Page 14 of Blood and Magic
Back when I’d lived here, Guin and I had…something. It barely counted as a fling, but it was more than friendship. When she went through her transition, those agonizing few days when shifter magic took hold inside a human, I’d been the one to help her through it. But we weren’t meant to be, and I’d made my peace with that. I would have been okay if the only Vanderbilt I ever interacted with was Sol…but today I saw her.
Maeve had been a child following her sister around in my ranch-hand days.
She wasn’t a child anymore.
“Maybe I am,” I murmured.
“Well, save it until after I leave, yeah?” Moose pulled his long hair back and twisted it into a bun at the base of his head with a bright pink scrunchie. “I don’t want to have to whoop your ass on Orion’s big day.”
As sergeant at arms, it was Moose’s responsibility to keep us all in line. If a Bastard started acting up, he and his inner wolf would smack us around until we fell in line. Moral and upstanding, Moose was easily the best of us.
“I’ve got no problems with the Vanderbilts.” Not anymore. It was only their piece of shit father that had done any real damage to us, and that motherfucker was cold in the ground. Did the children inherit the sins of the father? I’d liked Guin when we were in our twenties, and I liked Sol now. If Orion and Kodiak believed we could heal the rift between our families, then I wanted to believe it, too.
“Really?” Moose whistled. “Then what’s with the scowl?”
“Just ready to get out of here, I guess.” The lie rolled off my tongue as easy as Sunday morning, but I doubted he believed it.
Everyone saw the stare-down between Maeve and me earlier today. I had no good explanations for it. She met my gaze, and I wanted to rip her to pieces, to hold her down and take, take, take. Touching her felt like sticking my hand in an electrical storm, like trying to grab a downed power line. It shocked me awake in the worst way, and I didn’t like that shit one fucking bit.
“They already cut the cake,” Moose said. “You can leave anytime you want.”
I snorted and returned to watching Maeve dance, giggling and twirling her sisters around on the floor. She was beautiful. Her long, dark hair fell in soft waves to the center of her back, and her bright blue eyes mesmerized me the minute I’d connected with them, seemingly more intense now that she was a grown woman. She had an identical twin, and Avalon was gorgeous, too, but something about her specifically appealed to me.
I shifted in my seat again and took another drink of beer. Moose was right. I could leave. I probably should leave. But now that I was near her, I didn’t want to be away from her, and that pissed me off even more.
Even before I died, I didn’t have much experience with females. I used to wonder if it was because Guin was my mate and she’d rejected me. But that didn’t make a ton of sense. How would I have been able to walk away from her? Wouldn’t I have felt a bigger loss? The more time passed, the more I realized she and I weren’t meant to be, and sleeping around wasn’t my thing. Since being reborn, I said I didn’t trust myself to be around anyone, but the truth was, no one had ever held much appeal.
I’d gone out of my way to drink the finest whiskey and smoke the rarest bud. I’d done it all in a foolish attempt to feel a semblance of what I had before those fucking vampires tore out my throat, only to lock gazes with a Vanderbilt and have my heart damn near skip a beat.
What is it about her?
I didn’t want to know.
Not only was she Guin’s younger sister, but now she was also in-laws with Orion. He’d be almost as territorial over her as he was his mate, and I had no desire to dance with the second.
“Woo!” Lycan said, plopping down into the spot next to me before taking a deep drink out of his flask. “That Guin’s a lot of fun. I might try to ruffle up her hackles, if you know what I’m saying.”
Moose rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Good luck with that.”
“Don’t need it, brother. But thank you all the same.” Lycan tilted his head back and let out a howl.
“You go sniffing around Guin Vanderbilt, and you’ll have to answer to Kodiak,” Moose explained. “The alpha’s been…uh…protective of her.”
Lycan pursed his lips and leaned forward. “Protective how?”
“She gives her updates to him directly,” Moose said. “Anyone goes near her, and he has to know the reason why.”
“You think he’s into her?” Lycan grinned, seemingly happy our lonely alpha might have a lover.
The sarge shook his head. “I doubt Kodiak’s into anyone, but that doesn’t mean he wants you sinking your claws where they don’t belong.”
Lycan scoffed and rolled his eyes. I couldn’t blame Kodiak for that. Lycan got around more than my brother, and that was saying something. He would fuck anyone with a pulse. Males, females, enbies, it didn’t matter to him. If they were into it, so was he.
“What about the twins?” Lycan put his elbows on the table and twisted to face Moose and me. “Ava seems like she’s wound tight. I bet I could?—”
“How about you keep your hands to yourself for once in your fucking life?” I snapped, the words tumbling out of me before I could stop them. An image of Lycan rucking up Maeve’s dress went through my head, and I wanted to rip his tongue out for even suggesting it.
“Temper, temper,” Lycan said before slinging back another sip of whiskey. “I was just asking. Seeing as things worked out so well for Sol when she went through her transition, it’s only a matter of time?—”
