“They wouldn’t,” Leif said. “The anchor is vital and therefore protected.”
I looked over at Leif. “Do you know who these Sons of Adam are?”
He shook his head. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“Neither have I,” Jasper said. “But I’m going to find out who the fuck they are.”
A shiver ran over my skin to join the goosebumps. Long seconds of silence followed the declaration, and finally, my goosebumps subsided.
“Has he gone this time?” Leif asked.
“For now.”
Because Jasper would be back. He’d always be back, and for the first time since I’d bound myself to him, that thought was almost comforting.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The safe house was on a quiet residential street lined with terraced townhouses.
“We own the buildings either side also.” Leif unlocked the cobalt blue door and stepped back to allow me through. “They’re empty right now but can be used by alphas if need be.”
I had to brush past him to get inside and got a good whiff of his personal scent. The forest smells were muted now, and another aroma hit my nose. The kind of fragrance that reminded me of hot, sweaty nights entwined with a lover.
Whoa.
I stepped past him quickly, putting distance between us. I could not be attracted to him. This had to remain in friend zone.
“Cora, are you okay?”
I smiled brightly. “I’m fine.”
He looked skeptical but didn’t push, thank goodness. I turned my attention to the narrow hallway, taking in the threadbare carpet and crappy wallpaper in a floral design. I guessed the wolves weren’t big on interior decoration, and wait… Was that blood spattered across the radiator?
I didn’t even want to know.
“I’ll fetch your bag,” Leif said.
“I don’t have a bag.” Hadn’t even occurred to me until now. I didn’t have the organizational gene my best friend possessed.
He grinned over his shoulder. “Sloane dropped one off this morning.”
Sloane? Of course she did. Now that woman was organized. I bet she didn’t miss a damn thing.
Leif stepped out, and I dove further into the house. There was a lounge through a door to the left, staircase to the right, washroom under the stairs, a study beyond that, and then the kitchen straight on. For me, the kitchen was the heart of the home. It was where Fee and I spent most of our time, eating, chatting, cooking, and hanging with her guys. I’d tried to replicate that in my house, but this room was cold, clinical, and dead.
“I’ve set your bags at the bottom of the stairs,” Leif said. “I’ll take them up later.”
I grimaced. “This kitchen’s awful.”
He looked surprised. “It is?”
I nodded. “I mean, it’s all stainless steel and…functional.”
He studied the room. “You don’t like functional?”
“I like character. This room has none.”
“It’s a safe house, Cora. Stainless steel is easy to keep clean.”
Ah, blood and guts. “Okay. I get it. But we’re not hanging out in here.”
He grinned. “You want character? Follow me.”
He led me back down the hallway and into the lounge I’d passed a moment before.
I hadn’t gotten a good look before because the lights were off and the drapes were drawn, but Leif flicked on the lamps, and the room was illuminated. Mismatched sofas in red and orange with deep seats and puffy scatter cushions sat on deep-piled, patterned rugs. There was a window seat, bookcases heaving with books, and a huge hearth waiting to be lit.
At the other side of the room was a pool table, a minibar, and a games table.
The room was colorful, cozy, and quirky.
“This is what happens when you let several alphas share a living space,” Leif said with a fond smile. “I love this room.”
So did I, but something was missing. “There’s no TV.”
He sucked in his bottom lip and shrugged. “Who needs TV when you have books, games, and the company of good friends.”
“And if you’re stuck here alone?”
“No one is ever left alone in the safe house. Wolves are pack animals, Cora.”
I stood hands on hips. “Okay, so we hang out in here.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Great. Dump your bags in a room, and we’ll head out for groceries. I’m not the best cook, but Torsten showed me how to make this amazing pasta—” He sighed heavily. “It feels like a lifetime ago,”
“You two were close?”
“All three of us were. We were raised together, encouraged to be friends, brothers, to work as a unit even though we had our own packs to run. We were a pack of our own.”
I was about to ask why, but then it clicked. “You were being prepared for binding with the anchor.”
“Yes. The past has taught us how important it is for the primal alphas to get along—it doesn’t always happen, and in those cases, the conflict has caused glitches in the anchor’s power. In order to keep the seal active, the anchor needs a level of harmony. One that her mates provide her with.”
“So, you were friends…”
“Yes, then about a year ago, Torsten upped and left. I went after him. He told me to fuck off. That he’d thought long and hard about mating to the anchor, and he didn’t want it. I thought he’d change his mind and come home eventually.”
“But he hasn’t.”
“No.” He sighed. “I don’t even know him anymore.”
“When can we go see him?”
“Tomorrow night. He’ll be at the Den. It’s a private club for shifters.”
“How can you be sure he’ll be there?”
He smiled dryly. “Because he owns it.”
* * *
Grocery shopping with Leif was an experience in being ogled. Females and males alike couldn’t keep their eyes off him. Then they’d look at me and back at him, probably wondering what the fuck an Adonis was doing with a plain Jane.
We were both dressed casually—him in sweatpants, a T-shirt, and a zippered hoody, and me in leggings, low-heeled ankle boots, and an oversized knitted sweater—but whereas he looked like he’d stepped off a fashion magazine cover, I looked like I’d crawled out of a hedge. Backward.
Sloane had neglected to pack a hairbrush, and my hair was matted in typical bedhead fashion. The trials and tribulations of having fine hair, but lots of it.
I added a hairbrush to the cart Leif was pushing.
“I can get the tangles out for you when we get back.” He leaned in with a cheeky smile. “I might even tell you the secret to tangle-free hair.”
I pressed a hand to my chest. “Ooo, the excitement.”
He chuckled, low and sexy.
No. Not sexy. He was not sexy.
“Oh god, he’s so sexy,” a woman blurted as we strolled past.
Leif smiled at her. “Thank you.”
Her face went red, and her female companion let out a squeal.
We turned onto the fruit and vegetable aisle. “What is this? High school?”
“You’ll get used to it,” Leif said. “I think it’s the hair that does it.”
“I have a solution for that.”
“You do?”
I smirked at him. “Beanie hat. It’ll work like a charm.”
“Tried it,” he said. “Hats just bring out my cheekbones.”
I stopped and stared at him.
“What?” His lips twitched as he struggled to suppress a smile.
“I’ve just realized you’re arrogant.”
“I am not.” He continued to push the cart, adding zucchini, peppers, and onions to our haul. “I’m accepting of my assets.” He looked back at me and raked me over. “Just as you should be.”
“What do you mean?”
“That knitted monstrosity does nothing for your figure.”
I plucked at the sweater. “Thing is Leif…” I leaned in and whispered, “
I don’t care.”
He chuckled again and reached to ruffle my hair. “Yeah, you don’t.”
Whoa, had he just… No… Wait. This was good, because with that one action, he’d propelled us into the friend zone.
And friend zone I could handle.
* * *
We ended up grabbing a ready-made lasagna. I put together a salad, and Leif made garlic bread using part-baked baguettes.
We ate in the lounge, plates balanced on our laps, then Leif lit the hearth, and we settled on the sofa with glasses of single malt whiskey. The sun had just set, but it felt much later. The events of the past few days were catching up to me. What I needed was a good night's sleep, but I was loath to leave Leif’s company just yet.
We sat in silence for long minutes, watching the flames companionably before Leif tsked and shook his head. I recognized the gesture. He’d had a thought and was dismissing it. Maybe a question he wanted to ask?
I twisted to face him. “What?”
He caught his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment and narrowed his eyes. “I have a question.”
“I figured. Go on, ask.”
“What’s the deal between you and Jasper?”
Urgh. “Yeah, maybe don’t ask.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just… We’re going to be mated soon, and I’d like to understand what I’m dealing with.”
Insanity. “Don’t worry. Elijah was clear my connection to Jasper won’t affect the seal or the binding.”
“I’m not concerned about the seal. I’m worried about you.”
Oh. Well, I hadn’t expected that. “Jasper won’t hurt me.”
A slight frown sat between his brows. “Really? Then why do you need the amulet?” He rested his arm along the back of the sofa and shifted slightly, so we were face to face. “You can talk to me, Cora. I won’t judge. That’s not who I am.”
My neck heated at the prospect of telling him the truth, but if we were going to be bonded or mated or whatever, if we were going to be friends, then it might be best that he know.
I puffed out my cheeks. “Okay, the truth is Jasper needs to feed off my energy, and he does it through sex.” I held his gaze. “I made a deal to have sex with him to save my friends. It was only meant to be once a month, but then shit happened, and we needed his help, so I agreed to increase the frequency of feedings, and now I’m stuck.”
Leif’s gaze hardened, and the corners of his mouth turned down slightly. “Does he force you?”
I looked toward the flames. “No. It’s not like that. Jasper has… He has a magnetic power I find irresistible, and I hate myself for it.”
There, it was out. The truth. That I liked what Jasper did to me. That I fucking craved it.
Leif touched my chin lightly, coaxing me to look at him. I steeled myself, expecting to see disgust or confusion, ready to lash out to defend myself, but all I saw was compassion.
“We all desire things that aren’t necessarily good for us from time to time.” He gave me a half-smile. “You were in a position where you had no choice but to give in to that craving, and now”—he touched the amulet hanging between my collarbones—“you’re not. You have control. You took control. And that says a lot about your character.”
I let out a dry bark of a laugh. “Yeah? And what does it say about my character that I still want him?” I studied the amulet. “This thing is supposed to mute his effect on me and make it easier to resist and say no, but it doesn’t work. I found out recently that Jasper can feed on my energy without sex, and I thought, fuck it, I’ll make a deal with him to take sex off the table, but I haven’t because… ” Urgh, I didn’t even want to finish that sentence.
“You like the sex,” Leif finished for me.
I covered my face with my hands. “I’m so fucked up, and I can’t believe I’m admitting this.”
“Cora, you said you wanted to be friends, so let me be a friend.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I don’t want to be a battery, especially for a malevolent spirit, but it’s getting harder and harder to watch him getting hurt and not rip the damn thing off.”
He sipped his whiskey and looked thoughtful. “It sounds to me like you care about him.”
“Pfft.” I took a gulp of my whiskey. “I’m grateful. That’s all. I’d be dead if not for him, and yes, I know logic dictates he’s only protecting me to save his own ass, because my dying leaves him untethered, and as far as I’m aware, that’s a bad thing.”
Leif watched me with an intensely shrewd expression. “I don’t know your history with this spirit, but I can tell you that the bond you’re about to make with us is powerful and all-consuming, and if there is any outside influence messing with your emotions, once you’re the anchor, those influences will be gone.”
If there was an outside influence.
But what if there wasn’t? Something between Jasper and me had changed. My conviction that he was a cold, heartless bastard was waning. If I was honest, I no longer believed he was saving me just for his own gain. I could be wrong, though, and that was the problem.
I could be so fucking wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I was half expecting Jasper to show up in my room, but he didn’t, and I finally got the sleep I desperately needed.
I woke to the midday sun. Leif had let me sleep in. Fuck.
I scrambled out of bed then stopped. Why was I in such a hurry? I had nowhere to be until later this evening. Okay, this was kinda cool. I dressed in black jeggings and a deep green tunic, then pulled my hair into a messy bun.
The house felt silent and empty as I made my way down the stairs, but then Leif’s baritone drifted up to me.
He was pacing in the kitchen, cell phone held to his ear. Barefoot, in jeans and a cream T with the sunlight streaming in and turning his hair into silken flame, he was a vision to behold. Even his pacing was graceful, pantherine, and fluid. It was impossible not to drink him in.
“Yes, for the hundredth time, she’s safe,” he said into the phone. “No, you can’t join us… Why? Because this is an alpha safe house… Because she’s the anchor… No, Charlotte never came here… Bramble, stop. Cora is fine. I’ll get her to call you—”
He caught sight of me in the doorway and rolled his eyes.
I held out my hand for the phone, and he passed it to me eagerly.
“Bramble?”
“Oh, thank god!” Bramble exhaled so heartily I imagined I could feel her breath in my ear. “I only just found out what happened. I should have come back to the mansion with you. I should have slept on the floor!”
“Whoa, calm down. You weren’t to know I’d be attacked. The mansion is supposed to be safe. Besides, Charlotte needed you.”
“She was pretty sick. She hates the alphas seeing her like that, but by the time I got there, Sten had already taken care of her.”
Yeah. Charlotte had looked icky yesterday morning. “I get it. I’m fine. Wren protected me, and Lauris showed up and kicked the revenant’s ass.”
“I know; Sloane filled me in.” She sighed. “Who knew Lauris had it in him?”
“He fought hard, but he got pretty banged up. The Elites healed him. They couldn’t heal Wren, though. I’m worried about him.”
“He’s healing nicely. I bought him a cake basket as a treat. You should have seen his eyes light up.”
I imagined Wren in the presence of cake, and a smile tugged my lips. “Thank you. Can you take care of him for me until I get back?”
“I’d rather be there taking care of you, but I suppose you’re in good hands with Leif—in more ways than one.” I could almost hear the eyebrow wiggle.
I glanced at the shifter to see if he’d overheard, but he had his powerful back to me, and the rhythmic snick of a knife on chopping board never faltered.
“Like I said, I’ll be fine. You stay safe and help Sloane find this traitor.”
“Oh, believe me, I am so fecking on it. Good luck with Tor.”<
br />
I ended the call and turned to find Leif holding out a plate of sandwiches. “Hungry?”
My stomach growled. “Always.”
He grinned. “Same.”
Our gazes locked, and a lance of heat passed between us, a thread of possibility, but I dropped my gaze. Not going there.
“Things can be however you want between us, Cora,” he said softly.
I looked up at him with a cynical smile. “I already have one destructive craving in my life.”
He gave me a quizzical look. “You honestly believe we’d be destructive together?”
I took the plate from him. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, because I’ve never been the play it safe type, but there’s a first time for everything. So, let’s just play it safe, shall we?”
“In that case, I best make us some tea.” He turned his attention to the kettle, and I carried our food over to the table and sat down.
“You said this location is only used by alphas, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“But now I know about it.”
His head whipped round, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh fuck. I never thought of that.” His eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Ass.”
He chuckled. “The alphas agreed that an exception could be made under the circumstances. The safety of the anchor trumps club rules.” His expression sobered. “But you will be asked to take an oath not to reveal the location to anyone else once we return.”
“Like a magical oath?”
“That’s right, with a blood sacrifice and everything.”
“You’re not funny.”
“Really? That’s a shame. I’m supposed to be the funny one out of the three of us.”
Now I was intrigued. “Okay, and what about the others?”
He joined me at the table and handed me a mug of tea. “I’m the funny, good looking one with the excellent hair and super intelligence.”
“Are you going to leave any qualities for Rune and Tor?”
“Hey, I’m just telling it how it is. Rune is the artistic one with a powerful moral compass. He’s the glue, the peacemaker, and Tor…” His expression sobered. “Tor is troubled, always has been, but it got worse the past year. Aside from his issues, he’s an excellent negotiator, strategist, and a skilled fighter. Family means everything to him… At least, it used to.”
Witch Unexpected: The Thirteenth Sign Book 1 Page 17