24
The three of us headed back to her basement where Alec, Sheila, and Kyle were gathered. Alec was sitting up now and he looked so much better than when we’d left.
His smiling face didn’t last long, though. “What happened?”
“You gave me vampire blood, that’s what happened,” Star snapped.
“No, I got the blood from Spencer, himself. He handed it to me,” Alec said.
“Did you watch him draw the blood from his vein?” Star asked.
Alec’s shoulders sagged. “No.”
“Fuck, Alec. Such an amateur mistake.” Star ran a hand through her cropped hair. “That creature could have killed all of us if I’d completed the spell.”
“He played me,” Alec said.
“Sounds right,” I said bitterly. “Now I know why him and my mom got along so well.”
“So now the shunned prince knows about his alpha kid and he knows there’s a witch willing to use blood magic against him?” Star sounded pissed. “Are you trying to get all of us killed?”
“For once, I’d like something to go right,” I said.
Star tensed. “Who else was with your group?”
“What do you mean?” Alec asked. “Do you sense something?”
“We’ve got a visitor.” Star turned her head toward the staircase.
“Tyler?” Even as I suggested it, I wasn’t sure it was possible. I couldn’t feel him at all and I’d had hardly any thoughts about him since he took off in the woods.
Malcom, Kyle, and Sheila moved in front of me, pushing me out of the way. I walked around them, lining up next to them. If it was Tyler, I was going to fight him, myself. I couldn’t keep letting my friends fight my battles for me.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Whoever it was, they were making no effort to hide their entrance. I balled my hands into fists, grateful that they’d already healed from my blows against Tyler.
The figure who emerged from the stairway was not Tyler. I took a step back, physically recoiling from the monster of a man staring out at us.
He was probably seven feet tall and twice as wide as any male I’d ever seen. Between the dark hair, shaggy full beard, and wild expression in his eyes, he looked more animal than man. He made a low, rumbling growl that made even my friends take a step back.
I had no idea who the intruder was or why he was here, but I wasn’t going to let my friends get hurt anymore from my actions. I took a step forward. “Who are you and what do you want?”
I couldn’t see his mouth under the tangled beard, but his eyes almost appeared to be smiling.
“Answer us.” I kept my tone stronger than I expected.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Alec was getting up from the table. I glanced over at him. “Sit back down. We’ve got this.”
He shook his head and shuffled over slowly. Each step looked like it caused him pain. “Lola, meet Spencer Lupton, your father.”
I turned back to the newcomer, unable to hide my surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“You look just like your mother,” he said.
“Never say that again.” I now knew my mom had sacrificed everything to try to hide me from this man but I still didn’t want to be compared to her. Especially not by him.
“I suppose I expected a warmer welcome,” he said.
“You gave my friend vampire blood. You could have gotten us all killed.” I took a few steps toward him. “Unless that was your plan. Well, newsflash, it failed. You didn’t win.”