Twenty-Three
Viviana leaned against the shelves in the garage. Her bedroom seemed to be fair game for her mother lately, and Marlana barged in whenever she felt like it. Viviana needed…space. She needed her own house. She was twenty-two, plenty old enough to be moving out. Why had she stayed so long?
It was time to grow up.
She’d never gone to Chase for advice on anything, but now that he was gone, she found herself wondering what he would say in this situation. He’d seemed smart enough, solid enough. Viviana bet she could have depended on him to provide an unbiased opinion.
That would never happen, now. Nobody had any idea that when Chase had gotten up that morning, it would be his day alive. Chase couldn’t have known, either.
Life was so short, so unfair. Her eyes filled with tears, but she held them back.
The door from the kitchen opened. Faint light spilled into the dark garage. Shit. She didn’t want to be found, didn’t want to talk to anyone. They’d go blabbing to Marlana, and Viviana would lose yet another hiding place. Viviana took a step to the side, trying to blend in with the shadows next to the shelves.
Someone leaned in and set a plate on the hood of Marlana’s Porsche Cayenne. Viviana stared at the sandwich. Peanut butter and strawberry jam—she could smell it from where she stood. “Dad?”
He stepped the rest of the way into the garage. “Thought you might be hungry.”
“Yeah,” she said, and her stomach growled, as if on cue.
They both chuckled quietly.
“Your mom’s really worried,” her dad said, breaking the silence.
Viviana shrugged. “She’s overreacting. This vampire thing will settle down soon. In the meantime, she sent away the best bodyguard we have.”
Her dad’s voice got cold all of a sudden. “He acted unprofessional. In how he behaved.”
“No, he acted like a man in love. And I love him back, Dad.”
Her dad’s eyes softened. “I know you think that, princess.”
“Dad, you have to stop calling me that. You know it’s a joke to everyone else, right?”
“Sorry, I keep forgetting.”
She sighed. It wasn’t his fault Ben and Doug had stolen the pet name, twisted it into a taunt.
He continued, “Anyway, I know you think you love him, but this is a new thing. Your first…crush, or something.”
Viviana scoffed. “It’s not my first crush. He wasn’t even my first lover. I was with Ben for months and you guys didn’t even know.”
“Ben.” Her dad’s voice sounded even colder.
“Yeah, it was a huge mistake,” Viviana said. “But see, because I had to sneak around, I couldn’t get your or Mom’s counsel on it, could I? You’ve kept me from anyone my age for years.”
“You’re better than all of them,” her dad said.
“No,” Viviana said. “I’m not. I’m just me. I’m Viviana. And that doesn’t make me better than anyone else. Even if I become the alpha after Mom—”
“You will become the alpha. There’s no if about it.”
“Yeah, fine. But even so, I’m still their equal. It doesn’t make me a princess now, and it sure as hell doesn’t make me a queen later. This is a pride, not a vampire court.”
Her dad’s gaze softened as he looked at her. “You’re forming some very strong opinions, young lady.”
“Yeah, I get it from you and Mom. You can only blame yourselves.”
He smiled. “Enjoy your sandwich.”
“Thanks.”
He went back inside. Viviana ate the PB and J, licking the remains of jam off her fingertips. She was tired of being a chicken and hiding out, avoiding her mom. It was time to face the lion, so to speak.
Straightening her spine, she took her empty plate into the kitchen. Her brother’s wife, Agatha, stood scrubbing dishes at the sink.
Viviana frowned at her back—usually Agatha was out kicking ass with the Guardians.
“Where’s Marlana?” Viviana asked.
“She’s in her office, last I heard,” Agatha said, her voice shaking and strained.
“Thanks.” Viviana paused. Agatha had never extended the hand of friendship despite the two of them being sisters-in-law. But Viviana hadn’t reached out, either. She cleared her throat and touched Agatha’s shoulder. “I’m, um. I’m really sorry about Chase.”
“Thanks,” Agatha whispered, turning to face Viviana.
Viviana tried to keep her shock from showing on her face. Agatha’s blue-green eyes were rimmed in bright red from crying. Her skin was blotchy, and her mouth was pulled down in a frown. Gone was the strong, capable-looking woman Viviana had secretly tried to emulate for so many years.
Agatha’s grief was real, and the realness of it struck Viviana suddenly. Chase had meant something to other people, too, and none of them should be alone in their sorrow.
Without a word, Viviana took the dishrag from Agatha’s hand and placed it in the sink. Then she reached forward and pulled her sister-in-law into a hug.
Agatha went stiff at first, but then she relaxed into Viviana’s embrace. Her muscular arms and shoulders were far from frail, but she smelled frail. She smelled like sleepless nights and sorrow and quiet moments crying alone. They shook in each other’s arms for a full minute, and when Agatha finally pulled away, neither of them had dry cheeks.
“Thanks,” Agatha whispered, and turned back to the sink.
Viviana patted her shoulder and continued through the kitchen, up the stairs, to knock on her mother’s office door.
Her mom was holding Viviana’s phone—Viviana recognized her bright green case.
“Who’s Mr. Fun?” Marlana asked. “It doesn’t sound like Hudson.”
Viviana’s heart caught in her throat. “Oh, a friend of mine.”
Not a lie, exactly. Although Mendy was so much more.
“You’ve complained often enough that you don’t have friends,” Marlana said, her voice tight.
“It’s—” Viviana stopped. She didn’t know what to say, except the truth. “It’s Mendy.”
“Melinda?” Marlana had always hated Mendy’s nickname.
Viviana nodded.
“You’ve been speaking with Melinda? How long?” She tapped the phone, but she wouldn’t find anything. Viviana had always been careful to delete messages.
“For a while,” Viviana said.
“I can’t believe you’d do this to me,” Marlana said. “After all that I’ve done to protect you? To keep you safe from bad influences?”
“You kept me isolated from any influences,” Viviana said. “You wouldn’t even let me have friends here. Every time someone wanted me to hang out with them, your answer was always no.”
Marlana sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I can’t do this argument again, not now.”
“Mendy misses us,” Viviana said. “She won’t say it, but I know she does. Let her come back, just for a visit.”
“Out of the question,” Marlana said. “I need to tell you—”
“I need to tell you,” Viviana interrupted. She had allowed herself to be controlled long enough. She could be in charge of herself. She would be in charge of herself. Squaring her shoulders, she continued, “This has gone on long enough. I’m tired of allowing you to dictate my life. You won’t let me speak, you never agree with me, and frankly, Mom, it’s exhausting. So get your head out of your ass and either let me run the pride, or let me get the hell out of here like Mendy did.”
Marlana looked as if she’d been slapped. Viviana flinched, wondering if Marlana would start shouting, or lock Viviana in her room.
But instead, Marlana spoke in a calm voice. “What are your brilliant ideas?”
“I just want to make a positive change when I’m alpha.”
Marlana looked directly at Viviana. “I wanted to do that, too, when I first became alpha.”
“But we could do it,” Viviana insisted, her voice earnest. “We could go out, explore not just our own territory, but others’. I learned so much just from my quick trip to the Evergreen Pack. We could make a difference.”
Gesturing to the piles of paperwork and her computer screen and her phone, which was currently buzzing with an incoming text, Marlana shook her head. “There’s never enough time. There’s always a fire to put out, always drama or danger. I wanted to make a difference, too, Viviana, but there’s so much responsibility that it’s impossible.”
“I refuse to believe that,” Viviana said. “You could let me help, or Dad.”
Marlana rested her head in her hands, whether from disbelief or fatigue, Viviana couldn’t tell.
Viviana was losing her patience again. “I’m going to bed,” she said.
“Wait,” Marlana said. “The vampire, Astor. He’s a day-walker.”
“Yes, we know,” Viviana said. She hadn’t heard the term before, but this was old news.
“No, we didn’t know.” Marlana’s voice was even. “Please let me finish. We thought he simply stays awake all day, like Grace. But he’s a day-walker.”
Viviana paused. “Wait. What is that? How is that different?”
“He can go out in the daytime. Sunlight doesn’t hurt him. Your former bodyguard is the one who alerted me to the danger and Grace informed me that it’s possible for someone as old as Astor to develop new strengths. We have to increase security for everyone and lock down the pride even during daylight hours. Everyone stays here until we’ve taken care of Astor.”
Viviana let her head fall forward. She’d been worried about herself. She’d been worried about Hudson. She still was worried about those things, but there was also the whole pride to think about. It wasn’t enough to make sure she was happily pursuing a life with Hudson. She had to work with her mother to keep everyone safe.
“I agree we need to take care of the vampire,” Viviana said. “The safety of the pride is the most important thing right now. But after this is over, I will be with Hudson.”
Marlana opened her mouth to argue, but Viviana added, “You want me to be a leader. One part of that is knowing my mind, and an even bigger part of that is taking responsibility for my own life and balancing that with the safety of the pride. That’s what I’m doing now. I will claim him as soon as the pride is safe from Astor.”
Marlana didn’t nod. She didn’t say okay, or that she would ever give her permission. But when Viviana grabbed her phone from the desk, Marlana didn’t try to stop her.
*
Dusk was falling when Viviana finally went up to her room. She’d had dinner with the pride, and sat close to Agatha through a suspenseful movie that nobody really watched. They were all mourning Chase, but at least they were together.
Her room was quiet. She didn’t need a bodyguard, not anymore—the risk of Astor was enough that she’d stay inside no matter what.
Her mom knocked on her door, and at least this time she paused before barging in.
“Yeah?” Viviana asked, her voice tired.
“Doug’s going to stay out here in the hallway.”
Another bodyguard, Viviana thought. “Fine.”
Her mom looked surprised. “No argument?”
Viviana shook her head. She was exhausted. She was tired of feeling sad, tired of feeling scared, tired of missing Hudson. She couldn’t be bothered to argue with her mother right now.
Marlana left, closing the door behind her.
Viviana closed her curtains and changed into a clean pair of leggings and a nightshirt. She glanced longingly at her phone. Although she wanted to claim Hudson now, she’d made the decision to wait. Still, it wouldn’t hurt anything to text and let him know she was okay, and that she was working on solving things on her end. She opened the text app and started typing. I miss you. I just wanted to tell you that as soon as this—
A noise came from her window.
She set down her phone to listen, but nothing else happened. Probably just a pine cone or something knocking against the panes. She returned to her phone, reading over the beginning of her text so she could pick up where she left off. As soon as this is over—no, she wanted to say it differently. She deleted the text and started over. You’re all I can think about—
The noise at the window came again, a gentle tapping. It was followed by a whispery voice. You don’t want to say anything, princess.
It was the vampire—it was Astor. Cold fear washed through Viviana. She opened her mouth to shout for Doug. But the voice was right—she didn’t want to say anything. She kept quiet. After all, it was just a voice.
Harmless, it reasoned with her.
Yes, harmless.
Open the window, princess.
She stood up. Her limbs were fluid—it felt as if she were floating. Dreaming. She moved to the window and thrust the curtains open.
A pale face with dark eyes looked in at her. The sun was fading fast behind him. The day-walker.
Viviana opened her mouth to scream, but he shook his head and she closed her mouth. No, she said to herself. Scream, Viviana.
His voice was firm in her head, drowning out her own thoughts. You’re going to walk with me. Climb out this window, come to my little cabin in the woods. Come now, princess.
She willed her body to remain in place. If she could even just stomp her feet a few times, or pound on the wall, she could alert Doug and he’d be here in seconds. But her body wouldn’t move. At least, it wouldn’t move the way she wanted it to. Instead of reaching for the wall to bang on it, she reached for the latch on the French doors.
Viviana, no, she said in her mind. Be more in control. You can do this. She’d just argued with her mother about how much control she should have over her own life, and here she was, with someone else, her body being controlled like a puppet?
It pissed her off, but there was nothing she could do about it.
The latch turned easily in her hand, and then she was pulling open the French doors. Soft evening air bathed her room, filling it with freshness.
The vampire stood back against the railing, watching her. The fading sunlight behind him blotted out his features, but Viviana knew his eyes were black. He beckoned her forward with one brittle-looking hand.
“Come along, princess,” he said. His speaking voice sounded just as it had in her mind. Whispering. Mocking. Powerful.
Nooooo, Viviana thought, but her body disobeyed her.
She lifted her foot toward the French doors, hating every movement, fighting every movement, making each one as slow as possible.
Viviana had sometimes chosen to relinquish her control—to her mother, with disastrous effects, to Hudson, with pleasurable ones—but there were other times, like now, when she had no choice at all.
She refused to give this vampire everything he was forcing on her. Nice and easy? No fucking way.
Her body was mostly a prisoner to him, but her mind was not. She focused all of her mental energy on her arm. It didn’t move at first, but she sent more of her mental energy to it, and then—wham! She knocked over the chair by her desk.
It fell with a muted thud on the thick rug.
Doug didn’t barge into her room to investigate.
That hadn’t worked out how she’d intended.
The vampire continued to urge her forward, beckoning. Her body betrayed her, gliding along, moving the rest of the way out of her room.
Her phone was in her hand. She still hadn’t sent that text to Hudson. Her thumb twitched. If she could just—
“I don’t think so,” Astor whispered. He pried the phone from her grip.
The vampire’s hands were cold, making her shiver as he bound her wrists in front of her with rope. “Can’t have you taking more liberties with your strength,” he said, making a tsking noise. “Such a strong will you have.”
She remained in place, unable to budge, while he finished tying the knots. Then he lifted her easily in his arms and jumped silently down to the lawn.
“Now,” he said, “a quick walk around the house.”
As they walked, he murmured reassurances to her. He also spoke to others, and it took Viviana a moment to realize that he was mentally warding them from discovery by any of the Guardians on duty outside the manor.
He’d thought of everything.
And Viviana—she had nothing.