Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
I drove home in a daze, ignoring the fact that I looked like I’d been lost in the woods for a month.
My curly hair stood out from my head in a snarl of wild tangles and my eyes were wide and freaked out.
Dirt streaked my face in several places, and my body was covered in a variety of rapidly healing small scratches.
Witches had done this to Beckett and now to Silas.
The big question was, why wasn’t I infected?
Or was I and maybe I’d overcome whatever this was?
The only thing I’d been feeling was the aftereffects of mixing blood with Alric and Silas.
In fact, right now I felt surprisingly good—despite the fur aftertaste.
I guess a hearty meal, despite what I ate, and sleeping inside the cocoon of a man’s strong arms could go a long way to curing what ailed me.
But I still had lots of questions. Like what was so special about the mixture of our mixed blood to turn me into whatever I was turning into?
And why had Alric lied to me?
I called Edmund. He answered on the first ring.
“Thank goodness you’re alright. We’re scheduled to get new Wi-Fi in a few days.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your priorities are always in order, Edmund.”
He huffed. “Better Wi-Fi means I’m able to assist you when you do such things as, oh, I don’t know, shifting in the middle of the highway.”
“Drama queen,” I grumbled. “Silas helped me through the shift.” I think. I couldn’t remember much other than how delicious the rabbits were. Even as I had the thought, my stomach roiled.
“Did he now?” Edmund’s tone was suggestive.
“Shut up before I decide to live like a pioneer woman and shut off the electricity. My bill has been awfully high lately.”
“Devil woman.” A put-upon sigh. “Fine. Tell me all about it when you arrive home. Try not to shift during the drive.”
I disconnected and whipped my car into the drive-through of the local pancake house. I felt like I could eat three dozen of everything.
Once the bounty was secured, I hauled ass home, praying nothing else would happen before I arrived.
Edmund greeted me as soon as I walked in, peppering me with a dozen questions. I held up a finger and pointed at my pancakes.
“Breakfast first. Questions later.”
And then I proceeded to eat half a dozen pancakes and a quarter pound of bacon.
“Dear god, woman. Do you have a tapeworm?”
“Witches don’t get worms.” I grimaced. “Though I’m not completely a witch anymore, I guess.”
“True. You are something entirely unseen before,” he mused.
“Ugh. No. Let’s take a beat and put a pin in that one. Once I clean up, I’m calling the Prime. He and I have a lot to talk about.”
After one glorious hot shower and an entire half-hour spent detangling the bird’s nest masquerading as my hair, I flipped through my closet, gaping at all the brands I’d never heard of.
There was silk, cashmere, Merino wool, and buttery soft cotton tops, flowy pants, and stretchy blue jeans hanging in color order.
There was a large basket of folded underthings—bras and underwear, silk and cotton camisoles, and lounge clothing. I dug out some underthings, a pair of soft pants, and a tank top, and added the cardigan Alric had given me earlier.
After gelling and running my curls through a diffuser session, I applied mascara, blush, and lip gloss, and studied myself in the mirror with a critical eye.
Every scratch had already healed, leaving my skin smooth and unblemished. I blinked and leaned closer to the mirror. And at least a shade paler than normal.
I touched my cheek. “What the hell?”
My eyes were brighter as well, my lips flushed and pink. My cheeks were high with color.
I stared at myself for a long moment and realized I had never looked healthier.
A laugh bubbled from my lips. My life might be in shambles, but I looked gorgeous, like I’d gone to one of those fancy health spas where they plied you with fresh-pressed juice and positive affirmations.
I guess I could look at the bright side, at least for a little while.
Shaking my head, I ran my fingers through my curls a final time and went back into the bedroom, hoping against all hope I had an extra pair of shoes somewhere.
I went back into the closet and poked around, relieved to see another laundry basket.
All I wanted was a pair of slippers, but Vesper had included everything: slippers, flats, sneakers, a pair of nude heels, wedges, and the supplest leather boots my fingers had ever had the privilege to touch.
I’d never be able to afford all of this stuff.
Part of me, the independent, “hear me roar” part, wanted to load all this stuff up in the car and drop it on the Prime’s doorstop, but the other part, the secret girly girl who lived inside me, wanted to bask in the loveliness of all these wonderful things.
I settled for pulling out the slippers and putting them on, frowning when they were a perfect fit.
The Prime really had thought of everything.
Speaking of the Prime, I could no longer put off the call I needed to make. I dug his card out of my purse, thoughtfully gathered up by one of Silas’s shifters, and punched in his number.
“Alex.” Alric’s smooth voice came over the line.
I blinked in surprise. I’d been fully expecting the number to go to a receptionist or something. “Err. Alric. I’m surprised you answered.”
“This is my phone,” he said with amusement. “Is there something wrong? Are the clothes not to your liking?”
Annoyance filled me. “You know damn well the clothes are to my liking.”
His self-satisfied chuckle rolled over my skin.
“But that isn’t why I’m calling.”
“Oh?” His voice had sharpened with interest. “Color me curious then.”
“Can you come by the house?”
A beat of silence. “Alex, are you asking me on a date?”
“No, you ass. I want to talk to you. In person. Can you come or not?”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Have you eaten?”
Like a tiger that stumbled on a herd of wildebeest, I wanted to say. “I have,” I said instead, just as my stomach growled loudly enough to be heard over the line.
Alric let out a soft laugh. “I’ll bring breakfast.” He disconnected.
I exhaled and wondered if I knew what I was doing. Having the conversation over the phone might be the wiser decision, but I wanted to see his face when I confronted him.
He’d lied to me, and not only that, he’d tried to get me to endanger myself by luring an unwell vampire out of hiding. The Prime was a grade-A asshole, but I couldn’t fault him for wanting to save his people. Even if it made me want to punch him right in his gorgeous face.
I walked out of the bedroom, making a mental note to see what kind of temporary furniture I could find while I figured out a way to purchase the things I needed without Alric’s interference.
But for now, I could let the jerk buy me breakfast.
True to his word, Alric showed up twenty minutes later holding two large bags.
Dammit. He knew what happened to me last night. Otherwise, why would he have shown up with so much food? How was he getting so much intel on me?
Even with fast-food bags in hand, Alric was a sight to behold. He prowled toward me, his stride full of grace and purpose. He was dressed more casually than I’d ever seen, wearing dark wash jeans and a burgundy long-sleeved T-shirt that brought out the emerald green in his eyes.
I watched him approach, wondering what was in the bags even as I wanted to punch him in the kidney. “Wow. Did you skip dinner or something?”
Alric’s lips twitched. “I thought you might be hungry after last night’s adventures.”
I clenched my jaw. There was no use denying it. He walked into my house and went straight to the kitchen to start unpacking food. My traitorous stomach growled again.
“I wasn’t sure if you liked blueberry or cherry, so I brought both.” He opened one of the paper containers to show me the most enormous blueberry roll I’d ever seen.
“Erm. Blueberry.” I was a lot of things, but I was not a woman who’d turn my nose up at perfectly delicious food, no matter who’d brought it.
Alric grunted. “Thought that might be the case. I’ll take the cherry.”
The other containers were full of biscuits, bacon, sausage, and fluffy French toast.
“You must have spent a fortune on this.”
“Shifters and vampires have huge appetites. Our grocery bills tend to be exorbitant.”
“Witches eat like humans,” I said primly, disproving the point by reaching for the bacon and French toast and piling it on my plate like I’d been lost in the mountains for six months.
One of his eyebrows lifted. “Sure,” he said lightly as he fished through the drawers for silverware.
I pointed to the right one. Alric set a fork and a knife down for me and took a spoon out for the large container of extra icing he’d purchased for the rolls.
“Where is this from?” I said through a mouthful of food.
“A place called The Wooden Spoon. Doesn’t look like much on the outside, but the food reminds me of better days.”
I stopped chewing and studied him. “Your mom used to make cherry rolls?”
“Admirable attempt at prying, but no. My mother wasn’t much of a cook.
My grandmother, however, could make anything she set her mind to.
She made the best cornbread. It had the perfect touch of sweetness and was so moist it melted in your mouth.
” His eyes took on a faraway look, a tinge of sadness in the emerald depths.
Sometimes, Alric made it difficult to keep disliking him. “Is your grandmother still with you?”
His expression flickered. “No. I lost her long ago. There have always been strict rules concerning the making of our kind.”
Our eyes met. I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was. I’d already shown I could shift. He wondered what else I might be able to do, what gifts he might have given me.
“I’m not a vampire,” I said lightly.
He smirked. “Just like you are not a shifter?”
I pushed my blueberry roll away. “Obviously, you know what happened to me last night. We don’t have to tiptoe around me going furry.”