Leo
Viktor was annoyed, and I could smell it, but I didn’t want to turn toward him, didn’t want to talk to him in that moment, because I was angry with him.
This was something private. Something that should have just been between Altair and me. Love confessions weren’t for public places, damn it all.
Behind me, he sighed impatiently, and I almost turned and snapped at him.
Before I could, though, he spoke, and his tone was as annoyed as I expected, but the words weren’t what I’d been bracing for. “He was wrong.”
I turned and looked over my shoulder, trying to figure out if he was even talking to or about us, but he was still staring directly at Altair, who looked as confused as I felt.
“About emotions,” he clarified, when he realized we were both looking at him with no comprehension. “I don’t . . . He—Ivan might not have any emotions other than anger, but you do.”
That seemed to confuse Altair even more, as he squinted at my brother.
Me? I realized . . . Viktor wasn’t annoyed with Altair anymore. He was annoyed more generally, because in some small way, he was being forced to eat his words. He’d been wrong, and he was admitting it. And who liked doing that?
“Because . . . because I’m afraid of you?” Altair asked, rather sensibly. Who the hell wasn’t afraid of my brother?
Viktor sighed and shook his head. “We can smell them. Emotions. Fear, sure. But that hasn’t been all. You’ve been happy. Sad. Frightened. Overwhelmed. And you . . . ” He made a face and turned away, scowling.
“What my son is very badly trying to say is that at this moment,” Mama interrupted, smiling at both of us, “You smell very much like affection, Altair. Perhaps wolf noses cannot tell the difference between love and other sorts of affection, but we can all smell that you care about Leo. That you worry about him. If you were the unfeeling creature you’re afraid you are, that would not be possible. ”
Altair turned his beautiful red-brown eyes to Mama, drinking her in like water in the desert and biting his lower lip. Hope was written on every line of his face, and he blinked like he might cry in a moment.
“Lapushka,” she whispered, coming over next to us to lay a hand on Altair’s cheek. “What my dear awkward sons are trying to say, in their own way, is welcome to the family.”
Altair sucked in a sharp breath, like the words were a blow, or maybe like they were that water he never thought he would taste again. He breathed sharp and quick, once, twice . . .
Before he could say a word, the sound of an engine filled the air, and suddenly dread was the only emotion settling in my stomach. A bang sounded, the front door hitting the side of the house as Tristan came rushing out—a new wolf, not yet used to his strength.
“He’s coming!” he shouted, his eyes round and filled with terror.
Terror that was mirrored, or really, amplified in Altair’s dear eyes.
Because of course this was when Ivan would show up. Altair had just been given something clearly important to him—the absolute knowledge that he wasn’t the monster Ivan had taught him he was—and back into his life came Ivan, to try to hurt him again.
I could have torn the damned vampire limb from limb in that moment, not only for the horrible things he’d done to Altair and my brother in the past, which had certainly been bad enough, but for this.
This moment that should have been Altair’s, ruined by the arrival of his worst nightmare, a monster he’d spent years running from.
“You need to take Tristan and get into hiding,” Viktor said, all emotion having left his voice, and I turned to deny him, only to realize he wasn’t talking to me.
He was talking to Altair, and his tone and expression were softer than they’d ever been while talking to the man I loved.
“You said he can control you, so we can’t let him know you’re here.
Or at least you can’t be where he can give you orders. Yes?”
Altair froze, his expression saying he wasn’t sure that was possible, but a moment later, he was rushing across the square to take Tristan by the arm and lead him back into the house, speaking lowly about getting the new wolf into the attic to safety.
And then it was just us, waiting to face the monster that lived in the nightmares of the two strongest men I knew.