22
DAMIEN
The truck was right where we left it, and thankfully unguarded. Either the rest of the pack had been too lazy to find it or they just hadn’t looked.
Or maybe they were still licking their wounds from what happened in the courtyard.
It didn’t surprise me to learn about Serena’s powers, but I was impressed as hell. I’d only half-seen her do her thing back in the alleyway, and now I was glad Broderick had witnessed it too.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go home tonight,” I said, as we bumped along.
Broderick looked lost in thought, staring out over the steering wheel into the star-streaked sky.
“I mean they know where we—”
“Maybe you’re right.”
He turned onto the main road, and a half hour later we were back in Paris. Rather than steer toward our apartments, Broderick kept driving, deeper into the heart of the city.
“Can I ask you both something?” Serena asked from the back seat. Our silence gave her license to continue. “What made you leave the pack?”
Broderick was stoic and expressionless. It’s not that he didn’t want to answer, I just knew he was lost in thought. Thinking hard, trying to figure out our next move.
“Our pack was dwindling,” I said over my shoulder. “In order to boost our numbers, Karessa started taking matters into her own hands.”
Serena said nothing for a few seconds, but eventually she caught on. “So she was making more of you?”
“Yes. Creating new brood, against their will.”
“So… going out and biting people?”
I laughed, and it came out too a little too harsh. Broderick’s lips went tight.
“Something like that.”
In truth it was exactly like that. Karessa had been taking what she wanted, without regard for human life. Much the same way I’d been made — totally against my will.
And whether he liked to admit it or not, Broderick had had no choice at all.
“If given a choice, most people don’t choose this life,” I said. “Take me for example. I was bitten while sleeping on the beach. Left for dead, in a puddle of my own blood. Never saw the guy again.”
“Holy shit,” swore Serena.
“Yeah, totally. The first time I shifted, I had no idea what had happened to me. It took me a while to figure it out, and even when I did I had no idea how to handle it.”
I looked up and noticed the city lights were especially beautiful this night. The weather was clear.
“Someone eventually helped me,” I said. “They found me somehow. Took me aside and showed me who I was.”
“Xiomara,” Serena said matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” I said, with admiration. “That’s exactly who it was.”
She shifted forward from the back seat, leaning in between us. When she rolled her head in Broderick’s direction, I closed my eyes.
Shit…
“And what about you?”
The miles spun out and the truck rolled on in silence. Up on the steering wheel, Broderick’s knuckles had gone stark white.
“She made you, didn’t she? Karessa?”
Broderick’s jaw tightened. His temples flexed.
“Yes.”
Serena hesitated for a second, then reached out and took his hand. The gesture was meant to be sweet, but I wasn’t sure he was ready for it.
“Was it consensual? Or did she just take you, like—”
“I asked for it,” he said coldly. “It was something I told her to do.”
Serena glanced over at me, and my expression told her to back off. Thankfully she did.
“So she was assimilating people,” she said, “and the two of you left the pack because you didn’t agree with it?”
“It was against our way,” I explained again. “We were already thinking of leaving, and she got wind of it. Before we got the chance to go she drove us out, and kept our totems out of spite.”
“Ah,” said Serena. “Good ol’ counter-rejection.”
“Partially,” I agreed. “But she also kept them on the hopes we’d return. And knowing that eventually, we’d have to return.”
Serena nodded. “Or one day you’ll shift… and without your totem, but unable to change back.”
She caught on quickly. It was one of her better traits. She had other great traits too of course, but those would have to wait.
I see you mated her…
I was glad to find out she and Broderick had consummated the bond between us. In truth though, I was also a little jealous. Jealous that I wasn’t there. Jealous that I couldn’t experience her as well.
She was amazing, but also different. She had all of Karessa’s fire and sauciness, but none of her vindictiveness or malice. And she had real confidence. Not the falsetto confidence our past mate exuded — the one that buried miles of insecurity — but an actual courageousness and honesty that was outright sexy.
Serena’s eyes shifted left and right as she took in the sights of Paris. She was so beautiful, too. I found myself wondering if the three of us together would be different than it was with Karessa, or if it would be just as good, just as intense. I also wondered if Serena, as a non-Lycanthrope, would even want to find out.
Broderick turned the wheel, and suddenly we were in the valet parking area of one of the biggest, grandest hotels in all of Paris. Right dead smack in the middle of the city.
“A little ostentatious,” I quipped. “Don’t you think?”
“That’s exactly it,” said Broderick. “They’ll be expecting us to hole up in some cheap, out-of-the-way place. Hide in the dark, like rats.” He gestured grandly to the modern-looking skyscraper. “This is the last place they’d look for us.”
I had to hand it to him. He was probably right.
“Besides,” he went on, “this is as public as it gets. Out in the open, they might not risk too much.”
I took Serena’s hand and helped her out as Broderick handed the truck’s keys to some sharply-dressed valet. Once in the lobby it became clear we might’ve made a mistake.
“So uh… how exactly are we affording this place?”
It was by far the fanciest hotel I’d ever seen, much less been to. The floors were marble, the columns too. There were crystal chandeliers. Amazingly detailed statues. Everything was gorgeous, magnificent… and of course, expensive.
Broderick looked like a hobo, wearing mismatched clothing and pair of flip-flops he’d had in the back of the truck. He was busy counting out the money he’d taken from the glove compartment. It didn’t look like nearly enough.
“So… uhh…”
By the look on his face I knew we’d soon be asking for our ride back.
“I got this,” said Serena. She turned and headed for the front desk, wearing a wicked smile. “This one’s on Xiomara.”