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"We should retaliate and show those vamps a lesson for messing with us," a shifter named Tala says. She's as outspoken as she is hardheaded.
"No, Tala," I say. I know how good she is at getting the pack all riled up, so I have to shut her radical ideas down as quickly as I can. "We will not go against the coven's suggestion."
"The coven? Since when do they have a right to dictate what everyone else does?"
"They don't. They simply serve as mediators and peacekeepers," I answer with a firm tone, hoping it'll induce her to back off. "They mediated our argument and suggested the new boundaries and padding as a solution. Remember, we weren't looking to start trouble here. We just wanted to keep the vampires off our territory."
"Youmight not be looking to start trouble," she mutters under her breath as she walks away. She always does this—mutters a few words to instigate the rest of the pack's anger. She does it quietly enough that I can't outright accuse her of undermining my authority as alpha. She knows she can't get away with stirring insurgency. But these little games she plays are no less dangerous.
She starts another one a few hours later, barging into my room after slipping through my apartment's open window.
"Tala, leave my room," I say with an exasperated sigh. She climbs onto the bed next to me and makes herself comfortable against my side
"Oh, come on, Lucian," she says coyly as she traces her fingers along the ridged lines of my chest. "We would both feel better if you would just give intothis."
"There is nothis, Tala. There's nothing between us and there never will be, so please just leave."
She makes a disgruntled noise that sounds like her lungs are full of sand and dirt, but she does leave my room, and without so much as a word. Tala's silence usually signals trouble ahead. But I am too tired and preoccupied with other things to deal with that tonight. Instead, I think about Elspeth.
Her potion bottle sits on my nightstand, and I reach for it and rub the healing oil on my cuts. The oil instantly cools my skin and sends a shiver down my spine. Within minutes, the cuts have stopped hurting, and my eyelids feel so heavy that I nod off the moment I've set the bottle of healing oil back on the nightstand.
3
ELSPETH
Idon't normally stay late at the coven building, but tonight I want to research a few things in the coven archives about some new alchemy spells that I could use the flowers in my night garden for. There are certain flowers—night blooming jasmine, gardenia, and a very rare species of violet—that I know have a lot of uses. I find some fascinating concoctions to try and end up falling asleep with my face in a large research book.
But just before sunrise, a loud crash jars me from an otherwise peaceful sleep.
I'm disoriented and my heart is pounding in my chest from the sheer shock of being woken up so abruptly. The noise sounds like it's coming from the roof, but when I look outside, all I see is my garden, sun-splashed and peaceful. The noise echoes to the left, and when I run to the ledge and look down, I find the source of the noise: a fight in the alley.
It's hard to make out what's happening, but I can see vampires and werewolves attacking each other.
I rush down the stairs and into the alley, doing my best to stay out of the fight while staying close enough to observe the action. One werewolf seems to be leading the others, and it's not Lucian. I know what his eyes look like, and those aren't his. But why would anyone but the pack alpha lead the pack and bark what must be orders at them?
I look around, hoping to spot Lucian, but he's nowhere to be found. Did this wolf pick a fight with the vampires on its own, without the consent of the pack leader?
The wolf notices me staring at it and stalks toward me. When it bares its sharp teeth, I know I'm in trouble.
The wolf lunges at me with its jaw wide open, but before it can reach me, another, bigger wolf hits it and brings it to the ground.
The massive wolf stands with its back toward me and its growling muzzle buried in its opponent's fur. But the other wolf doesn't cease fidgeting or protesting, its growls getting angrier by the second. It knows it's in trouble. Its haunches are trembling under the weight of the larger wolf who turns suddenly, allowing me to see its eyes. I recognize them instantly. They're Lucian's.
He turns back to the wolf below him and snaps his teeth near its jaw, and finally, the smaller wolf quiets and stills, cowed by its alpha.
For a moment, I look into the wolf's dark eyes and feel its heavy breath on my face. I've seen this wolf in my garden, and outside of my window, but never this close. There is something both enthralling and unsettling about being this close to such a regal beast and knowing that there are human eyes looking back through its feral gaze. I want to thank the creature for saving me from a certain death at the jaws of the other wolf, but I also want to confront him, because I know it's the wolf pack’s alpha. But instead of doing either, I let my confusion and feelings of overwhelm take over, and I turn and run out of the alley without stopping to look behind me.
The rest of the werewolves and vampires are still fighting as I pass them.
I keep going, all the way to my apartment. By the time I reach my front door, my lungs are burning, and my heart is pounding so hard I can hear it. As soon as I get inside, I throw the locks on the door and fall onto my couch to try and collect myself. When my breathing has steadied and my heart rate has slowed down, I grab my phone and text Sybil, Blair, and Isla. I tell them about the fight and how it's clear the vampires and werewolves arenotabiding by the boundaries we drew for them. I don't wait to hear back from them because it isn't even dawn yet and they are probably all still asleep. Besides, when they do reply, I'm not sure I actually want to read their responses. I know they'll lecture me about staying in the coven building all night alone, and I'm not in the mood to deal with that. Maybe when I'm less exhausted, shaken, and overwhelmed I will be.
I go upstairs and crawl into bed even though I know I won't be able to sleep. But I surprise myself and instantly drop off and begin to dream.
In my dream, I am sitting in the garden with Lucian's wolf form staring back at me. When I reach out to touch his fur, I can feel the soft thickness of it against my fingers. We sit together in my garden, beneath the white light of the moon that reflects brilliantly off the broad leaves of the plants in my garden, and we stare into each other's eyes like there are answers to be found there.
I want to talk to him, but for some reason my mouth feels slow and tight. Besides, in wolf form, I doubt he could talk back to me.
"Change," I say finally, willing him to turn into a man so we can talk.
