I could hear the loud questions and exclamations over the phone all the way from the kitchen, but Julian just smiled, listening for a long moment, and then told them he had to go but he’d call back later.
Finally, everyone had eaten and showered and we were sitting in the living room. I had a beer in my hand and a cookie on the table by my foot. I saw some glassy eyes.
Someone knocked on the door and Owen went to check. He came back into the room with Dmitri, who smiled and waved all around.
“Hello, hello!” he said. “I can only stay for a minute. I just wanted to say that you don’t need to worry about the bodies you have left all over my mountains. I will take care of them.”
I felt grateful. I hadn’t been sure how to deal with that situation, especially in the avalanche valley.
I thanked him and he waved me off.
“Now I go. I will see you again, I think.” With that, he went back out the door.
“That’s twice now,” Julian muttered.
“I forgot!” Zasha exclaimed and jumped to her feet. She ran out of the room and came back with a box covered in postage. “This came for you,” she said.
I looked at the return address. “It’s from Uncle Alex.” I opened it and inside were three sets of U.S. passports, birth certificates, and Social Security cards. There was a note too. It said, “Called in a favor. Can’t wait to meet your friends. Love, Uncle Alex.”
I read the names on the IDs: Astrid Rurikson, Bard Rurikson, and Cato Rurikson. I explained to the Varangians that these papers made it possible for them to go home with us, or anywhere else in the world they wanted.
“I would like you to come to Alaska. I would like you to meet my family and we can help you decide what you want to do. With these papers, you can go to school; you can get a job; you can be a part of society.”
The three of them bent their heads together and then Bard said they would go with us.
I smiled at them, pleased. Uncle Alex was going to go nuts, asking them all about things at the citadel, I knew.
Julian started explaining U.S. geography, plus its political system, including drawing a chart on a pad of paper. When Astrid’s eyes started to glaze, I pulled her up.
I showed Bard and Cato how to set up the fold-out couch in the living room, and then led Astrid down to the empty bedroom. I showed her how to turn her lamp on and off and left her happily making a nest of pillows and soft blankets.
On my way out of her room, she grabbed my hand, “Thanks,” she said. “I know what you promised my father, but I don’t want you to feel obligated for us. I know I haven’t been warm to you. To any of you.”
I stopped her. “Everyone gets a second chance. I’m looking forward to helping you. I want to be your friend.”
She smiled at me and I shut the door.
ONCE Owen and I were finally alone together, I tackled him onto the bed.
“Wait, I want to talk to you,” he protested, laughing.
“Later,” I said.
He sat up on his elbows, his long body taking over the bed. I climbed off again and locked the door. Then I slowly sauntered back over and fiddled with the bottom of my shirt. Owen’s eyes devoured me. I sensually tugged the shirt over my head and then, with my arms still in the air, twirled and untied my hair so that it spilled down my back in a dark wave. I looked back at him over my shoulder. When I started to reach for the waistband of my pants, Owen sat up hurriedly and whipped off his own shirt, then his pants.
I stared at the muscular planes of his golden chest and bit my lip. Where to start...
“Very, you’re killing me,” Owen groaned from the bed.
I grinned at him and drifted a little closer, stepping out of my pants, and then I was standing at the foot of the bed in just my bra and panties. In a lightning-fast move, Owen lunged forward and seized me, pulling me on top of him on the bed.
“Much better,” he said as he trailed his fingers up my spine, his hand cupping my backside.
“Yes,” I agreed breathlessly.
MUCH later, snuggled against his chest, I asked him why he didn’t transform to fight the bauks.
He rubbed my head with his knuckles and said, “I should have known you’d want to talk about work stuff, not fun stuff.”
“Work stuff?” I asked, laughing.
“I wasn’t sure how long it would be until I could change back. I didn’t want to be an unconscious body for you to lug around if we were fleeing an earthquake. I fought the other bauks as the wolf, so I felt like I knew their capabilities and I could handle it.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re not comatose right now,” I said. “So, good choice.”
“Are you ready to talk about other stuff now?” he asked.
Was I ready? I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say. His life was in Canada. He was about to start college and, with a military scholarship, he wouldn’t be able to transfer anywhere near me. My life was in Anchorage. I had only one semester left in my master’s program. Did I want to try and see him long distance and then move to Canada? Did I want to ask him to leave school and come back with me? Of course, I did. But that wasn’t fair.
I loved him and incredibly, he said he loved me. But we met
