Flutter Read Free

fists were clenched at his sides, but his eyes were just frightened and distressed. It killed him that I
    cared anything for Peter, and it would literally kill him if anything happened to me. He wasn’t trying to
    contain his anger as much as trying to mask his panic over losing me, either to Peter or to death.
    “I won’t let anything happen to her, but she might be the best chance I have for talking Peter down
    from the ledge.” Ezra held his hands palm out towards Jack, trying to calm him, but that would mostly be
    impossible. “I have to try anything.”
    “I am so sick of this!” Jack shouted, exasperated. “I should’ve just killed him when I had the chance!”
    “Jack!” Mae chided him. “You don’t mean that! Don’t say things like that!”
    Her warm maternal concern only lightly covered her own fear over everything. While she
    didn’t want
    anything bad to happen to anyone, she was become increasingly distanced from Peter. He
    was driving a
    wedge in the family, and she thought that he might physically harm the most defenseless of her brood, namely
    Jack, Milo, and me.
    “I would love to stay and have this argument with you, but we really need to get on a flight out of
    here!” Ezra boomed over us all. “Alice, if you’re coming with, you need to pack for the cold.
    I’ll go book the
    flight and get our passports ready.” Ezra turned to walk down the hall to his den, ending the conversation.
    “Ezra!” Jack shouted and made a step after him, but Mae stopped him.
    8
    “I’ll talk to him,” Mae assured him meekly. “You take care of her.” She nodded towards me but didn’t
    look directly at anyone, probably because she was trying to keep the tears standing in her eyes instead of
    falling down her cheeks.
    Mae hurried after Ezra, and Jack turned to me. His face was a mixture of rage, terror,
    jealousy, and
    underlying everything, love. He looked at me for a moment, trying to think of precisely what he wanted to say
    to me, and I took a deep breath before he could mount his argument.
    “You’re not going to talk me out of this, Jack,” I told him.
    I brushed past him so I could run upstairs to my room, to our room really, but both he and Milo
    followed right on my trail. With my quick, clumsy steps, it was amazing that I didn’t fall down the stairs, and if
    I had, that would’ve done very little for my case for going with Ezra.
    Jack had been sleeping in Ezra’s den downstairs since I had turned, but all his things were still in here.
    The closet was full of both our clothes, and my wardrobe had greatly expanded since I had turned. Ezra and
    Mae had set me up with an expense account and credit cards a few weeks ago, and my new, trimmer vampire
    body required all new clothes.
    I went into the massive walk-in closet, rummaging around for bags. Inexplicably, Jack had hot pink
    luggage, but I didn’t have time to question it. I pulled the bags out from the underneath the pile of blankets it
    was hidden under and flipped it open, preparing to fill it with my things. Jack stood in the doorway, and Milo
    stood behind him, both of them glaring down at me.
    “You’re actually packing?” Milo asked, sounding surprised. “You can’t really be considering going
    with Ezra.”
    “He’s right. This is stupid,” Jack agreed. “It’s ridiculous and dangerous, and you don’t even know
    where you’re going. How can you even pack for that?”
    “He said to pack for the cold,” I reminded them both.
    I loaded my bag with sweaters and jeans and socks. Vampires didn’t really feel cold, and in fact, we
    preferred it to heat. But if we were to walk around in a blizzard wearing a tee shirt and shorts, the humans
    around us would start to question it, so we dressed warmly to fit in.
    “Jack, just forbid her from going or something!” Milo said glibly.
    “I can’t forbid her from doing anything,” Jack replied tiredly, but he definitely wished he could at times
    like this. “And if I tried,