“Javi’s crew was seconds from killing her. Her father died saving her mother, and then her mom had to give her away the day she was born to try and keep her safe. She died not long afterward. There’s a bullseye painted on Maddy’s forehead, and she has enough to deal with without the mother of the man she loves talking to her like she’s a piece of shit.” I was breathing heavily by the time I finished talking.
My mother looked at my father. “Is this all true?”
Dad nodded. “It is. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll know it too. You’ve surely caught some of her scent. She’s not human, not completely. The stories are true, and that means the danger is as well.”
Mom put a hand to her mouth and looked at the house, tears welling in her eyes. “Nico, I didn’t know. I thought??”
“You thought I was thinking with my crotch and not my head?” I was still pissed at her and wasn’t ready to be forgiving just yet.
“No, it’s just…I’m sorry.”
“Nope. Don’t apologize to me. You’ll need to apologize to Maddy. And it better be some real groveling-type shit. Kiss her toes, do her laundry, whatever the hell she needs.”
“Yes, yes, I promise. I’m sorry, I have to ask, how do we plan on keeping her safe? You can intimidate Javi all you want, but if this royal family is real and they are after her, nothing will stop them. Even if Javi ends up dead, they won’t stop.”
“We know,” I said. “Maddy’s uncle is still alive, and he told us about another legend. Apparently, Edemas left behind a vial of his blood. If Maddy or any descendant was to drink that blood, the werewolf line would return. That’s what terrifies the royals-the kings of old would be back. He’s going to help us find this secret vault. Once that vial of blood is destroyed, we think the royals will back off. Kenneth is going to contact us again within the month.”
Mom’s look of shame and humiliation had given way to worry. “I don’t feel good about you all going on some manhunt for some vial that may or may not actually exist. Especially when you don’t know where it is. How are you even going to go about finding it?”
Dad raised an eyebrow. “She has a point, Nico. Do you have any leads on this blood?”
I nodded. “Kenneth has been researching it for decades. Basically ever since his dad, Maddy’s grandpa, died. He and Luis have been in contact through secure emails and texts on burner phones. He’s got some info. We aren’t certain, but all the old legends say Edemas had his seat of power somewhere in Norway. The odds of the vault and the blood being in that country are pretty high. Luis is making connections. He and Kenneth are both trying to make inroads over there. We won’t make any type of move until we’re at least ninety percent certain.”
Mom nodded and glanced back up at the house, then laughed humorlessly. “Nico, I’m sorry. I don’t…I never should have been that way with Maddy. Whether she was a shifter or not, human or not, that’s not the way I want to be. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” I said. “You can make it up to her later.”
If she’d been hoping I’d say, ‘I forgive you,’ she was mistaken with how this would go. She had a long way to go with Maddy first before I’d be able to say those words.
She must have realized it and nodded sadly. She and Dad left, leaving me standing in the backyard alone. I was itching to go for a run, but I couldn’t leave Maddy alone. Besides, she might wake up at any time. I spent the next thirty minutes picking up all the paper plates, beer cans, plastic cups, and trash my guests had left behind. I would normally have been irritated, but I hadn’t really given anyone the chance to dispose of their trash. I chastised myself for how I’d reacted. I’d need to apologize to everyone at some point.
Once the yard was cleaned up, I headed inside to check on Maddy. When I opened the door to the guest bedroom, she was already awake. She was lying on her back, reading on her phone. She glanced over at me. “Hey. Is everyone still upstairs?”
I shook my head. “All gone.”
“Ugh.” She flopped her arms down on the bed. “All your friends and family are gonna think I’m some stuck-up bitch. I’m always shutting myself away whenever there’s a get-together.”
I sat with her and pulled her upper body onto my lap. “They understand. You’ve gone through a ton of stuff. No reason to worry about what other people think anyway. You’ve got enough to deal with.”
“I guess you’re right. It still feels kinda antisocial.”
“How did you sleep?”
“It was weird,” Maddy said. “I had the strangest dream.”
“Oh yeah? What about?”
“The moon. It was like I was connected to it. The whole dream was me walking through a forest or something, and I was looking up at the full moon. I could feel the light of it on my skin and it made my entire body tingle. There was a link between me and it. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before. For a little while, it didn’t even seem like a dream. It was like I was lucid.” She shook her head. “I can’t figure out what it means. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all.”
Hearing her talk about her dream brought back memories of the stories my father had told us as kids. How Edemas and his ancestors had become more powerful as the moon grew full. When the full moon was out, they were basically living gods, nearly unbeatable in battle. It made me wonder how strong Maddy could be if she became a full werewolf like her forefathers. I needed to get my mind off that subject.
“So…Mom knows.”
Maddy turned and looked at me. “She knows what?”
I nodded. “All of it. I chewed her ass pretty good. I’d be expecting an apology at any time.”
“Oh, jeez. I hate that you had to do that.”
“Don’t be sorry. She’s the one who should be sorry, and she is.”
Maddy curled into me. “Well, I’m glad she knows. It still doesn’t make me happy that she thought so little of me for being human.”
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