“There is one thing,” she said. “Why were Sam and this Lucan up in Massachusetts?”
“Ah,” Vlad said. “It was actually a fortunate accident. They’d decided to get as far north as possible, hoping to find somewhere remote in Maine to hide. Concealing themselves in a city of the Empusae had provided them no protection, and they thought they might have better luck going to a part of the country that has more werewolves than vampires. They had expected that the small area the Lilim currently controls would be the safest place to stop and feed. Unfortunately, they were wrong.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Ariane replied. “If they’d made it up into wolf country, they would have been on their own.”
Damien chuckled. “Only you could find a silver lining in that, kitten.”
Vlad inclined his head. “She’s right. If nothing else, it was the right place to be able to survive an attack.”
It suddenly occurred to her that her part in all of this was ending. She had no reason to return here. It might well be the last time she saw the Dracul, at least for a long time. She would have to find a safe place to conceal herself after this, of course, but Vlad wasn’t obligated to do any more for her than he already had.
“Thank you for helping us,” Ariane said. “I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“You’re more than welcome, Ariane,” Vlad said, his eyes warming a little. “You are the only Grigori I’ve spent much time with, and it has been a pleasure. I realize you have a lot to think about, but once you’ve made certain that your friend will be all right, I’d like to help you make a place for yourself, wherever you decide you want to be. I have some ideas that might suit you, in fact, within my own ranks. You may not be Dracul, but I think that time is past that the dynasties can afford to rely on such small distinctions. You will always be welcome here. And protected.”
Ariane smiled and thanked him, the offer a balm to her ragged nerves. It was good to feel accepted somewhere, even if she wasn’t sure this would ultimately be her place. She would have a lot of decisions to make… after. Her eyes drifted to Damien, who had stiffened ever so slightly and looked away.
He didn’t need to find a place, she thought. Damien seemed utterly comfortable with his life.
It wasn’t as though he’d lied about the fact that he was the only one who fit in it.
Enjoy him now, she told herself. Damien seemed to live only for the present. For him, there was no past and only a murky sense of the future. He seemed to like pleasing her and had surprised her with his obvious affection. He had given her what he could, and she treasured it. But she was under no illusions. Damien had spent his life walking away from things. He would walk away from her too.
Ariane pushed aside her worry and tried to focus on the good things, on the simple pleasure of Damien’s hand at the small of her back as they walked from the room. He was here now. When she finally saw Sam again, Damien would be with her. He had helped her see this through, and that was a gift.
She tried to tell herself it would be worth the piece of her heart that Damien would take when he had gone.
Chapter Eighteen
WHEN SHE STEPPED onto the tarmac at the Bonner County Regional Airport in the wee hours of the morning, Ariane had to remind herself that she was not, in fact, dreaming. She really had come this far, from the barren desert to teeming cities and finally to this tucked-away place that smelled of earth and trees. The temperature was comfortable, and a light breeze lifted her hair, toying with it and then vanishing in a single, sultry breath.
She loved this place instantly, without reservation. It felt natural to her in a way that nowhere else had. And for the first time, there was a whisper of memory from her mortal life—the briefest flicker of smiling faces that vanished before she could catch them to examine. She froze, willing that small shred of the past back to her, but nothing came. It was tantalizing… and frustrating.
Had her home been like this place?
“Jesus, Damien, could you have found a bigger suitcase?”
Ariane turned her head to see a slim, dark-haired man approaching the jet. He wore black jeans, a black T-shirt stamped with the logo of some band, and a welcoming grin. His hair was chin-length and tucked behind his ears, and as he got closer, the brilliant blue of his eyes was apparent. A vampire… and yet there was something different about him. His scent, faintly musky but not unpleasant, still had her instincts stirring in the oddest way.
It was only when Damien addressed him by name that she understood. This was the vampire who was mated to the wolf. Damien had only mentioned him in passing, and without much commentary, but she’d heard some of the Dracul muttering about the union using terms that were far less kind.
“Piss off, Jaden. It’s not like you have to carry it,” Damien said with an answering smile.
“What are you doing here? Don’t tell me Lyra’s thrown you out.”
Ariane was glad to see him relax a little. He’d been unusually quiet on the plane. She kept catching him watching her, too, looking lost in thought. Maybe he was trying to decide exactly how to say good-bye to her.
The thought made her sick to her stomach.
“Nope,” Jaden replied. “Ty and Lily have already left. Lyra and I had come up for a visit, and once everything went down it got… extended. We’re keeping an eye on things while they’re gone.”
“Already gone?” Damien asked. “That’s early, especially considering the situation.”
Jaden Harrison, husband to the first female Alpha werewolf of the Pack of the Thorn, closed in on Damien and Ariane while the sole flight attendant closed the luggage compartment beneath the jet. She had to smirk when she realized that her small duffel really did stand in marked contrast to Damien’s substantial suitcase. He’d mentioned that he kept some things at Vlad’s, as he often used the mansion as a stopping point on his travels.
“Some” apparently had a different definition for Damien than most people.
“The situation is the problem,” Jaden said. “Lily and Arsinöe haven’t been in the same room since… everything. And some of those damned Ptolemy who’ve been hanging around our borders picking off cats got caught up in the Grigori fight. Lots of bodies. Guess who she’s blaming?”
“I wonder. Don’t blame Lily for trying to head off the mess pre-meeting, but it won’t work.”
Jaden grinned. “She’s still an optimist.”
Damien and Jaden exchanged a couple of quick, hard claps on the shoulder. Curious, Ariane watched them greet one another. Damien might not have many friends, but he didn’t seem to put up his usual icy shield with the two she’d now met.
She wondered how he chose who to let in. He probably had some sort of convoluted test for them to pass. He’d warmed up fairly quickly with her, but their circumstances—fighting murderous Grigori and sleeping together—were a little unusual.
Jaden turned his bright blue gaze to her, his eyes widening. “Wow. Hi. You must be Ariane.”
She took his proffered hand with a smile. “That’s me. It’s nice to meet you. Damien’s talked about you.”
He chuckled as he squeezed her hand in a firm grip and then let it go. “Whatever he said, only believe half of it. Maybe less.” He paused, though the smile didn’t fade. “Sammael made you sound… bigger.”
She winced. “Gods, does everyone think female Grigori look like him?”
Jaden laughed, a soft, low sound that vibrated up from his chest almost like a purr. He was beautiful, Ariane thought, in an entirely different way than Damien was. Not aristocratic, but edgy. And those eyes…
“Short answer? Yes. I’m glad that the reality is a lot less disturbing. Hang on, I need to have a word with the crew. We’re putting them up for the day. There’s a car here for them, but they need the keys.”
When Jaden walked away, Damien drew closer, dropping his head to speak directly in her ear. The feel of his breath made her shiver. It shouldn’t be possible to want someone this much every moment of the day and night.
“You look happy, kitten. I insist you take it out on me later,” he murmured, brushing his hand lightly down her arm, just barely grazing her breast.
She turned her head to answer him, her nose almost touching his, when she realized they were being watched, very closely. Embarrassed, she took a step back, while Damien looked irritably at Jaden.
“It isn’t nice to stare.”
“Whatever, Mr. Manners,” Jaden said, though he gave them another lingering, curious look before shaking his head and moving to pick up Ariane’s bag. “Car’s right out front.”
“Will I be able to speak with Sam as soon as we get to where we’re going?” she asked, forcing her thoughts back to the present. She was anxious to see her friend, though worried about what she might find when she spoke to him. Jaden’s expression softened with understanding.
“Sure. He’s tired, and beat up, but he knows you’re coming. No sense of humor, but I’m guessing that came in the original packaging.”
“That sounds like Sam,” Ariane replied, flooded with affection at just the description of her friend. No matter what had happened to him, he would be the same beacon of strength and sanity he had always been.
And she… well, what would he think of what she had become?
“Come on,” Jaden said. “Let’s head back to the house, and we’ll get everyone settled in.”
The ride into Tipton was uneventful, cruising along in a large, comfortable SUV. Ariane watched the lights of the town come into view, watched houses and shops as they passed them. It was a pretty New England town, with lots of comfortably worn old homes, enormous trees, and a downtown that looked to have survived mostly intact from another age.
All of it fascinated her. The cities would never fully be hers… too many people, too much noise and activity without any peace. But this… this spoke to a part of her she hadn’t even been aware of.