Page 23 of Those That Defy the Realm

“I tried to. I didn’t know what to say. If you opened my phone now to our thread, I bet you’d find a typed-out message that I just didn’t send. With everything that happened in the Northern Isles and then what we were plotting to do here, I had no idea how to explain my absence to you. I didn’t want to lie, and I didn’t want to disappear again. You know this mission we’re on is dangerous. If anything happens, I didn’t want to go radio silent on you again.”

Ash springs forward in my head as I talk. But I decide he’s irrelevant now. A memory that is nothing more. A minor detail that affects nothing.

Claire doesn’t reply straight away, she sits on my words. As frustrating as it is for me I know she needs this time. It also gives me the time to process what she said about her ex. I wonder what the scum did that he needed to apologise for, repeatedly by the sounds.

After another few agonising breaths, the woman in front of me turns to face me fully. If I were to widen my stance, she could step between my thighs. She visibly shakes off the heaviness of our conversation by rolling her shoulders and offers me a small smile, clearly coming to some conclusion about my answers.

“I can’t believe you’re here either.” Her smile widens, creasing the corners of her eyes just a touch. It’s still not a beaming smile, or a hearty laugh that I crave to hear, but it lights up my chest just the same. “It’s getting late, I should probably eat. You hungry?”

Blinking at her, feeling elated as it appears she’s forgiven me, I have to repeat her words in my head to compute them. “Er… I don’t eat. But no, I'm not hungry.”

We will have to figure out how to get some blood soon, but I decide against bringing that up just yet.

“Oh, right. Of course.” Claire chuckles. “Well, I’m going downstairs to cook. Can I offer you a drink of something, at least?”

My fangs tingle in my skull at that offer, but I know she’s not offering me her veins. “I’ll take some wine if you have it.”

“You’ll be pleased, I have a chenin blanc open. After you mentioned it, I tracked it down and have to admit, it’s pretty good.”

“Good? That’s the best white there is.” I’m pulled back to our three-day long message marathon about which white wine is the best. It feels good.

She surprises me by offering me a hand. I can easily stand on my own, but I accept the gesture. Her warm palm is engulfed by mine and our eyes meet again as she gives me a tug, sparks flying in her emerald eyes. “I still prefer a semillon but it is a good wine.”

“I’ll convert you yet,” I promise as we head out of her room.

We pause by Ty’s room but he declines Claire’s invite, leaving just the two of us together for the evening. She pours us wine, and cooks herself some pasta, and we talk like we had in our messages. Only now I get to see her reactions, hear her laughs, and watch how animated she can be rather than having to interpret them through texts and emojis.

It’s a very pleasant evening indeed.

Things are tense. With every passing day, Ty becomes more agitated and his shadows are constantly unleashed. Now that I’m bonded to him, I can feel it, this urge that’s more than my own caring nature wanting to soothe him.

He’s not left the house at all, instead he’s throwing himself into contacting vampires from all across the continent. I had no idea he still had so many connections, but now he’s decided to reclaim his parents’ lands and form a pack of his own, he is determined to ensure his—and Rory’s—legitimacy within the shattered pieces of our community. Not content with running the pack in isolation like several of the groups now do, he shared his plans with me about reforming the network that used to be in place. I think it’s a great idea and can only help our survival in the long run. Should the authorities ever get wind that our numbers are a lot higher than they think, and that they’re in fact growing, we would be best placed to have allies in our corner.

Luckily, or unluckily, because it is too big of a risk for Ty to leave the house, in case he gets spotted by one of Adicious’s pack, I’m the one who had to cross the city to fetch us some blood. Unlucky because it was still a danger, I would very much not be welcome here. Lucky because it meant I got to spend an entire afternoon in the city with Claire. She insisted on escorting me to the hospital. Rather than following my nose, or using a map, she took me on a meandering tour of Froan city centre. We stayed away from the areas Ty said the pack uses regularly, the pubs and bars they used and the side of the hospital that they usually broke in from.

Claire was slightly horrified at that information, although showed sympathy to our predicament. It was either to steal blood or use unconsenting live donors. Thankfully, she gave me a perfectly legal reason to be walking around the building, for she baked herself some weekend treats the night before, and under the guise of being a thoughtful sister, we delivered half the batch to her brother and his colleagues when they were on shift.

We’d dropped off the admittedly delicious smelling goods, and I’d navigated the rather awkward introduction to her older sibling, then took a detour on our way out so I could grab enough blood packets to keep Ty and me fed for several days.

She took me on a different route on the way back to her house. Instead of walking along the river, through the busy shopping area, she’d led me back via the university campus. It was more compact than the university I currently worked for, the buildings for which were spread out across several areas of the capital city.

Instead, Froan campus was centred around one main set of old converted buildings. It was charming and dotted with more open spaces of greenery and, despite the mix of historic and more modern extensions, it felt cohesive. I couldn’t help but see a future where I called this home.

It sounds stupid, and like I’m getting ahead of myself, but the afternoon was pleasantly warm, one of the first days of the new year where it felt like spring was on the horizon, and something about the campus nestled between the river and the bustling city felt enchanting. As enchanting as the woman who’d acted as my guide, giving me snippets of information about the history from her architectural design perspective.

After our rather serious first conversation, Claire and I had spent most evenings together, as well as the day last weekend. When she was done working, whether from home or in her company’s offices upriver, she would make herself food in the open planned kitchen, while I sat at the giant oak dining table. We’d talk about our respective days and then diverge into whatever random topics came up.

That’s where I’m sitting now, in the kitchen dining area at the table, ready for Claire to get home as I’m finishing up another round of edits on a few chapters. Claire had worked in the city today but should be back very soon. Ty is, as usual, upstairs. Although, he came down earlier to discuss updates he’d had from Rory. Shockingly he’d also heard from Theodora, the alpha female of the wolf pack. Ash’s mother.

How they were getting information, I had no clue, but somehow they’d learned of our plan, or rather the fact that we were back in Froan. From Ty’s recount of the conversation, it seems she was more than pissed that he hadn’t called her first. And that she might be sending some of the wolf pack here to assist us.

What if it’s Ash?

I’m stewing over our plan against Adicious’s pack when the front door opens and the quiet tip toeing of feet patter into the hall. Glancing at the clock on the wall, I realise it’s been hours, and Claire is home much later than usual. I’ve also been sitting in the kitchen so long, night has fallen outside and I’ve not turned on any lights so the room is pretty dark, the only lights coming from the few appliances on the worktop and a little glowing sunflower ornament on the window ledge over the sink. Claire said she’d gotten it for her mum as a present when she’d spotted it in a shop downtown, sunflowers being her favourite flower.

The orange glow makes it easy for me to see everything, especially with my supernatural enhancements. Claire, however, pads quietly into the kitchen but jumps when I stand to let her know of my presence. The heels she’d worn to work clang to the floor, falling from her grip. She’d clearly removed them before entering the house.

“Henry? Gods, you scared the life out of me!”