Blood Will Tell (Warriors of Ankh #1) by Samantha Young

filled with tears. “I killed two people, Stel.” She’d killed two people and although she felt sick with it now, in the moment… she’d enjoyed the fight. She’d felt… alive … in a way she had never felt before.
    Her brother’s face hardened and he crossed the room to close the door. Quickly, he returned to her, bending down to take her hands in his. Gently he took a wash cloth and began cleaning the blood off her knuckles. “You listen to me, OK. It was self-defence, Paradise. Self-defence. Those Neith were there to kill you, and you did what you had to do.”
    “ It’s not that simple.”
    He tugged hard on her hands, drawing her gaze so that their eyes locked. “You’re the gentlest one of our kind I’ve ever known, Eden. You’re the last Blessed on this earth those bastards should have come after. They deserved what they got.”
    They deserved what they got.
    Did Lana? Did the red-headed woman in the basement, or those blonde twins from Ohio?
    Where was the line?
     
    “ There’s no line, Stel,” she whispered.
     

Chapter Eleven
    Love or Something like it
     
    Over the next few weeks it felt like she gave up a little. Gave in, maybe. It was not like it mattered here anyway. Ryan had decided that they were moving after Eden’s Awakening Ceremony. The Neith knew where they were now and it was just too risky. So they were leaving. Leaving home. Leaving Salton. Leaving… leaving Noah. But she didn’t care… right?
     
    Eden walked the halls of South Salton delivering death looks at anybody who bumped into her or dared to meet her gaze.
    Didn’t they know she was a killer now?
    “ Oh look, it’s freak show without her freak mate.” Lucy Stevens smirked at her as she past her in the hall. That was the one drawback from the compulsion. The idiot no longer remembered to fear her. Eden curled her lip up in a snarl just as Lucy’s friend, Shawna Beaumont swatted at Lucy, a little frown furrowing her perfect eyebrows.
    “ Don’t be mean, Luce,” Shawna admonished, her lip-glossed mouth quirking up into a smile of apology to Eden. “Sorry.”
    Eden looked her up and down, cataloguing the cheerleading uniform and the Gucci bag. “Did I ask for an apology?” She snipped. “Go suffocate yourself inside your Gucci, Barbie.”
    Shawna flinched back like she’d been slapped and had to hold Lucy back from attacking Eden. Eden chuckled, feeling mean and bitter.
    She turned and walked smack bang into a solid chest. His familiar citrusy scent teased the hunger.
    “ You’re being a bitch to nice girls like Shawna Beaumont now?” Noah asked, pushing her back a little.
    Eden let her eyes slowly crawl up his face to his eyes. They were narrowed in concentration. His lips pinched tight. His expression warred between disapproval and concern.
    “ News flash, Valois. I am a bitch.” She tried to walk around him but his arm closed around her fast, strong. She frowned and tried to break free. What the hell… Eden glared up at him suspiciously. “Been injecting steroids, Valois?”
    He glared at her. “Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be stronger than you, Winslow ?”
    What…?
    Her heart started racing. “What are you talking about?”
    Noah sighed and gripped her arm, tugging her down the hallway and into an empty classroom. He shut the door and leaned back against it, blocking the exit.
    “ We need to talk, Eden.”
    Oh Jesus, don’t let him know, please no no no no no…
    “ What about?” She shifted uneasily.
    “ Well among other stuff uh the fact that you’ve been acting like a psycho bitch for the past two weeks, talking to me one minute, dodging me the next. It’s giving me headache.” He shrugged casually. “So… you’re meeting me after school tonight. If you don’t, I’m hunting you down.”
    Eden snorted and strode towards him. “You can’t make me do anything.”
    “ Eden.” He gripped her by the upper arm. “I’ll come to your house.”
    It was like he knew, she