Chapter 48
Laurie
I already knew River herself was odd, and I already knew her friends were… interesting, but watching them all interact outside of an official coven meeting, I wondered if River was aware of just how loopy they all seemed when they were crammed into one room together.
Maxine was prattling away at an unprecedented volume, tossing curls over her shoulder and rolling her eyes the moment Hunter dared to speak over her.
Hunter was poking at Maxine whenever she dared roll her eyes, and Dylan and Amara were having a rather heated conversation in what I assumed was sign language because their hands were flying around wildly enough to knock the milk carton off the kitchen counter.
Jordan was chattering in River’s ear, oblivious to the poor woman’s heavy-lidded eyes and significant lack of sleep, and Sky was overly aware of her plight and doing her best to catch Jordan’s attention.
I met River’s gaze across the kitchen island, and she offered a sheepish smile and a mouthed apology for the sudden ambush.
She wasn’t the only nutcase on the team, that much was certain.
I had been peacefully enjoying my cereal in the kitchen when they had all shown up, and now the space was overcrowded and I found myself surrounded by a circle of bickering—very pretty, I’ll admit—vampires.
And two humans, though Addison and Leah, holed up in the corner and muttering something about sharing biology notes, came across just as insane as the rest of them.
“All I’m asking for,” Maxine lamented, curling her lip when Hunter scoffed, “is a little warning next time. Leah and I had a pretty extensive shopping spree scheduled for today and now those plans are ruined—all because Dylan just had to call me at the crack of dawn and demand I get my ass ready for a recon mission ‘immediately.’”
She mimicked Dyaln’s deadpan expression and bland way of speech, and Dylan’s face cracked into a scowl. “Forgive me, Maxine, it’s only the fate of the coven at stake, along with every human being in the city. But you’re right, shopping and shoes obviously come first.”
Leah nudged Addison with her elbow. “Between you and me, I’m not too bent out of shape about skipping the shopping spree.”
Maxine snapped her head toward her, pure betrayal on her pretty face. “How can you possibly say that, Leah?! We were going to get matching slippers—” which prompted Hunter’s eyes to start rolling again.
Maxine must have been psychic because she sensed the snark immediately and whipped her head around to holler in her ear, “Don’t roll your eyes at me, you degenerate!”
When Hunter lifted a middle finger and Maxine looked just about ready to bite the digit clean off, Addison wedged herself between them. “Maybe we should all calm down, hmm?”
“Nah.” Leah folded her arms, ponytail bobbing at the back of her head. “Let them duke it out. Maxine is scrappy, but my money’s on Hunter.” She raised her palms in surrender when Maxine rounded on her with a dramatic pout.
It went on like that for a while.
They all spoke over each other and each new voice had something even more outlandish to say; my head bounced back and forth between them so fast I got whiplash trying to keep up.
I was the only one still sitting, shoveling cereal into my mouth with my eyebrows rising occasionally like I was watching reality TV.
The volume finally peaked when Maxine accused Hunter of breathing too loudly. I was halfway to shoving my spoon up my own nose to end the madness when River slapped the counter with a clang that shut everyone up mid-sentence.
“Enough!” she barked, voice echoing off the tiles. “Next person who deviates from the topic at hand gets punted into the koi pond. Maxine, I’m looking at you.”
Maxine’s mouth opened, but she must have read River’s expression, because it snapped shut again in no time at all.
Jordan lifted a perfectly manicured brow. “Thank you, River. Now, about the recon mission—we have three new addresses. We need the team sorted now if we’re going to—”
“Yeah, whatever.” River swiped a hand across the island table and pointed the spoon she grabbed at her leader.
“I’m in. Dylan, Amara, and I will take one location.
Sky, Maxine and Hunter can handle the second one.
You’ll have to call Ethan to help you out with the last one, and Leah and Addison can play getaway drivers.
” The spoon clattered in the sink where she tossed it.
“Now, you can all kindly fuck off. You’re disrupting Laurie’s breakfast.”
Every immortal head swung my way, along with the two additional humans.
I froze mid-chew, milk dribbling from the corner of my mouth. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with all those eyes on me, but I managed an awkward little wave. A moment of prolonged silence followed as everyone registered the silent guest star.
Then the Leyore circus shuffled for the door with mumbled apologies.
Dylan flickered invisible just to shoulder-bump Amara, who responded with a flash of fangs, a loud curse, and rapid-fire sign language I definitely wasn’t skilled enough to decipher.
Addison and Leah exchanged sympathetic grimaces with me on their way out.
Jordan paused in the doorway, coat swishing around her ankles. “Remember, we’re doing recon only. Don’t engage in any sort of confrontation if you can help it.”
“Got it,” River gritted out, already herding her out. When the last of them were gone, she returned to my side. “Sorry about that. Hazard of dating a vampire with eight codependent colleagues and counting.”
“At the very least, it wasn’t dull,” I deadpanned, lifting the drippy spoon to my lips. Then the first bit of her apology caught up to me and milk promptly rushed up my nose when I spluttered. “Wait—are we dating?”
Rather than answer the rather pressing question, River leaned down to brush a choppy strand of hair from my forehead and pressed a warm palm to my cheek.
The touch buzzed all the way to my toes.
“I’ve got to run out for a bit. Jordan wants us investigating a few more facilities. Will you be okay here?”
“Yeah, I know. I was present for the fucking conversation, but—River, wait—” I caught her arm when she stepped away, panic rising in my high-pitched squeak. “Are we dating?!”
River paused and looked down at me, a faint smile fluttering on her lips. “I don’t know…” She tilted her head. “Do you want to be?”
I swallowed the lingering cereal. I should have been arguing about going with her on this recon mission.
I should have been worrying over every minute detail of the group’s hairbrained plan to investigate the new facilities undetected.
Instead, I found myself pinned under her gaze, wondering how the fuck I was supposed to navigate this unchartered territory.
Were we dating? Did I want that? What would that even look like?
And what does it matter, when you might not be around for much longer?
The thought slithered through my head and left a thread of doubt in its wake. “I don’t…” I stumbled over my words, unable to think around the voice in my head that whispered: too dangerous. Not worth the risk. Don’t ruin what little you have—and don’t deserve.
I swallowed again. “I don’t know.”
“Well.” River’s smile wavered, but she fixed it in an instant.
It still didn’t reach her eyes. “You’ll have plenty of time to think about it today.
I’ll probably be home late.” She bent down and kissed my forehead, quick and gentle, and then she was off, heading for the door and the mission I should have been a part of.
“There are guards patrolling outside, but keep the door locked just in case—and call me if anything feels off.”
I set my spoon down with a loud clack. “River, wait. I—”
But she was already gone, disappearing from the doorway before I could blink. I heard the front door slam and the house sighed and filled with silence. I sat in the kitchen, staring down at the cereal bowl, and let the quiet settle over me.
I was in two minds about pretty much everything.
A part of me was still determined to keep River at arm's length, but the rest of me was very aware that I’d failed miserably on that front, considering I’d already graduated to sleeping in her bed.
Even so, slapping a label on whatever our relationship was felt daunting, and I would rather reside in this weird limbo we’d built for ourselves than cross any more lines than I already had.
Then there was the matter of the mission—the path had grown so muddy since River had gotten herself entrenched in my life and now I wasn’t even sure what my plan was anymore.
A part of me wanted to follow her out and help her with this new recon mission, but the fatigue that followed all my memory extractions as of late had me staying put. I’d be useless out there and I knew it.
Then there was the matter of the memories themselves.
I could no longer deny that whatever she was doing in my head was working.
Even while I sat there stewing in indecision, there was a distinct lightness in my chest that hadn’t been there before, the same weightlessness that had been sneaking up ever since River started plucking shards from my mind.
I hadn’t noticed how much of my day had been built around bracing for pain until the pain had been dulled.
But there was still the matter of Dandelion.
My hands balled into fists and I slumped forward over the cereal bowl, closing my eyes to the crisis unfolding inside my head.
With my eyes scrunched shut, I could see her.
She appeared clear as day in the forefront of my mind—Her infant grin.
That final, awful stillness—and the pain that followed stabbed right through me.
So sharp I had to press a hand to my heart, had to check if I was indeed bleeding.