AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Patience.
Plus, if anyone were to see a vampire lovingly holding a witch as I did in the woods, officers would get involved, and with my luck, Ivy would be stoned, and my head torn clean off for illicit affection between sects.
Can’t have that.
I am careful as I drive west through the town and turn into my side of the city. I don’t want anyone to catch wind of the very taboo thing we are doing.
“You’re nervous,” Ivy Moon says quietly from the backseat, where she and the shifter are huddled away from view of the windows in the sedan.
I check my posture and expression, making sure I’m not giving off any undue hints to my inner conflict. “I suppose I am a bit cautious tonight for all the obvious reasons.”
“You think this is a bad idea,” she amends.
I shrug, trying not to glance into the backseat. I don’t want the image of the shifter’s arm around her shoulders, keeping her huddled and slumped beside him burning its way into my permanent memories. I shouldn’t despise him. And truly, the more I’m around the shifter, “despise” isn’t quite the right classification. It’s a heavy letdown that I could have had this succulent snack to myself for the night. With the way her body bends easily to mine, it would be no great effort to sneak her past any officers lurking about and bring her into my bed. But Ivy Moon seems equally drawn to Leo, so the two of us aren’t getting anywhere fast with her.
Leo doesn’t appear smug that Ivy Moon is cuddled into his side like a kitten purring for her bear. His focus isn’t on his own ego but rests entirely on her comfort and protection. Every time her head pops up too high, he tenderly runs his fingers through her hair, drawing her back down to slump into his side. “We can’t be seen,” he reminds her.
Ivy’s hand brushes his wrist but then she jerks it away, as if remembering that she is cross with him over some flirty mishap that occurred before I came into the picture.
Leo recognizes the ice in her, even though the two are huddled together. “You’re going to be angry for a while, aren’t you, little fox.”
She keeps her gaze from him and glances to the front seat, clearly not wanting me to witness this exchange.
Too bad.
“It’s fine,” she says, though it’s clearly not. “We got turned around and now we’re pointed the right way. Won’t happen again.”
His fingers trail down her forearm. I can see the effect this has on her if her shallow intake of breath and lidded eyes are any indication. “Don’t say that. I was confused. Still am. I’d never kissed a witch before, and it scrambled my brains a little. It’s more intense than I’m used to, is all. It’s hard to know if this is the tether or if it’s real.”
I grip the steering wheel, my curiosity piqued.
Ivy is young. It is clear she has no idea how lost for her this shifter is. And she has been so removed from Grayrock City that she has no clue how impossible a feat it is that a shifter should take interest in a witch. To her it’s all silly grudges that need to be buried. But to the people who have buried many and lost much due to the differing sects with which we coexist, those lines are there for a good reason.
I have to remind myself of this as I drive through the night, nodding at a few of my friends as I pass. There are far more people out and about in the vampire part of town, as we sleep during the day and do our socializing and commerce in the night. I try to appear normal, and not as if I am bringing two people who should certainly not be here into our part of town.
I can’t tell anyone what is happening. They will jump to conclusions about my delicious snack before I can get a word in.
If they knew how good her blood smelled, they might want her for themselves.
Ivy’s voice is quiet, as if that will do anything to keep me from hearing her reply. “You think this sort of thing happens every day for me? Do you want to know when I last kissed a man? Years ago, Leo. I didn’t plan this. It’s all overwhelming for me, too.” She shakes her head. “And it’s not real. It’s the tether, I’ll bet.”
Leo’s nose scrunches. “How do you figure? Sure, the tether brought us together, but it didn’t make me kiss you.”
I hate that they’ve kissed.
“Then what did?” Ivy asks, clearly frustrated. “And why does it feel ten times more powerful when you or Calvin touch my skin than anyone else? I’m lonely, sure, but not so desperate that my mind can play tricks on me like that. I swear, I nearly forget every bit of sense I’ve ever had the second either of you is near enough to touch.”
I hate that she’s right, but I felt it, too. And I don’t have the disadvantage of coming into this from a lonely predisposition. I got laid three days ago, and though it was perfectly adequate, it was nothing to the zing of merely brushing Ivy’s wrist with my fingers.
“I think you’re right, little snack,” I say from the front seat, even though I have not been invited to weigh in on their conversation. “I felt it, too. And not just because it’s taboo to be making advances at a witch, and I’m desperate for some sort of relief from my boredom. There’s something deeper at play.”
Leo shrugs off my caution. “I don’t care. All I know is that this feels good. After the night we’ve had, I’m leaning into it.”
Typical shifter. All impulse and no control. Then they blame us when we lose hold of ourselves, simply because when we do, it ends in death. But shifters cause their fair share of harm, too.
A little voice that serves as my pesky conscience rises up to chide me. “Now, now. You don’t truly know Leo. And you’re barely holding yourself together up here while she’s back there. You feel the tug of this bond. It will only be a matter of time before you act on it—and not much time, at that.”
“I… I don’t know,” Ivy says quietly. “This is a lot to take in for one night. I need to sleep on this. I need to clear my head. I need…”
