“And I’m headed out,” Hugh added.

Roxy hoped he wasn’t leaving on her account. The last thing she wanted to be was an intrusion. “I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s routine. I’m happy just to sit in a corner somewhere and work for a few hours, if that’s okay.”

“Take the library,” Hugh said. “Seems an appropriate place to write a book.”

Roxy nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

He smiled. “I’ll see you both for dinner, then. I’m off to Sebastian’s for a meeting.” He kissed Delaney again, then left.

“C’mon,” she said. “I’ll show you the library. You sure you don’t want a glass of wine or something? After the day you’ve had, you’ve earned it.”

Roxy walked with her. “Alcohol and writing don’t mix for me, but I’ll definitely have some at dinner.”

Delaney pushed open a set of double doors ahead of them, and Roxy sighed. “Oh, this is gorgeous.” She inhaled. “I love the way libraries smell.”

“If you like this one, you’ll have to see Sebastian’s someday. That’s the brother Hugh went to see. His library is easily twice this size. You’d love it. Two stories and filled with rare books and antique weapons.”

“Really? Yeah, I’d definitely like to see that. In fact, it sounds like potential research with all those weapons.”

“You’d like his girlfriend too. Tessa. She’s a valkyrie. And a librarian.”

Roxy squinted. “You mean as in the Norse mythology valkyrie?”

Delaney nodded. “Yep. Her sister, Deputy Blythe—I don’t know if you’ve met her yet—but she’s a valkyrie too. Everyone I know in the sheriff’s department is a supernatural.”

“Really? What’s the sheriff?”

“Werewolf.”

“Wow.” Roxy bit her lip. “I don’t know if I would have stood up to him the way I did if I’d known that.”

Delaney smiled. “He’s got that whole gruff, non-smiling thing going on, but he’s really a big teddy bear. You should see the way his aunt talks to him. Birdie. Now there’s a character.”

“I met Birdie. Wait. If she’s the sheriff’s aunt, is she…”

“A werewolf too? Yep.”

Birdie was a werewolf. That might take some getting used to. Roxy settled on one of the oversized couches and balanced her laptop bag on her knees. “I need to write, but there’s so much I don’t know and so many questions I’d like to ask. I have a feeling our talk over lunch only scratched the surface.”

Delaney nodded. “There are scads of fascinating people that live here and so many interesting things to learn about this town, I feel like I find out something new every day myself.”

The writing could wait another hour. Roxy patted the couch next to her. “Tell me all about it.”

Delaney took a seat. “What do you want to know?”

Roxy opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking.

“You can ask me anything,” Delaney added.

“I guess what I most want to know isn’t really about the town. It’s more personal. Is that okay?”

“Absolutely.”

“In that case, how did you decide to become a vampire? What was it like? Were you scared?”

Delaney sat back, her hand on her belly, and stared into the room for a moment before answering. “I was…in love.”

Roxy could relate to the sentiment if not the exact feeling.

She looked at Roxy. “That colored everything, you know? I knew it was a serious decision and my life would be very different, but I also knew it would mean having forever with Hugh. It didn’t take me long to make up my mind. It just felt like there was no question about whether or not I should do it. It was simply the next step in our relationship.”

Roxy wound the laptop bag’s strap around her hand. “Do you think…that maybe I could become a vampire?”

Delaney’s mouth dropped open. “What? Why would you ask me that? I mean, I get wanting to be a vampire. It’s incredibly cool, and given what you write, I can see the added appeal, but I thought you were interested in Alex.”

“I am. That’s why I asked. I thought it would put us on more equal footing.”

Delaney reached out and squeezed Roxy’s arm. “I don’t think he cares one bit that you’re human.”

“Maybe not so much that he’d say anything, but the imbalance remains. He’s a shifter. I’m human. I can never really be a part of his world the way a supernatural woman could.”

Roxy let out a small sigh before she continued. “I feel a bit like an outsider looking in. This town is amazing. And the people who live here? It’s just beyond exciting. But I also feel a bit like I’ve just been told I’ve won the lottery, except I can’t spend any of the money. Just look at it. And watch other people spend it.”

“Oh, Roxy. That must be so hard. But wouldn’t you rather be a shifter like Alex?”

Roxy turned toward her, eyes rounding slightly. “Are you saying that’s a possibility?”

Delaney shrugged. “I have no idea. But I know someone who might.”

Alex stood in the sheriff’s department conference room, staring down at the table and the bagged evidence collected from Roxy’s house. Not a single useable fingerprint on any of it. “Whoever’s doing this is smart enough to wear gloves and wipe everything down.”