"Why?" both her friends asked at the same time.

"Because I don't belong here. I'm not one of you."

"Bul shit!" Del a said. "You just don't want to be one of us. You stil think we're freaks. I see it every time the word blood is mentioned."

Okay, she might have had a point about the blood.

Kylie stil shook her head. "It's not-"

"You can't go," Miranda said, interrupting her. "Who's going to stop Del a and me from kil ing each other?"

"Oh, screw it," Del a said, frowning, and looked at Miranda. "Let her go back to her safe little world where the only thing she worries about is if her daddy loves her. If she doesn't want to be friends with us, I certainly don't want to be friends with her. Hel , I didn't like the bitch anyway."

Del a shot off so fast Kylie didn't see her go. Miranda stood there staring. "She's just mad. She didn't mean that."

"I know." Kylie bit down on her lip, but Del a's words stil hurt.

Miranda twirled her ponytail. "I hate to say this, but I don't blame her. I'm mad at you, too." And then Miranda took off. Just great, Kylie thought. On top of everything else, she'd managed to piss off her two new best friends.

* * *

When Kylie got to the dining hal , Miranda and Del a were sitting at a different table from where they usual y sat. Kylie got the message loud and clear. They didn't want to be near her.

Fine.

Picking up her food tray, Kylie moved to her normal table, feeling a tad self-conscious about being alone. The door opened and Kylie looked up just as Derek walked in. His lips spread into a warm smile, one of his special smiles, that made her heart swel with appreciation. He started walking toward her, and relief fil ed her chest. She could real y use a friend right now.

She continued watching him, suddenly aware that his eyes and smile didn't seem fixed on her. Sure enough, he didn't stop at her table. Kylie counted to ten and tried to wipe the pain from her eyes before she turned to see where he'd gone. Peeking over her shoulder, she spied Derek cozying up with Mandy, his shoulder ful y against hers. Swinging back around, Kylie stared at her eggs and her emotions felt just as scrambled. She liked him, she didn't like him. What the hel was wrong with her?

Trying to decide whether attempting to eat was a mistake, Kylie heard Del a's I'm-pissed voice. Kylie looked up expecting to find Del a and Miranda going at it, but she was wrong. Del a had her nose in the face of another vampire chick. Then the girl pointed a finger in Del a's face and said something in a low voice that Kylie couldn't hear.

Kylie's first instinct was to march over there just in case Del a needed reinforcements. Del a had stood up for her against the she-wolf, but before Kylie got to her feet, Del a took off.

After managing to down at least a half piece of toast, Kylie went out front to find Del a. No Del a. Instead, some of the other campers were drawing names. She was so not in the mood to chat with someone for an hour, but neither was she in the mood to go back to the cabin where Soldier Dude might appear. Deep down, she sensed that her talking to him yesterday had somehow made him more determined than ever to make contact with her.

She spotted Miranda standing by herself and walked over, hoping she might have gotten over her anger. Unfortunately, Miranda cut her a cold look. Not giving up, Kylie leaned in and asked, "What was the problem between Del a and the other vampire?"

Miranda shrugged. "Don't know, she wouldn't tel me. It appears that when she's mad at you, she's also mad at me." Miranda's name echoed from the front and she took off without another word.

Kylie was watching Miranda walk away when she felt someone step beside her.

"You ready?" The deep male voice made her stomach drop.

Kylie glanced up into Lucas's blue eyes. "Ready for what?"

"I got your name." He held up a piece of paper.

And I got a headache. Or PMS. Or bad cramps. Just been diagnosed with the flu. She had to come up with something to get out of this. But with his blue eyes focused on her, the words didn't come out. She looked around the crowd to see if the she-wolf was sizing Kylie up for a casket. Fredericka wasn't around.

"I know a place we can go," he said. His hand came around her back to nudge her along.

She took a step, trying to get the words I can't to slip out, but they wouldn't come. And just like that she knew why. She wanted to know if he remembered her. Why it mattered, she didn't know. But it did.

"You seemed interested in the dinosaur tracks." He met her gaze. "I know where there are some more. Why don't we go see them?" He guided her down the path that led toward the cabins, and she fol owed.

It wasn't until he turned to go down one of the wood trails that Kylie sensed something was different. Then she knew what the difference was. She wasn't afraid of him. When had she stopped being afraid of Lucas Parker? Maybe she was just getting immune to fearing supernaturals as a whole.

Questioning the logic behind her lack of fear, she recal ed what she knew about him. He'd been raised by rogues. He'd kil ed her cat. Was it real y smart of her to trust him?

She searched her instincts for anything resembling fear, and nope, it wasn't there. What she did find was the memory of how tenderly he'd helped his grandmother into the dining hal . And then Kylie remembered how he'd protected her from the neighborhood bul ies.

"You do know that if your girlfriend sees us together she's going to be pissed, right?"