The meeting area was their final stop, and where she knew Viktor would bury a piece of his heart.
Camille joined him at the fire pit. Disregarding how the silty, ash-strewn dirt would ruin her expensive athletic leggings, she dropped onto the ground beside him and brushed her fingertips over the edge of the circle.
A silent thank you to the place where her consort was born, forged, and found home.
“I’m not sorry for any of the terrible stuff that happened here,” he murmured. “Not to me, at least. I wouldn’t change any of it.”
Camille leaned her side against his, sharing her warmth and her strength with him. “I understand. I wouldn’t change my life either, awful as so much of it was.”
She used to dream of things being different, but now she couldn’t imagine a single change. Any wrong step, any missed chance, and she could have missed out onthis.
Viktor sifted his fingers through the ashen dirt before letting it fall back into the pit. “I hate that bullshit saying that everything happens for a reason — that the gods have a plan and suffering is necessary. Used to piss me off when people would see what my father did and say it was making me tougher. Like his cruelty would make mebetter.”
He smoothed out the small impression he made in the dirt, as if to comfort the soil they were leaving behind. “Suffering isn’t necessary. It doesn’t make you tougher. It just hurts. That’s why I pushed so hard for this, why I believe the weres should have the territory. The future can be kinder. Itshouldbe kinder.” Viktor turned his eyes, glowing green with a predator’s night sight, on her. “I shouldn’t have had to suffer. You, too. Still… if it risked being with you now, then I would do it all over again.”
She breathed deep. The scents of the trees, the water, and her mate blended into the sweetest notes of home. “I love you, Vik. The kid you were and the man you are now. If I loved you any more, I wouldn’t be able to contain it all.”
“I love you, too, Cam. Always.” A crooked smile lifted up one corner of his mouth. “Even though you called me a furry dunce last night.”
“You tried to out-bench pressKaz—”Camille stopped. Her ears twitched, picking up sounds that would have been far below human hearing. Moving on instinct, she swiveled to one side. Her eyes locked on the treeline opposite the clearing, nearest to the lake. The hair on the back of her neck rose as a low, threatening growl rattled in her throat.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Viktor closed his hand around the nape of her neck. “It’s some friends.”
She opened her mouth to ask who it could possibly be, but the words died on her tongue when several pairs of green, glowing eyes slowly faded into view. They were lower to the ground than a shifter’s might be, but she recognized the shapes of their ears, the lean builds and long legs.
Coyotes.
Her heart skipped a beat. Things had been too busy for her to make time to meet theothercoyotes who called the territory home, and with all the activity around the dens, they had made themselves scarce.
It was thrilling to finally see so many together, their lithe forms melting out of the shadows to cautiously approach the center of the clearing. Their ears were low, their bushy tails still, but their heads weren’t cast down with fear or aggression. They wandered closer with clear intention. Viktor held their focus unerringly, drawing them in.
Camille gently touched his thigh. “Should I back off so you can have some time with them?”
“No, you should be here, too. Just let them approach you on their own and slowly lift your arm. They’ll smell me on you.”
She slanted a curious look at him. Keeping her voice low, she asked, “How well do you know them?”
Viktor held out his hand. The coyote that appeared to be the leader of the group moved a little faster, his tail lifting, until he could press his nose against Viktor’s palm. “Well,” her consort answered, “considering this one chewed up my shoes when he was a cub, I’d say I know them pretty well.”
As soon as Viktor reached up to scratch the coyote behind his ears, the rest of the small pack — a tiny number of the coyotes that actually made their home in the shadowed corners of the city — closed in around them. Their breaths made quiet rasping sounds, and their slender paws dug impressions in the loose dirt.
Camile did her best not to tense. It wasn’t like they stood a chance of hurting her, of course, but still, she didn’t enjoy the idea of fending off six or seven furious canines if they turned against her.
“Relax, sweetheart.” Viktor ran his fingers down her arm to find her hand. Lifting it slowly toward the coyote, he crooned, “There now, see? She’s with me. You know she’s my mate, don’t you?”
She held perfectly still, not even daring to twitch her fingers, as the coyote’s nose skimmed her knuckles. It was cold and wet. Almost as soon as it happened, though, the coyote hopped back a step. His gray ruff rose and his head lowered with clear unease. Around them, the other coyotes tensed.
Viktor huffed. “Don’t be like that. Iknowyou smell me on her.”
“It’s okay.” Camille tugged her arm. She swallowed a bitter pang of disappointment. Of course, she didn’tneedto be accepted by the coyotes, but it would have been nice. “Most animals aren’t huge fans of elves. I can’t expect them to be any different.”
“Hold on.”
Viktor stood up and kicked off his shoes. When he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pants, she looked up at him quizzically and asked, “What are youdoing?”
“I think they’ll understand better if I shift, and I didn’t bring a spare change of pants.” In a handful of seconds, her consort stood in the clearing stark naked. He was entirely confident, without even a hint of unease or self-consciousness as he cast her a grin.
Damn, he’s gorgeous.
