Altair
The bed was colder without Leo in it, but even after he left, it smelled like him. I could stretch out my hand and spread my fingers and remember how he’d let me press his broad palms flat to the sheets.
He had let me do precisely as I liked with him. He hadn’t pressed, hadn’t demanded.
He’d struggled to stay quiet, but honestly? That was sweet.
He’d wanted me even though it was a horrible idea and would test the patience of everyone who loved him.
More the fool was I, that I wanted him again.
Heavens, I’d settle for having him there beside me. Stretching out next to him was the closest thing I could remember to basking in the sun.
But that was a dangerous impulse, and I could spend the day without him. It wouldn’t hurt either one of us, no matter how I liked having him close.
Maybe he’d bring Henry the flowers and I could ask him this evening if they’d helped. We could go pick more.
I could . . . I could do something that’d make this simpler for us.
I hadn’t interacted with the rest of the pack yet, and that seemed like a step too far. I needed to win over the rest of Leo’s family first, and the biggest hurdle there was Viktor.
Yes, Aleks’s mate didn’t seem thrilled to have a vampire around either, but he hadn’t been outright rude, just not present, and there was every chance I was reading too much into that. Viktor? There was no mistaking how he felt about me.
If I could win him over, everyone else would be easier. They might even see him thaw and assume that there was a genuine reason for it.
The sounds of hammers and building carried on outside. Presumably, that was where Leo had disappeared to, though I worried about him doing heavy labor after blood loss. Maybe werewolves were fine and healed so quickly that it didn’t matter that I drank from him. I hoped so.
That’d certainly simplify things. I liked the way he tasted, warm and sweet, bursting across my tongue like a fresh orange. I liked the way he shivered, how he flushed before I bit him. He liked it, and it made me feel less . . . barren.
But I didn’t want to press for too much, take more than what I needed to survive, and I’d survived a very long time on little. This would work for a time at least, and if it got to be too much for him I’d—whatever he wanted. I would do whatever he wanted.
I’d eat rats for the rest of my life if Leo kept smiling at me the way he did.
With a sigh, I stretched out beneath the golden blanket on his bed, sticking my toes through the stitches and wiggling them.
So the problem before me was winning Viktor over, and I didn’t think there was anything I could say that would convince him I wasn’t a threat to his family. But perhaps we could be on the same side.
I—I ought to tell Leo, or tell someone, that the witches weren’t the only problem I brought down upon them. Of course, if I told Viktor about Ivan, in all likelihood, he’d throw me out of pack territory that very night.
But if I could explain it right, if I could convince him that it didn’t matter whether or not I was with their pack—Ivan’s wrath could fall on them either way—maybe we would be on the same team.
Clearly, he wanted to protect his pack and his family, and I could respect that. Perhaps I could help him.
I didn’t want Ivan anywhere near Leo either.
Or Evie.
She showed up in the afternoon, after Katya had explained to me how to use their shower—an ingenious design that put the water tank on the roof, and while it wasn’t exactly hot, my other option was waiting until nightfall so I didn’t soak myself in a giant ball of fire bathing in the tub outside.
I’d gotten dressed and was watching Katya crochet while she told me pack gossip about people I’d never met like I was part of the community already. Considering how she’d closed the windows well before I’d even come downstairs, she seemed willing to make me a part of it.
We were talking when Evie bounded into the house without stopping to knock. Her arms were full of books, and she beamed at us both before her gaze finally landed on me.
“You said vampires, I brought vampires.” She slammed the stack of books down on the coffee table.
It was taller than my forearm was long, and included titles like The Vampire Diaries, Interview with a Vampire, and Crave.
She pulled one out and dropped it on top of the others. “You’re starting with this.”
I picked it up. It was a well-worn paperback with a dark, glossy cover and an apple on the front. “Twilight? It’s your favorite?”
Evie shrugged. “Depends on the day, but the vampires sparkle, and you deserve some of that in your life.”
I grinned at her, pulling the book into my lap. “Duly noted. We start with sparkles.”
She nodded, satisfied, and went to get herself a drink of fresh-brewed iced tea from the kitchen before she dropped into a chair near mine.
“I cannot wait for Cash to start installing the solar panels. We’ll get actual ice.” Evie shook her glass of, well, I supposed it was room-temperature tea before taking a sip.
“And hot water whenever we want it,” Katya sighed.
“And a proper oven. We’ll, like, be able to have birthday parties and stuff.”
Katya’s lips pursed. “We can have them now.”
But they hadn’t, because their alpha before Aleks hadn’t been interested in seeing his people happy. That was hard to imagine, knowing them now.
Rather than draw attention to it, I turned to Evie. “What kind of cake would you want for your birthday?”
She flashed me a wicked smile. “I don’t know. Now that you’re here, maybe red velvet. All creepy and crimson.”
“Black Forest gateau,” Katya said wistfully.
Evie tilted her head. “Can you have cake, Altair?”
“I could probably have a taste? If I’m .
. . when I’m drinking blood, everything in me works better.
When I dry up, it all goes stiff and useless.
I won’t die, but if I were starving, human food wouldn’t help and actually makes it worse.
Now that I’m—” I swallowed, avoiding looking at Katya even when I felt her eyes on me.
“I’d be willing to try. I doubt it’d do me any harm while everything’s working as it should. ”
“Cool! Then I definitely want red velvet cake.”
“With cream cheese icing?” Katya asked.
“Yup!”
After that, their conversation turned to one of the books that Katya had read some time ago. She seemed amused that Evie had read it as well, and asked me if it’d be all right for her to borrow it while I was working my way through the Twilight series, which was apparently four books long.
Conversation flowed around for hours, and for long stretches, I just sat there quietly, watching the two of them toss ideas back and forth. Strangely, I never felt left out.
When Katya got up to finish making dinner, and the sun was going down, I asked Evie, “Would you mind going with me to find Viktor?”
The comfort of the day had settled it. We needed to make peace—or perhaps he didn’t, but I wanted to. I could only hope that being forthright about Ivan and what was coming would convince him that I meant no harm. Perhaps he would value honesty and the chance to prepare, my willingness to help.
I couldn’t fight Ivan, couldn’t even hurt him, but I knew as much about him as anyone could, at least at the time I’d escaped.
Evie smirked. “Don’t want to face him alone?”
I snorted. “Don’t want to find him alone. I have no doubt you could pinpoint him in a second, and on my own I’d be wandering around the territory for ages, putting everyone on edge.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to make up excuses, Altair. I’ll protect you from the big bad wolf.”
I laughed. I had no doubt she meant it, but Leo was already stuck between his twin and me. I wasn’t throwing a young girl into the mix too.
“I appreciate it,” I said nonetheless.
“Be back soon!” Evie promised Katya as she skipped toward the porch. “Should I bring Uncle Henry over for dinner?”
Katya smiled, her head bobbing. “Please. We’d love to have him.”
I trailed after Evie, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I thought it was just because of having to face Viktor and didn’t realize anything was wrong until an ozone scent zapped through the air.
My foot hit the ground beneath Katya’s porch, then it went straight through it. My panic had the dirt rolling back from my foot and I tumbled, one leg encased in the ground and the other half buried.
It worked out though, as a spell flew over my head and erupted in a spray of sparks against the wall of Katya’s home.
I cursed, shrinking, and Evie yelped.
Next thing I knew, she was a small gray wolf, spritely and snarling, and she sent up a howl that had every wolf in the area scrambling.
There were witches in the square.
And me? I’d become one with the damned dirt.
Again.