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The moment my fangs find her, that part of me I’ve held back lets go. Her blood fills my mouth. Warm and alive, and completely her, and it pulses through my limbs, lighting up my dead heart. Her trust, her want, all of her, the fact that she decided this. All of it, at once, and I have to grip the rock behind her to keep me steady.

Two swallows. Maybe three. I count, because it’s the only thing standing between me and taking more.

She clenches around me and tips her head back to the sky and says my name, and that’s what finishes me. Not the blood. Her.

Chapter 38

Ellery

The lunch crowd has thinned out enough that I can give my aching feet a rest.

“Taking my break,” I call out to Tess as she pours Ed a coffee.

As I pass, she closes her hand around his wrist, the bad one, and holds it for too long. Ed flexes it and reaches for his cup like nothing happened. Tess sat me down after our shift a few days ago and told me she was a witch. I asked if Fairbanks had its own version of Hogwarts, because I didn’t know what else to say. She said no, but there’s a woman from North Pole who does tarot at the Fred Meyer. I’m still getting used to what that means.

As I push through the door to the alley out the back, coffee in hand, my phone rings.

Mom flashes across the screen, and I think about it for three rings. It’s been months since I’ve spoken to my parents. Not since the brunch. I consider letting it go to voicemail, like all her other calls, but it’s time I faced the music.

“Hello.” I brace for the onslaught and try not to let my reluctance to have this conversation show.

“Finally.” Her tone is cool and even. Right on brand for Claire Ashford. She doesn’t ask how I am. None of the messages she’s sent since I left asked if I was okay.

“How are you?” I try to steer us somewhere neutral.

“We’ve given you room to breathe, Ellery. We thought that’s what you needed.” A pause. “It’s time to come home.”

I guess we’re not even going to try for normal.

“I’m not coming home. I needed space. I still need it.”

“You’ve lost three months already, darling. I’m not scolding you.” She isn’t, which is so much worse. “I’m worried. Columbia won’t hold your place forever. The business won’t wait either. What about all your plans?”

“You mean your plans?” I mutter. “I have plans. Here.”

“In Alaska?”

She knows where I am. She’s known all along.

“This isn’t you, Ellery.”

“How would you know?” My anger flares, and I veer off the mature high road into a ditch, heading for a tree. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know you better than you know yourself. I’m your mother.”

She leaves the space open, long enough for me to fill it. “I’m sorry. I know this has been hard for you.”

“You’re confused.” Her tone turns gentle, reassuring. “I’m trying to keep you from making a huge mistake.”

There it is. One apology, one acknowledgment of how my actions might’ve impacted her, and she’s already got both hands back on the wheel.

I make myself check. No. I’m not.

“Actually, I’ve never been less confused.” I know what I have to say, but actually saying it is harder. My throat closes. “Goodbye, Mom.”

I hang up and sink down on a crate beside the back door, pressing my knuckles into my eyes. How is she so good at pushing my buttons? It’s like a sport to her.

Marthe comes out carrying a trash bag.