Elena still wasn’t sure their newest precautions would be enough to contain these hybrid monstrosities, but she had to believe it would work. Manuel was only free for a few minutes, and he’d brought a lot of destruction down on them. If those two happened to get loose, they could wipe out a quarter of the compound before someone stopped them.
And worse, they could turn that quarter intomoremonstrosities like them. Elena shuddered at the possibility.
When Logan showed up at her house the next day, she almost threw herself into his arms before recalling her mother and some of her friends were sitting in the living room. There were hawks with worse vision than those friends, and Elena could feel their eyes boring into her back.
Their relationship may be the most known secret on the compound, but she wasn’t about to give the women a show. It would be like the game telephone, and by the time they finished, a simple hug would have turned into her stripping him naked and screwing him in the doorway.
So instead, she waved Logan inside and closed the door behind him. He hadn’t been able to get them breakfast this morning as his watch on the gate ran long, so she’d run over to the communal kitchen to grab it.
Since he wasn’t carrying a tray, she almost grasped his hand and dragged him toward her bedroom but restrained herself. Instead, she waved toward the hallway, and he followed her.
“Good morning, Rosa,” he said to her mother as he paused in the living room doorway.
“Good morning, Logan. How did the watch go?”
“It was very quiet.”
“Good. That’s what we like to hear.”
They started down the hall again, but Elena stopped when she heard a whispered comment from the living room.
“It’s rumored he’s courting her,” one of the women spoke in Spanish to her mother.
Elena almost rolled her eyes. She didn’t think she’d ever heard anyone use the word “courting” before. She was well aware that hunter customs were stuck in the past, even with all the changes coming about, but this wasn’t the nineteen twenties.
“How can you be okay with having avampirein yourhouse?” another woman asked.
Elena shuffled a few feet forward before pressing herself against the wall. Logan stood at the doorway to her room, frowning as he watched her in confusion. She was eager to have some time alone with him, but she was curious about where this conversation would go.
“Vampires didn’t murder my husband,” her mother said.
“But still, Rosa, a vampire as a possible son-in-law. That could only result in bad things,” another woman chided.
“It’s working out for some vampires and hunters,” her mother said. “Besides, Elena has had far too much unhappiness in her life. If he makes her happy, I will not stand in their way.”
Elena’s heart melted a little, and she couldn’t help but smile over that.
“She brought a lot of that unhappiness on herself when she ran away from the compound,” another woman retorted.
Elena briefly contemplated going in there and hitting that woman, and she knew who it was. Renata, an old bitty who had never been happy and who was always the center of all the gossip. Even before Elena moved away, she’d always looked down her nose at Elena.
Elena suspected it was because she was a female. She was one of those old-fashioned women who believed a powerful hunter leader like Alejandro should have been blessed with sons to carry on his legacy. Instead, he’d ended up with a single daughter who wasn’t as enthused as she should be about her lot in life.
“My daughter showed courage by going out to forge her own way in life; if you have a problem with that, you can leave,” her mother retorted.
Elena’s heart swelled with pride, and her shoulders went back as she beamed over her mother’s words. A couple of women sputtered and made tsking sounds, but no one got up to leave.
Her father was dead, but they still looked at her mother as the leader’s wife. She was someone to be respected, and she would retain that status until she died.
But Elena was also held in the same regard. She’d been gone for eight years, but she would always be the leader’s daughter. That was why she could get in to see Leonardo and Diego when no other women could, except for Diego and Leonardo’s mothers, who were the only female relatives either of them had.
Their status didn’t carry enough weight to silence that vile woman, but they changed the topic to the upcoming marriage of two young hunters. It was the only happy event on the horizon, and many were excited about it.
Elena tiptoed down the hall to join Logan, and he slipped inside ahead of her. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Usually, she kept the door open out of respect for her mother, but she needed some time alone with him right now. The women would keep her mother occupied for at least another hour, and she would open the door again soon.
“What were they saying?” he asked.
She told him about the conversation. When she finished, he stared at the door before sitting in the chair that had become his. Elena strolled toward him and pulled the curtains closed.
