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her face registered shock.
    “What?” I followed her wide-eyed stare. My breath caught. Matt had walked inside. He wasn’t alone. As they walked into the lighted room where we stood, I wished I’d fixed my hair. Matt had brought Conor.
     

Chapter Five
     
    “Holy crap, Matthew!” Cora exclaimed, coming to me and sitting protectively by my side. The boys stopped behind the loveseat, unsure now. I pulled the blanket tighter around me, feeling naked, exposed in my boxer shorts and tank top.
    “Sorry,” Matt said. “I thought Conor could answer your questions better than I could. It’s kind of complicated.” Matt’s gaze raked my face, checking to see if I was angry. I wasn’t, I was surprised, and to my chagrin, pleasantly surprised. I liked seeing Conor, as much as I hated to admit it. Although I looked horrible.
    “You look fine,” Matt said, coming around the loveseat to sit across from us. Conor followed, he still hadn’t said anything.
    I gave Matt an irritated look. “Get out of my head.” He couldn’t read my mind all the time. Just when neither of us was paying attention. We figured the connection had formed when he gave me his blood to save my life the night I’d been bitten.
    “I’m not. You’re getting stronger, Ash. You projected to me. That’s part of why we’re both here.”
    What the hell was he talking about? Projecting? And what did it have to do with Conor?
    Okay, one problem at a time. I wanted my original questions answered, and then I could move on to new ones. I consciously checked to see if I was blocking my thoughts. Yep, blocks were solid. I hesitated. How could I ask Matt about him telling Conor when Conor was sitting right there, in all his hotness, gazing at me with a strange intensity in his eyes and a half-grin? My heart pounded.
    I cleared my throat and shifted, sitting straighter. The blanket fell to my lap, exposing my upper body. Conor’s gaze went immediately to my exposed throat and I sucked in a breath, which made Cora look at Conor.
    “Hey, fang boy, back down.” She went to the closet and returned with a sweatshirt, which she handed me. Conor pulled his focus off me and looked at Matt, who hung his head, defeated. I pulled the sweatshirt on. It didn’t completely cover my neck, but it helped.
    “Ash, we kind of have a problem,” Matt said, leaning forward, bracing his forearms on his thighs.
    My stomach clenched. “What?” It came out in a whisper.
    “Your power. It’s strong,” he said.
    I shrugged. “I’m almost eighteen. Mom said it would get stronger until then.”
    He looked away briefly.
    Cora threaded her arms around one of mine, holding me protectively. “Get to the point, Matthew,” she told him harshly. I loved that she kept calling him Matthew.
    He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Conor again, who gave a slight nod. Matt turned back to me. “Yeah,” he said roughly. “But it holds a certain appeal to some of us.”
    “Us?” I inquired.
    “Vampires,” Conor spoke for the first time. His low and seductive voice brought me back to the library when he’d told me to read. I shivered.
    “What kind of appeal?” Cora broke in. I felt small and vulnerable, again realizing all my friends were vamps. My power appealed to them? Matt and Cora had never said anything before.
    “It calls,” Conor said softly. “It’s…alluring.”
    I looked at Matt. “Matt, you’ve never said anything. Is it like that for you?”
    He wouldn’t meet my eye, shaking his head.
    Cora spoke what I had been wondering. “So when you say ‘us’ you mean…”
    “He means me, mostly,” Conor cut her off, reaffirming what we’d all been thinking.
    I gave a short bark of laughter. “What?” I asked sarcastically. “So, you’re a chocoholic and I’m a chocolate bar?”
    Conor’s face twisted in disgust. “Please don’t trivialize it. Yes, you seem to be irresistible to me. I can feel your power, almost taste it, and I want it. I can restrain