Blood: The Third Course

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"I'll take your head off, bitch!"

Spencer could hear Vince arguing with his father all the way down the road. He could hear the scuffling of their feet and the grappling of bodies as the youngest wolf was forced into a car, the door slammed behind him. The engine roared, tyres squealed, and within moments, the car had vanished from even his hearing.

"Spencer? Spence?"

Blinking in surprise as fingers were snapped right in front of his face, Spencer straightened up and looked around. Everyone was staring at him and his apparent absence from the room. Including, he was worried to find, August.

"Aug?"

"I heard the screaming," he said. "What's going on? What was Kaleb even doing here?"

Despite August's apparent interest in the wolves, his gaze darted between Spencer and Edeline far faster than Spencer would have liked. His eyes narrowed at the sight of her tucked in behind Spencer, his lips pursing as he took in her fingers tangled in the back of Spencer's shirt.

"Kaleb came to speak to me," Priya explained, moving away from the door. But instead of coming towards August, she went straight to William. "Vince must have followed him."

Reaching behind him, Spencer carefully eased Edeline's fingers from his shirt. Despite the brave front she had put up in front of Kaleb, and even in front of Vince, her grip on his shirt was a vice to be broken. Even as he focussed on Edeline, Spencer could see August's barely-restrained glare out of the corner of his gaze, and the way his teeth gnashed behind his lips. Spencer turned to Edeline and took hold of her shoulders. She looked as out of it as he felt. Or maybe she was too busy listening to everyone else's thoughts to hear her own. He guided her gently backwards until she could sit down on the stairs. The moment he let go of her, August grabbed his arm and wheeled him away.

"What are you doing here, Spencer?" he asked. "And with her? I asked you to stay away while you—"

"I was on the stairs," Spencer said quickly. "Listening to someone else's drama for a change. She came right past me. I wasn't exactly going to let her go alone."

"Spencer..."

Spencer put on his most serious, and hopefully trust-worthy smile.

"August, it's fine. I'm fine. Edeline and I are... getting there."

He appeared to accept the explanation, though Spencer was well-aware that he would probably be berated once they were alone. He knew August was trying to help him, to remove the temptation by keeping him away from Edeline, but not being tempted while he had no access to that particular drug would only help for so long. If Edeline was going to continue to be around them, he'd need to get used to being in her presence. And apparently, Edeline wanted him there.

August kept a hold of Spencer's arm, even as he turned to Priya and William.

"So, Kaleb wanted you?" he asked.

"I didn't tell him I was leaving the farm," Priya said. "He heard about what happened, he was worried."

"And Vincent?"

"The girl was explaining the danger the boy poses," William said, nodding in Edeline's direction. "He wasn't having any of it, but then kid bursts in saying he wants the girl's blood for himself."

William's gaze landed on Spencer and he smirked.

"Didn't seem too happy with you, either, did he?"

Spencer shook his head.

"I heard enough of what Vince wants," Spencer said quietly. "He wants to be better... more than anyone before him."