Chapter 7 - Dani
The first thing she felt was the bite.
A dull, steady ache where his teeth had broken her skin, a warm pulse. For a second, Dani lay perfectly still on the narrow bed, peering up at the unfamiliar ceiling and listening to the compound wake up around her, footsteps in the hall, a distant door slamming, low voices bleeding through wood.
Then the memory hit.
Snow. Stone. Candlelight. Arthur’s hand on her shoulder. His mouth at her throat. The bond slamming into place.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Brilliant. Great. Fantastic.
The room they’d given her in the compound was clean and bare, with pale wood, heavy blankets, a small wardrobe, and a narrow dresser.
Nothing of hers. The air still held the faint scent of whoever had slept here before, a young Nordan male, under the overlay of her own magic, acrid and unsettled after last night.
She didn’t have the best memories of the Nordan Compound at the best of times; it was a place for the pack to train, to celebrate, to restock for a mission, to crash overnight if needed. She’d never really been pack.
She groped for her phone on the bedside table. No new messages from Salem. Nothing from Lavinia.
Nothing from Arthur.
A small, humiliating flicker of hurt slipped in before she stamped on it. What had she expected? A text? Morning, mate, sorry about the sudden claiming, hope you slept well?
She snorted and shoved the covers back.
The floor was cold under her feet. She padded into the little bathroom and avoided the mirror until the last second. When she finally looked up, a stranger stared back.
Same green eyes. Same riot of red curls, currently dragged into a knot that had lost the fight sometime in the night. But there, on the right side of her neck…
The mark.
A crescent of bruised flesh above her collarbone, already fading at the edges. His teeth. His claim.
Heat flared under her skin. She didn’t look too hard at what kind.
She pulled on jeans and a thick sweater, shoved her feet into boots, and crossed the hall to the next door.
She knocked softly. “Auri? You awake?”
A muffled yawn, the shuffle of blankets. Then the door cracked open, and one blue eye peered out.
“Hi,” Aurelia rasped.
Dani’s chest loosened. “Hey, bug,” she said, brushing a curl off her daughter’s forehead. Aurelia’s hair was a wild halo, her band T-shirt half twisted. “How’re you feeling?”
Aurelia shrugged. “Weird.” Her gaze flicked to Dani’s neck and away again. “Does it…hurt?”
“A bit.” Dani tried for light. “Like a really dramatic mosquito bite.”
Aurelia huffed, then bit her lip. “I heard some wolves talking. They said you’re Luna now.”
Dani’s stomach dipped. “Did they?”
“Does that mean I’m…” Aurelia squinted, clearly searching for the right word. “Something?”
“You,” Dani said firmly, “are my daughter. That’s all you need to worry about.”
Aurelia considered, then nodded. “Okay. Um…are we staying here all day?”
There it was. The shadow behind her eyes. Fear is trying to curl in on itself.
Dani leaned against the doorframe. “We don’t have to. We can go into town. You didn’t get to see much yesterday.”
Aurelia brightened. “Really?”
“Really. Let me talk to whoever’s guarding the door, then we’ll find food. Maybe pancakes.”
“Yes,” Aurelia said immediately. “Definitely pancakes!”
***
After her daughter was done getting dressed, and she had hidden her neck with a massive scarf, Dani led them out through the compound, hunched around her daughter as they hurried through corridors, not sparing a single glance for the curious eyes on them as they went.
At the compound gate, two guards stood on either side, breath fogging in the cold. One watched her approach, his gaze snagging on the bite at her neck.
“Going somewhere, witch?” he asked. Not unfriendly. Dani suspected he had a healthy enough fear of Arthur not to be overtly cruel.
Still. She was her own woman. She deserved her own respect. Lifting her chin, she gestured to the gate. “My daughter hasn’t seen the town yet. We’re going for a walk.”
His gaze flicked to Aurelia. Something softened. “You’ll have an escort,” he said.
Of course.
Dani swallowed the retort on her tongue. “Fine.”
A few minutes later, they were out on the road with a Nordan wolf trailing them at a comfortable distance, hands shoved in his coat pockets. To any human, he’d look like another local out for fresh air.
The road curved along the hillside, revealing the town below, wooden houses, snow-capped roofs, a scattering of shops around a busy square. The ocean lay beyond, a strip of dark steel, the mountains rising jagged behind them.
Aurelia’s breath fogged in front of her as she craned her neck. “It’s bigger than Salem.”
“Less witchy,” Dani said. “More…wilderness.”
“But they have mountains,” Aurelia said decisively. “That makes up for it.”
Dani smiled despite herself.
They passed Thistlehouse a few streets later.
Edith stood on the porch, wrapped in a shawl, arguing with Penelope.
Edith waved when she saw them, her face warm.
Penelope’s eyes flicked to the Nordan escort, her mouth tightening.
Dani gave them both a brief nod and kept walking.
She would catch up with her sisters later.
“Where are we going?” Aurelia asked.
“Bookstore,” Dani said. “Layla’s.”
Aurelia perked. “The Vol…Volik Luna? From yesterday?”
“Volkhov,” Dani said with a chuckle. “They’re the other pack that lives here. And yes, Layla is their Luna. She owns a bookshop.”
They turned down a narrow side street. Hawthorne Books sat halfway along it, tucked between a café and a shop selling hiking gear.
A hand-painted sign swung gently over the door.
The window was crowded with paperbacks, second-hand hardcovers, a chalkboard promising coffee and Aurora Peak survival tips.
The bell chimed overhead as they walked in. Warmth washed over them, along with the soft, familiar smell of paper and coffee. Shelves climbed the walls. A few humans browsed near the front, bundled up in thick jackets, noses red from the cold.
Behind the counter, Layla looked up.
Her whole face lit up. “Dani,” she said, already moving around the counter. “I was hoping you’d come in today.”
It hit Dani how little genuine welcome she’d had since arriving. Her throat went tight.
“Morning,” she managed.
Layla’s gaze landed on Aurelia and softened even more. “And Aurelia! How was your first night in Skymist?”
Aurelia shuffled closer to Dani with a shy smile. “It was alright, thank you.”
“I’m glad,” Layla said, her hand drifting to the pregnant swell of her stomach. “And are you out exploring today?”
Aurelia nodded, eyes flitting from shelf to shelf.
“Kids’ corner’s back there,” Layla said with a chuckle, nodding toward a nook with beanbags and low shelves. “Dragons, robots, witchy kids who definitely never get into trouble…”
Aurelia shot Dani a look. At Dani’s nod, she vanished toward the nook like a small, determined missile.
Layla flipped the sign to ‘Back in 5,’ and the lock clicked softly.
One of the human customers drifted to the till, paid, and left.
The other lingered over the maps until Layla murmured something about needing to rest a bit before reopening, patting her baby bump for effect.
He took the hint and headed out with a cheerful wave.
The bell chimed once more. The shop fell quiet.
“Come on,” Layla said. “Let’s go somewhere a bit more comfortable.”
***
The back room was warm and cramped in a comforting way.
One wall was all shelves and boxes of unshelved books.
A battered desk sat under the small window, papers stacked in untidy piles.
A sagging sofa and mismatched armchair faced a stone fireplace, cold and empty for now, a basket of logs waiting beside it.
Power hummed soft and steady at the edges of Dani’s senses, wards woven into the doorframe, the window, even the old rug. Layla’s handiwork. Subtle, solid.
Layla lowered herself carefully into the armchair with a huff, hands braced on her belly. “Sit,” she said. “If I stand much longer, Dominic will appear out of thin air to carry me home.”
Dani sank onto the sofa, unwinding her scarf and letting it pool in her lap. Aurelia tucked herself at the end with her dragon book, clearly listening even as she pretended to read.
Layla studied Dani for a moment, all the Luna brightness gentled down to something quieter.
“How are you?” she asked.
Dani stared at her hands. The mark on her neck throbbed faintly, in time with something that wasn’t quite her heart. “I don’t know.”
Layla nodded, like that was the expected answer. “Fair.”
“The Nordan Compound was…much as I remember it. I haven’t seen Arthur. Lavinia hasn’t summoned me for a lecture. So that’s…something.”
Layla’s gaze flicked briefly to the bite on Dani’s neck.
As far as Dani knew, the Volkhov didn’t claim with a bite.
She didn’t know whether she felt envious or oddly defiant about the clear mark.
At least she had something physical to rage at.
At least she’d been able to sink her teeth into Arthur’s neck in return.
The memory of his skin beneath her lips made her cheeks flush, and she pushed the memory away.
“They don’t always know what to do with themselves after a mating,” Layla said, “especially when their mates are…an unusual choice.”
“I noticed,” Dani said.
Layla huffed a quiet laugh, then nodded toward the empty fireplace. “Do you mind?”
Dani blinked. “Mind…what?”
“Lighting it,” Layla said. “I could use the heat; this place is always so cold.”
“You want me to light it?” Dani asked slowly. “With…”
She wiggled her fingers.
Layla’s mouth curved. “Lavinia said your affinity leans toward fire. I want to see how it looks. Besides, this room is warded to hell and back. If something goes sideways, I can put it out.”
Aurelia looked up from her book, eyes bright. “You can do it, Mom.”
Dani groaned. “You’re both impossible.”