The Frenzy Series (Book 2): Frantic by Casey L. Bond Page B

next to mine, enraging Tage and annoying Roman. Dara left, claiming she needed fresh air. I tried to slip out of my room to follow her, but Tage caught me.
    “Where do you think you’re going?”
    “I need fresh air, too,” I asserted, standing up straighter.
    Tage smiled. “You know, you don’t actually need air at all.”
    “We breathe.”
    “It’s a mechanical function only; not a requirement. Not breathing won’t kill you, night-walker.”
    I smacked his chest, making him stumble back a step. “Don’t call me that!”
    “You have to accept it. It’s called tough love, kitten.”
    He liked to play games. Fine. I gave him a sly smile and crept closer toward him. He looked behind him on both sides, but seeing nothing unusual, he backed into a wall covered in dingy floral wallpaper.
    “What are you doing?” Tage gave a nervous smile, but watched as if fascinated. I rubbed my face along his, breathing him in, and heard him gasp. “Kitten?” Dragging my lips along the stubble of his jaw, I heard his lips part. “What’s this?”
    My hands found his waist, chest, shoulders.
    “Kitten wants to play,” I finally told him.
    “Mmmm,” he moaned deeply from his chest. His fingertips flexed. I could hear them lengthen.
    As my lips ghosted over his, he opened his blue eyes. I took his bottom lip in my teeth, grazing it with my fangs.
    His arms slipped around me, pulling me flush to him. As soon as his fingers dug into my flesh, I sank my fangs into the plump inside of his bottom lip. Tage froze, his eyes widening.
    I gently eased the tips out, and blood trickled in their absence. Tage’s eyes narrowed and he grasped his lip. “What the hell was that?”
    “Call me kitten again, and I’ll bite it off.”
    I left him there with his back against the wall. Before he could regale me with more factoids about why I didn’t need air, I was gone. The door slamming behind me was the last thing I heard. I was a blur.

 
     

     
    The scent of desperation was an easy one to follow. I tracked Dara across yards and down the street as she weaved past the pavilion and made her way toward Saul’s house. I picked up the pace. Was he in trouble? Would she hurt him? I could smell Tage behind me, tracking me like I was the danger. I wouldn’t be a danger to Saul, but Dara was another story. She was poking her fangs in where they didn’t belong, and I’d be happy to remove them for her. I’d love to rip them out of her nasty mouth.
    Rounding the corner of Saul’s neighbor’s yellow house, I paused, hearing his voice and hers. My heart beat frantically. It was happy to hear him, angry that he was speaking with her, and angry with her for being there with him—all at the same time.
    I listened.
    “No, it’s fine. Thanks for checking on us, though,” he said.
    “I’m just worried that she’ll hurt you. They can’t keep her in the cage anymore, and she almost tore the house down. I know she loves you, but if she can’t control herself around you, she could kill you, Saul.”
    “She will control herself.” Even I didn’t believe his tone. “Porschia will be fine. She just needs...time and guidance.”
    “Tage is helping her. We’re all trying, but she’s manic. Tage is better with her than anyone else. He and Porschia have become very close.” I bristled at her words. Tage and I weren’t that close. Sure, we were closer than the others, but that was because the alternate options weren’t very appealing. “Frenzy can drive some new vampires insane, and even ones who didn’t have those issues in their human lives can be affected. But Porschia is in a different situation. Her mother has mental problems, and you never know…Porschia may have already been headed down the same road. Emotional control is a difficult thing to master, but as a night-walker in Frenzy, they’re multiplied by thousands, even tens of thousands. Everything seems important, urgent, and all-consuming. The emotions, especially for a