I have no idea what that means, but I shrug, since it’s the least random thing from the night. “Whatever.”
I keep his jacket on as I hop out, mostly because it’s surprisingly warm, despite the fact it’s a simple, thin blazer.
He’s dropped me off just a few feet from the front steps of the House of Morrigan. Considering I have what I assume is Emit’s blood on my toga now, I see no reason to bother knocking.
However, I regret just walking in when I see about five—make that six—half naked women fawning over Emit, tending his wounds while he stares at the ceiling. Wait…it’s back down to five. Was there really a sixth woman?
Shaking out of my distraction, my gaze returns to Emit. He’s lying on the tile floor, jaw grinding like he’s still furious, as they clean him up.
Why exactly did I come here? I’m not really sure at this point.
“How do you know Arion?” he bites out, eyes never meeting mine.
“If I start talking about it, I’ll start forgetting. Since I just remembered everything, I think I’ll keep the details to myself,” I answer, looking around uncomfortably when all the women swing their suspicious gazes toward me.
“I should…go,” I state awkwardly, wishing I had my phone so I could call Damien—of all people—to come back and get me.
“No. You shouldn’t,” he bites out. “Arion clearly wants to get his hands on you, likely for the same reason we all do—”
“Which is?” I interrupt, my eyes narrowing.
He makes a sound of annoyance, as though he’s still partially a wolf and is an angry fella.
One woman deliberately stares at me while gently stroking his chest with a wet cloth.
Fortunately, the door opens and Vance steps in. My entire body relaxes, but the confused, stunned expression on his face when he sees me lets me know he also thinks I shouldn’t be here.
“You’re still wearing my sheet,” is what he says first, and then shakes his head as he comes over to me, his gaze flicking around the room at all the women tending Emit’s wounds.
“When were you going to tell me he rose?” Emit asks, eyes still on the ceiling.
I glance up at the ceiling, and for the first time, I see a very colorful mural on the tall, arched section above him.
My head tilts, and I try to make sense of all the apple trees with rotten apples that seem to be the focal point of the painting. Wolves are circling the painting, and I swear I see them actually moving when I stare for too long.
I blink out of the trance when Vance releases a heavy sigh and takes a seat near me.
“We need to talk,” he tells Emit.
“Why didn’t you tell me he rose?” Emit snaps again, this time his eyes leveling Vance.
“We need to talk,” is all Vance replies, his eyes drifting from one woman to the next.
Emit sits up, and he gestures over to me, as the women await his instruction.
“Why does he know her?”
Vance says nothing, and I look around, still wondering why I just figured I’d be needed. It’s silly, really. I don’t know Emit, other than our cookie interlude and the time I left him behind to chase my threads.
I also now remember the fact he was a busy man when I needed someone to come save me…from the vampire I agreed to go on a date with tomorrow.
How is this my life?
“To beat it all, he actually acted like he was defending her from me at one point,” Emit drones on.
Vance’s eyes do a quick sweep of the women, who now have a much deeper interest in me. Just great.
Emit finally glances around when Vance’s jaw starts to tic, and he curses while gesturing for them to go. The unspoken request has all of them walking out of the room, and I decide to try to slip out the door.
I won’t key Vance’s car after stealing it.
“Stick around, Violet. We need to talk,” Emit says, lips twitching, just as I get a hand on the door.
Groaning, I move over to where Vance is, and I sit down on the edge of the chair next to him.
Vance leans over, sniffing at me. “You’re in Damien’s jacket.”
“It’s been a long night,” I say on a tired sigh.
“How did you end up in the middle of a vampire and wolf fight?” Emit asks me.
“It’s been a long night,” I say again. “I think I’ll hang with the girls while you guys chat vampire stuff. Maybe you can fill him in on the date and how to get me out of it without any of your wolves dying,” I add.
Vance reaches for me too late, because I’m already scurrying out of the room, determined not to talk, in case the memories fade again. I can already feel some of them have faded just from what little bit I’ve almost said.
I’m not actually trying to find the other women. In fact, I’m searching for another door to get out of here and back home, when one of the shortest women actually finds me.
“Here,” she says, startling me as she thrusts out some clothes. “I’m a lot shorter than you, but the blood on that…sheet…is keeping him from calming down,” she goes on.
“I can just go if you’ll show me the escape hatch, and there will be no blood and no more me here to bother anyone,” I say hopefully.
She looks amused, which, I’ve learned, never bodes well for me.
“Your Marta’s niece, right?”
“By marriage,” I tell her, wondering if she also smells my blood.
“You should eat more bitter things. Your blood smells really sweet and probably confuses some of the monsters around here,” she goes on. “Change clothes and join us.”
“Us?” I ask.
“Us. The weak and unimportant,” she explains, causing my eyebrows to go up. “We’re the omegas.”
“Oh, right. Makes sense. But I’m not a wolf,” I remind her.
She snorts derisively. “Clearly. You’re even weaker than us. Get dressed. They’ll be a while.” Her face turns more serious. “And if you have any sway at all with Arion, I can assure you the safest wolves you’ll find are in this house. You’re going to need friends, Violet Carmine. Even weak friends are good to have.”
With that, she turns and walks down a hallway, leaving me with the clothes and a new friend request.
“Maybe monsters should just use Facebook instead of bullying people into weird, suspicious friendships that don’t sound optional,” I mutter petulantly.
I swear I hear her snort.
Chapter 9
VIOLET
The shirt is way too short, and the jeans look like capris. Also, my ass is bigger than hers, so I’m jammed into the clothes the petite woman brought me when I step into the room full of she-wolves…who may or may not try to eat my face.
The massive room is decorated very girly, and I start wondering if this is their room, considering the numerous beds in here.
Emit has a harem.
Did not see that coming.
Blinking out of my surprise, I glance around the room again, spotting the girl who gave me clothes as she waves me over.
Another woman is suddenly right behind me, sniffing my hair. She even lifts it to her nose to sniff it better, and then growls when I try to move.
“Play nice, Tiara. She’s already wary of us,” the petite girl says in annoyance. Then she directs her attention to me. “But if you’re going to be around wolves, the first thing you need to learn is how to tell if a growl is instructional, sexy, or menacing in tone.”
What does one say to something like that?
“So…this is your room?” I ask instead.
She grins. “We stay here because we’re safest here.” Her smile steadily falls. “Wolves aren’t always the nicest males. Omegas…get mistreated if they’re in the wrong circles.”
The girl behind me circles me, taking me in like she’s sizing me up.
“Should I be concerned?”
“In Alpha’s home? Never,” my friendship-extender tells me vaguely. “I’m Leiza, by the way. Tiara is just behind you. The
n you have Lemon, Fay, and Mary. Ingrid is hiding.” She points to each woman as she introduces them and gestures around the room on the last name, since one is missing. “She doesn’t like new people, but she’ll warm up if you’re around enough.”
“You saved a lot of wolves tonight. Arion doesn’t handle attacks very well, but Ian wouldn’t have it any other way. And Emit went out of his mind when he caught Arion’s scent,” Tiara tells me as she starts sniffing my hands, lifting them up one at a time. “We’re going to end up in another war if they don’t leave the past in the past.”
Leiza pats the seat beside her, and I carefully extract my hands from Tiara while clearing my throat, and go to sit down. The button on the jeans goes flying off when I do sit, and Leiza snorts, along with a couple of the others.
“Sorry,” Leiza tells me, sounding sincere even through her humor.
“Fits better than some of the things I’ve created, so no worries,” I tell her absently, pulling Damien’s jacket tighter around me to hide my midriff.
Usually it’s mostly flat, but in these jeans, it looks like my belly button has turned into an ass crack.
“Vampires and werewolves fighting is a bit cliché, isn’t it?” I ask, hoping no one gets offended.
One of the women groans. “You have no idea. The wars ended centuries ago, but some of the newer betas missed those days and don’t understand why it would be foolish to ever return,” Mary answers.
“You’re the girl Emit was obsessing about, aren’t you?” Leiza asks me, also touching my hair.
“I think he already has his hands full.” To this, they all laugh.
“We’re his omegas. Not his girlfriends. We anticipate the needs of others, and…try to help out when and where we can,” Leiza says, a sly look in her eyes as she smirks. “We’re nice to the girls Emit brings around, in hopes they don’t have a problem with us living here.”
“Because it can be dangerous outside of an alpha’s home for an omega wolf right now,” Mary adds a little quieter.
“Before I ask the question I seem to find myself annoyed with asking, is there any chance I could have a—”
My words end when a really fruity drink of some sort, complete with very pretty girly decorations, is suddenly in front of me. “—drink,” I say, ending the question as a statement instead.
“Like she said, we anticipate the needs of others around us. We’d make excellent handmaidens on the nights you stayed over,” Lemon says, speaking up for the first time as she smiles brightly.
I just nod for a second, and then I shake my head as I finally take in what’s going on around me. “I’m not dating Emit. Actually, I had sex with Vance tonight—”
“We know,” Leiza says with a shrug.
“Seems like someone forgot to shower,” Lemon adds in a playfully tsking tone.
“My mostly absent father paid a surprise visit,” I say by way of explanation for the lack of shower.
“That’s rude,” Tiara states flatly.
Fay walks over to the corner, apparently not interested in this conversation, since she hasn’t spoken yet.
I sip the drink, nodding in disbelief that Tiara actually understands. “That’s what I thought, and then I felt guilty.”
“Because he’s never there,” Fay says like she completely understands, apparently still listening in. “And you probably wish he was around. Then he shows up and you feel angry.”
I frown.
“Not really angry. I’m not an angry person by nature. I get angry, but then it just sort of goes away after a few minutes.”
They all swing their gazes toward me, just as another girl pops out of what must be a false panel in the wall. She shyly peers at me from the one side of her face that isn’t covered by her hair.
I feel like one of those zoo animals right now.
“What’s that like? Not staying angry?” Tiara asks a little dreamily.
“Wolves stay angry?”
“Wolves stay on alert when a threat is in the air,” she explains. “Anger is just a byproduct of constant tension.”
“Why stay in town with vampires then?” I ask her, confused.
“Because we’re stronger together, in the event there ever comes a time when humans decide we’re the threat. It’s likely the only way we’ll ever stop killing off each other and crying out for another endless war that will forever end in a stalemate,” Fay grumbles, looking back out the window. “Arion has risen, and the bloodthirsty betas are still demanding bloodshed a century later. Fools. He’ll always outlive them, so they’re just painting us a target for future grudges.”
“The omegas always get caught up and killed in the crosshairs because we don’t stand a chance against so many stronger warriors,” Lemon says so sadly.
I suddenly feel terrible for them. My heart actually hurts. I keep fearing the monsters I’ve met, never thinking about the ones who live in fear of the very same threats.
It makes sense. After all, I’m a scaredy cat monster too.
Maybe that’s why Mom brought me here. It was never about keeping me safe after she was gone. It was about ensuring I was a monster among other monsters.
She just didn’t know there are innocent monsters too.
Chapter 10
EMIT
Now that I don’t feel like I’m trying to come out of my skin, I manage to stop growling.
Vance finishes up a call with Damien, putting his phone away.
“Dorian is most certainly in town, but he didn’t sire the two succubae I had to deal with. It’s his mark because he has a rogue one with the ability to turn others. Damien agrees with me on the matter that the pictures of the mark are just different enough to—”
“I’m not finished discussing Arion,” I grind out. “I couldn’t give two fucks about some rogue incubus Dorian should be held responsible for. If they can turn things, they get exterminated.”
“Like when you have wolves who can infect humans even without the full moon? Do you exterminate all those?” he’s quick to volley.
His gaze narrows when I start growling all over again.
“Arion did exterminate them, and then we put him underground for it. Dorian will play that card from now until forever,” he adds.
“It was much more complicated than that, and you fucking know it,” I remind him.
“Of course it was. But that’s because it’s personal for us. Just like it always is. It’s personal to you every single time a wolf dies. Too fucking personal. Arion is a time bomb right now after being conscious for who knows how long.”
“He’s planning his revenge as we speak. So why are you staying on the phone with Damien about such insignificant—”
“He could have killed me,” he interrupts.
I stop speaking abruptly, and a prickle goes up my spine.
“Sure, we both know if you really wanted to, you might could kick my ass. You don’t have the ability to care quite that much to exert the real effort it would take,” he goes on, looking away. “But Arion let me know real damn fast how easy it would be for him. Had Damien not shown up with Violet tonight, he might have offered you the same warning.”
I scrub a hand over my jaw.
“Putting him underground won’t do a bit of damn good. You’ll have to kill him if he gives you no option,” I say quietly.
He levels me with a cold look. “And when he comes back?”
“If you kill him the right way, he won’t come back. I know your secrets, Van Helsing.”
His voice lowers as he leans over. “Even if I was willing to go through with that, I can’t truly kill him. No Van Helsing can kill—”
“Loraine. Damien’s cousin—”
“Has spent the last century living under the radar with the young beta vampire she fell in love with. She wanted out of the alpha circle, and I needed something to give Damien hope before he went dark and stayed there. When I killed her the second time, she was still reborn, just as we knew she would be. We’re immorta
l, Emit. Get the fuck over it. By now, you all should have accepted your fate.”
I blow out a frustrated breath, sinking back as my fight leaves me in a painful, defeating fit.
“I was really hoping that would one day be an option for me too,” I state quietly.
“I’m sure you all were, to hell with me and what happens to me when I’m on my own with the monsters you’ve all left rampant,” he states sourly, looking back toward the way Violet went. “I should check on her. She tends to slip out when we argue or fight.”
“What do we do about her date with Arion? He’ll come for the wolves who attacked with me if she backs out. We can trap him and put him in that other coffin—”
“All of my coffins were stolen months ago,” he interrupts, causing me to groan.
“Why wouldn’t you have mentioned that sooner?”
“Because it’s my shit that was stolen, not yours,” he says with that thick condescension that has me growling again.
“Now is really not the time to talk to me like I’m an imbecile.”
“Now is really not the time to attack Arion in his home, which is precisely why I didn’t tell you he’d risen. I expected him to keep a lower profile, given the clear tension there’d be between him and all your people.”
“What am I supposed to do? My betas—”
“Are your fucking betas!” he shouts as he jumps to his feet, glaring at me. “Deal with them accordingly. They work for you. Not the other way around.”
“Where the hell are you going?”
“To collect Violet,” he snaps.
“She’s staying here until I’ve had a chance to talk to her about her date—”
“She’s going. He certainly won’t hurt her. If anything, she’s his favorite person right now because she represents freedom,” he says, his eyes bouncing to mine as he lowers his voice again. “And she can hopefully find out what he plans to do to your mutts before we have a repeat of ancient history so soon.”
“I’m not sure I trust something like this in the hands of a very young Portocale gypsy who has no idea what’s going on—”
The loud laughter has us pausing, and he frowns over at me.
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