Blood Bond by Heather Hildenbrand

He
stood beside Cord, his wiry frame way too tall for his fifteen
years, especially since his open smile always made him look even
younger than that. “Hi, Tara,” he called.
    “Hey.” I waved.
    He nodded at Wes from
underneath a mop of blond hair that he’d apparently grown out over
the spring. “Glad you’re back, even if you did bring her with you.” He jerked
a thumb at Cord and rolled his eyes.
    “Take the good with the bad, I guess,” Derek
said.
    “You boys are hilarious.” Cord stood with
hands on her hips, staring disgustedly at the briny water. Bailey
peeled his shirt off and moved toward the lake’s edge.
    “You coming in, Cord?” Wes asked.
    “No, thanks. I’ll take the choking humidity
over the shameless flirting.”
    “I see,” said Wes, a glint in his eye.
“Bailey, if you would?”
    Bailey grimaced. “You know I’m taking my
life into my hands.”
    “I’ll protect you,” Wes said.
    Derek chuckled. “No offense, but my money’s
on her.”
    Bailey crept up behind Cord and grabbed her
just as she realized his intention. I clamped my hand over my mouth
and waited for her wild swings to connect with Bailey’s face.
Somehow, he managed to get her into the water. When it reached
knee-deep, he let go and Cord fell under. She came up sputtering,
her hair falling in strings against her face. She glared at Bailey
with an expression I’d only ever seen directed at me—and Miles.
Bailey was already running for the rope swing.
    Cord let out a growl that could’ve rivaled a
Werewolf and took off after him. Wes and Derek high-fived.
    “She’s going to kill him,” I said,
horrified.
    “Nah, she’s harmless. Watch,” Derek
said.
    Bailey swung out and splashed down just as
Cord reached the tree limb. She didn’t waste time with the rope.
Instead, she ran to the end and launched herself out over the
water, doing a perfect dive and coming up inches from Bailey.
    He tried swimming away, but Cord caught him
around the ankle and yanked him back. He was pulled under—only his
arms could be seen above the surface, flailing in a blind attempt
to grab Cord.
    She yanked him to the surface and scowled at
him. “Give up! Say you’re sorry,” she demanded.
    “Never,” Bailey sputtered, half laughing,
half coughing.
    “Then suffer the consequences,” she said as
she dunked him again.
    Derek shook his head, swimming toward them.
“Pick on someone your own size,” he said. He jumped and pressed
down on Cord’s head, taking them both underwater. She came up
sputtering and … laughing?
    “Twilight zone, right?” Wes’s voice in my
ear was an echo of the thought in my head.
    “Exactly,” I said. “Why isn’t she trying to
murder them?”
    He shrugged. “They’re family.”
    And for them, it was that simple. It didn’t
matter that Cord was a Hunter and the boys were Werewolves. Just
like with George and I, being family had nothing to do with
DNA.
    “How did you guys meet, anyway?” Cambria
asked, coming up beside me.
    “Derek and Cord met in foster care,” Wes
explained. “They lived with the same family for about eight months
or so. Then Derek was sent back to the orphanage and met Bailey. He
kept in touch with Cord and the three of them became peas in a
pod.”
    “How’d they end up here?”
    “Bailey got into a fight in school and
almost shifted. Foster care isn’t a great place to grow up, anyway,
and Cord found out about The Cause and Jack and Fee living here, so
they showed up one day a few years ago and never left.
    “Bailey was pretty quiet and shy when Cord
first started bringing him around. He’s opened up a lot now, become
pretty independent, but I think he looks up to Cord like a mother.
And she’s just as protective of him as a mom would be, so it
fits.”
    Cambria lifted a brow. “I have a hard time
picturing Cord protecting anything but herself.”
    “Cord’s not all bad. You have to let her
warm up to you,” Wes said.
    “Right. Warm up to me.” I shook my