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She’s alive!
I slow as I approach, sniffing the air for any trace of her blood. I’m not sure if I should take this vampire’s head off if he hurt her or thank him for bringing her back to me.
Calvin? When I recognize the vampire, my rage dies. He’s a harmless old fart. I shift onto two legs, not caring that I am naked in front of Ivy yet again. And Cal’s used to Grayrock City, where at any hour of the day or night, a shifter might find themselves without their clothes.
“That was a bad idea, Ivy. Let’s go.” I hold my hand out for Calvin to return what’s mine.
What’s mine?Internally, I back away from that thought. I don’t know where that came from.
Calvin does not comply but steps back warily, clutching her tighter to him. “She doesn’t want to go with you, so step aside.”
I motion to my right arm, not in the mood to argue. “Well, she doesn’t have a choice. We’re tethered to each other.” Then to Ivy I say, “Running off is only going to hurt the both of us, so stay here and help me deal with this.”
Calvin frowns at me. “She’s tethered to you? To a shifter?”
I nod, wishing I didn’t have to explain this to anyone. It makes little sense to me as it is. “And I’m tethered to her. But I don’t think she did it.”
Calvin’s brows knit. “Of course she didn’t.” He says it in a scolding way toward me, but there’s also a cooing in the last word that sounds mildly indulgent, like Ivy is his sweet little plaything.
No.
My gait widens and I face him without holding back the displeasure on my face.
Ivy’s voice is small. I can tell she is tired. “It’s alright. Thank you, though.” Once Calvin gets the okay from Ivy, he sets her legs down, but she keeps her arm on his shoulder, clinging to his side. Her expression is stern as she regards me, keeping her gaze firmly fixed far from my cock. “How do we undo it? I don’t want to be tethered to you.”
I spell out the thing she already knows. “We’re tethered until we do whatever task the witch who cast the spell has for us. I have no idea what that is, but we’re not going to figure it out if you go running off.”
“Then don’t talk to me the way you did!” Ivy spouts at me.
Calvin’s arm curves around her waist, and I swear, my animal growls territorially. I point at Calvin, taking a step forward. “Hands off.”
But Calvin doesn’t comply. He merely chuckles, as if I’ve said something funny. “The thing is, Leo, that you two might be tethered to each other, but I’m the one who found her on all fours in the woods.”
To think of that predatory leech seeing Ivy like that sears anger across my chest. “Stop talking, vamp.”
He fixes his eyes on my face with a coolness that has the clear gauntlet of a challenge thrown in. He thumbs a circle on her hip just to taunt me, and I have to remind myself that there are consequences for attacking anyone living in Grayrock City. Shifters brawl around with each other, but fighting between sects is dealt with publicly and quickly, which I don’t want.
I give Calvin another warning. “Hands off.”
Calvin’s shoulders are loose, as if he is unaffected by my menace. “Do you want to know why I found her on all fours in the woods? Helpless? Lost? Who knows what could have happened, had I not found her. I mean, anyone could have come along and taken advantage.”
He’s toying with me, but fortunately, Ivy intervenes, shooting a baleful look up at him. He’s got about two inches on her, but I tower over them both. “I was hardly that bad off. Don’t make me sound like an idiot.”
“Apologies, little snack.” With his other hand, he touches the tip of her button nose in a cutesy way that makes her blush.
She fucking blushed for him.
I can see myself murdering him right here and now. Killing a vampire isn’t all that complicated, though that doesn’t make it easy. You only have to take their head off, and they die. Their skin is nearly impenetrable, though, and their bones are practically steel.
Still, if he keeps toying with the both of us like this, he’s going to find out that even his bones are capable of snapping if a shifter is angry enough.
“Let’s go, Ivy,” I grumble, teetering on the edge of my control.
Calvin holds up his free hand. “I prefer not to go into shifter territory, if you don’t mind.”
My upper lip curls. “I don’t care where the fuck you go, so long as you get out of here. Did you think I was inviting you into my home, vamp?”
“I go where Ivy goes,” he rules, as if that’s all the discussion there will be about it. Before I can argue, he motions to his left arm. “See, the reason I found Ivy is that some witch tethered me to her, too.”
