Blood: The Third Course

Chapter Seventeen

Priya sat on the corner of her bed, turning her phone over and over in her hand. She wanted to be happy that Vince was back, to be celebrating and showering Vince in affection. Only, there was a feeling she couldn't shake. She couldn't forget the look on Edeline's face as they drove away, the way she had clung to Carson. Vince had mocked her, prodded at a girl who he had helped hold captive. Priya knew she was hardly innocent when it came to her treatment of others, she had captured and killed people before, but it had been in the name of survival, right?

She didn't know anymore.

All she knew was the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach, telling her that this was wrong, that Vince was wrong.

Footsteps came down the hall, getting closer to her room. Priya cringed. It was probably Kaleb, wondering why she wasn't downstairs with the rest of the family. Even Darren was there, though he knew Vince's return would seal the fate of his brother. Instead, when the door swung inwards, it was Matthew who stood before her.

He propped his hands on his hips, his jaw working tirelessly as he watched her.

Priya's brow tightened low over her eyes.

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Why don't you tell me?"

Priya twisted further to face him. She edged further along the bed, giving him space to sit. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, but he remained standing.

"What's going on?" she asked again.

He ground his teeth so hard that Priya could hear the squeak of enamel gnashing.

"You went through my phone."

Priya braced her shoulders against the headboard, taking a deep breath. She'd been expecting this conversation, though perhaps not as quickly as it had come. Vince and Matthew were friends, close enough that Vince had given Matthew his phone number where he'd not even told his family. But even she'd not expected Vince would tell him so soon.

"I thought you knew where Vince was."

He scowled and began to pace. He was still wearing his heavy farm boots, she could see the mud caked onto them, beginning to dry. She wanted to chastise him for wearing his dirty boots in the house. She stayed quiet.

"And that gave you the right to go through my phone?" he asked.

"Well, I was right, wasn't I?"

"That's not the point, Priya. You violated my—"

"You violated this pack, Matt!" Priya snapped back. "That is the point. You knew how worried Kal and Jem were, and you said nothing! You didn't even tell them that he was alive!"

Matthew's expression twisted, his eyes dark and narrowed.

"Vince contacted me because he trusted me! He asked me not to say anything."

"They just wanted—"

"He didn't want them to know!" Matthew cut her off. "He knew they'd not just accept that he was alive, they'd never stop hounding me until I told them where he was."

"He's their son!"

"He's an adult. He can go if he wants."

Priya huffed and stared at the window on the other side of the room. He was right, Vince was technically an adult, he could come and go as he pleased. But when his parents feared he was dead, that he'd been turned into a vampire, a confidence was worth breaking.