“I hope you do it often,” Titan murmured with a content smile. “Especially after we exchange souls so you can feel how good it is.”
Sitting up, Arthur tried to stand but was shaky and his legs wouldn’t hold him. Titan was quick to grab him and guide him back down.
“Damn it,” Arthur grumbled. “I don’t like being this weak.”
“I’m here to be strong for you,” Titan promised, tucking Arthur close to him.
Jealousy flared at the intimacy between the men. They were her partners too, why were they ignoring her?
Then she remembered that Arthur had bitten Titan and drank his blood.
Right, she shouldn't be jealous of crazy people.
Still, they looked so gorgeous sitting side by side snuggling.
“No, this is insane,” she said, rubbing her hands over her face before facing the two of them. “You guys need professional help.”
“Beatrix, I could put you in thrall and force you to believe us,” Arthur said, his intense eyes almost seeming to glow. “But I don’t want to do that to someone who is meant to be part of my flock. Please, for the sake of our future together, listen to what we have to say with an open mind.”
Before she could respond, Arthur looked at Titan. “Show her your wolf form.”
Titan nodded, gave Arthur a quick kiss on the forehead, then stood up. Beatrix opened her mouth to say something sarcastic when Titan’s form shimmered and shifted. Suddenly there was a massive dark gray wolf where Titan had been.
A scream came out of her mouth instead of biting words.
Stumbling back, she came up hard against Arthur’s desk. Scrambling over the top of it, she dropped to the other side, never once taking her eyes off the wolf.
“Titan is a wolf shifter,” Arthur explained, standing up. He wasn’t entirely steady. The wolf made a soft whimpering sound and pressed against Arthur’s side, helping to support the man.
“Thank you, Titan,” he murmured, placing a hand on the beast's back. He lifted his gaze back to her. “You’re safe, Beatrix. Neither of us would ever hurt you.”
“Did you drug me?” Beatrix asked. Maybe there was a new type of designer drug out there that she hadn’t tried before.
Arthur snorted. “Of course not.”
His amusement at her question was enraging.
“Excuse me for trying to find a normal reason for all this madness!” she snapped.
His expression turned remorseful. “I’m sorry. You’re right, that was uncalled for.” He pulled in a deep breath and touched his chest. “I was born sometime in the summer of 1877. I was turned shortly after my thirty-fourth birthday in 1911 England. If you’d tried to tell me anything about this world before that happened, I would’ve had a similar reaction. I assure you, this is all very real. I’m a vampire. Titan is a wolf shifter. The bar you walked into last night was full of magical creatures. Lion shifters, druids, pixies, and other vampires. We’re good at keeping our presence a secret mostly because the majority of humans don’t want to know.”
Could this be the truth?
She wasn’t dreaming, and she knew what drugs felt like. She’d spent a year doing some serious experimenting until a bad trip had her swearing off anything more powerful than a glass of wine.
Everything about this moment, including her sore body from a fun night with the guys, told her this was all real.
“What did you mean by flock?” she asked.
Arthur looked relieved at her question. “Vampires don’t have a natural lifespan. Until we’re deliberately killed by the sun or decapitation, we don’t die. However, we can go feral. As we age, our hold on our humanity can become tenuous. If we turn feral, we become nothing but bloodthirsty creatures of instinct. That’s where the bloodier legends come from.”
Titan nudged Arthur with his head, making the vampire look down at the wolf. “Fear not, I won’t ever be at risk of going feral with you in my life, sweet Titan.”
That made Titan relax a little. His big mouth opened, revealing huge canines. Beatrix was intimidated for a moment until a long, red tongue lolled out sideways, giving the wolf a comedic look.
She had to fight a smile.
“You were explaining about the flock thing,” she reminded Arthur.
