Chapter 1
Chapter One When I woke up this morning, I didn’t think I would be playing croquet with flamingos and eating jelly donuts, but that’s just the way it was when I visited Nico for our compulsory counseling sessions. I was beginning to think that Nico might suffer from some kind of existential ennui, being so old and stuff, or maybe he just liked being quirky? Either way, I never knew what to expect when I walked through the electric pink waiting room. Would it be a serious session where he’d delve into my emotions, how I felt about being turned into a vampire, betrayed by the woman I called a friend, almost murdering my boyfriend? Or would we be blowing full body bubbles and trying to trap each other in them? Today we were in the town square. Nico aimed his giant pink flamingo mallet and hit the ball against the peg. “Yes! I won. As the kids would say, in your face, Raine!” He spun around and around with his mallet above his head, looking so completely ridiculous that I had to laugh. Nico was competitive, especially when it came to bizarre sports. “That’s very bad sportsmanship, Nico. You should work on that.” He grinned, showing huge fangs. He held out his hand, and I shook it. He was ancient but he didn’t feel that way. His hand was warm and strong. Rough in a way that said he lived the hard life of a barbarian when he was younger. In the soft evening light, I could see the pale rows of the tattoos on his face that spiraled down his body, a whirling geometric pattern that I kind of wanted to trace. He was boyishly handsome, but that innocence belied a power that could consume a person. I pulled my hand away, clearing my throat. Four. That was the number of men I had at home, cherishing me every chance I got. I did not need to make it five. I started packing up the croquet set, humming It’s Raining Men under my breath. Nico watched me for a moment, then helped me collect the rest of the hoops. “So I hear tonight is the big night for you and the Sheriff,” he said conversationally. I nearly tripped over my feet. He was careful not to make it a direct question. Nico’s vampire gift was terrifying really. If he asked you a direct question, you could only answer with the truth. There were some truths I wasn’t ready to answer just yet. I nodded. “Yes, he’s finally taking me on that date he promised me a month ago.” And hopefully, we’d take our relationship to the next level. We’d yet to hit that home run, and I was beginning to think he just liked torturing me with his body. Although, he had been busy. Dark River was getting a visit from the Vampire Nation, and a full complement of Enforcers, which was the vampire version of The Babadook. Everyone was busy making sure there was nothing that would draw the gaze of Lucius, who I discovered was one of the elected heads of the Vampire Nation and an all-around sadistic a-hole. “He is a good man, your Sheriff. I am glad he has taken the time to woo you properly.” I made a general noise of agreement and hoped that was the end of this line of inquiry. Not that I was embarrassed by Walker, but Nico was… well, Nico. He was an enigma, and I could never be sure if he liked me as a friend or wanted something more. I cleared my throat again. “Are you prepared for the Vampire Nation?” It had become a bit of a catchphrase around town lately, as people went about their lives with a giant ACME anvil hanging over their heads. Nico made a rude noise in the back of his throat as he held the door to his office open for me. “I am not worried about Lucius or his arrival. He will be disdainful of what we’ve created here, no matter how hard we polish the town. It is just his nature.” I raised my eyebrow. “You sound like you’ve met him?” Nico just gave me another enigmatic look and continued back toward his office. I sighed. “You know, I’d like your interrogation power sometimes. It would be nice not to be in the dark all the time.” He gave me a sad look over his shoulder as he packed away the equipment. “Do you really mean that?” “No.” The word was out of my mouth before I could stop it. “I think the world is run on little white lies, and the truth all the time would crush a person. You’d have to always be on guard.” With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, he shut the door on the equipment cupboard and my questioning. “Exactly.” When he turned back to face me though, his normal congenial look was back in place. “You should go and get ready for your date, Raine. I hope your night is filled with happiness and romance.” With that, he walked into his office and shut the door. I had a feeling I’d made him mad, or hurt his feelings or something. Normally I would have brought him a unicorn poop cupcake from The Immortal Cupcake, but Angeline was still gone and the store remained closed. My heart ached thinking about Angeline and the reason she left. Alice’s death. I choked back the feeling and stepped back out onto the sidewalk. Brody was there to meet me, like always. The smile on his face chased away any bad feelings. He wrapped me in his arms and nuzzled my neck. I laughed as his long dark hair tickled my face. “Brody! You’re back!” He’d gone back to his Pack to warn them that Lucius and the vampire nation were coming, taking Tex with him. I missed my shapeshifters. Especially Tex, because he was also my housemate. I’d gotten used to him moving around the house, playing his guitar, leaving his towels on the floor. I didn’t want to tell the guys, but being alone gave me anxiety after Alice’s attack a month ago. Luckily, four boyfriends meant that I was rarely alone. Brody kissed me hungrily, and I kissed him back. “I’m back. So is Loverboy. I left him in the car because I’m Alpha and I wanted to make out with you first. Did I abuse my position? Why yes, yes I did. Besides, he can go make kissy face with Judge.” I could hear Tex’s heartbeat behind me and I grinned. “I will, but first I wanted to see my Mate,” he whispered close to my ear. Brody let out a grumbling growl, but he was grinning against my lips. “That’s it. That’s the last time I crack the window for him,” he grumbled. I was whirled in Brody’s arms until Tex had me pressed against his chest. “Hello, Mate.” He whispered it like a promise of dirty, dirty things. “Did you miss me?” I kissed his chin and then sucked his full lower lip between my teeth. “I missed you more than you can imagine. No one snored on the other side of the bed and I actually got a full ten hours sleep.” Brody laughed, and Tex smiled. “That mouth.” He kissed me hard and then slid his hand down to mine. “Well, I missed you. Especially that thing you do with your tongue.” I rolled my eyes in his direction, even though he couldn’t see it, but his words sent heat to my belly. That he’d sense. Life was so unfair sometimes. We walked across the town square toward Brody’s car. It was a 1967 Chevy Impala. Yep, like the one on Supernatural. Brody was a massive Supernatural fan. I watched it for the storyline. Yeah, that’s it. The storyline. “I hear you are going on a date tonight with Sheriff Tight-Pants,” Tex said as he slid into the passenger seat and pulled me onto his lap. Not exactly legal, but hey, I was dating all the cops in Dark River. I shook my head and let out an exasperated huff. “Does everyone know my every move?” Brody laughed, shifting the car into gear and pulling out onto the near-empty streets. Dark River was a town filled with Vampires who could move around at the speed of light. There wasn’t a lot of call for vehicles when you could run eighty miles faster than a bullet train. Except for Brody’s Impala and Walker’s squad car, there were never any cars on the roads. Brody turned off the radio and shrugged. “Well, yeah. Welcome to small town life, Rainey. But the Sheriff told us in our group chat.” I turned to Tex, because let’s face it, if anyone was going to convince them to start a group chat, it was the technologically proficient one in the group. “You guys started a group chat without me?” I stuck out my lip and pouted. Tex rolled his eyes. “Please. The only thing we talk about is you. It makes it easier to ensure we all get a bit of one-on-one time and other stuff. Besides, you don’t even use your phone.” I mean, he was right. I hadn’t used my cellphone at all since Walker had given it to me a couple of months ago. Who did I have to call? Everyone who knew I was alive resided in this town, and when Brody went back to Pack lands, he had no cell reception. “Even Judge?” Tex laughed, and it was echoed by Brody. “Even Judge. It was hard to get him to buy one and let’s just say he is still adapting to the touch screen technology, but he is on board.” I patted at Tex’s pockets, looking for his phone. “I wanna see.” “You keep moving around like that, you’re gonna see something else,” he grumbled. “Oh, haha,” I said, but then my hand skimmed across his hardening dick and he sucked in a breath. Or maybe I sucked in a breath. I squeezed my hand around his cock through his jeans. “Well, this doesn’t feel like your phone.” Tex looked pained. “I don’t know. Maybe you should put your mouth near it and see if it makes a call.” Brody was giggling hysterically now, and Tex was saved by our arrival at my cottage. The red door beckoned me home, and every time I saw its black little walls and white trim, I felt so loved. The guys had bought the cottage for me and Tex, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but it had been the nicest thing anyone has done for me. I was slowly decorating the inside, painting the walls and finding pieces of furniture from the surrounding towns. Brody came around and opened my door, and I slid out from my spot on Tex’s lap, making him groan. He hopped out, unfolding his cane in front of him. Once he was through my door, he had the floor plan memorized enough that he didn’t need the cane. He propped it on the other side of the door and slid off his shoes. “Home sweet home,” he whispered. My heart stuttered. We hadn’t spoken about it, but eventually, Tex was going to have to make contact with home and talk to his parents before they thought he’d been swallowed by the Canadian wilderness too. Maybe he needed to go back and visit. The thought of Tex going home made my heart restrict in my chest. What if he never came back? Mate or not, I was asking him to leave behind everything he’d ever known for a life of uncertainty. Tex was suddenly behind me, pressing my back into his chest and wrapping his arms around my hips. “What are you worrying about, Mika– I mean Raine?” He was still adjusting to the fact that I was now a totally different person. In all honesty, I was still adjusting, so I could forgive a few name slips now and then. I spun in his arms and kissed him softly. “Nothing. I better go get ready for my date. Can’t keep the good Sheriff waiting.” He tilted his head toward me. He knew I was fobbing him off, but he let me. “I think the Sheriff has waited long enough. I wonder if vampires can get blue balls?” I punched him in the arm, then kissed him hard. “I’ll let you know later?” Tex was the only one of my lovers that I didn’t have to worry about jealousy becoming an issue, even though he was my Mate. No, that wasn’t true. They all had the capacity to get jealous, probably why they started a group chat, but Tex didn’t mind sharing me inside the bedroom and out. “Want me to do your makeup?” he asked and I laughed as I headed toward the bedroom. There was an old saying where I came from. Never let a blind man do your makeup.
Chapter 2
Chapter Two When I emerged from the shower, Tex was gone, but Brody was sitting on the kitchen counter with a beer in his hand. He handed me a glass of wine and followed me into my bedroom. He laid on my bed and watched as I went through my wardrobe, probably waiting for my towel to fall and expose my naked ass. “How did it go with your Pack? Are they preparing for an influx of Vampires not restricted by the Concord in the area?” He nodded and swigged his beer. “Yes. Some of the old ones remember the time before the Concord. They took the town's warning seriously. We’ll fortify our boundaries, have evacuation guidelines in place. But we trust Miranda’s wards.” I pulled out lingerie and a little black body-con dress. I hadn’t gone to Ella’s boutique all month, not since Alice’s trial. It felt weird, like I was somehow responsible for Angeline’s world imploding. Angeline needed Cresta and Ella more than I did right now, and she’d known them longer. It was just better this way. I could lean on my guys. Angeline had no one to lean on. Plus, I was a chickenshit and wanted to avoid the inevitable awkwardness. I dropped my towel and grinned at Brody’s groan. “Do you really need to date Mr. Straight and Narrow? Stay home and I’ll give you my version of a tongue bath?” I laughed but knew he didn’t mean it. He liked Walker; they’d been friends for a long time. I still wasn’t sure why Brody wasn’t more jealous of the little lovenest I’d created here, but he wasn’t. He was the one that referred to Judge and Walker as my undead life partners. Not in front of Judge though. Judge had commitment-phobia so bad, he basically broke out in a ball rash at the word marriage. I slid on my underwear, which was a glorified strip of mosquito netting, and then my garter belt. This time Brody sounded pained. “Seriously? Where did they come from? Why do you never wear stockings and suspenders with me?” I slid my bra over my arms and walked over to Brody. “Do me up?” He grumbled something about putting on women’s bras going against the bro-code, but his fingers were deft. When I was all strapped into my torture device, I paused. “Brody. Do you think that because I will never change, my boobs won’t sag when I get old?” Yeah, that was the kinda shit I thought about now. Don’t judge me. “I guess so? You’d have to ask the Do-” he snapped his mouth shut. We were so used to asking Alice, aka the town’s doctor, questions, it was weird that she wasn’t here. “Ask Walker or Judge. Pretty sure they’ve seen their fair share of vampire boobs in their lives.” His hands snaked around to squeeze my breasts, scraping his fingers across my lace-covered nipples. “Though I am happy to do a scientific study for the next hundred or so years, personally.” I shivered as pleasure ran down my spine but stepped away. “Nope. Not right now. You guys always end up destroying my lingerie and this is my last set,” I mock scolded because I loved that shit. “But from now on, I’m never wearing a bra. Like ever. I’m free!” I unclipped my bra and threw it on the bed. “Burn them. I feel liberated!” I spun in circles so quickly, my boobs flew out like wings, making Brody fall back on the bed laughing. I pulled out my stockings from the drawer and handed them to Brody. His eyes got heavy and he slid bonelessly off the bed, coming to kneel at my feet. He put one hand on my stomach and pushed me back until I was sitting in my bedroom armchair. Pushing himself between my knees, he pulled the stocking over my toes, rolling it up to my ankles, then lifted my leg and put it on his shoulder. I sucked in a breath as he ran his tongue up the inside of my calf, unrolling the stocking behind the warm slide of his tongue. Up past my knee, to the inside of my thighs. He stopped mere inches from the heat of my pussy, and I groaned in frustration. “I heard saliva stops static electricity,” he murmured as he blew a hot breath at my wet panties, and then moved back down to my other foot. “Really?” I whispered. He shrugged. “Who am I to argue with science I found on the internet?” Then he repeated the process with the other stocking. Holy Jesus. By the time he reached the top of the other side, I was willing to forgo my lingerie. But he just looked up at me through hooded eyes, his grin decidedly devilish. He gave me a quick kiss at the junction of my thighs and then slid out from between my knees. I gave a pitiful mewl, which only seemed to make him laugh more. He held up my dress. “Here we go. Don’t want you to be late.” He looked at his watch. “Walker should be here in ten minutes.” I stepped into the dress and allowed Brody to pull it up over my hips. He zipped up the back and there was a hot look in his eyes that had nothing to do with the fact he was just between my thighs. “We are so fucking lucky.” He leaned forward and kissed me. “I’ll go wait in the living room and grill him about his intentions towards our Mate.” That was the second time he’d referred to me as ‘our Mate’ and I wondered if it was more than a turn of phrase. But now was not the time to ask. I slid on the high heels Ella had given me for my night out in Calgary and went to do my makeup. I looked in the mirror and was once again glad I didn’t get turned when I went through my acne stage a couple of years ago. On the plus side, when Cresta waxed my legs, it meant they wouldn’t grow back for a decade. Hashtag Vampire Win. Apart from the homicidal maker, the fact I could never see my family again or go out in the sun, and that I was now under the purview of a race of being that believed in death sentence the way I believed in chocolate for breakfast, then the whole vampire thing was super peachy. I brushed out my ombre red hair and put on the red lipstick that matched the darkest of the reds. I ran some mascara over my lashes, and that was it. I couldn’t do Cresta’s make-up sorcery, but considering Walker had seen me when I was puffy from crying and hadn’t showered in a week, this was a definite step up. I walked out into the living room to see both Walker and Brody there. I sucked in a gasp when I saw Walker. He was dressed in grey tailored pants, brown leather suspenders, and a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his muscular forearms. He looked good enough to eat. “Wow,” he whispered, echoing my thoughts. “You look amazing.” I blushed. “Right back at you.” Brody laughed, hustling us toward the door. “You guys are both so cute I swear I’m about to die,” he said in a valley-girl falsetto. “Go and have fun. Have her back by sunrise, otherwise, I have it on good authority she’ll turn into a pumpkin. Walker patted him on the back extra heartily. I thought I heard something crack. “Don’t wait up, Old Man.” He held out his elbow, the most glorious smile on his face. I felt like my heart was racing. We walked down the short front path to the Harley parked on the street. “Oh boy,” I whispered. I’d wanted to hop on the back of Walker’s bike since I heard that he owned one. I wished I’d worn a slightly longer dress though. He threw his leg over the sleek, black machine, and I swear I had an orgasm just at the sight. The Harley Davidson was so unlike Walker’s personality, it made me wonder what else he kept on the down-low. But right now he looked like a wet dream. “Are you just going to stand there drooling on the pavement, or are you going to hop on?” he teased. He didn’t need to ask me twice. I was glad for the little extra height the heels gave me as I swung my leg over the bike and molded my body to his back. Then he started it up. “Oh shit!” He squealed out of my little cul-de-sac and my hair flew behind me like blood on the wind. Always wear a helmet, Kids, unless you are now an immortal freakin’ vampire. It was amazing. Although we were driving slower than we could run, there was something about the rumble of the bike between my thighs as I had my arms around the waist of a sexy-as-sin man who I knew owned handcuffs. Life was kind of good right now. He drove us to the diner, which was not unusual. There were very few places to eat in a town filled with vampires. Bert and Beatrice’s Diner. The Immortal Cupcake which was now closed. The Blood Bank during shark week. But what was weird about the diner was that it was completely empty, and there was very little light coming through the front glass windows. I slid off the bike and onto the sidewalk in front of the diner. Walker was there in an instant, holding the door to the diner open for me. The tinkle of the bell didn’t fill me with dread today. As I stepped through the door, Bert was there. In a tuxedo. My mouth unhinged. Bert was older, with a girth almost as round as he was tall. But there he was, looking completely like a penguin in a bowtie and grinning like crazy. “Your table is this way,” he grumbled despite the grin. That was just his natural pitch. He had curmudgeonly as a default. He led us to the back of the empty diner to a table set with a white linen cloth and dripping in candlelight. A bottle of wine sat chilling in an ice bucket. “Did you convince Beatrice and Bert to close the diner? This is amazing.” Honestly, there was a better chance of getting Walt to close Disneyland for the day. If Walt Disney was a vampire. Actually… “Was Walt Disney a vampire?” Both Walker and Bert stared at me. “What?” I waved a hand. “Nothing. You look very handsome, Bert.” The old vampire blushed, pouring our wine and then hightailing it back to the kitchen, probably to lose the bowtie. I smiled at the man across from me, the flickering candles making him look even more handsome, if that were possible. “This is very romantic, Walker Walton.” Now it was his turn to blush, and he squeezed the back of his neck. “I wish it was more. You deserve more.” Walker had been my staunchest supporter since my turning, determined to find my killer. There was still so much I didn’t know about him. When was he born? Was he married? When was he turned? But there never seemed like the right time to ask someone how they died. Given his reaction to my uh, murder, I had an inkling it wasn’t a happy story. Beatrice appeared from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly baked bread and several small dishes of dip. “Oh, look at you two. Just the most adorable picture.” I loved Beatrice. She reminded me of someone's Great Aunt. Brash, but loving. She’d stood by me since my turning, all through the thing with Alice, even when the rest of the town turned their backs on me. Sure, most of them had come around now, but it had hurt back then and while I’d forgiven them all, I hadn’t forgotten that I’d been a victim and they’d treated me like the villain. I ate with my fingers, and Walker watched me like I was on the menu. “So, when’s your birthday?” I asked, probably impolitely around a mouthful of feta dip and crusty bread. Seriously, Bert and Beatrice were a wonder. “July 21st. I was born in 1821 before you ask.” Woah. I mean, in comparison to Nico, he was a baby. But I never thought I’d be dating a nearly two hundred year-old man. Who’s your daddy? Amiright? The rest of the meal was one of the most pleasant of my life. We talked as if I were still in college like we were normal humans. We avoided most hard topics, like my family and his turning. We also didn’t talk about the Vampire Nation’s upcoming visit. Instead, I now knew his favorite color was blue, he liked garlic and cheese pizza which I thought was funny as hell, and that he always wanted to be a sheriff, but it wasn’t his vocation until after he was turned. He’d grown up in New York, a poor Irish immigrant, though there was no trace of an Irish accent now. He’d married a famine girl. They’d never had any kids though, and he now knew it was because he’d survived the pox as a child. I felt a brief pang of sadness that I would never have kids with Walker, or Tex, or little Brody’s. Then I mentally slapped myself. I wasn’t even old enough to drink. I was too young to think about kids. But there was a niggling bit in the back of my brain that thought one day, I might. And maybe one day, Brody and Tex would too. I mean, Brody was Alpha. He was going to have to reproduce, right? That’s what always happens in those romance novels. Then he’d have to leave me. The sadness went from a pang to an all-out ache. Walker frown, reaching over the table to twine his fingers in mine. “Hey, what put that look on your face?” I was saved from answering by the bell over the door tinkling. Not unusual, but inevitably the banshee scream to my life. X stumbled over the threshold. “Raine. Just the girl I was looking for. Wow, this place is dead, Love. Deader than usual, I mean.” Then he fell forward, hitting his head on the corner of the table closest to him and landing on his face.
Chapter 3
Chapter Three I was on my feet and beside him as his head hit the floor. It was then that I saw his back was oozing blood. The whole back of his black shirt was soaked, and this close, the scent was so overwhelming that I was surprised I hadn’t smelled his blood as soon as he opened the door. I was surprised the whole town couldn’t. My fangs dropped down fast enough to puncture my lip, and I licked at the blood. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t check for a pulse. Did I lick the wound on his back? Why wasn’t it healing? A gust of wind heralded the arrival of Judge, though I had no idea how he even knew that X was here. Maybe he could scent X’s blood from my house? I had so many fucking questions and no answers. “Why isn’t he healing?” I asked the most important one first. Judge’s face was shut down into a terrifying mask. “Traitor’s Blade.” The words sent cold terror trickling down my spine, even though I had no idea what they had meant. “How do we stop him bleeding like that?” I was starting to freak out, flashes of the month before, of almost exsanguinating Walker, were starting to blur over the reality of now. X made this awful gurgling sound, and I knelt beside him. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll get you fixed up. Stop being such a wuss, ‘tis but a scratch,” I teased, but there was an edge of panic to my voice that I couldn’t quite hide. “Just because… I’m English… Doesn’t mean I watch Monty… Python,” X gasped out on labored breaths, which made me laugh but feel infinitely more worried. Judge looked over my head at Walker. “We need to get him to the Doctor’s office, now.” Walker nodded, but his gaze flashed to me. They meant Doc Alice’s office. It had been sealed up since her trial, and the town hadn’t gotten a replacement doctor. “Raine, I think you should stay here.” I’m not going to lie, a part of me just wanted to be weak and agree. But X had been looking for me for a reason, and I wanted to know what it was. So I shook my head. “I’m coming with you.” Both Judge and Walker looked like they wanted to protest, but X gave another death rattle, shaking them into action. They lifted him, one at each end, and Beatrice was there holding the door open. I hadn’t even heard them come out of the kitchen. I raced ahead to Doc Alice’s old office, pushing every memory I had of the building before tonight right out of my mind. I kicked open the door and turned on all the lights. The guys were right behind me. They slid X onto the examination table face down. “I need a suture kit and the cautery machine,” Judge barked, and Walker flew around the room like the wind. I had no idea what either of those things looked like and I felt completely useless. Judge was talking me through it though. Maybe I looked like I was freaking out. Because I was freaking out. “The Traitor’s Blade is a dagger designed purely for Lucius by one of his witch consorts. It can issue mortal wounds on a vampire that never heal, which is a very powerful weapon. The Vampire Council was up in arms about the whole thing of course, and Lucius took a blood oath never to kill another vampire with it. So instead, he uses it to punish traitors by stabbing them somewhere non-life threatening, banishing the person, and allowing them to die a slow, miserable death by exsanguination if they can’t find a witch to heal them. Most witches hate vampires, with a few exceptions.” “Like Miranda?” “Uh, yeah.” Judge winced a little. I’d met Miranda almost two months ago when she’d placed a ward around my apartment. She and Judge had been… a thing. It had been tense, awkward and almost the end of Judge and me. X groaned again, and I firmed my jaw. “Should we call Miranda again?” A hand reached out and gripped my calf muscle. I looked down to see X staring up at me, his face the grey of someone who was bleeding out. “No… Miranda…” he gasped out. I ran a hand over the short stubble of his head reassuringly. “Okay, okay, Big Guy. No Miranda. I was in no hurry to repeat that awkward little dance anyway.” X grunted and I raised an eyebrow at Judge. “They have, uh, history,” he answered, taking the medical equipment Walker was holding out to him. I narrowed my eyes at Judge. “Don’t we all?” Judge pretended not to hear me as he set up the equipment with deft hands. Like he knew what he was doing. “Do this often?” He didn’t look up, pulling on gloves despite the fact no one here could get infections. “A few times.” The pointed tip of the cautery machine started to glow, and it finally dawned on me what the hell it was. “You’re going to burn the wound closed?” Okay, that might have come out a little like a pterodactyl screech. Judge gave me a disapproving look and Walker edged toward me. “No. This isn’t the Wild West, Rainey Day. I’m going to cauterize the veins closed then suture the wound. It will take months to heal, but eventually, it’ll get better. Unfortunately, there’s no anesthetic for this. Walker, hold these forceps here.” Walker did as he was asked, and I was glad for it. I didn’t do well around gaping wounds, which made being turned into a vampire kind of ironic. Once, my mom had gotten new knives from one of those late-night infomercials where they cut through tin cans and stuff, and I’d been so desperate to try them out. I misjudged slicing a carrot and cut off the tip of my finger. I’d puked, passed out and they’d found me two minutes later in a pool of vomit, my finger bleeding, and the tip still on the chopping board next to the carrots. I saw the muscles on X’s back twitch, his low grunt of pain the only sign they were literally burning his flesh back there. I dropped down so I was face height with him. I desperately wanted to ask if he was doing okay, because that’s what came naturally in these situations, right? But even I knew how stupid that sounded. “Just so you know, the slit in your back looks a little like a vagina right now.” Judge stilled, blinking at me and even Walker looked at me like I’d lost my mind. But X’s mouth twitched in a smile and almost laughed. “Keep Judge… away from it… then,” he panted out. I laughed and put my hand on his head. “I promise to protect your virtue while you are down.” I don’t know what Judge did, but X hissed and latched onto my wrist, his fangs piercing my skin messily. Walker threw down the forceps, but I held up a hand to stop him. “No, continue. It’s okay.” There was pleasure in a bite, and it was awkward as hell to be turned on while a guy was getting his back sewn back together. X’s dark eyes watched me carefully, his fangs so deep into my vein I was a little worried he would hit a tendon. “Not gonna lie, X, this is not the way to woo a girl. Your flirting skills are rusty as hell.” X tried to mumble something back, but I waved a finger in his face. “Uh uh, it’s bad manners to talk with your mouth full.” X’s eyes sparkled like the devil lived and breathed inside him. Which was better than the dull look of near death. He ran his tongue around the points where his fangs were sunken into my skin, the look in his eyes getting even hotter. Then it hit me. “Holy shit…” It was like molten lava coursing through my veins, if molten lava was equipped with tiny little tongues that deliciously licked all over my body. My whole body felt like jelly as pleasure and euphoria swirled over my skin. I dimly heard an angry Walker demanding to know what he’d done, and Judge’s equally disapproving voice. “His tongue has venom. It gives his victims intense pleasure. Like horny goat weed crossed with the world’s greatest aphrodisiac.” I came in a rush, my skin felt too hot, my muscles too lax. I can see why Judge called it a venom and not a drug. If I was an unsuspecting victim, I’d let him suck me until I was dry. But I wasn’t an unsuspecting victim, so I poked him in the eye, hard. He reared back, his eye screwed closed but his grinning mouth still coated in my blood. I gave him a death glare. “Thanks for the orgasm, but next time, you should ask. This isn’t the tenth century, Asshole.” With that, I wiped my blood from his bottom lip, stuck it in my mouth and sashayed out of the room like I owned it. As I shut the door, I could hear X’s happy sigh. “I think I might love her.” Then I heard the unmistakable thud of someone’s fist connecting with flesh. I guess X was feeling better. I was back in front of Bert and Beatrice’s diner before Walker caught up. His face looked grim, but he twined his fingers in mine. “Which one of you hit him?” I asked lightly. Walker made an unhappy humph. “Both of us. I’m usually against unnecessary violence, but that guy only responds to a fist.” I smiled softly at Walker, the pacifist, and I wondered if he was right. I’d only met X a few times, but there were brief flashes of something soft in the man that was tough as a craggy mountain. But I didn’t contradict Walker, as I hopped onto the back of his bike. “I’m sorry he ruined our date,” I whispered as I rested my cheek against his back. He cupped a hand over where mine joined around his waist. “No matter. I have millennia to go on a million dates with you. I intend to make each one better than the last. So I guess I should thank X for setting the bar really low,” he said on a low chuckle. I grinned against his back. “At least it was memorable.” I missed his response as he kicked the Harley into life, its low rumbling purr soothing my frayed nerves. Walker took the long way home, driving around in the darkened shadows of Dark River, which was now comforting rather than terrifying. Finally, he surprised me by pulling up in front of my cottage instead of his. He slid from the bike, picking me up and placing me on my feet. Apparently, a roaring orgasm and then a long ride on a bike make your thighs a little flaccid. Speaking of flaccid… “Are you going to come in?” I flutter my eyelashes, hoping I looked coy and not like I was having a seizure. He wrapped my hand in the crook of his elbow and walked me to my door. “Not tonight, Raine. I should get back and see what X’s arrival means for the rest of us. He’s never the herald of good times. Besides, tonight was amazing, but it wasn’t quite perfect. And I want it to be perfect.” I grinned at him, “And I can wait. Goodnight, Walker. I had an amazing night, despite the blood and gore.” “Me too. Actually, there’s one more thing.” He stepped closer, crowding me into the closed door. He slid his hands down my spine and under my ass. Then he pushed me against the door, his lips a fraction from my own. “Just one more thing.” He pressed me hard into the door as his lips devoured me like a starving man. His fingers curled in my hair, holding me still has his tongue plundered my mouth. I kissed him back, tangling my tongue with his and grinding my hips against his very obvious erection. Finally, he let me slide down his body and I whimpered. “One day soon, Raine. One day very very soon.” Then he was back on his bike, kicking it to life and roaring away like a bad boy that he wasn’t. Damn. The door suddenly opened behind me and I fell backward into the arms of a grinning Brody. “Well, that was kinda hot right there. I’m beginning to see what the Drifter and the Pup are always talking about.” He took a long lungful of air. “But you smell like sex and blood. I mean, not unusual in Deadsville, but the blood doesn’t belong to any of the usual suspects.” I slipped off my heels and walked into my kitchen. Mine. I still couldn’t believe it. “It’s been quite a night.” He poured me some more wine. “Mmm, I heard. Tex called me when Judge skipped out like his tail was on fire. Something about X and bleeding to death? I’m guessing that wasn’t figurative considering he’s already dead?” I downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp, and Brody obligingly refilled it. “Uh-huh. He was close to being re-dead. He’s okay now. Okay enough to suck a pint of blood out of me and give me an unexpected orgasm with his tongue venom.” When Brody raised his eyebrows, I sunk back into my wine. “It’s a long story.” Brody just laughed. There wasn’t a jealous bone in that one’s body. “Well, if you add him into your happily ever after, it’ll be interesting to have two venomous partners in your harem.” “What?” The front door opened and we both whirled around. Tex slipped through from the darkness, his hair mussed from the wind or whatever he and Judge had been doing before X decided to drop dead on the floor of the diner. I was always amazed when I watched Tex navigate the house, or navigate life in general. He walked directly towards me, even though I hadn’t spoken. Sure, being half shapeshifter had helped supplement his lack of sight, but even when he was a kid, he walked with the same confidence as the sighted. He headed right for me and I waited still, desperate for the hug that I knew was coming. Of all my lovers, er, life partners, Tex was the most affectionate. And I craved his touch in the same way he craved mine. He reached me and wrapped me in his arms like he was trying to make us one person. He nuzzled my neck and I kissed his head. “Hey. Did you walk here?” He let out an affirmative raspberry on my neck and I giggled like a schoolgirl. It truly was embarrassing. “You know I hate it when you walk alone. You’re basically a delicious snack in a town filled with dieters who have bad impulse control. It would only take one lapse in judgment and they’d steal you from me forever.” It was a disagreement we’d had a couple of times already. I loved the town, but they were all predators and I could only trust them so much. Especially now. The thought of losing him, losing any of them, made me agitated. And like always, Brody somehow just knew what I was feeling. Like he had a direct line to my emotions. “The Pup is fine, Rainey. But the sun is coming up, and I think we should all go get some sleep, what do you say?” I nodded and twined my hand in Tex’s. I stepped toward Brody and kissed him softly on the lips. Tonight I was brimming with an appreciation for the good-natured Shapeshifter Alpha. “Let’s go to bed.” I led them both to my bedroom, even though Tex had his own, and Brody helped me undress, unzipping my little black dress, and unhooking my garter belt and stockings. He groaned a little as he rolled them down, but didn’t make a move. He just took care of me. God, I loved him, even though he was going to break my heart into a billion pieces one day soon. Tex’s nose twitched. “Why are you sad?” Brody looked up at me from where he was kneeling on the floor, pausing to hear my answer. I shook my head, and then remembered Tex wouldn’t be able to see it. “I just remembered I’m dead,” I said softly. That seemed to be enough, because Brody picked me up and placed me in the center of the bed, and hopped in beside me, curling his overly hot body around my own. Tex hopped on the other side, his body pressed along mine until I was sandwiched between their warmth. By morning, I would no longer be the cold of a Vampire, but like a stone warmed in the sun, I’d feel human again. At least until the night and they left me. Tex kissed my eyelids, and then my lips. “Sleep, Mika. We’ll guard your dreams.” With a long sigh, I did exactly that.
Chapter 4
Chapter Four When I woke in the morning, the bed was empty but several voices were coming from the kitchen. I threw on one of Tex’s band t-shirts and walked out into the kitchen. I needed coffee. Stat. Walker was waiting at the kitchen bench, my favorite mug in hand, and I could have kissed him. So I did. Yay. Standing on my tippy-toes, I pecked his lips, lingering a little. His lips were soft but hesitant, and when a throat cleared behind me I understood why. Maybe I should have worn underwear. I turned and saw X grinning from behind me. I guess he just got an eyeful of my ass. My cheeks flushed, but I gave him a cool look. “I hope you are here to apologize?” He raised an eyebrow. “For what?” I shook my head and took a long sip of my coffee to fortify my patience. “For ruining my date by almost dying. For biting me without asking my permission. For giving me an unwanted orgasm.” “Is an orgasm ever really unwanted?” He grinned. I pursed my lips and he sighed. “Sorry, Love. For biting without your permission at least. That was wrong. For ruining your date though?” He looked over my shoulder at Walker. “I did get stabbed in the back with a blade that will ensure the wound never fully heals, just for you, so you’ll have to give me some leeway there.” He didn’t seem in the least bit apologetic. I looked at his hard, scarred face, the tattoos that ran up his neck and down his arms, tattoos, and scars he must have gotten as a human. He must have lived a rough life filled with violence before his turning. Getting a man like that to bend would be almost impossible. But I’d be damned if I didn’t want to try. So, inexplicably, instead of getting mad, I rolled my eyes and went to the fridge to find a yogurt. None of that light crap they make you eat when you diet. A full fat, full cream sugar-laden concoction that was amazing. No such thing as undead diabetes, thank god. I grabbed a spoon and pointed it at him. “You bring up an interesting point. Why did you get stabbed in the back with the Traitor’s Blade, and how was it for me exactly? We are basically strangers.” I jumped up onto the bench beside Judge, who’d been silent so far. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I smiled at my sexy drifter. His midnight eyes ate me up, and suddenly I wanted to be back in bed. That was just the effect Judge had on me. And apparently on Tex, if his twitching nose and hooded gaze was anything to go by. “Sure thing, Love. But then you gotta explain to me how you’ve bewitched this many incorrigible bachelors. Maybe you have a venomous vag-” Walker cleared his throat, and X grinned. “Tongue. Maybe you have a venomous tongue too?” My laugh echoed around the kitchen. “Some of us just have a winning personality. You should work on that, X.” I leaned my head on Judge’s shoulder as I ate my yogurt. “What’s X short for anyway? Xavier? Axolotl?” “Executioner.” I looked between him and Judge. Pieces started to click. “Judge. Executioner. Who was the Jury?” All mirth left both X and Judge’s faces, which was an answer in itself. “It was Miranda, wasn’t it? Impartial Jury.” Judge gave a short nod, but X’s face remained shut down. So much history there, a mystery that I wanted to solve but I was convinced I wasn’t going to like the answer. If ignorance was bliss, then sign me up. “I’m going to assume that Executioner wasn’t the name you were born with?” X’s lips twitched. “Harry. But Harry is dead, I don’t go by that anymore.” His face was scary at that moment, so I nodded. X it was. Brody was sitting at the table, eating toast and reading the paper through the whole exchange, appearing oblivious, or at least unconcerned, until he spoke up. “You were saying about how you got the knife wound?” X sighed, and leaned back on his chair. “I would kill for a cup of tea right now? You got any English Breakfast?” At my blank look, he continued. “Lucius found out that I’d been working with Judge on the side, not declaring all the results of my investigation, namely the issue of you.” He looked me in the eyes and I realized his eyes were a nearly black shade of brown. “He found out that I warned you the Vampire Nation and its Enforcers were coming. He decided it was a betrayal of the code. I’ve been extradited. Banished with a knife in my back. So it looks like I’m bunking with you, Sweet Cheeks.” He looked longingly at my bare legs where they dangled over the end of the bench, though my ankles were crossed so I was being as respectable as a person could be while not wearing pants. Someone let out a cough that sounded a little bit like, “No fucking way,” and I struggled to keep a straight face. “Judge has a spare room for you, I’m sure.” Walker was shaking his head. “We need to ask the Council if you can stay first. We are on unstable ground with them already after we kind of forced Tex on them.” “Hey!” The man in question protested. “I am not an unwanted stray puppy, despite what the Alpha Dick says.” Brody laughed, punching Tex in the shoulder fondly. Judge kissed my cheek and went over to our tattooed anomaly. He reached down, placing his forefinger under Tex’s chin until he could lean down and kiss him softly. Watching the casual intimacy between the two of them hit me in the gut every time. It was always a weird combination of yearning, lust and something indescribable that filled my chest. “A completely wanted stray puppy, don’t worry,” Judge murmured. My eyes drifted to X, and he was watching the scene as well, but his face was inscrutable. He didn’t seem disgusted, or jealous or anything I could easily name. If he felt any particular way about the relationship between Judge and Tex, he was holding it close to his chest. Everyone else was used to it now. Brody was still reading the paper, and Walker was standing beside me. I hadn’t realized I’d stopped with the spoon halfway to my mouth until he leaned in and stole the spoonful of yogurt. “Hey!” I whispered, but he just waggled his eyebrows and licked his lips. I watched the tip of his tongue trace his full lower lip and groaned. Seriously. If I had my way, I’d never get out of bed. Too many hot guys in your life was hell on your motivation to put on pants every day, you know? He knew all too well the direction of my thoughts, and his hot look promised that one day he was going to use my body like it was his own personal toy and that I would love it. Yeah, a look could say all that. X was shaking his head. “This place is worse than the brothel I was born in. Don’t worry, Sheriff. I’m pretty sure your Council will accept me into their fold. You see, I fill a need that they have right now?” “What’s that? Because I can tell you, we don’t require a hangman,” Walker said, his tone almost peevish. Something about the mercenary got under the skin of my good Sheriff. X smirked. “Killing is just one of the skills in my ball bag of goodies, Sheriff. I also happen to be a trained surgeon. Medically licensed and everything; well I was when I was alive. And I hear you are now in need of a town doctor.” My jaw unhinged, the spoon hanging out. When I’d met Judge, and mistaken his moniker for his profession, I’d been surprised and disbelieving. But the idea of Judge as an upholder of the law was infinitely more believable than X being a doctor, fixing boo-boos. I looked at Judge, and he nodded. “Seriously? You want to settle in Dark River, give up all your rights to drink and fuck whoever you want whenever you want? Plus, you know, the no-killing thing.” The idea of X becoming a wholesome member of the community like Bert or Walker or even Antonio over at the dry cleaners was insane. Even Judge had balked at the idea. “I can’t believe you were a doctor. Unless you were removing kidneys for the black market?” Tex laughed from where he was leaning against Judge’s hip. X looked at them again, face still unreadable. “Nope. I was completely legitimate. I had a practice on Harley Street and everything. Very reputable.” I called bullshit, but I was prepared to be wrong. If it meant it was easier for him to stay in Dark River, I wasn’t going to protest. We all sat in silence, stunned by the killer’s admission he was a healer, or because there was nothing to say, I wasn’t sure. “Lucius is close, isn’t he?” Brody asked, sitting up from his relaxed position, going from laidback lover to Shapeshifter Alpha in a heartbeat. X nodded solemnly. “I say he’ll be here within a week. I’m sorry I’m not still there to feed you information,” he said, directing the last comment to Judge. Judge clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve done enough. It was time to get out.” Hmm. More secrets. I jumped from the bench, landing as gently as a cat. Vampire Boon #267. “I have to get ready for work. My boss is a real slavedriver.” I’d been given a temporary post at the Sheriff’s Office, doing dispatch and filing. But I mean, there was hardly anything to do. It was a tiny town. Mostly neighbor disputes, liaising with the clans and supernaturals in the area, reports to the Council, and the odd murder like mine. Nothing that really needed a secretary. I missed my job at the Immortal Cupcake, the books, and the late-night movies. I missed Angeline, my friend. I shuffled into the bathroom, weighed down by the sadness again. I locked the door so no one tried to follow me in. Sometimes I just wanted to wallow, without an obligatory orgasm while pressed against the shower tiles. The guys were pretty good though, they seemed to know when I needed space, and when I needed them to barge past my barriers and hold me close. It was a fine line and sometimes I didn’t even know. When I emerged thirty minutes later, I was alone in the cottage. My phone dinged beside the bed. I looked down and found they’d added me to their group chat. WALKER: Hey, going to work. See you there, Raine. JUDGE: TAKING X TO SEE THE COUNCIL. WILL DROP BY LATER TO TAKE RAINEY DAY TO THE DINER FOR LUNCH. MISS SEEING HER FACE WITHOUT YOU ASSHOLES AROUND. TEX: You don’t have to yell, Judge. *Laughing emoji* JUDGE: I WASN’T SHOUTING. I WAS TYPING. BRODY: Don’t bother with the text etiquette, Pup. It’s a wasted lesson. BRODY: Rainey, me and Tex are going back out to see the Pack. Be back before sunrise tomorrow x RAINE: Okay guys. Be safe and come back to me. xoxox I hated it when they left without saying goodbye. I had an irrational fear since my death. That something might happen and I’d never have gotten to say goodbye. A little PTSD to talk over with Nico next week. I’d slipped on a bra and underwear when the front door opened and then suddenly I was squished between two bodies. I knew the smell of their blood, the thump of their hearts. My shifters. Tex nuzzled into my neck, just like Brody always did. “Couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” Brody reached his long arms around us both, pressing me closer without pushing Tex away. “Never goodbye. Only see you soon.” He kissed me gently then let us go. Tex remained wrapped around my body. “I hate leaving you, every single time I worry you’re going to disappear forever,” he murmured against my skin. So maybe we both had PTSD. I ran my hand over his hair. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m really hard to kill apparently.” He huffed against my skin. “Not funny, Mi-” He swallowed down my old name. “Raine. I don’t wanna test how hard you are to kill anymore.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him tight against me, felt the steady thud of his heart against my cheek, the warmth of his muscles pressed against mine, the smell that was just inherently Tex surrounding me like a blanket. “I promise I’ll be good. I have Judge and Walker. They’ll keep me safe. You don’t have to worry anymore.” He stepped away, the smile on his face not quite wiping away the worry around his eyes. “You’re my mate. I don’t think you fully understand that yet, but it means I’ll always worry when I’m not here to protect you. Even if I am the least capable of your lovers.” Brody clapped him on the back. “Don’t underestimate the ferocity of a mate-bond, Pup. I hazard to guess that if Raine was ever in danger, you would be the most dangerous of us all.” He smiled over his shoulder at me. “But we are burning moonlight, and we have a Pack meeting at an ungodly hour. All this vampire shit is messing with my sleeping patterns.” I walked them to the door, and they hopped into Brody’s ridiculously hot car, but not before each of them kissed me like it was going to be the last time. I watched them leave, staring into the distance until I could no longer hear the rumble of the Impala. I walked average-Joe slow to work. I finally understood what Walker had been talking about when I’d first discovered that we could run faster than the human eye could follow. When you are too focused on getting somewhere as quickly as possible, you miss out on all the small things that make life so enjoyable. Like the fact that Elsie, a vampire who owned the convenience store, had acquired a garden statue of two gnomes fucking. I stopped and stared at the offending statue. The globes of its little butt were polished to a high pink, it’s blue gnome pants around its ankles. You know what, I probably could have missed out on that little thing without too much regret. Shaking my head, I ran the rest of the way to the police station. That was enough life for one day. I pushed open the heavy metal door to the station. Walker was still here, I could hear him rustling around in the filing cabinet. I put my phone in the top drawer, but not before checking the group chat. Silence. “Did Brody and Tex get off okay?” Walker yelled from the storeroom where he kept all his files. I grinned, “Oh, I got them off just fine. We tried the screaming eagle position, dicks everywhere.” Walker stuck his head around the door jamb to look back in the office, his eyebrows almost touching his hairline. “You did what, now?” I waved a hand. “Nothing. I was kidding. The guys left fine ten minutes ago. I just hate it when they aren’t here. They only got back yesterday.” Walker came out, a file tucked under his arm. He wrapped the other arm around me and pulled me close to his chest. “They are probably safer on Pack lands than they are here.” That was a sad truth. I was exposing them both to the possibility of death just by keeping them close to me here in Dark River. And it wasn’t just the Vampire Nation and the Enforcers that could be a problem, but any one of the residents of Dark River could just snap. I could just snap, no matter how in control I felt now. I nodded against Walker’s chest before finally pulling away and going to sit at the makeshift desk they’d created me along one wall. Nico had given me one of his cheesy nineties inspirational posters. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the iconic ‘Hang In There’ kitten. It was an empty boat in the middle of a crystal blue ocean. It read ‘Destiny: The choices we make, the chances we take, determine our destiny.’ It was all very inspiring, but it made me wonder if being here, in Dark River, was my destiny? I mean, I was happy, wasn’t I? I had some good friends and some great, uh, boyfriends, so maybe this was all preordained. But then I looked at that empty boat in the middle of the vast ocean, and wondered if it ever got lonely? The phone pulled me out of my existential angst. It was an old rotary phone that I didn’t even think would still work on modern lines. It was some kind of magic. “Sheriff’s office, how can I help you?” A disgruntled male voice on the other end of the line huffed, “Well you can start by sending the Sheriff over to arrest this crazy woman.” I could hear someone screeching on the other end that they weren’t crazy, the caller was crazy, and sounding a little bit insane. “Certainly. What seems to be the issue?” “I busted Betty-Lou shitting on my lawn.” I blinked, pulling a face at Walker, who could hear both sides of the conversation with his enhanced hearing. “Ooookay. The Sheriff will be right around.” I hung up as the screaming started again, and looked at Walker. “Shit, I forgot to get their address.” Walker waved a hand. “It’s fine. Eugene lives next to Betty-Lou, and I’m almost positive that was him. Not that many voices in the town that I don’t have them memorized. Want to come and help with the poo-flinging crazies?” He leaned down and kissed me softly. I threaded my fingers in his soft, dark hair and pulled him closer. I explored his mouth like it was the first time we’d ever kissed. I ran my tongue over his lower lip, then slid it across his fangs, making him moan into my mouth. He shuddered and pulled away. “It takes every ounce of my control not to slide you onto this desk and fuck you like an animal.” “Yes, please?” He grinned at the hopeful note in my voice. “One day soon, I promise. First I have to go deal with Eugene and Betty-Lou, and the case of the mysterious poo.” I shook my head furiously. “As interesting as that sounds, I better hold down the fort. I’ll hear all about it later when I type up the report.” Walker sighed, pushing his cute little Mount-Me hat onto his head. God, he was really something in that chocolate brown uniform. We were going to have to defile it very soon. “Wish me luck,” Walker said, giving me one last kiss. “Good luck.” I went back to typing up seventy-year-old reports and saving them to a storage drive. I was pretty certain Walker was making work for me to do, but that was okay. At least I felt like I was doing something constructive. Finishing my report from yesterday on an argument about who got to have a prime piece of land on the corner of the Main Square, I pulled the next file down. It was from eighty-five years ago. Walker only started as Sheriff eighty-seven years ago, so this one must have been in the first couple of years as a Sheriff. I opened the file and looking back at me was a beautiful dark-haired woman. She had big sad eyes, but there were slight wrinkles around their edges that told me she’d known laughter and happiness in her mortal life. Rosalita Fuentes. I skimmed through the details page. Turned in 1920, maker undisclosed. I skimmed down a little more. Joined Dark River in 1925, sentenced to death in 1928. I read the notes in Walker’s strong hand. It hadn’t changed in eighty-odd years. “Perpetrator was doing well within town limits. Exhibited good control. Felt strong enough to return home to visit family. Exsanguinated former husband and all five children. Handed self in for punishment. Highly distraught.” Holy shit. Holy shit. That could have been me. My heart tore in two for the unknown vampire. I turned over the page, and there was another photo clipped to the file above the transcription of the Council’s ruling and her execution date. The photo was of Walker and Rosalita, smiling at each other. They’d obviously been a couple, given how their hands were threaded together, and they were grinning like school kids. My heart broke a little more for Walker, who’d been so happy, and the way he’d handled my turning made a little more sense. But he’d never mentioned her. Not even once. I finished typing it up and tried not to fixate too hard on why he’d kept her a secret from me.
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