Chapter 2

Jaxon let out a breath. Theo grinned.

They had the same grin. I'd never noticed that before.

The bud pulsed against the glass, slow and steady. I couldn't hear her yet, but I could feel her watching me. I knew exactly what she'd say if she could. Good girl. Do as you're told.

Jaxon took the glass box back from me. "I'll carry it up. It's heavy."

It wasn't heavy. He just didn't want me dropping it.

He went straight to our bedroom and set it on my nightstand, right by the big window. Same spot as in my last life.

I stayed in the doorway. "Does it have to go in here?"

His hand stopped on the glass. For half a second, he looked caught.

"The moon's brightest on this side of the house," he said. "And the closer it sleeps to you, the faster it shares its strength. That's how it works."

Theo ran over and tugged my sleeve, looking up at me the way he used to when he was little. "It's really delicate, Hazel. Promise you won't stick it out on the porch?"

Delicate.

In my previous life, that delicate thing pushed a root through the side of my neck.

I walked over to the nightstand and bent down for a closer look.

The bud sat very still. Its skin was thin and shiny, like a fresh scab.

Then it moved.

A red root, thin as fishing line, shot out through one of the air holes in the glass. It sank into the tip of my finger before I could blink.

It stung like a bee. A drop of blood came up, shiny and silver under the lamp. Healer blood always looked like that.

Theo's eyes lit up. It was quick, but I saw it. Pure hunger, like a kid staring at cake. Then he dropped his gaze and put on a scared little voice.

"Hazel, don't move! You'll scare it!"

Jaxon was already crossing the room.

I was faster. A pair of silver scissors sat on the vanity, the ones I'd used to cut the ribbons off the party gifts. I grabbed them and cut the root clean through.

The bud jerked. A scream went off somewhere behind my eyes, a woman's scream, thin and furious.

"What the hell, Hazel?" Jaxon shoved me back with one arm and planted himself between me and the glass.

"You hurt it!" Theo yelled. "It was just hungry!"

I looked down at my bleeding finger. Then at the two of them, standing guard over that flower like it was a newborn baby.

In my last life, I died asking myself why the people I loved picked a plant over me.

Now I knew. I was never a person to them. I was the plant food.

Jaxon's Alpha command rolled through the room, heavy as wet sand on my shoulders. "Have you lost your mind?"

In my last life, when that thing was drinking me alive, he called me dramatic. When I woke up screaming and begged him to get it out of our room, he told me power had a price.

Now somebody snipped one little root, and he looked like I'd stabbed his mother.

"It bit me," I said. "I reacted. What was I supposed to do, let a houseplant eat my hand?"

His jaw worked. He was trying hard to keep his voice down. "It was bonding with you. You're overreacting."

"Maybe." I set the scissors down. "But nothing gets into a Luna's blood without permission. If it wants to eat, it can wait until I feed it."

I walked out.

Behind me, the bud knocked against the glass, a dull little thump, over and over.

Then her voice slid into my head, soft and amused. One drop of my blood had been enough to open a door between us.

Cute, little sister. Fight all you want. You'll still end up as my compost.

Scarlett always did love having the last word.

I pulled the bedroom door shut and smiled at the wood.

"Grow fast, Scarlett," I whispered. "I can't wait."