Page 29 of Call of the Blood

“Uh…” I shook my head. He did, but it was funnier to say he didn’t. Declan chuckled, catching what I was doing, especially because Alexius’s expression changed into one of mild annoyance as he stared at us.

“So, you’re suddenly learning a lot more about supernaturals than you planned,” I said to my brother, brightly, as though it was comical and not the end of his normal life.

“Yeah, Lexi and Lucas have been explaining a lot to me.”

“We’ve just been trying to explain werewolves, the pack…” Lexi said softly. “Something I should have done months ago.”

“It’s fine, babe,” he said, reaching around me. “We’re going to work through it.”

I said nothing, but it annoyed me. If I didn’t act on it, the werewolves wouldn’t point it out… I hoped.

“So, the relationship will survive,” I said, smiling between them. “That’s nice.”

Lexi’s eyes narrowed on me, but she didn’t point out that it was a lie. It was bold and stupid of me to lie in front of werewolves, but I’d rather that than cause my brother more harm with the drama of a disapproving sister. The lie worked in her favor, so I hoped she allowed it to stay for as long as possible.

“Yeah.”

“We’ve made a promise to him that we’d make no attempts to Change him or convince him to attempt it,” Lucas said loudly, calling across the room. “Why don’t we old fucks get out of the way, eh?” He thumped Alexius on the back, who looked at the werewolf like he’d grown a second head. No one really thumped Alexius like that.

Seeing his expression made me fight to hold back a snorting laugh.

“Of course,” Alexius mumbled once he recovered from the incredibly personal action. Vampires might be group creatures like werewolves, but it was not the same.

I watched Alexius leave. He turned to let his eyes linger on me longer than necessary, as if he was soaking me in before disappearing.

“You and I got off on the wrong foot, so I hope this doesn’t worsen things… but your boss is fucking hot,” Lexi said, making Declan choke on air.

“He really is,” I agreed, sighing. “We have gotten off on the wrong foot. You didn’t know about me. I didn’t know about you. It wasn’t Declan’s fault, either.”

“No, it was mine. The moment my dad came storming into my place last night, I knew I had messed up.” Lexi sat down on the couch, dragging Declan with her. “I just wanted to have a relationship that wasn’t about me being a werewolf,” she said, looking sideways at Declan, who took her hand and squeezed.

“I know,” he murmured. “Why don’t you tell Everly about it? She’ll understand. Maybe you two can find some common ground.”

The sweet couple moment made me look away for a moment, trying to keep the contents of my stomach. It was sickeningly sweet.

“Other werewolves want to be close to my dad,” she explained, looking up at me when I finally turned back to them. “So, any dates I had with them always ended with the ‘So, when do I get to meet your parents?’” She rolled her eyes. “And humans who knew would eventually ask to be a werewolf, always super early in the relationship, because they wanted the chance at immortality, not the relationship. So, when I met Declan, I had a chance to really just have a relationship.”

“Fair. You wanted to remove the problem from the equation,” I said, shrugging. “But you never corrected it. And then you got aggressive with me.” My phone buzzed, and I saw it was Alexius, saying he got Lucas to leave and was off to his own work.

“And now we’re stuck with a lot of shit to discuss and a bad first impression,” I said, huffing. “So, I got to ask, Declan, what the hell?”

“What? Why am I going to be with Lexi? Sis…”

“She lied to you!”

“You lied earlier,” Lexi pointed out.

“To keep the peace, but with every passing minute, I’m losing the urge to be nice,” I hissed in her direction. “Because you lied to my brother about something big and important, and you don’t deserve another chance. It was a dangerous lie at that! What if he caught you on a full moon, half out of your mind?”

“That’s not the call you get to make,” she retorted. “And if you want to talk about what’s dangerous right now⁠—”

“Both of you…” Declan physically stepped in the way. He looked at me first. “I love her. I love Lexi. You know that. The werewolf thing is a shock, but she’s Lexi. I’m going to give it an honest effort to make things work. We’re not perfect right now. I need some time to adjust, but I still want to try. It’s shaky, because you’re right, it’s a big lie, but I’ve spent a lot of time with her, and I love her, and if I can get comfortable with dating a werewolf, then we’ll be okay.”

I was thoroughly chastised, lowering my head as he turned on Lexi.

“And you have to stop antagonizing my sister when the person who wronged me was you, not her. You then insulted her by implying she would hurt me, and I know she won’t. We came from a very specific place for vampires, where they were taught restraint and control in a way most aren’t. Everly, do you even feed on humans?”

“I’ve drunk from two humans since becoming a vampire. I prefer blood bags,” I answered. “And that’s in a year and a half as a vampire, still needing to feed twice a day.”