Crave (Harlequin Teen)

through direct contact with the ground was the only thing that had saved him a few days ago after too long a kiss with me and a fight with Dylan Williams. Otherwise he might have died that night.
    He frowned but nodded, letting me up but holding on to my hand. His unusual need to touch me constantly over the past few hours made me wonder. Did he somehow know what the council had made me promise to do? Or had the council’s test simply left him on edge and worried about me?
    I moved to the nearby leather chair and dialed my home phone number one-handed.
    The phone rang four times, then the answering machine clicked on. I glanced at my watch. It was 10:00 a.m. on a Sunday. Nanna, who my mother and I lived with, should be home and getting ready for church. Why wasn’t she answering?
    I tried again, thinking maybe she was in her room getting dressed. Again, I got the answering machine. This time I left a message.
    Weird. Unease crept in as I called my mother’s cell phone next. She was probably still on her latest sales trip.
    Mom answered on the first ring, startling me. Unlike Nanna, Mom seldom had a signal while she was delivering emergency safety products and chemicals to forestry clients out in the fields and woods.
    “Hey, Mom. Just wanted to let you know I’m okay and—”
    “Savannah! Oh, thank God. I, we, your grandma…” Mom sounded hysterical. “I was at a convention. I’m on my way home now. But I’m still hours away from Jacksonville and—”
    My hands convulsed around both the phone and Tristan’s hand involuntarily. “Mom? What’s the matter? Slow down.”
    Tristan rolled up to his feet and moved to sit in the chair beside me, his thick eyebrows drawn together. He was a beautiful distraction I had to look away from, even as the strength of his hand kept me grounded.
    “Sav, they took your nanna! They called me, and—”
    “Whoa, what? Who took her?” Cold fear ran through my veins, along with disbelief.
    “The Clann. They called me, asking about that Coleman boy as if I would know where he is. For some reason, they think you two are involved or something. I tried to tell them that was a mistake, that you’d never break the rules like that. But they didn’t believe me.”
    I cringed and tried to tug my hand from Tristan’s, but he simply encased my hand between both of his. The heat from his hands made me realize how cold I was becoming. A symptom of the vampire side within me kicking in. Not good.
    “But they insisted he was with you,” Mom continued. “I told them he couldn’t be, that you were on a trip with your father, and they went crazy. They said they have your nanna, and they won’t release her until we bring the Coleman boy back. I tried calling her, but she’s not answering. They couldn’t really have kidnapped her, could they?”
    Holy crap. “Mom, hang on and let me talk to Dad.”
    Dad must have been listening in the front cabin, because he immediately joined us and took the phone. While Mom told him what was going on, I stared at Tristan and tried to absorb my mother’s words.
    “The Clann…they’ve kidnapped my grandmother,” I told him, still in disbelief.
    “They wouldn’t do that,” Tristan insisted, his full lips pressing themselves into thin lines. “There’s been some mistake.”
    I told him word for word what my mother had said. When I finished, he sat back in his chair, his normally tan face turning pale.
    “I’ll fix this. Give me a phone and I’ll call my parents,” Tristan promised me.
    “Joan, we are half an hour from landing now. I will handle this and call you back when I have news.” Dad ended the call then handed the phone to Tristan, his face as stoic as ever.
    Tristan tried his father’s cell phone first, then his mother’s and even his sister Emily’s. But no one answered. Frowning, he tried a few other Clann descendants’ home and cell phones. No one was answering.
    “I don’t understand. Wouldn’t they be waiting for your call?” I said.
    “Yes. Unless…” Tristan looked away for a moment, then his gaze snapped back to mine, his jaw clenching. “Unless they’re already meeting at the Circle and using power. It could block all incoming radio and cell-phone signals, if they’ve raised enough power together.”
    “Why would they raise a lot of power together?” I asked, not sure I really wanted to hear the answer.
    Tristan stared at me, obviously unwilling to hurt me.
    I couldn’t look at him anymore, my