“IsaidI don’t need another temperature check! I’m a vampire, not one of you furballs. My core isn’t supposed to be fiery. Just give me the heat gun, and I’ll handle melting the rest of this ice before I start gnawing—” Her attention finally snaps toward me. “Rowan! You’re alive.”
“And so are you.” My smile is unavoidable as I walk toward her. “Maybe try to keep everyone else that way, too.”
“They started it.” She sneers at the poor shifter who had the misfortune of being assigned to care for her.
“There’s a heat gun on the counter,” the female shiftersays to me, voice dry. “I’m sure one of you can figure it out.”
With that, she departs the room, bowing only to her beta.
“Your friend was a solid block of ice when she was brought to us,” Thane explains, causing my gaze to cut to Cade.
“Ablockof ice?” I don’t hold back my snarl.
He merely shrugs. “You didn’t need anything else to worry about. Elias had it handled.”
Some things clearly haven’t changed. Like his gruff personality.
Liz reaches out and jerks me into a tight hug, her hold so intense I can’t even hug her back. I worry for Archie briefly, but he adjusts his position and manages to stay put.
“Rowan Prescott,” Liz starts in on me, “if you ever vanish into a hell castle again while I’m freezing into a decorative yard ornament on a mountainside, I’m going to wring your neck, and probably more. Depends on my mood. Today, though, I’ll settle for cutting off your air supply.”
Emotion punches out of me in a broken laugh as I struggle to speak. “I missed you, too. And I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m magnificent,” she says, then finally loosens her hold so I can back up as she rages on about her frozen leg. “Broke the damn thing climbing down a ravine I couldn’t see because the snow was doing that stupid sideways-spinning thing. Froze me solid before my healing could kick in. Elias had to chisel me out.” She gestures at himdramatically. “And he panicked like a little bitch the whole time.” She shrugs. “Yes, I’m also cranky. I need food, and they don’t have what I need here.”
“I did not panic,” Elias mutters behind us.
“You literally cradled me like a damsel in distress,” Liz fires back. “I have never beendamselin my entire life.”
“You were frozen solid,” Elias says dryly. “You weighed twice as much as normal. It was either carry you with both arms or start chucking you down the hill, one shove at a time.”
“That’s not the point!”
I press a hand to my chest, grounding myself before I melt into a puddle of relief. She’s snarky. She’s irritated. She’s full of inappropriate threats.
She’s fine.
We all are.
Cade’s hand slides into mine, giving it a subtle squeeze.
Marius exhales beside me, the sound small but sincere as Liz and Elias continue to banter.
“She’s not the same as I remember,” Marius whispers, “but I believe she was friends with your mother.”
I nod. “One and the same. She’s been at NightShade all this time with Iris.”
He bristles at the mention of my grandmother, but I don’t get to ask why.
Liz points at me with a half-melted icicle like she’s wielding a dagger. “Andyou. We’re talking later. All of us nearly died, and you come strolling back with a father, a glow-up, new powers, andtrauma cheekboneslike you’re gearing up for a dramaticphotoshoot?—”
“Trauma cheekbones?” I choke on a snort. Heat prickles at my face. Cade must have caught Elias up, who then relayed things to Liz. Still, there will be plenty to talk about later.
She crosses her arms with a huff. “Oh, you knowexactlywhat I mean.”
A laugh cracks out of me—thin, frayed at the edges, but real. The sound vibrates in my chest like a bird just learning how to fly. For the first time since the battle, since The Keep, and the moment I realized Malrik had taken me…the world stops shaking.Just for a breath.
“Can we go home now?” I ask, looking up at Cade while my free hand buries into Archie’s thick fur. His warmth anchors me, his steady rumbles a reminder I’m not alone anymore.
