“It’s a long story,” I said. “And hard to explain without sounding insane.”
She quirked an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re not talking to a human.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, I guess I have some kind of faerie gift of sight. Or so I’ve been told. I have dreams that are…”
I tried to think of the word. They weren’t exactly prophetic. They usually didn’t come true. They just showed me important things. It was up to me to interpret them.
“I see things in my dreams,” I said at last. “And I have this sense of where to find them, I guess.”
She nodded, staring wistfully at the fire. “That must be so useful. I wish I could do that.”
“It’s not all fun and games,” I assured her. “Lots of them are nightmares.”
She shrugged. “But at least you’d know.”
Shifting uncomfortably on my feet, I glanced around at the pack with their various scars and old injuries. “So, what happened to your pack, anyway?” I asked. “Is that from dominance fights?”
“Oh, no,” she said, the faraway look disappearing from her eyes. She shook her head and gave a little laugh. “No, that’s mostly from a big battle between the wolves and the shifters a few years ago. But don’t worry about your friend. We’re on good terms now.”
I didn’t realize what she was talking about until I turned and saw Brooklyn sitting on a picnic table with the guy she’d been having a staring contest with. Now, they were talking animatedly, both of them using big hand gestures, their knees angled to press against the other’s.
“Whoa,” I said. “That’s her mate?”
“Seems so,” Stella said. “That’s Fernando. He’s my stepbrother, and don’t worry, he’s a really good guy. He plays in our band.”
“You have a band?” I asked, shaking my head in wonder. This was the weirdest thing I’d heard yet.
“They’re really good, too,” Stella said. “They’ll probably play after dinner. If you want to hunt with us tonight, we can do that, too.”
“Wow,” I said. “Thanks.”
Stella moved off to talk to someone else, leaving me standing there thinking about dinner and how I could excuse myself from that. I’d be fine during the hunt, so I could eat then. But it would be so rude not to eat when these people seemed to be having a welcoming party for us. I’d probably just have to eat and then try not to get sick until dinner was over.
Thank the stars I didn’t smell dead, so they couldn’t tell what I was. I didn’t have to worry about getting too hungry anymore, either. I still had a handful of food packets in my bag, and Alarick had been generous with his blood. I was the one who always had to stop, to tell him that I’d weaken him if we weren’t careful.
Which meant I just had to make sure no one knew I was a vampire, and I’d be fine.
Chapter Sixteen
As if he’d heard me thinking about him, Alarick turned my way from where he’d been talking to Harmon while a gaggle of girls hovered, obviously hoping to get a chance to talk to him. He said something to the other alpha, then joined us without so much as glancing at the girls.
“Hey,” he said, sliding a possessive arm around my waist. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m good. But I think your fan club over there is disappointed that you ignored them.”
He grinned down at me. “As long as the president of my fan club doesn’t think I was ignoring her.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help laughing. “Now I’m the president of your fan club?”
“Hell, yeah,” he said. “President, queen, and prime minister.”
“Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous,” I said. “Fan clubs don’t have prime ministers.”
“Mine does,” he said. “I’m looking right at her.”
“Fine,” I said. “Then my first act as prime minister of your fan club is to kick out all your other fans.”
“I didn’t know there were other fans,” he said, leaning down and brushing his nose across mine. My pulse fluttered and my knees went weak the way they always did when he was about to kiss me. His strong arm tightened around my waist, holding me up, and his lips pressed against mine.
After a second, I pulled away, dizzy from his kiss but still clearheaded enough to remember why we were here.
“What about your mate?” I asked.
“What about her?”
“Shouldn’t you be trying to find her?”
“I already found her,” Alarick said, nuzzling my ear.
“Yeah, but your real mate.”
“Doesn’t get any more real than this.”
“Be serious,” I said, pushing against his mountainous shoulder until he drew back.
“I am serious,” he said, looking down at me with a sober expression. “I’m not looking for someone else, Timberlyn. I chose you to be my mate. And I’ll keep telling you this as long as you need to hear it. But it won’t change. You’re it for me.”
“But…” I swallowed hard, trying to think of how to do this without hurting him. If he had a mate, a true mate, he should find her. I loved him enough that I didn’t want him to miss out on that, even if it meant I had to miss out on him. I couldn’t saddle him with a defective wolf-slash-vampire-slash-faerie when he could be with a real, natural-born wolf.
“Don’t do it,” Alarick warned.
“What?”
“Don’t tell me you’re breaking up with me for my own good.”
“I wasn’t—” I started to protest, then stopped myself.
“I wrote the book on that shit, remember?” Alarick said. “If you want to look around and try to find a mate here, as your alpha, it’s my duty to let you do that. But I’m not looking for anyone but you, Timberlyn.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing I
