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Even with my impressive hearing, the two vampires are out of earshot now. The only way for me to hear the rest of their conversation is to get down to the ground and chase after them.
For a second, I almost do. It would be so easy to either dash down the fire escape. Twelve floors might be too high for me to jump and land comfortably in a crouch, but in a pinch, a shifter should be able to. But then what? Do I honestly want to listen to Aleks’s supporters talk about how I’m not worthy of being his mate? About howamazingJulia was, and how devoted he was to her.
It’s not like I already don’t know that.
I just… I didn’t know he set off the last Claws and Fangs war because of her.
* * *
My first instinctis to run.
That’s not unusual. I spent so long on the road, running at the first sign of trouble, that my wolf is primed to take off whenever my human half is struggling. As a lone wolf, I had to be careful of other scavengers, predators, even ferals. And those were just shifter threats. Most vampires find community among their own kind in Fang Cities, but not all. Rogues roam the countryside, too, and they could be just as dangerous as feral shifters. And humans… sometimes the non-supes were the biggest threats of all.
Those chatty vampires weren’t trying to hurt me. I doubt they had any idea I could overhear their conversation at all. I only just popped out on the balcony to get some fresh air while they were strolling by. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re gossiping about Aleks and Julia is like a knife carving up my heart.
I don’t care that they don’t think that, because I’m a shifter, I’m a good enough mate for Aleks. I’ve thought the same thing myself. But to hear just how much he loved Julia? That he waged awarfor her? How can I ever fucking compare?
I’m not her. I have her face, but that’s it. Aleks says he knows that—he said as much to Roman when he accused Aleks of looking at me and seeing Julia—but I have my doubts. I thought… I thought I’d gotten past my jealousy for a dead female.
I don’t think I have.
Sliding the glass door to the balcony closed behind me, I walk back into the apartment. Normally I don’t mind the space. With the exception of Gem’s lingering scent in her old bedroom, everything smells like a mixture of Aleks and me. When he’s not home, sometimes I shift to my fur and just let it wash over my wolf.
Now, I almost choke on it.
Nothing changed. Not really. I already knew that Aleks had another beloved. Just like I knew that shifters aren’t welcome here in Muncie. I got a pass because Gem worked it out with Roman after she invited me to take over her townhouse; Gem only was allowed to stay in the first place because Aleks vouched for her in front of Roman. Apart from the two of us, shifters rarely come to the Fang City. On the rare occasion that they do, it’s never for any good reason.
Take Jack Walker, for example. As powerful an alpha wolf as he was, he only made it past the border because he had a vampire fang around his throat. He was working with the rebel vamps to execute Roman. Though he sacrificed himself to do it—because, in the end, without his pack, all Walker wanted was a war of his own—his right-hand wolf was the one who swung the executioner’s sword.
There hasn’t been any sign of Christian since. Peyton, either. After I recovered from my surgery, Aleks wanted nothing more than to hunt the shifters down. Someone needed to pay for Roman’s murder, and Aleks wanted to be the one to collect the cost. He couldn’t leave me, though, and then he took over for Roman in the Cadre building.
Between the increased patrols around Muncie and Ryker sending more of his packmates to watch the edge of the Mountainside Pack’s territory, I’d know if either of those two foul wolves were skulking around. After two months, I’ve convinced myself they got what they wanted when Roman died. Sure, they sacrificed Walker, too, but the war they promised with two prominent supe leaders dead didn’t materialize. Peyton’s threat to expose me? Nothing came of it. The vampires in Muncie might not want me here, but the majority of them respect Aleks’s claim to me. And those that don’t? They’re too busy trying to lop off his head to pay a submissive she-wolf any attention unless they want to compare her to Alek’s first beloved...
I have to get out of here. It’s been days since I went further than the balcony, and though taking off, running away and leaving Aleks behind is out of the question, I need to go.
Luckily, I have an open invitation to visit Gem in Accalia anytime I want. Apart from loyal Cadre vamps like Tamera, Leigh, and a few others, Gem is the only one he trusts to keep me safe when he can’t. Ryker’s territory is as protected as Muncie, so as long as I head straight up the moment, I should be able to go for a run, see my friend, and maybe get my head screwed on straight.
The last time I needed relationship advice, Gem came to visit me down in Charlie’s. With things in Muncie changing since then, and Ryker as overprotective of his mate as ever, it’s probably not a good time to see if she wants to see me. Besides, I’m the one who needs the fresh air. It can’t hurt for me to take the journey up to Accalia.
And I believe that all the way up until I cross out of Muncie and enter the stretch of gravel road broken up by dirt that exists between the vampire and shifter lands…
Before I left the apartment, I sent two texts: one to Aleks, one to Gem. I figured he would know within seconds of me stepping foot outside that I was going out, but I wanted him to hear it from me. See? Compromise. I informed Aleks I was going to visit Gem, but I promised I’d be home before he returned from the Cadre building.
Hopefully, by then, I’ll be able to take that conversation I overheard, shove it inside a little box in the corner of my mind, and forget about it completely.
Claws crossed.
To Gem, I just gave her a heads up that I was coming to visit. Unlike Aleks—who can go hours between reading and responding to texts—she answered immediately with a smiley face emoji.
I didn’t grab anything to bring with me, not even my deck of cards. My wolf wouldn’t let me. Of everything in this world I now own, those cards are priceless to me. Even if I convinced myself that Aleks would be better off without me, I couldn’t just run away. I’d have to return for my cards.
Staying in my skin since I don’t have a change of clothes, I walk the length of Muncie, purposely ignoring the few vampires I catch watching me go. Alek’s apartment is only about a twenty minute walk—at a shifter’s pace, that is—before I reach the nearest exit to the Fang City.
The Fang City and the outer reaches of the Mountainside Pack just about butt up against each other. In between, there’s a twenty-foot-wide patch of broken road and torn-up dirt patches that separates them. I think of it as a no man’s land, and the last time I came this way, Walker was waiting for me and Aleks.
The time before that? Peyton Slade had ambushed me after I visited Gem.
That’s the downside to having a pack this close to the Fang City. Without any other shifters living in Muncie, when I scent wolf on the breeze, I immediately think of Mountainside. So far I’ve been wrong twice, and you think I’d have learned from my mistakes.
