In My Blood

"You have terrible friends, Nichole,” Gabe says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “And a terrible ex-boyfriend. Just saying.”

I look at him. “Am I that bad at keeping my thoughts to myself?” I ask. No one else seems to know what I am talking about.

“You were only broadcasting it to me. So you are getting better,” Gabe laughs. “Why would you be worried that we would know?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t want you guys to know. It’s that I want to have some sense of privacy every now and then, you understand?” I explain as simply as I can. “And I also didn’t know that I was broadcasting to anyone really.”

“Oh, I see.” Gabe looks at me and smiles slightly before going back to what he was doing. No one seems to ask what it was about. I lean back against the seat. I take in a few calming breathes.

I scan each of their thoughts. When I got to Dillon, he felt sick. Like a pain in the stomach. I wanted to ask him without sounding weird.

Cain? I call out to him. He looks over at me in silence. He snakes an arm around my neck.

What is it? Something wrong? He leans forward as if he is whispering in my ear, but he is just giving us a pretense of privacy.

I explain to him about what I felt from Dillon. He sits in silence for a little bit before looking over at Dillon. Cain scans Dillon’s face.

“Hey, Dillon?” Cain says. “Are you all right? You don’t look so good.”

“Oh, just needing to feed, you know?” he answers honestly. He almost laughs. “But I don’t think you will move away from Nichole to let me feed.”

“We are a clan with a queen. All you have to do is ask. That is how it works, you know,” Alex says from the driver’s seat.

“So what do you say, Nichole?” Dillon looks at me. “Can I feed on you?”

I nod. I’m not sure what to do. Dillon gets up and moves to seat in the seat with Cain and me.

“Wrist or neck?” Dillon asks. He looks hopeful. He likely wants to drink from my neck.

“The wrist, Dillon. You are not the commandant en second. You know that,” Cain growls at Dillon. Cain turns to me with a gentle facial expression. He holds out his hand. “Give me your arm.”

I give him my right arm. Dillon takes it from Cain. Dillon brings his mouth down on my wrist and gently bites down on my wrist. I feel a sharp pain that eventually subsides and doesn’t hurt very much. I slowly wait for him to stop. I begin to feel a little lightheaded.

Dillon jerks away from my wrist. He looks at me. “Are you okay?” he asks. He looks surprised by what happened.

“I’m a little lightheaded, but other than that I’m fine,” I answer candidly. I look at him waiting for an explanation.

“You drank too much. You didn’t realize that until her blood turned bitter.” Cain looks almost ready to fight. “Young fools.”

Dillon quickly moves into his seat. “Why would it turn bitter?” He is trying to avoid making eye contact with Cain. He cowars in the seat in front of us.

“You drank too much. It is her body’s way of telling us to stop. If we drink too much, we could kill her. She has to feed six of us. Her body rations what we get,” Alex elucidates. “She can drink as much she wants from us without hurting us because we are older, and we only need to give blood to one person not multiple people like her.”

Cain leans toward me, putting his forehead on mine. Are you all right? He wants to know the truth. He wants comfort. He really worries about me.

I’m fine. Like I said, I am only lightheaded. It will go away eventually. Don’t worry. I grab his shoulders, shaking them gently. Calm down, dear.[/i[

He smiles his soft smile that I love. He looks at me with a tender glance. He seems tired as if he hasn’t slept in a long time. He simply pulls me close to him. I lean my head on his shoulder.

So what do you mean by Dillon isn’t commandant en second? I ask curiously. And the whole that he can only drink from my wrist?

Well, I believe you know what a commandant en second is, but everyone in the clan knows that it isn’t him. The commandant en second is the mate of the queen. Only the commandant en second can drink from the neck for two reasons. One, you will only be comfortable with that person being that close. Two, your body will be bitter to that person. No one understands the latter, but it is true. He yawns. Go to sleep.

I smile and fall asleep. I have a dreamless nap. It was peaceful. Which was a good change.