Page 84 of The Lunatics

Mom shook her head. “I’d rather not. Sounds like a nightmare.” She winced. “Sorry, you two, I didn’t mean it like that.”

That was the thing about Mom. She loved to needle people, but she hated the thought of really offending them. If she knew she’d gotten to Michael earlier, she’d feel like garbage about it. Lucky for her, she’d never know.

“It’s fine,” Michael said.

Mom looked at me. “You going to shift again tonight?”

I nodded. I wanted to shift as much as possible and for as long as possible, while I could.

“Just be careful,” she said. “I caught a weird scent out there last night.”

I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth. “Where?”

“Out near Mount Bond.”

“What did it smell like?”

“It would take your nose to make sense of it.” She closed her eyes. “To me, it just smelled… old.”

I used my newfound control to lock down my fear before my parents could pick up on it. There were all sorts of creatures that went bump in the night with lifespans long enough to make your bones grind together beneath the weight of their scent. Dragons. Djinn. Fae. Even elves, which had passed through our territory five years ago while hunting their great adversary, the jötunn. It could have been any one of those creatures. There was no reason for my mind to jump straight to one very specific vampire.

What is it?Michael asked over the bond.

I flinched, my fork clattering off my plate and then down to the floor.

“Spider?” Mom asked, trying to look in every direction at once. She had an unholy fear of all things eight-legged, and every time someone moved too quickly around her without her knowing why, she immediately assumed that there was one dangling overhead. Usually it entertained me to no end, but at the moment, I was too worried to be amused.

I ducked beneath the table and scooped up my fork. “False alarm. Just a big speck of pepper.”

She settled back into her seat, but continued sneaking surreptitious glances around like she wasn’t entirely convinced.

Sorry, Michael said. This time, I felt the forewarning press of his presence before he spoke.

It’s okay. I just didn’t anticipate it, I told him.And it’s nothing. I’m jumping at shadows.

I severed the connection. I was more than a little worried about something he’d asked me last night. If I was able to communicate with him like this, could I talk to any wolf in the same way? And if so, how much pressure did I have to exert for them to hear me? More than I did with Michael? Or the same amount? If it was close to the same, there was a risk that any wolf around us might pick up on our silent exchanges.

I stood from the table. “I’m done.”

Goddess, I wassodone. The road in front of me felt like it was paved with land mines. One false step, and Michael and I would be blown to smithereens.

I grabbed my plate and took it to the sink. Michael joined me, his shoulder brushing mine as he reached for the soap. It was weird, seeing him wash dishes in my parents’ kitchen, clad in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Growing up, he must have had people to do this sort of thing for him. I leaned a hip against the counter and watched. He scrubbed our plates like he did everything: with great care and intense focus.

Before last night, I kept wanting to break him out of his shell. But he didn’t have one. Not really. Hewaskind of aloof and snobbish, a product of the fact that he was so private and shy. The only reason he was different with me was because I’d wormed my way in over the past few days and he couldn’t get rid of me. That and the fact that he found me wildly attractive. A warm flush of satisfaction spread through me with that thought. At least we had a few good things going for us: We liked each other and had open, honest communication.

He glanced over, no doubt feeling my contentment. An answering warmth spread through him as he looked at me. Belatedly, he smiled, as if remembering that I’d asked him to.

I chuckled. He flushed a little and ducked his head, his focus back on the dishes. His opening up to me didn’t reveal a differentwolf hiding beneath his cultured exterior. Michaellikedwearing three-piece suits. They made him feel put together, in control. He liked owning expensive, well-made things. He valued quality and craftsmanship. And yes, he also had a temper, but, like me, he didn’t let it show most of the time. He was funny, too, just out of practice. I thought back to the vampire in the alleyway and that deep vein of bloodthirst I’d glimpsed. Of his possessiveness last night.

These aspects were the facets that made up his personality. He wasn’t wrong to like nice things or the creature comforts the city offered. His reticence to smile didn’t make him cold, just different from what I was used to. I needed to come to terms with these things. I needed to stop judging him and start accepting him for who he was, with the exception of how he othered his wolf form from his human form, but we were already working on that.

Michael set the last dish in the drying rack. We said good night—er, good morning—to my parents and then headed out back to crash for a few hours. Yes, the road ahead of us would be difficult to navigate, but I trusted that the Goddess had put us on it for a purpose, and that if we worked really hard, we’d make our way through.

I fell asleep wrapped in his arms, happy, sated, safe.

And woke up to a nightmare.

CHAPTER 20