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“A whole store room full, but this one is mine. I’ve called dibs,” Jesper turns on a heel and the knives covering his long legs jostle as he makes his way to the tables.
“Vik, why don’t you take Calamity to get cleaned up. I’ll try and figure out something for food. I can hear her stomach from here.”
“You don’t gotta tell me twice. A bath sounds amazing right now.” Vik saunters a step toward me. “You packed some things, right, or do we need to find you something to sleep in? Or are you like Jesper and prefer to sleep naked?”
“Um, no thank you. I have things, assuming Loric didn’t ditch any of the stuff I brought.” I pin him with a glare, remembering how he went through my belongings before I woke up in the forest.
“She has what she needs.” He rolls his eyes, moving around Mira and Vik to head toward the storage room.
He better have a beast in there. I swear it’s like conversing with two totally different people.
Chapter 12
Calamity
Vik's warm smile is a welcomed comfort as she leads me toward one of the heavy doors. Inside is a smaller cave lit by the same purple crystals, peeking from the jagged rocky walls as they cast an ethereal glow over the space.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Vik asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
I nod incapable of forming words. I’m too transfixed to do so.
Steam rises from a natural spring in the center, the swirling water no deeper than my waist. The soothing trickle of water down the walls eases my frayed nerves. Everything about this place feels peaceful, even the way the gentle current swirls and drains through a small puncture in the spring floor.
As we both undress, I can't help but feel exposed. My past life in the dungeon was confining, yes, but it had also been protective in its own twisted way. Here, everything feelsuncertainlike the ground could open up and swallow me whole in a blink of an eye.
Her violet eyes watch me in my peripheral, but they’re not unsettling. More curious than anything. "You must have somany questions. I can't imagine what it's like, growing up locked away your whole life. Everything here must feel so new."
Newdoesn't even begin to describe it. I feel like I’ve stepped foot into an entirely different realm, one I know nothing about even though I've spent years studying it, being taught by Asmo and Meg, warned of the dangers. Everything is unreal, but I won't tell her that, she doesn’t need to know just how lost I am. No one does.
"Until today, I had no idea I was...like you." The words still feel strange on my tongue. "It's a lot to take in."
"I can only imagine." Vik begins undoing the laces of her leather vest. "Just so you know, you’re welcome to come to me if you have questions. I’ll answer them the best I can. Us she-beasts have to stick together. We’re a dying breed." She pauses, blinking. "Though, it's possible you're not quiteexactlylike the rest of us. There’s lots of different shifter breeds with the same characteristics when they’re half-shifted. Wolves are pretty common around the king."
My brows knit together as I work at my dress, removing layer after layer.A wolf? I doubt it.Gael… He was a hellhound, which is similar. His eyes never glowed, and he had tendencies that made his species pretty obvious.
I can’t say I’ve ever had the urge to howl at the moons.
Vik hesitates, her eyes flickering with uncertainty. "Forget I said anything. Loric would have my head if I revealed too much."
I wonder why… What is so striking about what they are that it has to stay this hidden secret? Pushing the thought away, we slip into the spring. The warmth seeps into my muscles, easing the tension I hadn't even realized was there. And for a moment, I allow myself to forget the danger lurking just outside these walls and simply enjoy the comforting embrace of the water.
I’m not sure how long we soak, eyes closed and letting the water rinse away the evidence of our day, but I sit up when Viknudges me, a cloth in her hand. Taking it, I begin scrubbing the blood and grime from my skin and rinsing it the best I can from my dark hair.
It’s not until we’re finished that she speaks again.
"So," Vik says, a teasing lilt to her tone as she waggles her eyebrows suggestively. "Loric, hmm?"
Heat floods my cheeks. I stare at her, blinking. "What?"
She laughs, the sound light and bubbly. "Don't play coy. While your beast had control earlier, she practically proposed to him."
"No."I shake my head, mortified. "You’re kidding.Pleasetell me you're joking."
"I wish I was." Vik's eyes glimmer with mirth. "But Loric's not a bad choice for a mate. He may be brooding and grumpy, but he's strong. He'd protect you." She weighs her head side to side. “And, based on the things I’ve heard or laid witness to over the years, I can confirm he’s good attendingto femaleneeds, if you get what I mean.”
"Did you two...?" I trail off, sensing a hint of nostalgia in her tone. A strange ache twists in my chest at the thought. I shake my head again, chasing the feeling away.
Vik smiles warmly. "No, I don't swing that way. I have a mate back in the Luminaries. Her name is Ellie, and she's a mage." A soft light flares in Vik's eyes, like the thought of Ellie breathes life into her. I’ve only seen a look like that a handful of times.Love.
