Chapter 6
Arthur
Buckled in the back seat, he observed his flock while Titan and Beatrix talked about books.
It seemed they were both fans of dystopian science fiction.
Arthur didn’t understand. Biographies were much more interesting.
“I liked the Arc of the Scythe series,” Titan said. “But I think it gave me an ulcer. There was so much tension!”
“I know what you mean,” Beatrix agreed with a chuckle. “I can only handle so much anxiety. That’s why I didn’t even make it through the second book in the Red Rising Trilogy."
“I couldn’t finish the first one,” Titan admitted. “It was all so horrible!”
“Have you read Children of Ruin?” Beatrix asked. “I just started it, and I’m absolutely enthralled by the spiders.”
“I haven’t heard of that book,” Titan said. “Can I borrow it when you're done?”
“Sure,” she agreed.
Arthur loved how happy his flock was. Although they weren’t officially his yet, after the intimacy at Beatrix’s apartment, he was sure it would happen. The only question was how long it would take them to convince Beatrix that she could trust them and the void magic pulling them together.
“We’re here!” Titan announced as he pulled into a small parking lot. He was quick to get out and rush around to open Beatrix’s door for her.
“Aww, thanks,” she said as Arthur hurried out of the vehicle and joined his flock to walk into the bar. They were at the door when Beatrix stopped.
“Are we sure about this?” she asked, staring at the bar’s door. There was a sign declaring the bar closed for a private event.
“The event is the book club,” Titan said, reaching for the door. “We’re invited. I checked with Mikey.”
She grabbed Titan’s arm before he could push the door open.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” She looked at Titan then to me.
“I’m not prepared. What if I say something offensive?
I don’t want to hurt or upset anyone because I’m ignorant.
Let’s go back to my place. We can order food, and you guys can explain everything. ”
Arthur didn’t need a bond to feel her anxiety in every word. Titan pulled his hand away from the door and turned to face her.
“I understand your concern, but you’ll have me and Arthur to guide you,” he said.
There was no second thought, Arthur’s instinct was to do as Beatrix asked. They could take her to a nice dinner and talk for as long as she liked.
Before he could guide her away, the door was pulled open, and Briar stuck her head out. “Hey, Mr. The III! How you doin’?”
His eyes narrowed at the stupid nickname, and he wanted to curse the bright haired hoyden when Tobias appeared next to her and gave Arthur a raised eyebrow while pulling Briar out of the doorway.
“You did it to yourself,” Tobais said.
“I didn’t think she’d go that far,” Arthur grumbled.
That was when Briar noticed Beatrix. She stopped letting Tobias pull her back and gave the other human a big smile.
“Hey, you must be Beatrix! Come in, come in! Book club is waiting for you. It’s a big day. We get another human, and Titan is finally joining us. He’s been promising to attend forever, but there’s always an excuse.”
“Dogs are not an excuse!” Mila, another human, said as she came to stand next to Briar. As Arthur expected, Mila’s vampire, Gio, was quick to step up behind her.
Usually vampires hated having their flock near other vampires, but that had changed with this group. The human and shifters associated with the Lobo Gris pack refused to remain isolated. The vampires in their lives were forced to concede.
Arthur blamed it all on Briar. She was the first one to bring the wolves and vampires together.
“Sorry, Mila, I didn’t mean it like that,” Briar said. “Dogs are awesome, and Titan is wonderful because he rescues dogs. Just like you!”
Mila blushed. “I only rescued one dog. Titan’s rescued thousands!”
“I don’t think it’s been that many,” Titan said. “How is Babette doing?”
Somehow, while Mila and Titan chatted about Mila’s rescued dog, they were all herded into the bar. He was surprised that Beatrix didn’t even notice, she was too busy engaging with Mila and Titan about animal rescue.
Of course his flock would have something fundamentally important to them in common, he just hadn’t expected it to be animal welfare. It seemed he would soon be investing a lot of money in the health and lives of stray dogs and cats.
If it made his human and wolf happy, he couldn’t wait.
Beatrix
Although Beatrix had felt intimidated by the closed bar door, she was relaxed and engaged now that they were inside. She’d be forever grateful to Briar for opening the door, and Mila for drawing her into the conversation.
Briar wandered off, leaving her and Mila and Titan to talk about dogs in peace. The only thing that would’ve been better was if Mila had brought Babette with her. But of course she had a ton of pictures of the little dog on her phone to show Beatrix.
Beatrix was able to match her with all her pictures of shelter dogs on her phone.
Then a small woman was there, pushing Titan aside so she could stand next to Beatrix. “I’m Cora! It’s nice to have another human around!”
“Oh, you’re human?” Mila asked. “I thought you were a new wolf joining Mikey’s pack.”
“Really?” Beatrix asked, looking around. How many of the individuals around her were shifters or vampires? Everyone looked human to her. She focused back on Mila. “Do I look like a wolf?”
“No, you look human,” Mila said with a shrug. “But I’m human so I can’t see auras like vampires can.”
“And we don’t have the sense of smell that the shifters have,” Cora added.
Beatrix looked up at Titan. “What do I smell like?”
“The sweetest dessert I’ve ever had,” he answered without hesitation, then blushed when the other two women giggled.
“So I smell edible?” she teased.
He leaned over and put his mouth to her ear. “Delicious.”
That one word made her shiver.
“Titan? Can we talk?”
They all turned to see a man at the back of the bar waving Titan over. He looked at her and then back at Mikey with obvious anxiety.
“That’s Mikey,” Titan explained. “He’s Alpha of the Lobo Gris pack. That basically means he’s our leader. He’s a really nice guy.”
“Go on, see what he wants. I’ll be fine,” Beatrix said. Titan gave her a quick kiss, made her promise to shout if she needed him, then walked off to talk to the Lobo Gris Alpha.
The moment Titan was gone, Cora spoke up. “Ask us anything."
Beatrix let out a sigh. “How did you know I have questions?”
“How could you not? Most of the humans here were thrust into this world, not introduced. Briar found out gradually and never got the shock, but I was kidnapped by an evil vampire. Mila rescued her wolf mate from an attack of magical creatures. It’s too bad Imani isn’t here, she was kidnapped and turned into a vampire against her will.
She could give you a lot of insight on vampires. ”
Beatrix was shocked by Cora’s words. Kidnapped? Attacked? Forced? “Those sound like nightmares.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” Cora agreed.
“I guess I got lucky,” Beatrix said. “Nothing violent happened. I watched Titan shift and then I got to pet him.”
“I think it’s supposed to be gentle,” Mila said. “Unless they’re forced, vampires like to court their flock for however long it takes to make them feel comfortable. At least that’s what Gio said once. They want to make sure their human is ready to hear the truth long before they tell them.”
Beatrix almost laughed. “I kind of forced them to tell me. I threatened to take Arthur to the hospital because he wouldn't wake up this morning.”
Mila gasped. “You only found out today?”
Beatrix nodded, Mila’s reaction making her feel better. “It still feels surreal.”
Cora snorted. “That never entirely goes away. At least it hasn’t yet. Especially when Pike is in his bear form and tries to feed me grubs.”
Beatrix and Mila burst out laughing.
Mila and Cora told her a few more funny stories about their shifters and vampires. Their good humor and matter-of-fact attitudes made Beatrix feel much better.
Suddenly she wasn’t in the middle of an alternate reality or worried about being in the middle of a psychotic break. No, she was simply in a nontraditional relationship.
At least that was how she decided to frame it.
When Cora told her about sharing souls, she listened intently, only interrupting to ask an occasional question.
“What if you guys get angry with each other?” she asked, thinking about all the bitter, angry conflicts her parents had when she was young. “Are you allowed to leave?”
Mila and Cora looked at each other, making Beatrix uneasy. “What?
“When you’re upset, it hurts them,” Mila said in her gentle South Dakota accent.
“And you can feel their pain too. Carter had a nightmare a few weeks ago and it woke me up, even though he wasn’t thrashing around or anything.
” She rubbed her chest. “His fear felt like my own. I wasn’t sure what was going on at first. Gio figured it out and pulled Carter out of sleep through our link. ”
Beatrix wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “What if they use the link to hurt you?”
“They wouldn’t fucking dare!” Briar said, pressing in to join their group.
She had a big grin and a frosty mug of beer.
She took a large swallow before addressing Beatrix.
“Look, the one thing vampires hold sacred is their flock.” She pointed to where Memphis and Tobias were talking to Arthur.
“My last period was a rough one. I felt so bad I told the guys to go away and leave me alone. Memphis called his mom asking what to do. The next thing I knew, I had two heating pads, a fuzzy robe, socks, blanket, an entire grocery bag full of chocolate, and every type of drug available and not all of them were over the counter.”
“That’s um, nice,” Beatrix said, unsure how to handle Briar’s interesting overshare.