Derek was getting a fire going when I walked in. “Ah, there you are.”
“I think Lander left this.” It was just a basket, but in my arms, it felt like a bomb. I could still smell Liam on it but prayed that it was only me who noticed.
Carefully, I set it on the counter, then Derek lifted the edges of the cloth and picked around through the things.
He set the cloth down, saying nothing, then grabbed a water bottle and turned to me with a smile.
“Listen, I think we should do something about your hair.”
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
I walked to the fireplace and held out my hands. Curious, I looked around for Elliot. I hadn’t seen him much. Part of me wondered if he was just elusive or if he was trying to give me space over the last few days considering that when I had met him, I ended up accidentally vomiting on the bushes because of him. I felt myself flush, the embarrassment of the incident something I knew I’d never live down.
“Well,” Derek said while he started to pull the clothes out of the basket, “I mean, unless you like this streaky look?
I can trim it too? It’s a little choppy.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “We need dye.”
“I sent Elliot into The Hole this morning to get some things, including that. He got a few different colors on my instruction,” he said while wiggling his brows. “I think we can mix two and get the color of your roots. If that’s what you want?”
“The Hole also has hair dye?”
“It’s like a general store but it’s friendly to nonhumans and humans alike.”
“How do you know?”
“By the color on the doorframe. Yellow is for both humans and nonhumans. Red for nonhumans only, and green for humans only. The Hole has a yellow doorframe.”
I nodded slowly as my thoughts drifted back to Elliot. I wanted to get to know Derek’s mate better. Derek had been more than kind to me; he had been a key part of me surviving this nightmare. And I had come to realize that he was someone that I truly felt was a friend. A friend whose partner had to be a stellar person if they were with Derek, because knowing Derek, he would never settle for less.
“I’m sorry about earlier this week with him. I feel bad.
I just—”
He snorted out a laugh. “Elliot’s never caused anyone to vomit upon first sight. I thoroughly enjoyed that.” I narrowed my eyes. Derek waved me off. “It’s fine, really. Now, come on. Shower off first but don’t get your hair wet.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, then.”
“Want something to drink?” he asked while I headed to my bathroom.
“Whatever you’re having!” I called back.
After I rinsed off, I walked to Derek’s bathroom, where he had set bowls up on the counter along with two steaming mugs.
“Ready?”
He pulled some gloves on then reached for a trash bag he also had on the corner. “Planning to kill someone?” I asked.
“Not today.” His lips turned into a crooked smile while he had me lift my arms so he could pull the trash bag over me. A slit in the top for my head to pop through and two slits on the sides for my arms.
“That one’s for you.” He motioned his chin to one of the mugs.
“Just coffee?”
“Well, whatever else sounded good,” he added, running a brush through my long hair. “Booze and coffee are always a good choice.”
I took a long sip then sighed in contentment. He was right. Whatever liquor he’d put in the coffee only drew a sappy smile to my lips. “That’s good. Really good.”
“See? I told you blood isn’t so bad.” I spit all the coffee into the sink while Derek roared with laughter.
“Oh—” A growl rolled off me before I started to laugh at myself. “You shithead!”
“Take a seat.” He continued to laugh.
I let out a playful huff then sat back down, my not-bloody boozy coffee in hand. Wordlessly, he slathered a brown goop carefully over my head, making sure every strand was coated with it.
“So, Levi never really mentioned Lander before.”
“Mmm.” He hummed.
“He’s never really mentioned the rest of his family before either.”
“Have you ever asked him?” I bit my tongue. Derek shook his head with an inquisitive brow. “Like I said, he’s not the boogeyman, Charlotte.”
“For the most part,” I grumbled into my mug.
Derek rolled his eyes and kept on painting my head before wrapping it up in plastic. He pulled the trash bag off me then handed me a towel. “Oh, Char, when did you do that?” His fingers touched the scars on the back of my shoulder.
“It, uh—it was a while ago—” Why was the truth so hard still?
“Am I interrupting?” Elliot said, poking his head out from behind the bathroom door.
Derek dropped the subject to greet his mate with a kiss that was all but chaste.
Elliot pulled away then looked at me. “Hello, again.
Feeling better?”
“I’m so sorry,” I sputtered. “I—well, I feel—”
He stepped closer to me. “It’s fine.” He laughed. “I never realized I was that repulsive before.”
“You’re not,” I quickly replied, my cheeks whiplashing into a blush once I realized what I had said. But it wasn’t a lie. He had perfect thick red hair secured by a bandana, and a face full of freckles that made him easy to smile at. It also helped that he had on a black shirt that read Bite Me under his vest. “I didn’t—”
He burst into laughter, clapping his hands after. “And the truth comes out!”
I felt like sticking my head into the sand, then let a laugh fall out of my lips.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you when you’re not puking.”
The color drained from my face again when I realized how ridiculous I must have looked with my hair wrapped in plastic and a trash bag over my body. My fingers picked at it nervously while I shook his hand. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve seen far worse.”
“Derek’s told me so much about you,” I said as he took a seat in the free chair across from me. “I was wondering if I was ever going to meet you.”
“You’ll be seeing a lot of me.” A mischievous grin crept up his lips when he looked back at Derek.
“Well, go on, tell Charlotte what you did,” Derek teased.
Elliot shrugged before looking at me. “Well, I don’t have classes this semester, which makes things easier,” he replied.
“But I may have told them that my cousin was having a baby and well, you know, since she’s having twins and her husband ran off, she will need quite a bit of help. They gave me family leave, so, considering everything, I thought I should take it.”
Derek stared wide-eyed at Elliot before he burst into laughter.
“That’s horrible!” I bellowed. “They believed you?!”
“Compulsion, darling. Always works like a charm,” he replied deviously as Derek padded over to him, taking a seat on one of his thighs.
Derek pulled the bandana off Elliot’s head and pushed some of the hair back with a sigh. “We’re going to have to do something about this. It’s too damn long.”
Elliot rolled his eyes then placed a sweet kiss on Derek’s cheek. “Fine, but let’s get that condom off her head. Poor thing,” he added with a chuckle.
Derek shook his head then slid off Elliott’s lap to check out what was happening with my hair. “Looks streak-free,” e added before he started to carefully peel the plastic off.
Elliot took a long sip from Derek’s mug. “Bloody hell, are you trying to get her drunk so she doesn’t realize the back’s purple?!”
“What?!”
Elliot almost fell out of the chair laughing. Derek just shook his head and reached for my mug, taking a long sip for himself. “All winter, Charlotte. Do you see what I’ve been cursed with?”
“Oh, come on now, you love me, darling.”
“I do,” Derek agreed with a nod. “But you’re getting a bloody haircut.”
• • •
Elliot was sitting on a barstool at the counter, a perspiring bottle of some local IPA in his hand. He took a long sip then leaned back in his seat.
“Can you believe it?” he asked with a mock glumness. “He maimed me, Charlotte. How could you let him do this to me?”
I rolled my eyes and continued to help Derek with our homemade calzones. Derek tossed a slice of bell pepper at Elliot, which he caught in his mouth. “It could be worse,” I offered. My fingers ran through my new short dark locks. “I like this, though.”
“Oh, don’t I know it,” Elliot teased. “And the short looks good on you. You’re like a little pixie.”
Thunder cracked outside. Rain was dribbling against the windows. Derek left me to continue rolling out the calzone dough while he pulled inside filling from the refrigerator. I looked back at him and froze. The countdown calendar with its tiny red dashes through each day stared back at me. There was only a little over one week left.
Levi walked inside and took his wet jacket off. He stepped out of his boots, nose slightly in the air as his nostrils flared. Elliot arched a brow. “Fun time?” Levi just rolled his eyes. “Come on, Levi, didn’t you miss me?”
“It smells like a vampire lovefest in here.”
Elliot lazily shrugged. “Sorry, Levi, but you know what they say: absence makes your dick grow harder.”
A growl sounded from Levi’s chest while both of the vampires roared in laughter. I was trying not to laugh, but once Derek started there was no stopping it. Levi muttered some curses under his breath on his way to his room. “What are we having?!” he called.
“Calzones!” Derek called back.
I was still smiling as Derek’s faded. Elliot turned to look at the doorway, brow arched as Lander strolled forward in navy sweatpants and a long gray thermal.
He hovered behind the screen door then waved at Derek. “I heard there were calzones?”
Derek arched a brow. “Lander, long time.”
His silver gaze cut to Elliot. “It’s only been like two months.”
Elliot chuckled and waved him in. “Come on. Levi went to change.”
Derek shot Elliot a nervous glance before looking at Lander. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Came to see this one,” he said, nodding to Elliot. They grasped hands and quickly hugged before Lander took a step back to look at me. “And check on this one.”
“Still in one piece,” I told him.
Lander arched a brow and took up the stool across from me. “Are you ready for the next full?”
I was opening my mouth to answer when footsteps stopped my words.
Levi paused at the edge of the kitchen, his gaze shooting directly to Lander. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
Lander sighed then and tipped his chin toward the counter. “Figured I would stop by for a quick drink.”
“Sure did,” Levi grumbled before he looked over at me.
“Where are your socks?”
I looked at my bare feet and shrugged. Levi rolled his eyes then walked out of the kitchen, curses echoing in his wake.
I rolled my eyes and started to place some pepperoni inside my calzone. Lander looked it over. “You’re a real chef there.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” I shot back.
Levi chuckled as he stepped back into the kitchen.
“Here.” He chucked a pair of socks at me. I set them down as he walked to the cabinet, eyeing the case of beer on the counter. “Elliot, is that good?”
“Very. Brought another six-pack for you too.” Elliot paused and eyed Lander. “What do you want?”
Lander nudged his chin at Levi. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
“There’s also wine in a decanter in there,” Derek added as he chopped a bell pepper.
Levi held Lander’s gaze for a moment before looking at me. “Charlie girl, what are you having?”
I looked over my shoulder, fingers covered in tomato sauce. “Wine, please.” Levi nodded and pulled two glasses from the cabinet while I went back to my task.
“So, Elliot, how’s the research?” Lander asked.
“Good. A lot of good numbers in the populations. Next year I’m applying for a grant to go farther north so we can do some research on polar bears again.”
My brows shot up. “Polar bears?”
Elliot nodded with a warm smile before he turned a playful gaze to Levi. “They can get a bit cranky, like someone else we all know and love.”
Levi set a glass of wine next to me, his eyes locking with Elliot’s mischievous green ones for a moment before they looked at the socks on the counter then back at my feet. “You don’t need to walk about barefoot when it’s this cold outside.
It’s going to dip around zero later.”
Inwardly, I felt this thing in me smile. I put on the thick tube socks that were way too big for my feet but were warm, which was nice on the icy wood floors. Levi nodded to me in approval before taking a long sip of his wine.
He handed a glass to Lander, leaning on the edge of the counter. “Are you staying for dinner?”
“Is that an invitation?”
“Why not? The more the merrier,” Elliot said with a cheeky grin.
Levi grumbled under his breath and walked back into his room. Lander winked at me playfully then eyed the calzones. “I like extra sausage.”
“Then you can get over here and make one,” I told him, earning me a loud laugh.
We ended up camping out in the living room and watching some Western Elliot loved on the television, with six different calzones scattered on the coffee table. I helped myself to another gooey slice with fresh pepperoni from a local butcher and ricotta that made my mouth water.
Elliot whispered something to Derek that made him laugh from deep in his belly. I shook my head and went back to my calzone. The sound of their laughter, though, took me to a time when it was just Nate and me on the couch eating Chinese takeout while we watched bad movies so we could make out the whole time.
The beast in me snapped at those memories but I shoved her away. I knew better, but seeing the two vampires together in the kind of love that I thought I knew only made the memories flame to life. Memories of how we used to be.
“Any news at The Hole?” Lander asked.
Elliot stilled. His eyes flickered to me. Levi caught his gaze. He narrowed his silver eyes at Elliot. “She deserves to know,” Lander said.
My ears perked up. “Know what?”
Elliot wiped his mouth. “At The Hole—they have a little restaurant there. I was waiting on them to ring me up and heard a man asking about you.”
My blood turned cold as ice. “What?”
Elliot sighed then smiled sympathetically. “He was looking for a woman who fits your description. Driving a beat-up 4Runner. Said he was hired by the woman’s husband to find her.”
The beast in me charged forward. I could barely contain the growl that rolled out of my chest. “What did he look like?” Dear god, had Nate found me?
Elliot leaned back in his chair. “Short bloke, a little pudgy. Balding—had never been in cold weather before,” he added with a laugh. “Barely had what could be considered a coat on.”
While I felt some relief that it wasn’t Nate, that didn’t stop the unease from growing in my gut.
Lander wiped his mouth and looked at me. “I already have someone tailing him.”
“Why not let Derek or Elliot handle it?” I asked, trying not to sound desperate.
Lander leaned on his forearms. “Well, since this is the second human up here looking for you, we wanted to see if we could figure out a little more as to what your boyfriend—”
“Ex,” I snapped. I looked away and at my glass. “He’s my ex.”
“Has the guy been seen anywhere else?” Derek asked, breaking the silent tension in the room.
“Staff said he had been asking around at other places,”
Elliot replied. His gaze narrowed. “We’re going to have to handle that soon.”
“If I die, you can’t let him have my body,” I found myself saying. “Cremate me. Bury me somewhere out here. Bury me next to the fucking woodpile, but you can’t—” My voice cracked. I felt the tears building in my eyes as my fists clenched. “He can’t have me again.”
“He’s not coming near you,” Derek stated, his eyes growing dark.
Levi leaned back in his seat, his silver eyes holding mine.
“We need to call the attorney. Have him cook some shit up.”
Lander took a sip of wine, carefully eyeing his brother.
“And what if they want a body?”
Levi shrugged. “Say she fell off a goddamn cliff. We can always have some of your coven go down and compel him.”
“I’ll volunteer for that,” Elliot said with a dark smile.
“Attorney?” I asked.
Lander leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“For humans who turn who had past lives and whatnot, we’ve had one of the pack attorneys fake their deaths. Car accident, wild animals, drowning—doesn’t matter. Usually creates something that explains there not being a body.
Either they turn into a missing person who is declared dead after so many years or they’re just declared dead. They do that, then they create a brand-new identity for the new were or vamp so they can go out into society, if they need to, without being traced.
“We can’t have anything coming back to the pack. All of us, well, we’re more or less living on bullshit. I think I’ve
‘died’ and had a new identity made a dozen or so times—I’ve lost count. Keeps the pack safe and keeps you safe.”
Levi cleared his throat. “If you don’t make it, we’ll have the attorney spin something. Bury you somewhere out here.
I personally agree that the woodpile would be nice.”
I felt a grin pull at my lips. I wiped my eyes with a nod, but it didn’t help the uneasy feeling in my stomach. “He won’t stop looking,” I told Levi. “He won’t. He’ll send more people up here.”
“Winter will be here soon and no one will be able to snoop,” Derek pointed out. “Too much snow. All the roads will be closed.”
I shook my head because I knew Nate all too well. “He won’t stop.”
He would not stop until he had the answers he needed, which meant harming anyone who got in his way—including the pack. While I was not technically pack, I wasn’t about to let Nate ruin innocent people’s lives because of his selfishness.
I wasn’t about to let him expose Levi and Derek.
“We’ll think of something,” Derek said. “You just worry about the next full moon.”
“I can go out with the scouts,” Elliot offered.
Lander nodded. “Go and compel him. Easy story. Say no one has seen her. Let’s see if we can’t get them to look elsewhere for her.”
“He’ll send more people, Levi.” I pushed back.
“Let’s deal with one bridge at a time,” Lander gently responded. “If we can get him to start looking for you in another state, then that buys us enough time to think of something long-term.”
I closed my mouth, my heart racing as my beast paced.
Elliot looked over at me. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll send him home. In one piece too,” he added with a wink.
I reached for my wine, which wasn’t helping my nerves.
Wiping my mouth after a long sip, I looked over at Elliot.
“Any sign of rogues? Any rumors?” I asked.
Levi went rigid in his chair. Elliot eyed him before looking at me. He shook his head. “No, and if there were, you would know.”
“It’s a big deal,” Derek said. “Like I’ve told you.”
But I knew if there were rumors Derek would try to protect me by not telling me.
Elliot tossed an arm around Derek’s shoulders.
Lander shook his head. “Nothing so far. Although they are usually very sick. Very easy to spot. Our neighbors haven’t seen anything either.”
“But I don’t understand . . . the wolves that attacked me.
They looked sick but they weren’t—they were organized.
Planned.” I sighed. “It feels like these rogues could hide in plain sight.”
Levi’s jaw clenched. His hand tightened around his glass.
Lander nodded. “Yes, but after looking into it, we decided they had to be recently rogue. Meaning they weren’t that far gone.”
“But how did they get that way? They really seemed normal, minus their eyes. Honestly, Lander, they seemed pretty high functioning to me.”
Lander took a longer sip of wine. “I know. I’m still looking into it.”
I arched a brow. Levi looked like he was about to burst from his skin while Derek took a convenient sip of his drink.
“One problem at a time,” Levi grumbled. He stood up from his recliner, icy eyes looking right at Derek before his wintery gaze was trained on me. “Just worry about not dying first.”
I shut my mouth then nodded. There was no use getting worked up over something that may very well not happen.
Derek watched Levi walk back into his room and slam the door before he took another long drink. Elliot looked at his glass then smiled gently. “Another?”
“Yes, please.”
“You’re drinking more blood.”
“All right, Mum,” Derek teased, diffusing the atmosphere in the room but reawakening old memories that I wanted to stay dead.
Lander stood up, eyeing the mist coming down outside.
“I better head out. My mate is going to be pissed I missed dinner and even more pissed when I tell her I had a calzone.”
I stood and walked with Lander to the door. He stepped outside and turned, looking past me first then directly in my eyes. “You’re all right?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He arched a brow. I crossed my arms over my chest. “I am as good as I can be.”
He stepped back with a nod. “I’ll check back again.”
I nodded with a wave, and in an instant Lander was gone into the darkness of the night and only mist danced on my cheeks. The outline of the waxing moon peeked through the rain clouds, and I found myself finding more comfort in that than the thought of another sunny day.
