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It’s not until Leo’s wet nose nudges me over and Calvin kneels to scoop my torso into his arms that my insecurities that have plagued me since I was a little girl come to the surface. My legs sprawl on the dirt as my shoulder is pressed to Calvin’s chest. “They chose wrong,” I murmur to the night air. My nose is not far from Calvin’s as I stare into his red eyes. I can feel Leo’s fur on my side as he sniffs my face and hair. “They want a powerful witch for whatever it is they’re up to, tethering us like this. They think because I’m Fern Moon’s daughter that I have her magic.” I swallow the lump in my throat, so I don’t cry in front of two men. “But I’m nothing like her. We’ll never be able to do what they want and break the tether. I don’t have enough magic to be useful.”
Calvin’s eyes widen. “You’re Fern Moon’s daughter?”
I nod, my body weak and breathless, now that my arms aren’t lit with a phantom fire.
Calvin’s expression firms. “Your mother had a few friends and a lot of enemies. Have you considered that you’ve had the misfortune of being tethered to a shifter and a vampire simply because there is no way you would survive being caught in the middle of us?”
Leo harrumphs, his bear breath blowing my hair out of my face. He turns himself back into a man so he can speak. “Do you hear yourself? What kind of a sick person would do that?”
Calvin shrugs. “A witch. It’s not a bad plan. I haven’t been tethered to her an entire hour, and I nearly killed you.”
Leo scoffs, his chin-length silky black hair falling forward. “You weren’t even close. We were just warming up.” He reaches out and holds my hand, as if that’s the kind of thing we do for each other. As if I didn’t bring this pain on myself when I ran away.
Twice.
“No more fighting,” I tell them, sitting up in Calvin’s arms. He spreads his legs so my butt is on the grass, but his legs and arms encase me in a cocoon of safety—something I never thought a vampire could provide.
“No more running,” Leo scolds me.
My eyebrows push together as I frown at the shifter. “I’ll stop running when you stop being awful. I’m not sticking around for a macho showdown, or to let you treat me like crap, Leo. I’d rather my arms burn than deal with that.” My breath is still coming in choppy pants. It’s too easy to lean into Calvin and let him support my noodled form.
Calvin and Leo glare at each other, but I watch them agree silently on a truce that for now, they won’t tear each other apart.
We have to get through this together if we’re going to get away from each other.
Calvin’s voice has a tonal melodic quality to it when he’s being nice. “Is this where it hurt?” he asks, brushing his long fingers up and down my bicep.
“Mm. That feels nice.” My lashes flutter shut as I permit my spine to relax against his torso, slumping into him.
“Why were you running from Leo when I found you in the woods, little snack?” Calvin asks me.
Leo’s growl remains low in his throat. It’s an improvement from tackling the vampire, which I know he still wants to do.
I’m not one to kiss and tell, so I keep my mouth shut.
Leo’s mouth firms in a tight line before he speaks. “The tether is strong. Makes you think things are happening naturally that are unnatural. I got carried away and then remembered myself. Ivy seemed to like it when I got carried away. Not so much when I remembered myself.”
I scowl at him. “That’s a lousy way to put it. You kissed me and then bit my head off the second you realized you were enjoying yourself. Magic or not, I don’t have to hang around for your bout with multiple personalities. Pick one and stick with it.” Though, kudos to Leo for summing up an embarrassing moment while completely naked, kneeling in front of a man he loathes.
Calvin makes a low noise in his chest while he traces tantalizing lines up and down my arms. “Mm. I can see that. Everything is heightened with her for me, too. Her normal scent is far more distracting than I’m used to.”
Everything feels amazing to me—Leo’s kiss and Calvin’s touch—but that’s most likely because I am wholly unused to a man’s closeness these days. It’s also the middle of the night, so I’m not completely married to lucidity at this point.
Leo holds his hands out. “Then get off his lap, Ivy. This is all going poorly.”
I reluctantly take Leo’s hand and sit in between the two of them. Once Calvin’s touch is gone from my body, I remember I have to be an adult and like, think. “Fine, fine. If we can only undo this and get away from each other once we do what the witch who did this wants us to do, then let’s get to it. If we don’t solve this quick, someone’s going to die, and it’s not going to be me. I have things to do this week that I can’t be dead for.”
The guys give an airy chuckle at my quip.
Leo shrugs. “I’ve got nothing. I have no idea what we’re supposed to be doing or why we need to be together.”
Calvin regards us with hesitation before he speaks. “I mean, I have a guess. It would be the sort of thing a witch might do to bind us together just for the sake of pure chaos. No better way to start a war than the oldest vampire going after the leader of the bear shifter pack, and murdering Fern Moon’s daughter in the process.”
Calvin’s supposition settles in the night air between us. It’s a horrible idea, but not implausible.
Leo scratches his forearm, which is lain across his lap to hide his length from us. “If that happened, my pack would retaliate. They’d go after anything undead, regardless of the consequences.”
Calvin nods. “I can see things playing out exactly like that.”
