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Tammie shouted our names. Emma pouted as I immediately jumped to my feet. I hesitated long enough to say, “Not yet,” then dashed over to Tammie, both girls giggling as they ran to catch up.
Whatever was coming, they had managed to distract me from it.
CHAPTER4
Dorian
Victor tosseda tennis ball right into my hand. We had perched on the roof of my house because it happened to be the warmest spot where we could watch the pack hurrying about on the ground. Both of us were too lazy to climb down and see if anyone wanted our help.
“We need a plan.”
I tossed the ball back to Victor. “Huh?”
“If those creepy death people come back and try to force Margo to go with them, we need a backup plan in case the adults screw it up.”
I sighed as I caught the ball again. “We could take a car and keep driving until we find somewhere to hide her. Except she’s stubborn, so she might not go with us. Besides, we’ve nowhere to go.”
“I suppose. Pity she can’t use her gift as a weapon.”
I fumbled the throw, and the ball rolled to the edge of the roof. We both lurched forwards to catch it, Victor gripping my collar at the last second instead to stop me from falling off.
Laughing, I regained my balance, triumphantly holding the ball in the air. “Got it!”
“I kissed her,” he said, almost under his breath.
I stopped laughing to stare at him. “What did you say?”
“Margo.” He stared at his hands, somehow looking defiant and ashamed all at once. “I kissed her while you were gone.”
I sat up straight, turning to face him. My head had gone all fuzzy, as though I wasn’t quite awake. “She didn’t tell me that.”
“She understood.” He rubbed his jaw. “She knows it wasn’t anything. I just… I missed Mara… and everyone.”
Sudden laughter bubbled up within, but I held it back. “Oh.”
“I didn’t feel right, and I wanted to feel right.” He looked at me then, desperation in his eyes. “I wasn’t trying to… I don’t know what I was doing.”
I stayed silent for a while, thinking about things from his side. People had disappeared, died, and then even the alpha had left the pack for a while. He must have felt all over the place. If Margo wasn’t angry with him, then she had handled it. Though a heads-up might have been nice. “Okay,” I said at last.
“You’re not mad?”
I lifted my shoulders into a shrug. Not mad, exactly. “As long as you don’t do it again.”
We moved closer to the edge of the roof, letting our legs hang over the side.
“I didn’t mean to do it the first time,” he said in that same low, mournful voice that made the back of my neck itch. “I was sad, I think.”
Victor’s feelings and his expression of them had never gone further than the most basic level, so I supposed I had to give him props for at least trying.
“It was a shitty time for everyone,” I said. “We all struggled to handle things.”
“She was cool about it. Like, she understands how we work. Why I’m… the way I am. I’m glad you found her.”
I looked at him askance. He’d changed his tune.
“I’m serious,” he said. “You’ve been different since you met her. Stronger. I know she’s weird, but she’s good for you. And us. She doesn’t get in the way. She tries to get us, to fit in, to understand. Now that I know who she really is, I get a good vibe from her. She mostly doesn’t creep me out anymore.”
Mostly. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “None of it will mean much if we don’t figure out what the harbingers want with her. Maybe they found out what Vira did and punished her for it. That’s the only explanation I can come up with that explains why she came back like that.”
