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“Problem?” I echo up at him, not liking his choice of words for our situation.
Calvin’s shoulders soften as his hand rests on my hip. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I want you near me because you choose it, not because someone else chose this for you.”
I nod, grateful for his rephrasing. “I like that much better. You don’t… You don’t regret last night, do you?”
Calvin chortles, the sound low and dark. “The only thing I regret is that I passed out. I would have liked to last far longer.” He leans in and kisses my slick lips. “Perhaps we can remedy that this evening.”
I practically purr at the notion of a repeat. “I like the sound of that.”
Calvin kisses me once more while I soap up his stomach. “Now tell me about your nightmares, and how we managed to fuck them clear out of your head for the night.”
I smirk at the guys. “I’m not sure it’s all that simple, and I didn’t mean for this to be the main topic of conversation, but yes. That seems to be exactly what happened. Best night of sleep I’ve had in weeks.” I don’t want to tell them that I dream of the lone gargoyle every night. I have a wall of my apartment dedicated to his life’s story that came to me from my tormented nightmares. I don’t want to admit that I feel his pain as if it were my own, that I feel tied to this gargoyle in some intangible way that haunts me.
Best keep the crazy tucked away for as long as possible.
I search for an organic way to change the subject, but when I kneel to wash Calvin’s thigh, my words still on my tongue. “Calvin, is this… Did you do this?”
Leo leans forward, pushing himself off the tiled wall to get a closer look. “Holy shit. Cal, what is that?” It’s half accusation, half wonder in Leo’s tone.
Calvin glances down with a frown. “What?” He flexes his left leg, twisting at the waist to get a better look at the new design on his thigh that is similar to ours. “I thought you two doodled on me while I slept. No?”
Leo and I lock eyes, silently communicating that my fears are coming to light. There is far more to this bond than we could have anticipated, and something tells me there is no way out.
19
Leo
My palms are sweating, and there’s no end in sight. “This is going to go horribly,” I say to the two as Calvin drives us from his end of town toward mine. It is precisely dusk outside, which was the first available time for us to travel, given Cal’s aversion to the sun.
I’m sitting in the back with my fox, my body shrouding hers as much as possible to ensure no vampires see us. Even though she is directly beneath me, pinned between my body and the seat, I know her mind is a million miles away, processing what we spent most of the afternoon talking about.
My cheek nuzzles against hers, trying to bring her back to the present things we can control, rather than the nebulous magic that is always out of our grasp. I need to feel her in my arms, to know she is here not just in body, but in mind, too. I’m about to explain things to my pack that I barely understand and just cross my fingers that they will go along with it simply because I say it’s the only way.
I need my woman’s sanity to center me, but ever since the same mysterious mark appeared on her body and Cal’s, she’s been lost in thought.
Not to mention my own angst about my Alpha mark changing in my sleep. That, however, is a problem for another day. It should only be my bearpaw print in the circle, but sure as day, there’s a moon and a teardrop.
Not teardrop. Calvin’s guess that it is a drop of blood, representing his vampiric proclivities seems spot on. And a moon representing Ivy Moon is a little on the nose, too. It’s one thing for my body to naturally crave being near them, but for my Alpha mark to change overnight? That is an oddity I cannot make heads or tails of.
And I’m certainly not going to show my pack that my mark is different now. I’m sure that would go over even worse than the news of me being tethered to a vampire and a witch.
“What’s wrong back there?” Calvin asks over his shoulder.
“I’ve got her.”
“Not her. You.” He takes a hand off the wheel to rub his sternum. “I don’t know why, but I can’t shake the feeling that you’re not doing so well.” He shakes his head. “I shouldn’t know that. I shouldn’t feel it in my chest.” When we stop at a light, he adds, “We’re out of my side of town now. You can sit up.”
I snort into Ivy’s hair as I pull her up to sitting. “It’s nothing, but I guess it’s nice that you care. Or that the tether is forcing you to care. Not sure how it all works.”
“We’ve got time before you get home. Talk.”
I motion out the window as Ivy folds into my side. “That’s just the thing. It doesn’t feel like home now. Ever since I became Alpha, there’s been a pull whenever I’m heading home. It’s a ding in my head that’s like a lock clicking into place.” I shake my head. “It’s hard to explain. But I don’t feel it now.”
Ivy strokes my forearm lovingly. “You’re anxious about explaining all of this to your pack. It’s natural that anything else might be pushed aside.”
I scoop her more firmly to my side, noting the deep inhale that finds me. Her arm wraps around my stomach, and part of me feels sated. Whole.
We all smell similar now, since using Calvin’s shampoo and soap. But that unique aroma that is strictly her fills my senses with such contentment; I can scarcely remember why I’ve ever wanted to be anywhere else.
