I stood stiffly in the center of my room, feeling my trepidation rise as the sun set. I’d spent most of the day to myself. Running—again. For the first hour, I’d pretended I wasn’t hoping to see him, but by the end of the second hour when he still hadn’t shown, I couldn’t hide my disappointment. Out of an entire town full of werewolves, the only person I wanted to spend time with was a vampire; a creature that some innate part of my wolf wanted nothing more than to take a bite out of. Obviously, that feeling had been mutual, probably why he’d continued to stay away.
Still, a friendly face this afternoon would’ve been nice. Tonight’s party loomed like a dark cloud. Inescapable and heavy with expectations. They hadn’t asked me to speak at last night’s council meeting but Sheridan looked ready to put me on the spot before that argument had broken out over the marriage.
Even as I thought the word, I shuddered again.
The council meeting had been hell. The air in that roomful of werewolves had become stuffy almost immediately—they’d all stayed in human form, thank goodness—but when their tempers flared, their animals pressed out against the edges and I had felt their strain. After that, I’d purposely kept my eyes away from the door and walls so that I couldn’t imagine them closing in on me.
I remembered one especially big guy with dark skin, an elder who made me nervous. His arms had rippled with muscles even when he was sitting still. On top of that, his biceps were larger than both my legs put together.
But then the old man had asked Dad something about sealing the marriage agreement in blood. The silence while they waited for him to answer had been deafening. I’d heard Dad say yes and then the room seemed to tilt. Regan dropped her head into her hands. I watched people’s expressions go from angry to resigned to fearful within a single blink.
A sharp knock sounded and before I could pull myself out of my thoughts, Regan pushed through the door. “You okay?” she asked, catching sight of my expression.
“I’m fine,” I lied, still distracted.
Regan stepped inside and frowned. Her jeans and boots were all scuffed and muddy. I wanted to ask what she’d been doing but it felt nosy somehow. Even though we lived together, it was all formality. I wasn’t actually invited into her life. Better to always remember that than be hurt over and over again.
Regan’s boots shuffled against the hardwood and her hands moved as if they were unsure of where to go. She hooked her thumbs in her pockets and stood straight. “Are you nervous about tonight?” she asked quietly.
“Actually, I was wondering about your pack rules and traditions. Are they written down somewhere?” I asked.
“You mean like our law book?” she asked, brows crinkling.
I nodded. “I’d like a copy to read if you have an extra.”
“Sure. There’s one in the library downstairs. Dad keeps it out for easy reference. The large end table in the back,” she said, a distinct note of suspicion lacing her words. Or was it simply curiosity. I couldn’t tell with her. “Anything in particular you want to know?”
“There are a lot of things happening here that I don’t understand,” I said, waving a hand to keep it vague. “It’s all so fast paced. I’d like to catch up.”
I didn’t want to admit that, along with everything else, I was still trying to accept that I actually had the chance to be married at all. I’d convinced myself long ago that marriage and relationships weren’t an option for me. And I hated to admit that part of me was glad to know I’d been wrong. Still, if there was a way out of this blind-betrothal mess, a pack law book might hold the answers.
“Uh-huh,” Regan said, clearly unconvinced. Fine, she wanted to know my questions, I’d ask them. Regan was probably safer than one of the others.
“For example, what’s the big deal with the blood agreement thing Dad made?” I asked.
Regan’s eyes flickered with something, but it wasn’t surprise. Loathing. Resignation maybe? She hesitated and, for a moment, I wondered if she was even going to answer me. Finally, she sighed and dropped her hands. “It’s called a blood seal. Sort of like an oath. It’s a way to make an agreement official and binding,” she said, and her mouth twisted on the last word. “Anyway, once it’s done, it’s unbreakable. You can’t go back on it if you wanted to.”
“Not for any reason?” I asked, hope plummeting a little at that.
“Not unless you feel like dying today,” she said with a shrug.
“Wow,” I murmured. Regan muttered an agreement that sounded slightly more colorful than mine.
I bit my lip, trying not to drown underneath the reality of my situation. I was going to be forced to compete with my new sister for the title of alpha and then marry another werewolf I’d never met before. All to seal a peace treaty that would guarantee a cease fire for a pack I’d never even met until recently. It wasn’t even my war.
“But … isn’t that happening anyway?” I asked almost to myself.
Across from me, Regan looked up and blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Well, isn’t this whole marriage idea a way to bring peace between your families?” I asked. “To end some ongoing feud you have with them?” I tried to keep my voice light. I knew this was a sensitive topic for Regan but I honestly just wanted to understand what I’d walked into the middle of.
“It’s more than a feud, Charlie,” Regan said. She spoke slowly, as if talking to a small child, and I bristled.
“Then maybe you should spell out exactly what it is,” I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest. “You walk around spouting a bunch of crap about how the Rossi family is a bunch of monsters, but no one has offered proof of this. I still don’t know—”
“Proof?” She straightened, her shoulders stiff and hands balled at her sides. “Proof? No one owes you a damn lick of anything, the least of which is proof. The Rossi family and all of their kind are nothing but … unnatural monsters.” She snorted. “I don’t have to prove that. Your body will do the work for me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, more confused than angry at her cryptic explanation. Why would she call her own kind “unnatural?”
“It means get within six feet of one and your wolf will flare up, ready to kill, faster than you can say Regan was right.” Her lip curled into something menacing and I wondered if she meant it for me or them. “Our wolves come with a built-in vamp sensor. You’ll understand tonight. It’ll be all you can do to keep your wolf tucked away inside your gown. In fact, do that, and then find me tomorrow and we’ll—”
“Vamp?” I repeated. “Did you just say vamp?” I grabbed at the windowsill to steady myself and tried to clear the dizzy spinning in my head.
“Of course I said vamp. What else did you—oh.” She stopped, her eyes widening, and stared at me with her lips parted. “Do you mean none of us … We failed to mention that tiny detail, didn’t we?”
I nodded, a hand pressed to my stomach to calm the swirling nausea. The Rossi family … the monsters who killed her mother … the unnatural creatures that sparked an automatic kill order in our werewolf side … and my new friend in the woods—all the same.
One of us was going to marry a murdering vampire.
“The Rossi family is the royal family of the vampires—and our future in-laws,” she explained.
“I see.” I straightened and found Regan watching me closely, as if waiting for something.
Her head tilted sideways in curiosity. “Did you think the engagement was between another wolf?”
I nodded again, this time reddening from my embarrassment. “Sorry,” Regan muttered and blew out a breath.
I focused on breathing too but only until I couldn’t hear my pulse roaring in my ears.
I straightened and met Regan’s concerned gaze. “You good?” she asked.
I waited a beat to be sure and then nodded. “Really glad you cleared all that up for me before tonight’s soiree,” I said when I found my voice.
Regan snorted and slowly, our mouths broke out into matching grins. “Right. That would’ve been an awkward reaction as you shook hands with the future in-laws.”
I giggled and there was something half-mad about the sound. I wondered if I’d just reached some sort of breaking point in what I could handle. And if so, would that make things easier or harder from now on.
“Tonight’s going to be hard,” Regan said, her smile finally diminishing into something that looked an awful lot like concern.
My own humor died instantly. I looked away—back toward the view from my window where caterers were setting up for what my dad had officially labeled the engagement party. I stared down at the string lights and tin lanterns being hung from tree branches until the weight of Regan’s stare prompted me to break the silence.
“Will we have to say anything?” I asked. “Tonight, I mean. In front of everyone.”
“I don’t think so,” she said. “Dad will probably make a speech. Maybe Mr. Rossi. You’ll have to make small talk with them. And you’ll have to keep from killing them all even though you’ll want to,” she added in a wry voice.
I sighed and finally tore my gaze away from my window. “Thanks, Regan,” I said.
“For what?” she asked, blinking in surprise.
“For always telling me the truth,” I said. “If we weren’t … If things were different, you’d be a cool sister,” I admitted, ignoring the pang I felt as I said the words aloud.
To my surprise, Regan’s eyes clouded. “Thanks. You too,” she whispered.
The silence felt awkward and I waited until Regan got ahold of herself, pretending not to notice when she used the corner of her sleeve to wipe her lids dry.
I cleared my throat. “So about that book,” I said.
“I’ll have someone bring it right up,” she said quickly, already edging toward the door. “See you tonight,” she added.
“See you tonight,” I echoed as she slipped out.