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“This cult ring any bells for you?” Connor asked.
“This wouldn’t be the first time humans tried to turn themselves into werewolves. I don’t know of any times it was actually successful—that someone transformed or became this hybrid you’ve mentioned.”
“Maybe that’s one reason it’s all gone wrong,” I said. “I mean, not just because the magic may not be good in the first place, but because they aren’t humans. They’re shifters. It would have affected them differently.”
“I bet you’re right,” Connor said.
“We need to update the clan,” Georgia said.
Connor looked at her for a quiet moment. “You know there’sa good chance Cash won’t believe us. That we will lay out for him exactly what his shifters have been doing, and why, and he’ll continue with his denial.”
Georgia looked away, irritated by the words or the fact that she knew he was right. “The truth will out. And we’ll see what happens then.”
TWENTY-TWO
Georgia left to request an audience. Ironic, given she was an elder as well, but Cash and Everett apparently had some superior claim to that title. Based on what I’d seen so far, that seemed mostly the case because they had Y chromosomes.
“I’d like a favor,” I told Connor when we were alone again in the cabin. Lulu planned to binge-watch a fashion competition in the RV, and Theo was cleaning his service weapon. Just in case.
“Anything.”
I smiled at the quickness of his answer. “For the last few days, whenever we’ve been around Cash, I’ve played the guest, the girlfriend, the colleague—and that’s fine. I’m comfortable being all those things. But I’m not just any of those things, so I’ve been playing this... role... for their benefit.
“And what’s beneath the role?”
“Vampire. Not of the biting variety,” I said, “given the clan has already seen the aftereffects of that. But the fighter. The swagger. I think it’s time to show that side to the clan.”
He watched me for a moment, considering. “We’ll piss people off.”
“Only if we’re lucky,” I said with a grin. “Like you said, the clan needs a little airing out. A disruption. Maybe a vampire in regalia will wake them up a little. And besides—you may be required by the Obsideo to solve their crisis, but they can’t keep you from doing it on your own terms, right?”
“You have a point,” he said. “And not just the katana.”
“Or the fangs.”
“Or,” he said with a smile, “you be the vampire and I’ll be the alpha, and we’ll see what happens.”
***
I hadn’t brought many clothes, but I didn’t need a closetful.
Black jeans. Black tank. Black boots. Simple, dark, powerful. I unraveled my braid, tossed my head, and shook out my hair. When I flipped my hair back, it made a long and wavy halo of soft gold around my shoulders. Lipstick of deep crimson, and my sword in hand. No scabbard, no belt. Just gleaming steel.
The rest was up to me.
When I walked back into the room, Theo, Lulu, Connor, and Alexei were waiting.
“About fucking time you showed a little fang,” Lulu said, nodding as she looked at me. Theo and Alexei had similar looks of approval.
I’d have summed up Connor’s expression in a single word:Yes.
“That’s going to make quite an impression,” Theo said.
“That’s the idea,” I said, wiggling my fingers around the corded braid of the katana handle, feeling for just the right grip. And enjoying the satisfaction when my fingers settled into just the right places.
I hoped I wouldn’t need to use it to shed blood in a room of Connor’s Packmates and kin. But that didn’t make me a little regretful I wouldn’t be able to use it at all.
***
