She shook her head. “Still protecting them.” She grabbed a milk chocolate in the shape of a heart.
This time I didn’t follow suit. The topic of last night’s victims gave me a stomachache. “I protect all supernaturals from discovery.”
When I put the book aside, she looked at the cover and laughed. “Not enough monsters in your life?”
My stomach twisted again. I’d tried for years to hide what I was, not realizing the magical community of San Francisco was well aware of what I shifted into and where I went to run. I was getting more comfortable in my own skin, claiming my own power, but Viktoria was getting to me.
I tapped the book cover. “I was just reading about werewolves.”
She scoffed at that, taking another chocolate.
“I hoped there’d be local lore in it, but so far it’s all conflicting general myths.”
“Local?” she said, eyebrows raised.
“It was just a shot in the dark,” I said. “I remember reading somewhere about a young wolf—a female—being found by humans. She was imprisoned and studied.”
“What? Who told you that?” she asked, clearly agitated. “What are you talking about?”
I leaned back, wondering about her intensity. Did she know something about the wolf who may or may not have been held at the asylum? “I don’t know. I read a lot of random stuff on the internet about Budapest before we came. I remembered because that would be huge if it was true. Is it?”
“Of course not. You don’t think we would have found and freed one of our own?” She acted as though she thought the suggestion stupid, but the tension in her shoulders didn’t lie.
“Okay. Just a random urban legend.” I took a sip of water. “You haven’t said yet,” I told her. “How are the people from last night?”
“Anemic. Maybe half had to stay in the hospital overnight. The mother of the little girl was out of her mind with worry. They had to tranquilize her. Hopefully she now knows her daughter is back. The little girl is still jumping at shadows.”
I stared at my empty glass, wishing there was something more I could have done. I didn’t want her to hide for years, as I had. “I’m sorry.” I knew it wasn’t enough, but I also didn’t know what more I could have done.
“How did you get them out?” she asked me. “Did the bloodsuckers see you?”
I nodded. “I yelled at the vamps and pulled the people away from them.”
Viktoria made a strange choking sound. I looked between her and the box of treats, wondering if she got a nut stuck in her throat.
“You took a bloodsucker’s meal away from it?” she asked.
“Not it. They’re people. And yes. They weren’t happy with me, but I think most were more shocked about something my mate had done to stop them.” The wolves didn’t need to know I had any power over vampires. “My mate is very scary when he wants to be and there are two fewer vamps in your town today. He and a couple of other vampires helped me get all the people out and deliver them to the pack.”
She stared at me a moment. “They punished their own for what was done to humans?” Her look said she didn’t believe me. “Won’t they kill you in retaliation?”
Probably. “I hope not. They respect power and threat. It was lucky that I had three of the most powerful vamps in the world backing me up.”
Viktoria sat back in her chair. “Really? We have that kind of fang power in town right now?”
Shitshitshit. “You really don’t want to mess with vampires,” I said.
“Not true. We really do,” she countered.
Seventeen
Please Don’t Eat Me
“Yeah. Okay. I get that, but I don’t think you understand how crazy fast and strong they are. I don’t want your pack to be wiped out because you showed up to a gunfight with a knife,” I said.
Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of that analogy.
“Meaning they have you outmatched. This town needs you as guardians. If you get wiped out, who’s going to protect them? Right now, it’s easy for the vamps to ignore you. If you go after them, they’ll destroy you.”
