“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For…this.” She waved at the kitchen, the house, him.
He looked almost startled. “Don’t thank me yet,” he said. “You might hate living amongst Nordan.” A wry flicker. “We’re loud. And we shed.”
“I grew up among you,” she said. “You’ll have to try harder than that to scare me.”
His eyes warmed, just for a second.
She left before she could read too much into it.
As she climbed toward Aurelia’s excited babble, the bond hummed in her bones, tying her to the wolf in the kitchen.
Chapter 10 - Arthur
Arthur took them out the back door.
Thin winter sun banded the yard, frost on the fence sparkling. Aurelia bounded down the steps between him and Dani, gloved hands swinging. Chase had presented the gloves that morning as “official Nordan issue,” which meant they were two sizes too big and completely unnecessary.
“So this is all yours now,” Aurelia said, squinting at the alpha house, the compound up the slope, the trees beyond.
“Mine and the pack’s,” Arthur said.
Dani shoved her hands into her coat pockets, her shoulders not quite as tight as yesterday. Arthur caught the quick, reluctant curve of her mouth and had to look away before the bond could make too much of it.
They cut down from the house to the main road. Skymist spread out ahead, low buildings along the hillside, the steel line of the ocean beyond. A truck rattled past, kicking slush. The air smelled of diesel, pine, sea, and under it all, the sharp threads of all the supernatural species currently hiding in plain sight.
“What’s that?” Aurelia pointed to a collection of squat buildings with a fenced yard full of crates marring the otherwise beautiful coastal landscape.
“Warehouse,” Arthur said. “The stuff that’s too big to get across the mountains comes by boat, sits there till someone gets round to carrying it up the hill.”
“Do I go to school here?” Aurelia blurted a minute later.
Arthur’s mind stuttered, his mouth opening impulsively to answer a logistical question, but without any knowledge toactually carry through. Territory lines, he could deal with. Trade agreements, fine. Patrol circuits, in his sleep. School, on the other hand?
“I—”
“We’ll see,” Dani said smoothly. “Let’s get through the summit first.”
“Do they have a playground?” Aurelia persisted.
“An old gymnasium,” Arthur said. “Smells like wet socks.”
“Lame.”
“You went to class in a coven cellar,” Dani reminded her. “That wasn’t exactly fun, either.”
“Yeah, everything was cramped,” Aurelia said. “Being out in the wilds is cooler.”
Arthur and Dani exchanged a glance. They hadn’t yet talked about their days together at Skymist High. The conversation sat between them like a stone, unyielding and heavy. Arthur cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the path ahead.
They angled down toward the water, the road leading through charming, weathered old buildings, Aurelia keeping them firmly in the present with her endless stream of questions. Arthur was glad of it. With Dani at his side, the town transformed into something new. He saw it through her eyes, through the filmy haze of their shared memories. It would be only too easy to get lost in that current.
As they approached the water, the bay opened out, dark and restless, boats rocking gently. A crust of ice edged the rocks. Gulls wheeled, screaming.
Aurelia jogged to the low wall and peered over. “It’s huge.”
“Ocean usually is,” Arthur said.
She made a face.
