Page 145 of Volik

I grin at her, smiling more in the last few days than I have in the last few decades.

“Unless you think people won’t notice… this.” She waves her hand toward her face.

“Nyet,” I answer, trying to keep my tone flat to match hers.

“Figured as much.” Her cheeks puff out as she looks at the time on her phone. “Want to give me a tour on our way out?”

“Da.” I take my mate’s hand and walk her through her new home.

Chapter 64

Nix

Ipeer over the edge of the roof.

“Good.” Volik sees the same thing. No reporters.

“That’ll change by Monday.” I start to bite my lip, out of habit, but quickly stop.

Fangs.

Volik drapes his arm over my shoulders. “I will threaten them all.”

Huffing out a laugh, I let him lead me over to the stairwell. “I know making a statement will make things even more chaotic in the short term, but I know which journalist I want to use.”

Volik pulls the door open, and I head inside. “We will contact them tonight.”

No argument. No asking who it is. Just acceptance.

I pause on the steps.

Volik stops beside me. “Da?”

My mouth starts to pull into a smile, and I make a conscious effort to part my lips so I don’t catch the tip of my fangs.

“What is that smile for?”

I lift a shoulder. “You.” Then I slide my palm against his and grip his hand.

His fingers close around mine, and a deep purr echoes down the cement stairwell. “Nixy, are you sure you want to keep working?”

The laugh that pops out of me is bright. “Da.” I tug on his hand. “Come on.”

His groan mingles with his purr, but he manages to calm both by the time we exit onto the first floor.

It’s early enough that no one is waiting in the hall for my first class.

I catch my reflection in the door as I unlock the handle. My solid black eyes, that can see in the dark, look… right.

They feel right.

It was just Monday that I did this for the first time. That I looked at myself in this very pane of glass.

Just Monday. Today is only Friday. But it feels like an eternity ago.

I touch my tongue to the tip of my fang.

“Are you okay?” Volik’s body behind me fills the rest of the reflection.