I’ve never been a fan of compliments, so a ridiculous blush warms my face.
“Do you know what those lines are called in the Common Realm?” I ask. “Player lines.”
He trails his finger down the front of my neck. “Considering what Shade told you, I’m pretty sure you know I’m not a player.”
“I know.” My pulse thumps against his fingertips. “I’m not, either. All that teasing I did back at Philip’s was just that—teasing. I’ve never even had a boyfriend. I’d never even been kissed up until …” A quaking shudder waves through his body. Fuck, why did I have to bring that up again?
“Lake, I don’t want to push you, but I’d really like for you to give me some details on what they looked like so I can track them down.”
I stare at a crack in the floorboard as iron-hot memories scorch my retinas. “One had shaggy blond hair, and they were both really huge. And they were around my age.”
“Did they have any markings?” His tone is soft and soothing, despite his question.
“I don’t know … I didn’t notice any.” I trace the crack in the floorboard. “But everything happened so fast, and some stuff’s just a blur.” A memory of a few days ago tugs at my mind. “Actually, while I was dancing at the bar with Liberty, I smelled something that reminded me of them. I didn’t see them anywhere in the bar, though. And it could have been the faerie magic drink messing with my mind.”
“What was the scent?” The control in his voice is gone.
Sucking in a breath, I glance up at him. “Black roses.”
A violent storm unleashes from inside him as he pushes to his feet. “Stay in my room and lock the door. I’m going to find Legend and Rune and send them in here with you.” He strides toward the door.
I stumble to my feet and hurry after him. “Where are you going?”
He reels around and circles his arms around my waist. “I don’t want to scare you, but I think I might know what wolves attacked you that day.”
“Are they here?” My legs threaten to buckle.
He nods, nestling my head against his chest. “At least one of them is, I think.”
His heart beats fiercely against my ear as I press myself closer to him, wishing I could somehow sink into him completely and disappear. “How do you know for sure?”
“Because black roses are a rare scent. So rare that I only know of one werewolf who smells like it.”
My fingers curl inward as I clutch the bottom of his shirt. “Who is he?”
His heartrate accelerates. “My cousin.”
Chapter 19
My mind is soaring a million realm jumps a minute.
His cousin is the one who hurt me.
His cousin is here in the kingdom.
My attacker is here.
Jules presses a savoring kiss to the top of my head then steps away from me. Worry screams in his eyes as he grasps the doorknob. “Stay here, okay? Only open the door for Legend and Rune.” He yanks open the door, but then pauses, keeping his back to me. “I’m so sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make this up to you.” Before I can respond, he rushes out of the room and closes the door behind him.
A jump of a heartbeat after he leaves, his words click. Wait. He said he was sorry? That he’d make this up to me? Does Jules think what happened to me is his fault because his cousin was the one who hurt me?
I pad over to the window and draw back the curtain. The sky is a glossy shimmer of silver and violet stars, and the land is shadowed, except for the lampposts lighting up the street. A few werewolves are out and about, strolling the street, but I’m searching for one werewolf in particular.
A star flicker of a second later, Jules emerges from the house right below the window, his strides long and determined. Shade is right behind him.
I flip the latch, glide the window open, and then stick my head out. “Jules!” I call out.
He skids to a stop and whirls around, his gaze darting up to me. “Is everything okay?”
I nod. “I just wanted—no, needed—to say that this isn’t your fault.”
He’s a bundle of tension. “I know.”
I don’t believe him.
“Do you? Because, what you said when you walked out of here sounded an awful lot like you blaming yourself again.”
“Lake,” he starts, “can we talk about this later? I really need to take care of this.”
“Fine. But just know that the conversation will go exactly how it is now.” I place my hands on the windowsill and lean farther out, holding his gaze. “What happened to me isn’t your fault.”
He nods, but doubt lingers. “Okay.”
I release a sigh. “Just be careful, okay?”
His lips strain to smile. “Always.”
As I duck back inside, I realize Jules and I have exchanged those parting words before. A long time ago. I can’t place a memory to the words, but I wonder if perhaps my mind is attempting to remember.
A confliction of fear and excitement stirs inside my chest. Excitement to remember the lovelier stuff about my past, yet afraid to be pulled into the darker memories.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
My body lurches as I spin around. Jules said not to open the door for anyone but Rune and Legend.
I tiptoe toward it, wishing for a weapon. Not that I could use it properly or anything, but at least I could try.
“Lake.” Legend’s voice floats through the door. “Open up. It’s me and Rune.”
A relieved exhale rushes from my lungs as I throw open the door.
Legend and Rune are standing on the other side. Legend is a mask of concern, and Rune radiates uneasiness as he grips a metallic sword in his hand.
“You look like you’re going into battle,” I remark to Rune as I open the door wider and let them in.
Once they’re inside, Legend pulls me in for a hug while Rune locks us in.
“Are you okay?” Legend asks, drawing back.
I nod, tugging at the hem of my shirt, wishing I had changed before they came in. “I’m fine, I guess … Did Jules tell you what happened?”
“A rushed version of it,” Legend says. “But I caught on enough to figure out you told him about the attack.”
I sneak a glance at Rune, camped out near the window, surveying the streets. “It sort of slipped out during an emotional breakdown,” I mutter, turning back to Legend. “I think that stupid faerie magic drink messed with my head.”
“It does that sometimes,” he agrees. “I don’t know how many times I’ve done and said stuff while drunk off magic that I completely and utterly regret.”
“You and every creature out there,” Rune grumbles, inserting his sword into a leather holster fastened around his waist.
Legend’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “See, you’re not alone in this.” He lowers his voice. “Do you want to talk about what happened? Because, while I got the gist of what’s going on, Jules’ hurried version left me with a lot of questions.”
“I’ll tell you. But, can I shower and change first? I feel yucky and gross.” Not to mention entirely uncomfortable wearing nothing but a T-shirt, even if the fabric smells lovely.
“Of course.” Legend nods at a shut door. “Your bag’s already in the bathroom.”
“How did you get it in there …?” I put my hands up in front of me. “Never mind. You used your little magic transport-my-bag-wherever-you-want-it-to-go trick, didn’t you?”
Pride shines in his eyes. “You have no idea just how many tricks I have up my sleeve.”
“Now you’ve got me really curious.”
“If you’re lucky, maybe one day I’ll show you.”
“So cocky here.”
His chuckling carries across the room as I slip into the bathroom and close the door. The seclusion hits me instantaneously, and I crumble to the floor. Everything—the last handful of days—crash over me all at once. Tears flow as I hug my legs to my chest, crying out every ounce of agony, from forgetting my l
ife, to horrible foster families I lived with, to that goddamn tragic day in the alley. All the pain pours out of me and drowns my face in tears. Pain I wasn’t even aware I was carrying.
How have I lived the last decade with so much aguish crushing against my chest? How did I breathe?
I really don’t know the answer. All I know is that I never want to go back to that place of darkness and despair ever again.
Chapter 20
After showering, I get dressed in a pair of black shorts and a grey top. Then I lock myself in the bathroom with Legend so we can have some privacy while I give him a recap of what happened to Jules and me. I tell him how I broke down and sobbed my heart and broken soul out to Jules. And how Jules figured out that his cousin might have been one of the werewolves who attacked me that day.
“I’m so proud of you, Lake.” Legend brings me in for a hug. “I know that had to be hard to tell him.”
“I didn’t really mean to tell him.” I slump my weight against him, too emotionally drained to hold myself up. “I was drunk and sort of just lost it.”
“But you’re glad you did, right? You feel a bit better?”
“I do, which is so strange. I mean, I told you and it never made me feel any better.”
“You never told me. I only knew because I was there that day when I …”
“You saved me.”
“I didn’t want to put it that way and seem like a cocky hero, but okay, if you insist.”
I jokingly pinch his side. “What is it with you and being here? Your already swelled ego has been rapidly inflating from the moment we tumbled through the portal.”
“I’ve always been this cocky. It’s just that, being in the Common Realm, around all those miserable people who despised me, it cast a self-conscious spell over my ego.”
“Were you that miserable?”
“Yes. But I would’ve been a lot worse if you weren’t there.” He pats my back. “And don’t pretend like you weren’t miserable there, either. I know you hated that realm, but you’d never admit it because you associated all the other realms with paranormals, which you despise.”
“Despised,” I correct. “I don’t despise all of them anymore.”
He pulls back. “Yeah?”
A bit of guilt stirs restlessly inside me as I comb my fingers through my damp strands, trying to decipher my true feelings. “This place … some of the werewolves here … they’re not so bad. And then of course, there’s you. Despite your overly large ego, I like you here, too.”
“Obviously, you do. Who doesn’t?” He winks at me, but then puts on a straight face. “All jokes aside, I’m glad you like it here. I was really worried you wouldn’t, especially having to live in a kingdom full of werewolves.”
“I just hope Jules can find the werewolves who attacked me.” I stare at my reflection in the mirror.
After the attack, I lost a lot of weight. So much my face had sunken in. About six months after hardly eating, Legend gave me an intervention. I could eat and start working on healing myself, or he was going to hospitalize me. I wasn’t certain he had the power to do so, but the fact that he would try, that someone cared about me that much, was enough for me to pull myself out of my depression.
He catches my gaze in the mirror. “I can assure you that Jules will find the wolves who did that to you. He’ll rip this entire kingdom apart if he has to.”
My eyes bulge. “Do you think he’ll … kill them when he finds them?”
“I’m not sure,” he answers reluctantly. “Every kingdom has different laws for these types of situations. Most is banishment to the Common Realm, but considering how Jules feels about you, I don’t know if his cousin is going to be walking away from this.”
I twist to face him. “You think Jules will kill him because I’m his alterum dimidium animae? That being his soulmate and his wolf’s is enough to drive him to become a killer?”
Legend’s brows rise to his hairline. “So, you found out what that meant?”
I prop my hip against the edge of the counter and cross my arms. “Liberty told me. And I didn’t freak out like everyone seemed to think I would.”
“That’s interesting.”
“What does that mean?”
He shrugs. “It means it’s interesting.”
“Legend …” I warn. “No more secrets. And while we’re at it, why don’t you tell me why they call you Legend?”
He immediately shakes his head. “That story, I’m taking to the grave.”
“You’re already dead.”
“Yep, which means I’ll never go to the grave, which means I’ll never tell anyone that story.”
“But other creatures know,” I gripe. “And you know stuff about me. In fact, you probably know more about me than even I know about myself.”
“Perhaps,” he agrees. When I glare at him, he surrenders with a sigh, hoisting his butt onto the counter. “Fine, you want to know why I think it’s interesting that you didn’t freak out about you being Jules’ alterum dimidium animae?”
I plant my ass on the counter beside him, letting my legs dangle over the edge. “Yes, and I want to hear your story, too.”
He gives a growl that doesn’t even faze me.
“I think, despite the fact that it hasn’t been declared yet, that Jules is your alterum dimidium animae.”
“Why would you think that? My eyes haven’t glowed violet yet.” The look on his face makes me pause. “Have they?”
“I don’t want to freak you out, but”—he traps my hand between his—“that day, while you were … being attacked, as I was jumping down from the roof to save you, your eyes briefly tinted violet for a vampire step of a second.”
The roaring thud of my heartbeat fills my mind. “But I wasn’t around Jules … so … so wouldn’t that mean that someone nearby …?” Vomit presses at the back of my throat. “Wouldn’t it mean someone there was my …?”
He swiftly shakes his head. “That’s not what was going on. If one of those werewolves was your alterum dimidium animae, you would’ve known. I think it happened because you already had—have—a alterum dimidium animae and you were—are—Jules’. And something was getting stolen from you both. And that connection between the two of you rose for a moment as the loss happened.”
“What loss?” I might have an idea, but I don’t dare utter the words.
Legend scratches his chin. “I’m guessing Liberty didn’t tell you this part about the alterum dimidium animae tradition. Otherwise, you probably would’ve figured it out on your own.” He sighs. “When two werewolves share the alterum dimidium animae connection, they’re only intimate with each other.”
“Oh.” Suddenly, Jules never being with another werewolf makes sense. “I guess I sort of broke that tradition, then.” My voice sounds so hollow. “Jules is probably severely disappointed.”
“No, he isn’t. And I never want to hear you say that ever again.” His gaze burns into mine. “I’ve known Jules for a bit, and he isn’t like that. He cares about you. And the only thing that’s going to change now that you’ve told him about the attack is that the killer instinct he’s always lacked just might come out.”
Worry stirs in my chest. “You think he is going to kill his cousin?”
“If not, he’s at least going to torture him slowly, quite possibly for the rest of his life.” Silence hovers between us. “Does that frighten you?”
“No.” The truth falls off my tongue, startling us both. “Does that make me a terrible person?”
“You’re not a person, so no.” He rotates, bringing his knee onto the counter. “And there’s nothing wrong about wanting those wolves to suffer.”
“Maybe … But I’m not sure I want Jules to have their blood on his hands just because something was done to me.”
“Then you should talk to him about it.”
“What if he kills the wolf before I see him again?”
“I doubt he will.” He hops off the counter. “More than likely,
he’s going to lock up the attacker and try to get some answers out of him.” He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. “Try to figure out why he attacked you to begin with.”
“I’d really like to know that, too.” Not that it can erase anything. I simply want to understand some of the stuff my attacker said to me while he brutally pinned me to the ground.
“Well, hopefully we’ll get some answers.” He starts for the door. “I don’t know about you, but I’m famished. I need to get some blood to drink. You want me to get you some food while I’m out?”
“Yes.” I slide off the counter. “Before you go, there is one more thing you need to tell me.”
He glances over his shoulder at me. “What?”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Why you’re called Legend.”
“Fine.” He sulks. “Just know that the story makes me look like a really big vampire prick, but I’m really not.”
“I know that.”
“We’ll see if you still think so after I tell you.” He reclines against the door. “I got the name Legend about a century ago after I won a bet.”
“What was the bet?”
He groans, pinching the brim of his nose. “My friends and I had a bet going to see who could sleep with all the Vampire Eternal’s mistresses first.”
I crinkle my nose. “How many were there?”
“I really don’t remember. But no vampire had ever slept with all the mistresses before, and since vampires hate the Vampire Eternals, they all started calling me Legend after I won the bet. The name isn’t really that far off from my real name—Legion—but the more decades that pass, the more I’ve started to hate my nickname.”
“Didn’t you just get thrown into the Common Realm for doing the same thing?”
“I only slept with one of their mistresses that time, and I actually liked her. It wasn’t just for a bet.”
“So, when you won the bet, did you get imprisoned in the Common Realm? You always acted like that was your first time there.”