russ cocked an eyebrow at me when my cheeks turned pink. “He thinks…?”

“He said you have a soft spot for me. He thinks you’d have a hard time not trusting me because I might be connected to Dani somehow. Tonight he basically asked me to exploit that connection to try to get close to you, but I know what it’s like to have people only be your friend because they want something from you, and I won’t do that to you. That’s why I’m telling you what he said. I
would
like to be your friend, but I’ll understand if you can’t trust me, either. Regardless of whether you ever do or not, I refuse to try to persuade you to do anything. It’s not my business.”

“Thanks for that, I guess.”

“That’s just me, though. Preston and Caleb are beyond loyal to their pack and the resistance. Anything you say in front of them is going to go straight to the resistance leaders.”

Russ had been watching me with amusement, but his smile turned hard. “I’m sure it has already.”

I cringed. “Sorry about that. But Cynthia’s probably pretty safe. I don’t think she’d say anything if I asked her not to. I don’t really know about Ethan. I’m not sure if he’s involved with the resistance. He’s probably just always going to do whatever he thinks is in my best interest.”

“Yes, I am,” Ethan agreed as he came back in the living room. “And I don’t think it’s in your best interest to leave you here alone all night with him.”

I sighed. For someone who hated me, Ethan sure had a lot in common with a jealous boyfriend. “Do you think it’s better that I stay here completely alone, then?”

Ethan grimaced, confirming my suspicions that giving me a night’s peace wasn’t in his plans.

“I have a guest room for you and a couch for him at my place.”

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I thought he’d demand to stay here. “You want me to sleep at your house?”

“I think you’d be safer if whoever just tried to kill you didn’t know where you were.”

“Dinner was eventful,” I said in response to Russ’s questioning look.

Ethan elaborated. “Another magic attack, same as before.”

“Andrew again?” Russ asked, confused.

Ethan looked very unhappy when he said, “I’m not sure. If Andrew’s really suffering from a fixation, there’s no way he’d order another hit, and a witch tied to him through an immortal blood bond wouldn’t go against his wishes. But the attack was the same—except smarter. There was only one spell and it was a very fast acting one. Whoever cast it knew magic wouldn’t work on Grace. I’m also pretty sure they knew I’d feel it coming, which doesn’t make sense unless it was the same witch who attacked before, because I’ve never told anyone I could feel magic except you guys.”

“That’s not normal?” I asked.

Ethan shook his head. “I’ve heard that actual angels can feel magic, but the nephilim don’t have that gift. Same with the telepathy thing that we can do, and Preston was right about how fast I was tonight. No regular nephilim could have reacted that quickly. I’m starting to wonder if being a warrior means I’ve been blessed by the angels.”

“Dude,” Russ said. “That’s kind of badass.”

Ethan glanced at Russ and if I didn’t know Ethan was incapable of appreciating humor, I would swear his lips twitched as if he were fighting a smile.

“Yeah, well, I’m not invincible, so go pack a bag, Grace, before whoever wants you dead figures out a way to get past me.”

I headed for the stairs but stopped when Russ said, “Your parents are just going to be okay with you bringing home a couple of strays?”

“It’s just my mom, and I’ll think of something.”

“Here’s a thought,” Russ said. “You could tell her the truth. That you’re bonded to a girl being targeted by a homicidal witch and stalked by an obsessed vampire, and that you’ve been ordered by the resistance to befriend the wayward warlock’s potentially powerful son.”

Ethan’s face flushed with rage. “I do not answer to the resistance!” he hissed. “I sympathize with them, but I have not joined them.” Faster than my eyes could follow, Ethan was standing toe to toe with Russ. His voice sounded more dangerous than I’d ever heard it when he said, “I will not swear fealty to anyone. Ever.”

Ethan and Russ got caught up in a staring match that I thought would never end. After an eternity, Russ finally smiled. “Yeah, no one tells me what the hell to do, either.”

Russ sounded like he respected Ethan a little more than he had five minutes ago. Ethan’s eyes narrowed, but then they softened the tiniest bit and miraculously he returned Russ’s grin. “My father’s a bastard, too,” he told Russ. “Come on. My mom has a weakness for strays. She’ll make you homemade peanut butter cookies.”

And just like that, they were friends.

Boys. I will never understand them.

Ethan lived two blocks away
from me. For the last six years we were practically neighbors and I never knew. Atherton Prep takes in kids from all over the D.C. metro area. The odds of any two students living in the same neighborhood had to be slim. When he saw my incredulity, he got defensive. “My mom inherited it, okay? Before I was born. I had nothing to do with it.”

“I wasn’t accusing you. I’m just surprised. It’s an awfully big coincidence.”

“I doubt anything’s coincidence with you.” Ethan’s face turned dark as he stepped out of his car. “Please, you guys, don’t say anything to my mom about Grace and me.”

“I think you should tell her,” Russ said as we headed to the front door.

Ethan dropped his voice and gave Russ a pleading look. “I can’t,” he whispered.

Russ had the decency to lower his voice to a whisper, too. “She could probably help us. Ask her about warrior bonds. This bond was appointed to you for a reason. She’s got to know more than she’s told you.”

“There’s more to this than you understand, okay? She’s had a rough life and this would probably break her. I’m trying to protect her.”

Russ backed off immediately, but I couldn’t. “But you need to know this,” I said. “If you really want to protect me, how can you if you don’t know what you’re protecting or why? If your mom has answers, we should ask her. I’m sure she’ll understand. She’ll know it wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s the problem. She’ll think it’s hers.”

“How could it be her fault?”

“Just don’t say anything, Grace!” Ethan yelled, finally losing his temper.

I shut my mouth.

Ethan continued to glare at me for a few more seconds until the porch light came on. “Ethan?” a groggy voice asked as the front door opened. “What’s going on? It’s eleven thirty.”

Ethan’s mother was quite the surprise. She was pretty, even having been roused from sleep, but she wasn’t anywhere near the beauty Ethan was. She looked almost nothing like him. She had really thin copper-tone hair that if taken better care of might be able to pass for a very rich shade of red. She was only a few inches taller than me and didn’t have the slender build of her son. She wasn’t overweight—just had enough meat on her bones to make her curvy in all the right places. Her eyes, unlike the stunning blue of her son’s, were a dull brown, and looked tired, as if life were aging her a little faster than most.

“Sorry we woke you up, Mom,” Ethan said. “We kind of have a situation and I was hoping my friends could stay here tonight.”

“Oh!” Ethan’s mom sounded surprised but not the least bit upset. She opened the door wide, saying, “Well now, who’ve we got here—” She tripped over her words when I stepped into the porch light. “Oh, Ethan! Is this her? The one you’ve been protecting?”