Nadine Book 7

66. Sideways

An hour later, I dump blood into the back of her neck and watch it heal faster.

"We did it."

"Good job. I'll send for Elkie. Where did she go anyway?"

"Probably making out with Elek somewhere."

"Yea, that wouldn't surprise me." He opens the door. "Someone find Elkie and send her in."

"Alright."

Dorseti comes in. "So how did it go? You're not crying, that's a good sign."

"She made it. She's healing faster now. We're going to have to rig the blood drip this way. I don't want to flip her back over yet. I want to watch her neck. I can at least check it in the morning. Then we can move her."

"Yea, that sounds like a good plan." She nearly jumps out of her skin. "I'm so sorry. Did you sit there the whole time? I didn't even know you were there."

Mason is sitting in the seat I told him to sit in. "I am sorry too. I didn't mean for you to wait for the entire surgery. I totally forgot I told you to sit there. I was focused on the paperwork and completely spaced out."

He laughs. "It's fine. I could have got up and left at any time. I found myself interested in how vampire medicine works. That was very enlightening."

Cruor nods. "Medicine is fascinating. Nadine got caught up in it over 80 years ago. She's a hell of a doctor and surgeon."

"And Dr. Cruor taught me everything I know."

"Well, you're both amazing at it."

Cruor nods. "Thank you."

Thora walks in. "I swear. You won't even understand what happened in the last hour."

Cruor nods. "Teenage girl drama I'm sure. I'm going to go talk to the grown-up room. Boy, you should leave unless you want to hear how warm boys are for 20 minutes."

Dorseti looks at Mason. "Boys are warm."

"ANYWAY." We all look at Thora as Cruor leaves. "I went over and told Coral what he said about Elek. Coral rolled her eyes and said she's not dealing with it. He needs to fix it. So I grabbed Tobias and made him fly over here with me instead."

Mason rubs his eyes.

Thora nods. "I drug him with me right in front of Elek too. Make sure he saw. But that i***t ran off with Elkie to make out."

I scratch my head.

"Tobias and Elkie are out there kissing somewhere."

I stare at her. Then we lose it.

Dorseti rubs her eyes. "I thought you meant Elek. She switched on us."

"Yea she did."

Dipak pushes Elkie in the room. "I swear. Can't even leave you alone for an hour."

Elkie sits down. "He's not a good kisser. Don't bother."

Dorseti fixes her hair. "I thought you ran off with Elek again."

"No, I haven't seen him. I won't touch him again anyway. Everyone is saying he's probably Nadine's mate now. I'm not getting in that, but Tobias is safe."

"Yea. You're good. And there are a bunch of werewolves here. I'm sure some are single."

Her eyes get big. "I've never kissed a werewolf."

I nod. "Just make sure they're single first. We don't want any drama like that again."

Thora sits on my stool. "I want to kiss a werewolf."

Dorseti jumps up and down. "ME TOO."

We all. "Ugh."

"What? I can kiss a werewolf."

"Mason stand up please." He looks at me weird and stands up. "Hold out your hand." I take it and flip it over. Sparks shoot up my arm. I did not expect that. I stare for a second, then remember what I'm doing. "Touch his finger Dorseti."

"Touch it like this." Thora touches his hand.

"You can do it. They did it. He doesn't bite."

She stares at his hand. Then she starts to shake.

I smile. "It's ok. You don't have to."

"NO. I AM DOING THIS. I CAN TOUCH HIM." She forces herself to touch his finger. "I knew I could do it."

Thora smiles. "Good job. Can you give him a hug now?"

"No."

"We're going to have to keep working on it. Maybe someday we'll get her to give someone a hug."

Thora stretches. "Let's sneak out the window and look for single werewolves to make out with. Where do they hang out here? Do they have a bar?"

"DIPAK."

She smacks Mason hard on the arm. "Why do you have to tell on us asshole? We're trying to make your guards happier."

"What?"

"They are looking for a bar."

Dipak crosses his arms. "No. You have wine. Go sit on the beach and drink or something."

Elkie drags me out. "OR SOMETHING."

"NO TOBIAS OR ELEK."

"OK."

"That was too easy."

We walk around the village. Apparently, Thora got us more wine. Each of us has a bottle.

"What are we looking for?"

"A bar. People have to go somewhere for a drink or card games."

Elkie nods. "Boring village if not."

"What ever happened to Tobias?"

"Dipak sent him back to the boat."

It only takes us 1 bottle of wine each to find the bar. We stumble in. The bar tender's eyes gloss over right away. Damn it. "She told Mason where we are."

"UGH REALLY?" Thora gives her a dirty look.

We sit at a table. "Too bad we don't have cards."

"Hey pretty girls."

Dorseti jumps up. "I'll get us some drinks."

"Hi cute boys." Elkie smiles at the table of 3 boys playing cards.

"Why don't you come over here and play?"

"What are you playing?"

"Poker."

Me and Thora "UGH."

Elkie giggles. "Don't mind them. They aren't drunk enough yet. We'll come play with you. I don't know how to play though. Can someone show me?"

One of them smiles at her. "You can sit with me. I'll show you how to play."

She pretty much pounces on his lap.

"I guess we're playing poker."

She takes a drink from Dorseti. "I need this."

"Yea me too." I grab 1, and we move over to the boys.

Thora sits between 2 of them. I sit between Elkie's boy and another 1. Elkie is already kissing him. The boy beside me smiles.

Dorseti sits between me and Elkie's boy. She moves her chair so damn close to me, we could be in the same chair.

"Do you know how to play?"

She shakes her head.

I nod. "We're playing as 1. Deal us in next hand. What's the buy in?"

"We're playing for fun."

"It'll be easier to teach you this way."

3 drinks later, Dorseti is starting to get it. Elkie is making out with the guy. Thora is flirting with 1 of the boys fairly hard. I'm surprised he hasn't got the hint yet.

"You want to go for a walk?"

Dorseti grabs me with both arms. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE."

"I'm not leaving her alone."

"She can come. I can show you 2 around town. Or we can sit here and watch them make out."

"Yea, that's true."

I stand up, and the bartender shakes her head. "That's the Luna, Clark."

He about falls backwards. "We're just going for a walk."

Dorseti stays in her seat. "You coming?"

She shakes her head and points at the door. Mason is standing there with his arms crossed. I sit down. "We can stay here."

Thora jumps in her seat and grabs some cards. Elkie goes back to kissing her boy.

He puts his eyebrows up at me.

I shrug my shoulders. "Playing cards."

He grabs Clark by the back of the neck and drags him out.

Thora looks at the boy she was kissing. "Are you concerned about that?"

"No. He'll probably make him go home."

"Ok." She jumps on him and they kiss.

I look at Dorseti. "You want to go for a walk?"

She stands up. "I'm kind of wishing we got out quicker with Clark."

"Me too."

We get another drink and go outside.

"It's so beautiful here."

"I know. I'm starting to love everything about it."

We sit on the steps and a couple boys walk up.

They smile and we get up. "Sorry didn't think about blocking the entrance when we sat down." 1 goes in and the other pulls out chairs and a table from beside the building.

Dorseti watches him. "That's convenient."

"Don't worry about it. How did you get here? Sorry, but you're the talk of the town." We sit with him.

"No worries. I see everyone staring. But we got here by ship. I like to sail around and find new places. It's fascinating everything that's out here."

"I imagine. Where were you trying to find?" The other boy comes back and gives us each a drink.

"I'm not sure. We were following a map to find treasure. We wanted to swing through and see the Mayan people too."

"Are you staying long?"

"No. A couple of days at most. Then we're leaving again."

"Will you miss it here?"

"Parts of it. It's so beautiful here. The waterfalls and animals. The weather and beaches. It's amazing."

"What parts won't you miss?"

"Everyone staring at me. I see them watching the other people from my ship too, so I know it's not only me, but still. It's constant. Every time I walk outside, someone is there pointing me out. I had a huge bug on me today and I had a full-on panic attack. Someone was standing there telling people to look at me." I shake my head. "I just don't like bugs."

One of the boys smile. "Not many do. Especially the bugs around here. They get big. I wouldn't worry about it. You'll be gone soon anyway. Enjoy the parts you can."

"That's good advice."

"Can I kiss you?"

I about fall off my chair. "Who are you talking to?"

She points to the boy I wasn't talking to. He smiles. "I would love to kiss you." He stands up and holds out his hand. She takes it so slowly. He helps her up, and then he gives her the sweetest kiss.

Then she sits back down. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." He seems all sorts of confused. "I'll get more drinks."

"You kissed a boy."

"He was sitting there so shy and sweet. I wanted to kiss a werewolf too."

The boy I was talking to smiles. "You want to kiss 1 too?"

I jump up and smile. I nearly fall flat on my face while I'm at it. He laughs and stands up. I put my arms around his neck, and he pulls me in by my waist.

Then I'm sideways in the air. "Go home now."

"She's going home in a couple of days, alpha. Let her have some fun."

"Now."

"Fine."

Mason carries me sideways into the bar. Dorseti follows us.

Thora turns her head sideways. "Did you kiss anyone yet?"

"Almost. I was so close. But he came out of nowhere, and now I'm sideways."

Everyone in the bar cracks up laughing. Mason stands there rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"Keep trying. I'm sure you'll get 1."

The bartender smirks. "I'm sure she will."

"Yea, I'm not giving up."

Mason puts me back on my feet. I go back to the table.

"What are you doing?"

"Planning my next escape."

"I think maybe that's enough for tonight."

I shake my head.

"Yea. This is enough. Let's call it a night. He picks me back up. Come on girls. I'm not chasing you all night." He carries me back to the pack house and the other 3 follow.

Dipak looks at us over the book he's reading on the couch. "How did it go?"

Mason puts me on my feet. "It was terrible. Everyone got to kiss a werewolf but me. Even Dorseti got a little kiss. I didn't get to kiss 1 at all. All because of him. HE'S WORSE THAN YOU DIPAK." I stomp my feet into my room.

The girls come in behind me and I slam the door.

Thora opens the window and Elkie grabs her around the neck. Dorseti grabs mine and out the window we go.

We land a couple of houses away from the bar and Thora gets us more wine.

We make it to an empty beach.

Dorseti let's go. "That was perfect. And this place is beautiful."

"It really is."

We open some wine.

"So, tell us about him." Elkie smiles.

"Well, he asked me if I wanted to kiss him and I said yes and stood up. He puts his arms around me. It was so close. But I guess that's it for me. Is it different kissing werewolves?"

"They breathe a lot."

Elkie nods.

Dorseti smiles. "Tell us about Mason."

"Not much to tell. He seems nice. He's the leader here. That's about all I know."

"Why don't you kiss him?"

"Are you serious? Dipak is already picking out places to build houses for vacations. I feel like we will be seeing him for a while. And it messes up s**t with the boys if I kiss people they have to work with."

"How do you feel about vacationing here?"

"I don't think so. I mean, the island is perfect. But every time I put 1 toe in the village, everyone is staring at me and judging everything I do. Even Tye noticed it yesterday and made me go outside the village with him. They make comments about me. And I don't like it. And now tonight, I can't go anywhere in the village. They notify him. Everyone knows exactly who I am, and I've only met like 6 people. How do they even know who I am? And why tell him everything I do? What's the point?"

Thora nods. "I wonder if he's scared of you, or scared you'll do something, so he has everyone watching you?"

"I guess, maybe. Maybe that was his plan. Get me out of the village, so he doesn't have to worry about what I'll do. But that's easy enough. I can sleep on the boat and visit my patients."

Thora smiles. "We have that beach right there too. We can at least play on that. It's far enough away, he would never know. He wouldn't bother us."

"That makes so much sense now. Even at the beginning, he said there was a house on the outskirts of the village we could use. Then he put me in the pack house with him. He said it would be safer. I guess he meant safer for his village, so he could watch me."

"It's sad really. You're like the nicest person I know. All you do is try to save people." Elkie pats my arm and lays down. "Look at the stars from here. I've never seen them so bright."

We all lay down.

"We'll have to take you into space sometime. The views are breathtaking."

"They really are."