One
Viviana lowered herself over the edge of the balcony. It was a twelve-foot drop, but she’d done it dozens of times. Inside the house, faint music played. Her dad practicing the piano. She could see the scene in her mind—Dad playing music, and her mom, Marlana, sitting on the blue brocade sofa, sipping a glass of red wine.
A few years ago, they might’ve made her join them.
The grass beneath her balcony was squishy when she landed. Recent rain had made everything wet and lush. July in Montana was her favorite time of year. Warm during the day, and in the mountains the temperature dropped at night.
She thought of stripping to shift into her mountain lion, but rejected the idea. Tonight she’d run in her human form, going as fast as she could through the trees and brush. It was great exercise, and at the end of it, maybe, just maybe, she’d be able to sleep.
Quickly, she made her way past the great pond in the back yard and into the trees. It was quiet here. Lonely. The only constant companion Viviana had enjoyed over the years was her loneliness.
Soft footsteps reached her ears. One of the Guardians was walking nearby. Viviana froze in place, afraid to breathe. She absolutely could not be caught out here—her mom would start watching her even more closely.
After the footsteps passed, Viviana sniffed the air. The Guardian was Agatha, Viviana’s sister-in-law, and Agatha wouldn’t be alone—the perimeter guards overlapped, moving in opposite directions. On her way back, Viviana would have to pay attention so she wouldn’t get caught by the other Guardian.
Agatha’s steps slowed. Shit. She’d somehow sensed Viviana’s presence.
Viviana dropped to the ground and held her breath. She could hold her breath longer than anyone she knew—four minutes at least—and slow her heartbeat, also. It was a trick she’d honed on other nights like this. Nights where she couldn’t sleep, nights where she felt too cooped up. Nights when she needed to feel as if she could be in control of at least one little thing.
Agatha’s pace picked up again, and Viviana listened, breath held, while the sound faded.
Finally gone.
Viviana bolted away from the property and into the national forest that bordered her family’s land. The trees were a mix of pine and fir, with some small groves of aspen here and there. The creek that ran in spring was nearly dry now that it was mid-summer, but she could still imagine the scent and sound of it carrying water along.
She slowed to a walk, touching pieces of nature as she went. A leaf. The rough bark of a tree trunk. The cool surface of a boulder.
The stars were out, the moon a low orb far past the trees. She caught glimpses of it now and then.
Suddenly, the nocturnal creatures around her went silent. She looked left and right, wondering why they’d stopped. She wouldn’t have disturbed them—her footfalls were quiet, and her steps had been careful.
A thought popped into her head without warning. Vampire.
It was possible, sure. But the Corona Pride and the Corona Court had come to an understanding after Gracie Jane and Fraze had gotten together. The treaty was well in effect—a cease-fire. Viviana had been there when they drew up the agreement—she’d watched the black-eyed leader of the Corona Court, a man with a torn ear, shake hands with her mother. The Court wouldn’t take people from the territory. They wouldn’t do anything to draw attention to themselves or to the pride, or do anything to alert the humans in the surrounding towns—Maxon and Belnedge—that anything supernatural existed at all.
Shadows whipped past her right side, and Viviana shivered. That wasn’t natural. The shadows had been noiseless, scentless. Not an owl, not any other kind of animal.
It was a vampire.
“Come here, princess,” a voice whispered.
Viviana’s heart stuttered in her chest, but she did what she’d been taught to do.
She ran.
Zigzags through the forest, past trees and brush, over logs. She leaped the entire width of the little creek, landed hard on her ankle. It would be okay. Minor sprain. The problem was, it would slow her down and she couldn’t afford to slow down.
Her gait was off, making her speed a harder thing to manage. She was clumsy. Low laughter followed her—the vampire was toying with her.
It was getting harder to breathe. She was an experienced runner—she came out here all the time—but she wasn’t fast or graceful when something was chasing her and her ankle was sprained. But she couldn’t afford to panic. It wasn’t far to the Corona property. She’d find the Guardians, Agatha and whoever else was on duty with her. They’d help Viviana and fight the vampire.
Viviana would be in a ton of trouble, but the fact of a vampire on their property was more important than Viviana sneaking out.
Except suddenly, the vampire wasn’t there anymore. Other forest noises were audible now. Tiny creatures burrowing in the earth. The squeal of a mouse as it was caught by an owl.
Scents had returned, too.
Viviana’s breath came in ragged gasps, and she slowed.
The vampire really was gone.
Had Viviana imagined it?
The scent of another shifter came upon her and she froze in place, shocked. Crap. She hadn’t smelled him soon enough. The shadowy form in front of her stood tall, facing away. Even in the moonlight, she could see the auburn tint of his hair. Either Ben or Doug Channing, and from the way he stood, she’d bet her left boob that it was Ben.
He stood still, head cocked as if he were listening for a disturbance. He’d heard something—Viviana’s footsteps—although he didn’t know who it was yet.
Viviana waited, her lungs screaming for air. He took a single step away from her, then another. She started to breathe, letting out a tiny bit of air. He’d resume his patrol and be none the wiser.
Then he spun around and pointed a finger. “There you are!”
Viviana feigned nonchalance and started marching for the house.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, princess?” he asked behind her.
“You don’t need to say anything,” she said. “Just leave it alone, okay, Ben?”
“I knew you were sneaking out. Do you know what the alpha is going to do?”
“She’s not going to do anything, because I’m not going to tell her. And you won’t, either.”
He rushed forward so he stood in front of her and walked backward toward the house. With a smile on his smarmy face, he said, “It’s my job to tell her these things. But I guess you could persuade me not to. How about a hook-up, for old time’s sake? Just passed Agatha a few minutes ago. We have at least twenty minutes before she comes around again. Probably thirty.”
“Not interested, Ben.”
“Of course not,” he said, his voice sharp with derision. “The ice princess of the Corona Pride.”
That stung. He’d said it when he broke up with her last month, too. Viviana held in the pain, though, not willing to allow him the satisfaction of hurting her. Just because she hadn’t had an orgasm with him didn’t mean she couldn’t have them at all. Rather than trying to figure out what worked for her, Ben had simply broken up with her, blaming the problem on Viviana’s libido and body.
Asshole.
“You could fight me for it,” he said.
Viviana put a hand on her hip. “This isn’t worth it, none of it is. Just let me go home. I won’t be coming out again for a while, anyway. I thought I sensed something out there. Thought I heard something.”
Immediately concerned, Ben turned to the forest. “Seriously? What did you hear?”
“A voice. Someone talked to me.”
“Another one of your friends?” he asked, his voice mocking.
She wished she’d never confided in him. Yes, she’d made up friends when she was younger. Maybe she’d been too old for imaginary friends at twelve, thirteen. But her sister had left, her mom wouldn’t let Viviana go out with the other kids her age, and the giant mansion had been lonely.
Ben was once again proving his status of reigning asshole of the Corona Pride by bringing it up.
She took another step toward the house.
“You know what,” he said, moving in front of her, “I should bring you in. This is going to get me in trouble.”
Viviana tried to sidestep him, but he reached out and grabbed her arms tightly. He lifted her up so her feet wouldn’t touch the ground. She squirmed out of his grasp and kicked his knee.
“Bitch!” Ben shouted, reaching for his leg.
She elbowed him in the gut as he leaned down. He recovered too fast, though, and tackled her. As she went down, her shoulder hit one of the large rocks bordering the pond. The pain was blinding, and she went limp underneath him.
“Shit, Viviana, you okay?” he asked.
She waited for the air to come back into her lungs, then moved under him. “Get off. I can’t breathe.”
“You can breathe if you can talk,” he said.
“My shoulder.”
He sat up immediately. It was one thing to spar with her, but if he’d really injured Viviana, Marlana would have his hide. Viviana saw the bruise blooming along the top of her shoulder. This injury wasn’t something that would heal overnight.
“You still gonna tell on me?” Viviana asked, smirking. Inwardly, she was wincing from the pain.
Ben looked horrified. Viviana knew he was already in enough trouble with her mom—he wouldn’t want to risk her wrath on something like hurting Viviana. “Shit. I don’t—okay. Fine. I won’t tell. Just don’t say anything about your shoulder, okay?”
“I don’t know. I might need someone to look at it.”
He grabbed her loose, long-sleeved shirt and angled it away from her back. “No blood,” he said. “You’re fine. Or you will be.”
Viviana couldn’t believe her luck. She wouldn’t have tried to get hurt on purpose, but the injury to her shoulder would end up saving her neck.
Ben backed away, looking remorseful. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just you’re so hot and I couldn’t believe nothing worked for you. I shouldn’t have said those things.”
Viviana shook her head. He was such a douche. “You’re only saying that stuff because you want me to keep quiet.”
“Maybe. But please, don’t say anything.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Give me a leg up to my balcony. I can’t get up there with this debilitating injury.”
He groaned. “Fine.”
He gave her a boost and she gripped the edge of the railing, then hoisted herself up. Burning, stabbing agony careened through her shoulder. She wanted to scream with the pain, but by now the piano music inside had stopped, and she couldn’t risk her parents hearing.
She clambered up the rest of the way and got her leg over the railing. Looking down at Ben, she gave him a little wave.
“Our secret?” he asked.
She smiled, but didn’t respond. Let him sweat a little.
She climbed into her room and went straight for her bathroom. Tugging her collar down as far as it would go, she examined her shoulder in the mirror. That was going to bruise, badly. She’d have a hell of a time hiding it from the alpha.