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The woman he’d called Aranelle was beside me. I sensed her watching me, and when I looked, I confirmed she was glaring down at me.
“Did you two know each other?” I asked, hoping to make some conversation to ease my nerves. I felt an old, obsolete urge for hand sanitizer and space when I realized how many people were crowded around me, then remembered for the hundredth time that I wouldn’t get sick like that anymore. It was still foreign to me.
I had a feeling when a moment of quiet finally came, I’d probably break down in tears when this all set in. Happy tears. No more hiding from germs. But there was too much between me and the world where I could enjoy any of that to focus on it right now.
“Quiet,” she said.
I knew I should do as she said, but I was so nervous it felt like my stomach was tying itself in knots, and I couldn’t manage to keep quiet. At least twenty people I assumed to be werewolves were gathered around with us in a loose formation, all facing the woods, which were still silent.
“Is it a fight to the death?” I asked.
“Not always,” Aranelle said.
“Do you think Riggs will win?”
“Pax is the Alpha of the Silverbacks.”
“Right,” I said. “But he never beat Riggs, right? He only got the job because Riggs stepped down?”
Aranelle twisted her mouth in disgust at something I’d said. “We may work with your kind out of necessity, but don’t confuse a partnership with a friendship.”
“Did you two date? Is that why you looked at him like that?”
Aranelle spun to face me then. “Are you capable of being quiet, vampire?”
I gulped. “I’m just nervous. Sorry.”
She finally sighed, dropping some of the terrifying warrior woman vibe. “Our wolves were temporarily enamored with one another. But Riggs’ human side wasn’t compatible with mine.” She paused for a few seconds, then reluctantly continued. “He didn’t find me worthy. When he left, we had still been exploring the possibility between our wolves. At least that was my understanding. But Riggs left without a word to me. Clearly the feelings were one-sided.” She turned her head, dipping her chin to take me in with cold eyes. “And now he’s returned with a new prize, it seems. Maybe the taste for vampire runs in his blood.”
I knew by the way she said the last that she didn’t approve. I also realized what I was to her. I was the little hussy her dream guy had run off to hook up with, and now he was bringing her home and waving her around in everyone’s face. No wonder tensions were high.
There was a spine-chilling roar from deep in the woods, then the muted sounds of collisions.
I barely felt my nails digging painfully into my palm or my teeth clenching so hard they might crack. The stranger realization was that my worry about Riggs wasn’t selfish. I wasn’t scared because his failure would mean my own and by extension doom Maisey and the others. I was terrified because I had found something in Riggs I didn’t want to lose. That part was selfish. I already couldn’t imagine losing him. I didn’t want to think about it.
God, I felt like I could throw up. I tried not to imagine what a fight like that must be like. Or to think of Riggs struggling for his life right now against some brutal werewolf Alpha. I had to remind myself Riggs was one of those brutal werewolf Alpha’s, too.
The werewolf from the diner with the big scar across his face moved beside Aranelle and whispered something. I was surprised when I could hear it. Somehow, I knew my normal human ears wouldn’t have been able to pick up the words.
“...wouldn’t stop us,” he whispered.
Aranelle shook her head sharply. “No.”
“If he-” the man started, but Aranelle spun, gripping his shirt. “I said ‘no.’” she lowered her voice to the faintest whisper, but I could still hear. “I am respecting our ways. I suggest you do, too. It’s not our place to meddle. Of course, you could always challenge him again if he wins. Maybe it’ll go better for you this time.”
Aranelle hadn’t bothered lowering her voice for the last part. I took that as a reprimand, because now several werewolves were watching him with disapproving glares.
The man’s eyes flashed yellow and his fingertips elongated into dark shapes with claws at the end. The werewolves who had been watching already seemed to have lost interest. It appeared that infighting and aggression were too common to note, evidenced by the two other scuffled that were going on while we waited. A pair of women were shoving closer to where Kyla was being held and a group of three men were circling, claws formed on their hands.
