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I shake my head. “I can’t believe anyone would be so vindictive. That’s awful.”
“Can’t believe or don’t want to believe?” Leo asks.
“The second one, I guess.” My chin lowers. “Then we get out of this when… what? One of you kills the other and causes a big mess for the city?”
The three of us stare at each other as the finality hangs in the air.
Leo’s eyes close. “Let’s hope that’s not what the witch who did this to us wants. In the meantime, we have to figure out how we’re going to live together until we can undo this.” He shakes his head and cuts his arm through the air in front of him. “Sneaking a witch into my condo is one risk, but a vampire? The pack would scent you first thing and react.”
Calvin’s chin moves up and down once. He is elegant even sitting on the ground like this. His posture is erect and his diction uncompromised even with the stress of the night. “You wouldn’t be attacked at my place, and my property is large enough that you wouldn’t be scented by the neighbors. You wouldn’t be able to come and go without vampires knowing about it. But I suppose if you came in and out during the daytime when most of us are sleeping, you wouldn’t be doomed off the bat.”
I know the decent thing to do is offer my apartment, but I really don’t want to. Fern and I lived simply, and after she passed, I didn’t make much of an effort to improve my living situation at all.
Plus, there’s no way I’m explaining my wall of crazy to these two. I barely understand it myself.
I rub the nape of my neck. “I, um, my place is neutral because it’s not in Grayrock City, but it’s really small.” I also don’t like people in my space, but I don’t mention that part.
Calvin’s brow raises. “How far outside the city?”
I shrug. “A jog. A few miles. Just through the woods on the other side.”
“Curious that a witch would move right there and not into the city. When Fern left, she didn’t go far. But she never came back. Odd.” Calvin fixes his red eyes on me.
He is dapper, to be sure. Being the sole focus of his attention is something that part of me wants but the other part knows I am unprepared for the gravity of it.
Calvin sighs. “Then again, it’s Fern Moon. I could see she might want to be outside the city rules but close enough to cause mischief.”
Of course the most interesting thing about me would be my mother.
Leo inhales deeply. “We need to move. A shifter, a witch, and a vampire sitting in the woods talking at two in the morning will be enough to get people asking questions, which I don’t want. The more we don’t have to explain this to people, the better our chances will be at not causing mass war.” He turns his head from left to right. “I need at least a little sleep. Where are we headed?”
Calvin and I look at each other. I beg him with my eyes not to let it be my place. “It’s safer outside of Grayrock, Ivy darling.” He speaks like such a gentleman, yet I childishly want to shove him for being right.
Darling. He uses terms of endearment like they’re dime store candies, passing them out without caution.
I remind myself not to fall for Calvin. Who cares that his touch was silk on my skin? Who cares that he is devastatingly beautiful? None of that matters. Vampires are made to draw in their prey. Of course his body fits perfectly with mine.
But then, so did Leo’s, who is an obviously different build from Calvin. Leo’s kiss, his touch, was similarly intoxicating. It was so easy to give myself over to him.
I can’t let that happen again.
“Your place,” I rule, even though it is not ideal. “Mine is too small.”
Plus, I’ve got what is clearly a serial killer wall of the gargoyle’s plight in plain view. As much as I know I don’t have to explain myself to anyone, I am not ready to open my crazy box and show these two strangers what’s inside.
Calvin nods, taking in my vote as if he can see right through me. “Alright. Let’s sneak you onto my property, so you’re not seen by the neighbors. Balmer is a nosey one.” He glances at Leo, whom I can also tell isn’t fooled by my vote. “Let’s grab you an overnight bag, good sir.”
Leo tips his imaginary top hat at Calvin. I can tell the two are donning their best manners to prove to me that we can do this without devolving into a brawl. “Alright, good man.”
And just like that, the two went from near fisticuffs to congenial.
I cannot keep up.
10
Calvin
Ican’t stop touching her, so it’s good that I am driving and she is in the back with Leo right now. It’s going to amount to the better part of a problem if I keep claiming her in front of the shifter, who so clearly has designs on my little witch.
