Maybe Selena was wrong, he thought, glancing around the table at the serene faces smiling back at him.
Chapter Eighteen
Zelda watched Logan through dinner—the way he looked at her wolves, really acknowledging them for a change. It made her heart ache with pride. These were people worth saving. He’d see it too, if he would just open his eyes.
It was so obvious now. Logan had never had anyone besides Selena. He didn’t know what a pack could be like. He didn’t know what a family could be like.
Zelda didn’t have many memories of her mother, but she’d been raised by decent enough foster parents. They had stayed in touch, at least until she left California. But what she really missed was her coven. The bonds they had forged in the circle of the goddess could not be forgotten as easily as familial ties. The severance ritual was proof of that.
Zelda still mourned for her coven, but the wolves comforted her. Her connection to them required less ritual and more intuition. It felt natural, like she supposed family should. She wondered if Logan had anything like that at all with his sister.
The wolves talked and laughed as they ate, their hands and mouths constantly full. They didn’t question Logan’s presence, but they also didn’t push him to engage more than he already had. Logan was probably right about their minimal education, but they had earned more than enough street smarts with the Raymore Clan, and they were all well aware of the unstable ground they stood on with the reclusive Chase wolves.
The table was soon empty, every bit of food devoured. The night before a full moon, the wolves were ravenous, and even though Zelda was sure they’d get a belly full of woodland critters later that night, she planned on making them a big breakfast Tuesday morning. The pub didn’t open until early afternoon, so they’d have plenty of time to relax before starting the workday.
Logan leaned back in his chair and glanced behind Zelda to give Nick a curious look. “Think you’ll have trouble shifting tonight, kid?”
Nick shrugged, cringing when his bad shoulder protested. He looked down at his broken arm and frowned.
Zelda could sense his distress. She leaned in and touched his arm gently.
“That wrap is loose knit and super flexible. It should shape with you when you shift. But just in case, stay close to the others. One of them can check it over before they shift too,” she said. “We’ll probably need to rewrap it in the morning though. It should be healed up before next full moon.”
Nick sighed and nodded, looking less worried now that he knew someone had a plan for him.
Zelda seemed to have a plan for everyone, except herself. She didn’t feel like she deserved one, and now that she’d been told there was a metaphorical altar with her name on it, she was even less inclined to dream up a happy ending for herself.
Everyone helped clear the table, and then one by one, they said their goodbyes. Zelda was showered with hugs and kisses and thank yous, until only Logan remained.
He stood and tapped his knuckles along the edge of the table. “I think you should stay at Orpheus House with Dr. Delph tonight,” he said. “You’ll be safer there, and then maybe Phil will have your security system installed by tomorrow night.”
Zelda nodded, too drained from her injuries and the ritual to argue with him. “Okay. I think I’m going to take a nap. It’s been a long day.”
Logan yawned into his palm. “You can say that again.” He tilted his head to the side and looked at her for a long moment. “Do you want company, or should I wait down here?”
Zelda held her breath. None of her good deeds seemed to have made any difference to the goddesses. They’d called her selfish, and maybe it was true. She definitely wanted to be selfish now. She sighed. “Company sounds nice.”
A familiar light flickered through Logan’s eyes, and he followed her upstairs.
Nick had left with Kerri to do a little shopping, since the only thing he’d taken with him from the Raymore lair had been his life. The silence in the pub was eerie. Zelda was used to a full house. There was always a patient on the mend, or wolves gathered in the kitchen or pub for one reason or another.
The quilt Logan had bundled over Zelda the night before lay in a lump on her bed. She picked up a corner and began folding it, stopping when Logan put a hand on her shoulder.
She turned and laid her head on his chest, closing her eyes and breathing in his earthy scent. His arms folded across her back, forming a circle of warmth around her.
“Logan,” she said softly, almost sighing his name. She tilted her head up to drag her mouth along his skin and lay a gentle kiss on his neck.
He squeezed her closer, and she felt his heart pick up speed. A warm hand reached up to cup her chin, and she opened her eyes to find him looking at her, a pained expression on his face.
“I don’t think I can do this,” he said, pulling back to create some space between them.
Zelda frowned. “Why not? You’ve been making passes at me for months.”
Logan released her and took a step back. “I spent all of last night listening to you cry out another man’s name in your sleep. You’re still grieving, and I can’t take advantage of you like that.”
Zelda hugged herself and blinked back tears. “I am grieving, but not for Theo. I’m grieving over everything I sacrificed for him.”
Logan inched toward her and brushed his fingers down her arm. “Tell me. Help me understand.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “The ritual I did today was to cut ties with my old coven.”
“I didn’t even know you were a witch until yesterday,” Logan said, sitting on the bed beside her. He took her hand in his, lacing their fingers together.
Zelda swallowed and breathed in through her nose. “I haven’t practiced in two years, and I haven’t had contact with the coven in all that time either.”
“Why not?”
Her chin trembled. “When Theo died, I tried to bring him back. I used every ounce of power I had—and when that wasn’t enough, I tapped into my coven sisters and drained them too.”
Logan squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry you couldn’t save him.”
Zelda’s head snapped up. “I did save him. I almost killed my entire coven in the process, but I saved Theo.”
“Oh.” Logan’s eyes widened and he sat up straighter. “Wow. That’s amazing—”
“No,” Zelda said. “It was stupid, and selfish, and it cost me everything. Even Theo, in the end.”
Logan looked confused. His mouth opened and closed, as if he couldn’t decide what to say next.
“Theo was a good man,” Zelda explained. “He knew what his life had cost. He could taste the darkness of the magic I’d used to pull his soul back from the beyond, and it destroyed him. He resented me for it, and less than a month later, he took his own life.”
“I’m so sorry, Zee.” Logan’s arms were around her again, pulling her into his chest.
Her tears fell quietly onto his shoulder. “I couldn’t face my coven’s judgement. I couldn’t face Theo’s family or any of our friends. I left everything behind—our home, my job at the hospital.”
“You needed a fresh start.” Logan rubbed circles over her back.
She sniffled and pressed her face into the crook of his neck, letting her warm breath pool there. “One of the coven sisters was here this morning.”
Logan tensed. “Why? What did she want?”
“To warn me. The sisters felt my magic yesterday. They know where I am.”
“But you did that ritual.”
Zelda shook her head. “I might have been too late.” Her eyes welled again. “I keep trying to do the right thing, but I only seem to make things worse. First the Raymore Clan, now the coven. It would probably be best for everyone if the council did send me packing.”
“No.” Logan squeezed her arms. “You’re safe here. And the wolves need you.” He took a deep breath. “I need you.”
Zelda smiled s
adly. “Even if I stay, it won’t matter. My time is coming. The goddesses told me as much during the ritual.”
Logan slid to the floor and knelt between her legs, pushing her chin up until she looked at him. “Then your goddesses are stupid. I won’t let anything happen to you. I swear it.”
Zelda rested her forehead against his. She didn’t want to argue, so instead, she leaned into him, taking his mouth with hers. If she was destined to leave this world so soon, she wouldn’t feel guilty claiming this one thing for herself.
Logan moaned, his vibrations passing through her lips and across her tongue. He returned her kiss, pushing up off the floor. His hand slipped behind her, sliding in between her shoulder blades as he lowered her to the bed.
When his hips pressed against hers, she released his mouth and took a startled breath. Logan dipped his head down to trail his lips over her jawline, neck, shoulder. He pushed up the hem of her shirt and moved lower, kissing a circle around her navel.
Zelda writhed at his touch, making small noises in the back of her throat. She felt her skin begin to hum, and the same sensation that marked the coming of her magic coursed through her body.
Logan sensed it too, and he leaned back, staring down at her apprehensively. Zelda could see the blue glow of her eyes reflected in his.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “My magic does so much more than Zeus’s.”
Chapter Nineteen
Logan was beyond tired. He’d gotten two hours of sleep—at most—the previous night, and he’d be getting even less tonight with the weight of the full moon pulling at his wolf. But he couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes, not lying next to Zelda.
Her dewy skin sparkled like she’d been cast in bronze, even in the coarse light that slipped in from the hallway. He tried to picture what she might look like under the full moon, or by candlelight, or in the filtered light that slipped through the trees of the woods he hunted behind the farm. She hadn’t given herself to him but an hour ago, and here he was, already planning out their future trysts.
Zelda tossed in her sleep, but she didn’t call out Theo’s name this time. She hadn’t mistakenly called out his name while they’d made love either. But she had called out Logan’s name—and more than once.
Logan grinned and pulled her hand up to his mouth for a quick kiss, then he pressed it to his chest. A soft smile lifted at the corner of Zelda’s mouth, and he hoped she was dreaming about him.
Even though the apartment lacked windows, Logan could feel the sun sinking lower in the sky. The clock hanging on Zelda’s bedroom wall seemed to tick louder with each passing second, and a knot found its way into his gut.
Zelda would be safe at Orpheus House. He was sure of it. He just didn’t know how long he’d be able to convince her to stay there. Vampire Phil’s security systems were of the best quality, but that wasn’t why vandals steered clear of the good doctor’s fortress. He employed a poltergeist. Unfortunately, Logan was pretty sure Phil didn’t have any extra poltergeists on hand.
He was mulling over the idea of camping out in the pub until the council figured out what to do about the Raymore Clan, when his cell phone went off in his pants, abandoned on the floor.
Logan threw the covers back and scrambled to answer the call before it woke Zelda, but he wasn’t fast enough. Zelda stirred just as Selena’s razor-sharp voice tore through the speaker.
“Marla is gone, but you’d probably know that by now if you weren’t holed up with that barfly. Don’t deny it. I saw your truck on the way to Delph’s.”
“I’m a grown man, Selena. I don’t need your permission to have a life,” he grumbled under his breath and glanced over his shoulder to see Zelda sitting up in bed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, taking in his angry expression.
Selena snorted in his ear. “The girl didn’t even try to be sneaky about it. She just walked right out—didn’t say a word. Almost thought she was sleepwalking, but when I tried to stop her, she fucking bit me.”
Zelda waited quietly, looking to Logan for an answer, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her, at least not while Selena was barking in his ear.
“I’ll be at the farm in an hour,” he said.
“Sure you wouldn’t rather run with your girlfriend’s mutts tonight?” Selena huffed.
Logan grunted and hung up on her, turning his attention back to Zelda. “You need to pack for Orpheus House. I’ll be shifting soon, and it’s not safe for you to be here alone.”
Zelda found her clothes and dressed slowly, still watching him with a frown. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me something?”
Logan pulled on his jeans and picked up his shirt, fingering the hem as he thought over the best way to break the news to her. “We’re burning daylight. I’ll tell you once we get to Orpheus House.”
Zelda packed a duffle bag with a single change of clothes and her toothbrush. Logan wanted to tell her to pack more, but he kept his mouth shut and tried to be grateful that she was going to stay somewhere else for at least one night.
When they pulled up outside of Orpheus House and Logan spotted Selena’s truck in the lot, he swore. Then on the way up to the front doors, Selena came out to meet them and he swore again.
Zelda clutched her duffle bag to her chest as Selena towered over them, holding her arm up and pointing at a bite mark on her wrist. It was daintier and more human looking than Zelda’s bite, but it could have been a shark bite for the way she was carrying on.
“I hope that bitch had a rabies shot. Don’t even think about dumping any more of your mutts on me. If I had it my way, the council would have chased you and your band of rejects out of here a long time ago—”
“Marla did that?” Zelda looked horrified. She turned to Logan with her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I was getting ready to tell you—”
Selena threw her hand down to her side. “Oh god. You slept with her. I can smell it all over you. Both of you,” she said, glaring from Zelda to Logan. “Stay away from the farm tonight. I can’t guarantee that I won’t chew your tail off if I catch you out in my woods.”
She stalked off toward her truck, leaving Logan and Zelda gaping after her.
“Ms. Fulmen?” Dr. Delph waited at the front doors of Orpheus House.
Logan suddenly wished he hadn’t rushed Zelda along. The sun was still above the tree line. They could have spent another hour in bed. They could have avoided the run-in with Selena.
He turned back to Zelda and pulled her in for a tight hug. Selena’s reaction was the only one he had been fretting over, and now that that was out of the way, he didn’t care what anyone else thought.
Dr. Delph remained quiet through their goodbye, until a chaste kiss escalated. Then he cleared his throat. Zelda pulled away and blushed, as if she had forgotten they had an audience.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Logan said, standing watch until Zelda was safely inside Orpheus House.
Then he walked back to his truck, trying to figure out where his wolf was going to spend the night.
Chapter Twenty
Zelda followed Dr. Delph down a long hallway. The walls were decorated in predictable health center fashion, with framed photographs and certificates, a calendar of events, and inspirational posters. It all felt incredibly normal, but anyone who had spent any length of time in Spero Heights knew better.
From somewhere deep inside the building, the faintest echo of a scream drifted up through a grate in the floor, sending a chill over Zelda.
Dr. Delph gave her an apologetic smile. “Full moon,” he said, pushing open a door at the end of the hallway.
Zelda entered the room, taking in the bed and small dresser that seemed to glow in the golden evening light slipping through a barred window.
Dr. Delph clicked on the bedside lamp before walking around the bed and pulling the curtains closed. “Phil tells me the pub doesn’t have many windows. His bid was quite reasonab
le, considering.”
Zelda rubbed at the goosebumps along her arms. “I really don’t expect you to pay for the security system. Maybe I can work out a payment plan with Phil.”
“Nonsense.” Dr. Delph shook his head. “You’ve always helped when my patients needed more critical attention. I’m just returning the favor.”
Zelda set her duffle bag on the bed and pressed a hand to her chest before locking eyes with him. “Selena’s opinion of me is no secret, but your thoughts aren’t as transparent. Do you feel the same way she does? Should I be turning away the wolves at my door?”
Dr. Delph sighed and ran a hand through his gray hair. “Spero Heights was founded because of a desire to help others. Selena wanted a safe place to raise her brother. Mayor Pierce wanted to offer his kind a more normal existence.” He tilted his head from side to side. “I’m somewhere in the middle, the balance between their two extremes. I’m more selective about whom I save, and I can afford to be,” he said, tapping his temple with a grin.
Zelda nodded slowly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have your advantage, or your resolve.”
Dr. Delph reached for her shoulder, then pulled his hand back in retreat just shy of making contact. He gave her a strained smile. “Times they are a changin’. Fate has a way of working things out on its own.” He gave her a parting nod and closed the door behind him as he left.
Zelda crossed the room and peeked through the curtains. The sky had darkened just enough that the full moon could be seen creeping up the horizon. She squinted, taking a closer look. The hint of a shadow touched the moon’s eastern edge, a prelude to an eclipse. She shivered.
“Blood moon tonight,” an ethereal voice whispered through the room.
Zelda jumped and spun around.
A blond girl in a plain white night gown sat on the edge of the bed, kicking her feet back and forth. Her translucent skin shone a soft white as she watched Zelda with wide, curious eyes.
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