Page 36 of Nightshade

Not long after, Leo knocked, and when I didn’t reply, he slipped into his—my—room.

“Altair?” he whispered into the dark.

I didn’t move and didn’t say anything. He must’ve presumed I was sleeping, because he sneaked his way to the closet and removed some of his things before tiptoeing back to the door and shutting it softly.

What was I supposed to do with him? Whether he wanted to think it or not, I did owe him. And if I wanted to stay safe, I needed to do more than hide out in my room.

I also needed more than Leo alone on my side. Obviously, his mother held sway with the pack, and he’d said that she liked company. I could start there.

The sun was still up, but the light creeping around the closed shutter was orange like it was going down. When I pulled myself out of Leo’s bed, I realized I was still wearing the clothes from the day before. They were covered in dirt.

I’d gotten dirt in his bed.

With a sigh, I peeled the shirt over my head and found clean clothes to wear before making my way downstairs. Leo didn’t have much to my style, and that was when I realized that what I was used to wearing likely wasn’t in fashion anymore.

That was a pity. Leo’s clothes were baggy on me, but I got the sense that no clothes I could get in this era would be as particularly tailored as I wanted.

At least I was the only one who’d see the dearth there.

I found an outfit like the one Leo had brought me before—loose and soft and stretchy—and crept down the stairs.

“The curtains are pulled, Altair,” Leo’s mother called from below. “If it’s still too bright, let me know.”

I peeked my head around. There were windows in the living area that cast light across the couch, but the ambient light was easy to ignore. As long as it didn’t hit me, it wasn’t so bad, and the kitchen where she was standing at the counter was perfectly shaded.

“No, thank you, um⁠—”

“Call me Katya, dear.”

“Katya,” I repeated with a small smile.

“Come sit,” she said, nodding to a stool across from her. “The boys are out working, and this morning, Aleks said something about taking Viktor to run the perimeter of our territory, since the witches are encroaching again.”

I bit my tongue against expressing the hope that it would leave her son too exhausted to worry about me, but she shared a knowing smile across the counter as I slipped into my seat.

“They’ll be out a while yet,” she said. “Did you sleep well?”

Something about her face, the round softness of it but also the quick, sharp way she caught my eye, had me opening up in a way I’d never meant to.

“I didn’t sleep at all,” I admitted.

She arched a brow. “Uncomfortable?”

I shook my head. “Thinking. Leo⁠—”

She waited, going back to working the dough on the counter, watching me.

“He gave me his room,” I said.

Her lips curled upward. “He’s a good boy.”

A good boy, for giving up his own comfort for me. She really believed that.

My brow pinched. “He is, but . . . forgive me, this sounds worse than I mean it, but how?”

“What do you mean?”

“You all came from Russia, right?”