burned again

that synchronized with my heartbeat. You're alive, it

he air, all the space, all the sanity I had left. His eyes hadn't quite returne

oice came out steadier than

expression had hardened. "He's been watching since last night.

r w

to make a mistake. With vampires, it's hard to tell.

ing I couldn't name. He hadn't looked at me like I was a moment. He'd

attacked, if I'm supposedly this... this hybr

n't do anything without reason. Every action is calculated, every move a chess piece in a game that's been running for millen

he word tas

need to understand. The world you've stumbled into doesn't play by human rules. We're predators, Lena. All of

y did yo

's expression shifted-something ra

ome and terror all at once, something in me recognized you. Before I ever saw your face. Befor

tinct, just some primal reaction he couldn't control. But I'd felt it too-that

warmed aga

Wolves, vampires, hybrid bloodlines, dead priestesses-yesterday my biggest

ed you-they were rogues, yes, but they answered to someone. Someone who sent them to the c

old. "Someone k

u understand what you are, before your power awak

our pack. I have a job. A life. A cat who will absolutely destro

el's lips twitched. "W

Dashwood. She's very s

natural thing in the world. "But I'm not asking you to leave your life. Not yet. I'm a

he vam

e his move eventually. They always do.

y head, heavy with implicati

n know his n

rply. "You're lying a

es and th

ut I didn't. I remember everything-the way he moved, the way he looked at

hat followed

y still. Too still. Like

u," Kael said.

he scratches. It laste

, and I saw something I never expected to see on an alpha wolf's face: fear. "Lena, do yo

not a handshake a

not even realize he did it-but if he touched you with intent, with that flicker of interest I saw in his eyes w

ng my wound, that strange warmth spreading through my arm,

ed. "No, that's

omething? When

r. My silence wa

opened them, the gold had fade

lowed. "I felt it too, you know. The moment I saw you. Not a vampire's claiming-something older, something wolf. The mate bond. It

foreign in my mouth. "Like..

n in them now. Just truth. Just pain. "I came here looking

time Kael moved to steady me-catching my elbow, his h

I know you didn't ask for any of it. But you d

urs have apparently claimed some kind of ownership over me without my consent, and I'm supposed to just..

's eyes. Hurt, quickly hi

partment. Your wolves attacked me last night. And now you're telling me we

"I should have handled this better. Should have approached you differently. But I've been alone for a very long time, and when

ed on the word. "

rget, sometimes, that the world looks different to people who measure their lives in years i

ion like a shield. But there was something in his eyes-

o think without wolves or vampires or destiny

er printed in careful handwriting. "This is me. A direct line. When you're ready to talk, whe

. It felt warm

vampire?"

iately. I can't promise I can protect you from him-he's old, Lena, o

ramatic. Overblown. Inst

d ask you to stay because I'm scared and

the door. Paused with

en

ha

t brown, just warm, just a man saying goodbye to someone he'd waited his whole life to meet. "You belong to no one but your

h a cat who chose that moment to wind

drink. Sat on my couch and stared a

me to pick it up. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt something el

sp

re he was. Standing in s

r, not knowing if any of this was real, show yourself.

my consciousness. Not words.

you

ned m

in my liv

e he'd always belonged there, like centuries-old vampires materializing in apartments was perfectly normal

spi

in Kael's. Colder. More careful. Like he was handl

d you g

r was un

wasn

smiled. "I

'd apparently bound himself to me without permission, a creature who saw

said. "When you touched my arm

s expression. Surprise? Guilt

tuous. He feels things strongly and assu

he w

pped to the pendant at my throat

ntended anything in centuries-but my kind... we're not like wolves. We don't have fate

en

time I saw past the ice. Saw the exhaustion underneath.

ld, without any of the reactions I've come to expect after three hundred years-I felt something. And feelin

hat. Didn't know how to proces

ze for Kael's patience or a prophecy to be fulfilled. I'm a person. A librarian wh

kno

e two powerful supernatural creatures have decided I b

a moment. Then he di

kne

distance, head bowed, one knee on my thrift store rug, and wh

" he said. "Wh

t fate, not the vision of the Moon Priestess. Everyone had been so busy telling

at did I want? Safety? Answers? A norma

th. Thought of a woman in white who'

life feeling like I was waiting for something without knowing what. I want the truth-all of it-and then I wa

acedully. Like smoke ri

all silver card, like Kael's but colder, etched with a single symbol I didn't recognize. "This w

It was freezing a

. Soon. Kael will protect you as best he can, but he's young and his pack is far. I can't be here during the day-the s

y for

with those ancie

u were always meant to b

ke. Like a dream. Like he'

ant warm against my chest, and the weight of two worlds press

mewhere, an ancient vampire waited in shadows. And in the space betw

red. Awake, litt