The Things We Water

I was folding my clothes in the clubhouse’s laundry room, surrounded by five commercial washing machines and an equal number of dryers, when I heard someone coming down the hall, with some speed.

Not werewolf fast, but fast enough.

I couldn’t sense their magic though, and there was only one person here I’d met so far who was like me in that aspect—the tightlipped, suspicious elder who lived a floor below me.

I’d just finished setting the navy blue shorts I’d folded in half on top of another pile of bottoms when Franklin appeared in the doorway. It took about half a second to dread his expression. It was a mix between a grimace and a concerned one, and somehow it got even grimmer when we made eye contact.

“Are you all right?” I asked the man who had been nothing but polite toward me since he’d gotten back from his trip, but I still couldn’t help but think there was something off about him. There was something about the way he watched me, like he was sizing me up, but not with ill intentions. Duncan would have warned me if there was anything to really worry about.

Plus, a few nights ago, I’d watched him slicing a roast into thin slivers and had definitely seen a flash of yellow gold on the clasp, and I was pretty sure even the chain the beads were looped through had been too.

I still hadn’t managed to get around to taking a chance and asking Henri if he knew anything, mostly because I had barely seen him since the incident with Dom over a week ago. From comments Randall and Franklin had made, I was pretty sure there had been some kind of staffing issue at work that had kept him away and working odd hours, but it wasn’t something for me to worry about.

What was on my radar, and deserved to be there, was the expression on the elder’s face as he stood in the laundry room.

That was another thing I’d noticed the same day as his golden jewelry. I had always assumed Franklin might be in his seventies, but the more time we spent together, the more I realized that he couldn’t be. His hair was graying, that was for sure. There were lines at his mouth and eyes, but not as many as a man his age would typically have.

While he was thin, he wasn’t what I would call skinny either—not like my dad, who was in his late seventies and had been lean as far back as I could remember.

It had made me reconsider how old Franklin could be. And hadn’t Matti said something about him not having aged much since he’d lived here? It could be good skincare and good genes, but….

“Ah, yes,” Franklin answered, everything about him still radiating unease. He tried to smile, but it just put me even more on edge. Like when someone tells you there’s good news and bad news, but the good news is really just slightly better than the bad news. “We’re in the middle of a slight emergency, Nina.”

“We?”

“Yes.” He plucked at the sleeves of his button-down striped shirt, and I watched how steady his hands were, though his face said otherwise. “I need to apologize for not giving you more notice, but the leader of the Alaskan community contacted me five minutes ago and explained he’ll be at our gates in five minutes.”

I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. I wasn’t even sure I felt my eyelids either, but I somehow blinked. There must have been a rock in my throat, because when I tried swallowing, nothing happened at first. I had to try again. “He’s going to be here in five minutes?” I finally squeaked. Hadn’t he told me and Henri that we would have notice?

There’s no reason to freak out.

The only way anyone was taking Duncan against his wishes was over my dead body.

That thought actually made me feel a little better.

“Yes,” the elder confirmed, still pulling at his sleeve—the same one that covered his secret bracelet. “They gave me no warning. Under normal circumstances, we could turn them away, but I fear we would offend our visitor….”

He trailed off for a reason.

If we offended him, he might not come back. If he didn’t come back, then I’d be one step short of ever finding out the truth about my boy. And he deserved to know for his own sake. For his own identity.

If anything had been made clear over the last couple months, it was that knowing your magical heritage might not be necessary, but it might save a little bit of heartache along the way.

Duncan could grow up and be whoever he wanted to, but I didn’t want the mystery that had weighed me down for half my life to do the same to him.

Not if we could avoid it.

And no one was taking my donut, dang it.

“What do you say?” the elder asked, watching me closely, tugging at his left sleeve.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him fidget so much, but I didn’t have the mental capacity to worry about him at the moment.

On numb legs, I reached deep inside of myself for strength—thinking of Agnes facing down her asshole dad, remembering Shiloh trying to stand up to the Jenny Greenteeth in his own way, and I thought of those bogeymen risking their balls trespassing on werewolf land, on Henri’s land to get what they wanted—and I set my chin. If they could put themselves in uncomfortable situations, so could I. “If they’re here, they’re here. Let’s do it.”

Franklin’s eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit, but he nodded back seriously. “We’ll meet him outside.”

My arms joined my legs in the numb department as I followed him out. I tried to get my body under control on the chance that whoever was coming could smell my emotions. Fear wasn’t for the weak, but I needed to put up the best front I could and show that there was a reason why I’d been picked to care for my boy.

Without doing any pinching.

With my opposite hand, I toyed with the bracelet on my wrist. I rubbed my finger over one of the beads. Did I leave it on or…?

Henri had said I didn’t need to hide who I was, hadn’t he?

Setting it on the corner of the deck, I kept my chin up and made a face that would’ve made Agnes proud as Franklin and I both silently waited and watched as a red car pulled into the lot and parked. Based off the lack of tint on the windows, I assumed it was a rental. Behind us, the front door opened and closed.

I recognized the heavy, bright energy that approached us right before a familiar frame stopped at my side.

Henri’s arm brushed mine as he braced his hands on his hips. I couldn’t help but peek at him real quick. He was in his normal clothes.

“You’re home early,” Franklin noted as he, too, stared at the parking lot as a man got out of the car and started walking over.

He seemed tall from over here.

“I’ve worked nine days in a row and finally told Waller, if he doesn’t hire somebody soon, I’m quitting,” Henri replied with a grunt. “Who’s this?”

I had to fight the urge not to glance at him again. He’d threatened to quit? Randall had explained to me that the elected sheriff of the county was actually a member of the community—Pascal’s dad. Apparently, they kept a magical being in the position to keep things running in the town, and here, smoothly. Since the town had been incorporated, there had always been one in office. Sometimes it was a member of the Blackrock family, but sometimes it wasn’t.

“I know I should’ve given you a warning, Henri, but the leader of the Alaska pack called at the last minute, and I barely managed to give Nina the news before we rushed out here. I would’ve called you in a moment,” Franklin explained, not sounding that apologetic.

To me, he sounded stressed, but I didn’t know him well enough to confirm it.

Henri’s head slowly turned to the side, and even I could feel the glare radiating off him as he focused on the older man, but Franklin wasn’t bothered by it at all from the way he ignored him and stepped off the deck, calling out, “Hello!”

I clenched my hands and released as much of the tension in my body as I could. I was strong, I was capable, and I had so much love in my body. I was Duncan’s mom, for all intents and purposes, and I would flay someone’s skin off with my teeth for my boy if I had to—throwing up the entire time, but I’d do it. I’d do it over and over again if it came down to it. This was just a meeting. Just a confirmation.

“He’s a firebreather,” Henri murmured as Franklin shook hands with our visitor.

I narrowed my eyes and fought the urge to look at Fluff again. “Really?”

There were several of those in mythology, so that wasn’t a whole lot to go off of. The closer the visitor got, the more I slowly started being able to sense him, and his magic was different from any other kind I’d ever felt before. There was a lot of it too. More than most beings.

In a way, it felt similar to Henri’s. Big, powerful, and very special.

And he was also a lot younger than I’d expected—somewhere between my age or Henri’s. I figured he was about Henri’s height, just not built as thick through the frame, though he wasn’t small in any way. His skin color was lighter, eyes a pale blue. He was handsome, but not as handsome as Henri.

And those blue eyes, that were almost glacial, narrowed by the second at me even as he spoke to Franklin. I was suddenly very aware that I’d taken my bracelet off. Too late to put it back on now.

Pushing my emotions down, I headed toward them. I didn’t smile, mostly because the stranger didn’t either. He was being discreet, but I could tell his nose was engaged. Whether he didn’t mind what he smelled or not, I had no idea, but there was nothing I could do about it.

“Ilya, this is Nina, the pup’s guardian,” Franklin introduced us, his tone kind of brittle.

I held out my hand. “Hi,” I said simply. “Thank you for coming.” A warning would have been nice, but….

The man named Ilya didn’t say a word, but there was no hiding the intensity in his attention as he shook my hand. Not in interest really, but…

Henri’s body brushed mine as he held out his own hand.

“This is Henri, the leader of our community,” Franklin said.

They exchanged a quick, tense handshake. “Thank you for allowing me to visit on short notice. I had a last-minute trip that brought me into the area, and I wanted to take advantage.” He had a deep voice. “I don’t leave much.”

Henri’s expression stayed that neutral one as he nodded.

“You’re welcome to spend the night,” Franklin claimed, even though I could’ve sworn he didn’t sound thrilled, and I watched Henri’s head swivel toward him. “For now, we can take you to see the pup, or you can meet him later. The choice is yours.”

Franklin was being so weird.

But Ilya nodded, his bright blue eyes flicking back in my direction.

I pretended not to notice.

Henri moved. He angled his body halfway in front of me. “Follow us,” he said, setting a hand on my shoulder and guiding me to go in front of him.

All right then.

I led our small group back into the clubhouse, turning right to go down the hall. The nursery door loomed ahead like a portal into another dimension I was scared to see, but the heavy palm on my shoulder stayed right where it was. I told myself everything was going to be fine.

Duncan didn’t just have me now. He had Agnes. He had friends at the nursery. Maggie, his teacher, adored him. He had Henri. And even Shiloh would stomp on some toes for my boy if he had to.

At the door, I stepped off to the side, while Franklin gestured our visitor over. “If you come to the window, you’ll see the pup the exact way I described him,” the elder told him.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He went up to the door and peered in.

He moved his face muscles even less than Henri did, I thought, spying on him. The man didn’t even blink. His eyes, though, followed someone around the room, which from the sounds of it, made me think the kids were chasing each other.

What did he think?

The man named Ilya backed away from the door after a minute or two. He nodded with that carefully blank face, then met my eyes. “Tell me how you found him.”

Henri bristled at the same time I blinked at how freaking bossy that sentence had come out. What did Ilya think he was? The boss of me? Fluff agreed from the way he said very calmly—too calmly—, “You’re a guest here, but that’ll be the last time you demand anything from one of mine.”

Our visitor narrowed his eyes, and even his nostrils flared, but after a second, he bent his head.

Fluffy stared at Ilya, then looked at me and winked… in encouragement?

Henri had winked at me.

I realized in that moment that he’d always have my back, awkwardness or not, and that made me feel a little better about the future of our friendship. It wasn’t what I wanted, and it definitely wasn’t what I would’ve wished for if I had a choice, but I’d take it with open arms. I didn’t want to lose him.

So if all I would ever get was Teasing Friend Henri… so be it.

I pressed my lips together, then I told Ilya the story. All of it.

“Shh, Dunky, shh,” I whispered to the tap-dancer wiggling his butt down the stairs as we headed outside.

I had two beef tracheas in my hand that he was losing his mind over. Except, when we turned to go down the hall, Agnes wasn’t waiting for us in her usual spot. This was the first time in weeks that she hadn’t been right outside of her room, waiting, with her hands on her hips. We always went out around the same time, unless it was raining.

I thought about knocking on her door, or at least opening it to check if she was okay, but I didn’t want to invade her privacy. Her behavior toward me hadn’t changed much since the day Dom had been an asshole, but I’d swear there was a different glint in her eye when she was around me. I wasn’t going to say it was respect or even affection, but it was something.

Taking my phone out, I opened the app for the ranch, then went to the Agnes specific chat to see if maybe she was spending the night with someone. The last entry had been from earlier, where Phoebe had said she was taking her with them for dinner. Maybe she was still at their house. I’d save her trachea for another day.

Figuring she was in good hands, the donut and I headed outside. The moon was tucked behind thin, narrow clouds as we made our way to our clearing. Before we managed to do anything else, something caught Duncan’s attention, his tail snapping up straight right as a voice called out, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

We found him at the same time. Ilya from Alaska, was leaning against a tree maybe twenty feet away. His arms were crossed over his chest.

I hadn’t sensed him, and when I checked to see if maybe I just hadn’t been paying attention, I realized that the strong magical presence I’d felt when he’d shown up was missing.

I was starting to understand why my bracelet bothered other people so much. Even I wondered what other people were hiding when they used them. Dang it.

Duncan didn’t growl, he didn’t even get a mohawk, but his tail stayed in that upright position, his eyes locked on the stranger. I’d introduced them during dinner, which had consisted of the other man talking to Henri and Franklin the entire time. From what I’d gathered, after the scene at the nursery, they’d invited him on a tour, while I’d gone back to the laundry room, trying to pretend like everything was normal.

I made it ten minutes.

I’d ended up calling Matti from my bathroom to tell him what had happened.

The man pushed off the tree when I handed Duncan his treat. My donut took it but held it in his mouth instead of plopping on the ground like he usually would have as he kept watching the stranger make his way over to us.

Duncan had seemed a little interested in him during dinner, but more in a cautious way. He hadn’t run over to him or tried sneaking around to smell him from behind. But a few times, I’d caught those red eyes peering at our visitor.

It was rude to be relieved over how much he hadn’t cared about him, but I’d been thrilled.

That was part of the reason why I’d busted out the beef tracheas tonight—for being such a good freaking boy.

“Is this a coincidence or…?” I trailed off, already knowing the answer as I took in the man’s strong features and suntanned face. I didn’t think I had anything to worry about with him, but there was no way I could forget how he’d looked at me earlier, just as warily as I had him.

Except I wasn’t a risk to what he loved the most.

He didn’t BS me. “No. I overheard the wolf tell the little girl not to leave her room tonight. He doesn’t trust me,” he explained, bright blue gaze snagged on mine. His features still weren’t giving anything away. “It made sense you’d be awake late.”

Blood rushed from my head. “Why’s that?”

“Because of what you are.”

I blinked. “You… you know what I am?”

There was still nothing on his face. Not amusement. Not surprise. Not even smugness at what he’d just implied, just total facts. “Of course I know.”

I opened my mouth and closed it just as fast.

Ilya slid his hands into the pockets of his black jeans, all casual. “You don’t get the cinnamon from him, but the rest of it….” He whistled. “You smell exactly like him.”

Him? What the hell did that mean?

Duncan pressed against the side of my leg, and it took everything in me not to pick him up and hug him. “Excuse me?” My right leg might have started going numb. “Who… do you think I smell like?”

Ilya’s eyes flicked toward the clubhouse. There was surprise in his voice, I thought there might have been a touch of it on his face too. “You don’t know?” he asked, eyebrows rising slowly on his forehead.

“I don’t know a lot of things,” I admitted as Duncan leaned even more deeply against me, and I reached down until my fingers could stroke the top of his head.

“Love,” my boy told me, like he knew I needed it.

“I love you too,” I whispered to him even as I kept my eyes on the man Henri had said was a firebreather. There were so many mythological ones, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind he could be. A dragon, a chimera, Jormungandr, Gaasyendietha….

Eyes narrowed in my direction. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-two,” I answered, but he wasn’t going to distract me from what he’d just dropped on me. We needed to circle back to that. “You know who my father is?” That had to be the “he” he’d mentioned. It had to. There was no other possibility.

And what were the chances that not one but two different sets of beings could be bringing him up since I’d gotten here?

One of those blue eyes had the nerve to wince. “I could tell you…”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“But he should be the one to do it instead,” Ilya said. “He knows more than I do. He’s your best bet for getting answers to the rest of the questions you’re going to have afterward.”

Was he talking in riddles, or was I imagining it? Because now that sounded like another “he” that wasn’t my father. I squinted up at him. “Who should tell me instead?” I asked to be sure.

Ilya’s eyes slid toward the clubhouse again, and I frowned.

“Henri?” I asked as Duncan stepped on my foot but said nothing.

A different glint sparkled in his eye, and something told me I wasn’t going to be a fan of what was about to come out of his mouth. He confirmed it a second later. “I’ll tell you, but I have a few questions first.”

I raised my eyebrows but shrugged. Fair enough. We could trade.

“Why are you here?” was what he asked. At this ranch, he meant.

“Because it’s a safe place for him,” I answered.

“Do you like it here?”

I didn’t see why that would be any of his business, but all right. “We haven’t been here long, but it’s growing on me, and Duncan loves it.”

He’d caught on to the nuance in my words, but his face didn’t reflect what he thought of it. “Why don’t you?”

Another shrug had me hunching my shoulders. “I don’t have deep bonds here yet, other than one… and the children.” And that “one” was a stretch. “I’m new, and they’re all nice enough, but that kind of thing takes time. It’s easier to get settled when you’re young. You know what I mean?”

The man named Ilya nodded slowly, and if he was the leader of his Alaskan community, I figured he’d be aware of that. He shot off another question. “How long are they giving you to marry someone? Is it a year?”

How did he know that? Or was it common knowledge? “Something like that,” I answered.

The man nodded before glancing down at Duncan. The silence stretched and stretched, and I wondered what he was thinking and what he was going to ask next.

But he didn’t. Those blue eyes levelled on me, and even though his features didn’t change, it was obvious he was thinking about something. It just wasn’t what I expected.

“Come to Alaska.”

I was going to need a Q-Tip. “Excuse me?” I repeated, hearing a scoff in my voice, and even Duncan put more weight on my foot.

Ilya repeated himself. “Come to Alaska with me. We have the same policy they do here, but you can have three years to choose a mate. You wouldn’t have a problem finding one with us. I can promise you a worthy partner, a home of your own, protection, and you would both be welcome there with open arms,” he shot out one sentence after another. One explanation on top of another.

I rocked back on my heels. Surprised. Stunned really.

He wasn’t done either. “You wouldn’t be feared there.”

I scrunched up my face. “I’m not exactly feared here either.”

He tilted his head and got squinty. “But you aren’t exactly welcome here either, are you?”

I got squinty right back. What made him think that? “What do you get out of both of us going with you?” I asked, trying to figure out why he’d be making this offer. We’d been trading questions for information. He wasn’t a fool. I had a feeling he’d known dang well what he was doing when he’d made the offer.

The corners of his lips tipped up, and that small gesture made him slightly more handsome. “You are what you are, Nina. Only an idiot wouldn’t welcome that.”

My whole body stilled.

“There’s a chance they don’t know better because some of them aren’t aware of what they have with you. But you ask me, and everyone who lives with us, and there’s nothing to deny. You wouldn’t have to keep who you are a secret around us. You and the child would be safe.” He didn’t smile, but he made a face that projected acceptance. “And more.”

His words didn’t exactly rock me, but they did slide into a place in my heart that was on edge and uncertain. Three years was a hell of a lot longer than one. But all I had to do was take a deep inhale, taste the magic surrounding us, and….

There was only one way to answer his offer.

“Thank you,” I told him. “Really, thank you, but we’re here and….”

Ilya took a step forward. “Think about it. The offer doesn’t expire. Franklin knows how to find us. We’re a small community, but it’s by choice.” He paused. “There’s a reason why both of your kinds have called our community home.”

I pressed my lips together, caught off guard by his reasoning, just as his hand came up and cupped the side of my neck.

I raised my eyebrows at him; at the same time, the paw on my foot put even more pressure on it.

His blue eyes searched mine, his magic feeling so bright in my chest.

What was going on?

“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but may I?” he asked, gesturing in the direction of my neck.

“Smell me?”

He tipped his head slightly downward.

I’d forgotten I’d left my bracelet on the deck earlier. I needed to pick it up on the way back in. But in the meantime…. “Sure, since you asked so nicely,” I told him, tilting my head to the side, not seeing the harm in it. Duncan didn’t seem too wary of him, which reassured me too.

But to be safe, I reached for my magic with one invisible fist and searched for the flame in his chest, finding it instantly, and nearly letting it go at the same speed.

The thing was freaking⁠—

The side of Ilya’s mouth curled up in a half smile that eased some of the severe soberness to his face as he reached over to touch a spot beneath my ear at the same time he leaned forward.noveldrama

He was very magical, and he smelled nice, I thought, warily.

But not as nice as Henri, who was now my benchmark.

I felt a hint of his breath⁠—

“Get your fucking hands off her,” a familiar growl almost scared the crap out of me.

Hadn’t I literally just told myself to pay attention?

Over my shoulder, I caught Henri storming over from the direction of the clubhouse.

He looked pissed.Pissed times one hundred if the bunched muscles at his shoulders and arms said anything. He looked a flex away from bursting out of his shirt.

It was unfortunate how much I kind of wished it happened.

Was the vein at his temple and his cheek popping at the same time?

Ilya, though, stepped back almost immediately, throwing his hands up, but… why was he smirking?

“Touch her again, and I’ll—” Henri snarled, his incredible eyes blazing, his face literally thunderous.

Was this Murder Henri?

“She gave me permission,” the other man explained.

“I did,” I added, not sure why the hell Fluff would be so mad. Was he worried he would hurt me? Hadn’t I made it clear that would be really difficult?

Or was someone… no. No.

But maybe…?

That familiar body slid between us, but instead of facing Ilya’s direction… Henri focused on me.

The paw that had been on my foot eased off, but I didn’t dare look at Duncan when I had a six-foot-six man staring down at me.

I frowned up at him. “What?”

A low, deep growl formed in Henri’s chest.

He tipped his head down in a movement that was almost identical to the harmless and common one he’d just busted us in. I didn’t move as he went further than Ilya had, his nose brushing against my neck. Warm breath wafted over my collarbone before he dragged the tip of his nose up the column of my neck a fraction of an inch by the second.

I could hear him breathe. I could feel it.

Henri’s cheek pressed flat against my throat, and there was no ignoring how he rubbed the bristly side of his face against me in the same way he had done twice before, with Spencer and after the men had been in the kitchen.

There was no stopping the shiver that racked down my spine or the goose bumps that erupted along my skin at the contact. Even my hair follicles seemed to wake up as Henri marked me.

Because that’s what he was doing.

Again.

Tagging me with his scent.

Replacing the stranger’s with his—not that there had even been much to begin with.

I stood very, very still.

And my heart went very, very fast in something that was either delight or excitement or both.

“Ah,” the leader from Alaska sighed from behind Henri. “I see.”

The man rubbing his stubbled cheek on me snarled, the heat from his breath getting that much stronger. “Shut the fuck up,” Henri snapped at him, and I would’ve sworn I felt his lips brush my skin.

I gulped.

“No offense, sweetheart,” Ilya started to say, “but, Henri, she’s not my⁠—”

“You’re goddamn right she isn’t yours,” Henri roared, lifting his head away from my ear to shoot a glare over his shoulder. “She isn’t your anything.”

Was he shaking?

There was a long pause. “Regardless,the offer still stands, Nina.”

Henri was still turned away from me when he demanded, “What offer?”

I leaned around the side of him.

Ilya was smirking again. He had his hands in his pockets to top it off. “To join our community in Alaska.”

Henri’s whole body went rigid. “No,” he spat out.

“It’s not your call,” the other man replied in a voice that almost sounded cheery. “She wouldn’t need a trial period to join us, Duncan would have room to roam, and I wouldn’t ask her to marry anyone she doesn’t want to marry. She would have three years to find someone suitable. There wouldn’t be a lack of available mates either. Nina wouldn’t be single long; the three years would just be a safety net.”

Very slowly, Henri swiveled his head to glance at me over his shoulder.

If looks could kill, I might have been on my way to the ICU after the one he shot me right then.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “I didn’t say I’d go,” I clarified since he seemed to be looking at me like he’d caught me talking about him behind his back.

“But you didn’t say you wouldn’t either,” Ilya, the stirrer of the shitstorm, added for some reason.

Was he trying to piss off Henri?

Could he not read the room?

And why would Henri get this upset?

When I didn’t deny it, Henri’s forehead furrowed, and he faced the other man again. His voice came out even gruffer. “She’s not going to Alaska, and neither is Duncan.”

I reached for him—for his hand, specifically—and when I hooked my index finger around his pinky, he closed his fist, trapping it there. Trapping me there. Not that I fought to take it out, anyway.

“Do they have a reason to stay that I don’t know of?” Ilya asked curiously.

Henri squeezed my fingers. “Sure.” He exhaled deeply. “Me.”

My eyeballs had to be on the verge of bulging out of their sockets. The urge to snort and call BS climbed up the back of my throat with a little parachute, ready to jump out at a moment’s notice. But no one understood how important a united front was better than I did. Loyalty wasn’t just a word you used to describe standing by someone during big, important moments.

Loyalty was staying true to people even when they said dumb crap. You just waited until the right moment to tell them they’d lost their minds. That was loyalty.

And I might not understand Henri’s actions from time to time, but I did know that hewas the only person here that I held an allegiance to, regardless of his feelings toward me. Because that was loyalty too.

So even if I wanted to roll my eyes, I kept from doing it—at least until we were alone again.

The man from Alaska made another sound in his throat before he caught my attention from around Henri’s shoulder. Something in his blue irises almost seemed amused. “You change your mind, I meant what I said,” he told me.

I might not want to move to Alaska unless I had to, but I appreciated his offer. So, so much, and so, I nodded… and I ignored the way Henri’s head turned toward me. Then I got down to business again. “I have two questions first. What is Duncan? And are you going to tell me who I need to talk to about that thing you mentioned?” I made sure not to side-eye Henri right then.

“Duncan’s heritage is not my news to confirm. My people in Alaska will come meet him to be sure. They should be who tell you.”

Dang it.

“And it’s Franklin you need to speak with,” Ilya announced, ripping the ground from under my feet with just that one name. I hadn’t actually expected him to tell me about my donut, but I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. But just as quickly as he’d dropped that bomb, Ilya moved on. “I’ll be gone in the morning. I’ll make arrangements for my people to visit soon,” the man went on before he focused back on my boy. “Goodbye, Duncan. I hope you visit when you’re older.”

Dunky, who hadn’t made a peep until then, let out a low “awoo” that echoed through the forest as Ilya walked off. Only I heard the “yes,” but I wasn’t going to worry about his future plans for now.

In that moment, I had something else to focus on. Multiple somethings.

I started with my immediate priority.

I poked Henri in the stomach. “What was that about?” I griped.

That frowl had returned to his face, half a frown, half a scowl, and his tone wasn’t much better as he tried to bite my head off with his, “What?”

I blinked. “That. What was that about? I appreciate you being protective, Fluff, but he was being nice, offering to let us stay with them.”

“You think that was him being nice?”

“Yes. That was more than anybody else has done for us,” I told him, not believing his BS. “If things don’t work out here, I don’t want to burn the only other bridge we might have.”

Henri’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead, and there went that bulging vein in his temple again. His voice came out like an earthquake. “Why would things not work out here?”

I scowled at him right back. “I don’t know. I’m just saying, what if⁠—”

“There’s no ‘what-ifs.’”

“There’s always a what-if. I want things to work out here, but I have zero promises that things are going to⁠—”

“I’m promising you that things will work out,” he had the nerve to argue while baring his teeth.

“You of all people, Fluff, can only promise me so much, and we both know it, and that’s okay.” I held up my hands. “I’m not giving you crap about it, but that doesn’t give you a right to sabotage my backup plans.”

His eyes became literal slits on his face, his nostrils flaring wider than I’d ever seen. “Going to Alaska isn’t a goddamn backup plan—it’s okay, Duncan, your mom and I are just having a discussion.” Henri whipped back and forth between talking to me and my donut. Did he sense him getting worked up? “You’re not moving across the country, Nina,” he barked, back to talking to me.

“What is happening?” I laughed, and not because I was amused, but because I wanted to strangle the thick neck in front of me. Just a little strangle, but still a strangle. “I don’t want to move across the country, but I will if I have to! Why are we even talking about this? Nothing happened!”

“Nothing happened because you’re not going anywhere, and I don’t know why you’re not dropping it,” he gritted out.

I poked him right in the chest again. “I’ll go wherever is best for him, and I’m only asking you to be nice to Ilya so I can sleep better at night knowing I have another option.”

If I’d thought he’d been mad before, he was seething then. “Here is your only option!”

“No, it’s not!” There went another poke. “I can’t stay here if I don’t get married, Henri. You know that as well as I do. He promised me—” He growled, but I ignored him, so frustrated I could spit. I really could. Right in his eye too. “I’ve got no promises here and—what the hell are you growling at me for?” I snapped.

Henri’s eyes were bright, his nostrils still wide, and now he was breathing heavily.

He was so mad!

I looked him dead in the eye anyway. “You were my first choice, and I’ve made that clear. I’m not asking you anymore. You don’t want me? You don’t want me⁠—”

A loud, rough guffaw exploded out of him. He sounded… he sounded like a psycho, honestly. That was the sound I made when I was about to snap, and hearing it made me narrow my eyes.

“What’s so funny?” I demanded, confused. I hadn’t done anything to him, dang it.

“I’m not laughing, Nina,” he said through clenched teeth, still doing it.

“It sure sounds like a freaking laugh.” I squinted at him. If he didn’t want to explain it, I wasn’t going to beg. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. “Look, Fluffy, you kissed me, and you’re always so nice, and you’re over here rubbing your face all over me and I let you, but let’s get one thing straight. To keep my family safe, I’ll find someone who wants me, and that someone might be in Alaska,” I told him in another hiss. “Understand?”

Henri Blackrock’s eyes skewered me, that not-a-laugh gone with the wind. His skin was tight over his features, eyelids dropped low over those incredible amber irises, and I’d swear something about him changed right in front of my eyes.

Henri wasn’t standing in front of me anymore.

The Great Wolf was.

And he said, “I understand, all right.”

He didn’t look like he understood anything. And from the step he took toward me, those boots bumping into the toes of mine, I was sure he didn’t.

I didn’t let myself break eye contact. I had to say what I had to say, do what I had to do. If I had any chance of making things work here….

I retreated, one step at a time. The words burned in my throat and in my soul, but they had to be said. I’d promised myself. “You’ll always have my loyalty, Fluff, always, but we can’t keep doing this.”

“Can’t keep doing what?” His irises moved over my face.

I gestured to the space between the two of us as I took another step away from him. “This. It’s hard for me right now because I have feelings for you. I know you know. And that’s not fair to whatever my future holds.” I swallowed. “Whoever my future holds. You’re a good man, Henri, but you don’t need to worry about me. Duncan and I will be fine. Please don’t do anything to ruin our chances though.”

His face clouded with every word out of my mouth. He looked… he looked…. Pink lips parted, and I could see the argument forming in his mouth.

But it was like all the airline safety talks implied, you had to take care of yourself first before you could take care of someone else.

“Look,” I sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you right now. I don’t want to fight with you ever. You’re getting mad over a hypothetical situation that I hope I never have to pursue. I don’t want to move to Alaska. The days are too short, and I wouldn’t like being locked up indoors all day for months. I respect people who can handle it like champs, but I’m not cut out for it. I don’t like the snow that much. And right now, I have other stuff to figure out. I need to go wake up Franklin⁠—”

He reared. “What was that about?”

“Ilya hinted that he knows who my father is,” I admitted.

“Franklin?”

I nodded. “I’ve thought he was suspicious from the moment I met him. He’s very watchful. Very thoughtful. I don’t know how to explain it.” I shrugged, a small part of me relieved we’d changed the subject. “He has a bracelet like mine. Did you know that? It’s made out of gold.”

Henri nodded at that, his expression pensive.

“Do you know what he is?” I finally blurted out, not sure what I was hoping for. I didn’t know his background. He could be from a dozen different mythologies and folktales. Chances were, I might not even recognize whatever name anyone could use to catalogue him.

But I needed to know now.

He seemed to think about it. “No. I don’t think anyone does. I’ve never been around him without it on.” He frowned.

“What do you know about him?”

He still looked mad, but he answered. “He’s been here since before I was born, but I don’t know who he came here with or who his family was. I don’t know if my family made an exception for him. As far as I can remember, it’s only been him.”

That was so sketchy.

“He hasn’t really aged at all in all the time I’ve known him. I think he’s a long-lived being,” he added thoughtfully. “He never talks about his past. I can only tell you he’s been reliable while he’s been here, and I’ve never had a reason not to trust him.”

I nodded at Henri, disappointed he didn’t know anything important either. “Thank you.” Setting my shoulders, I glanced down at Duncan, who had lost interest in Henri and me arguing and had… he was halfway done with his beef trachea. I didn’t even remember giving it to him. But his bright eyes were on me, his little mouth pulled into that partial perma-smile. “Donut, when you’re done, will you come with me to talk to Franklin?”

“Yes,” he answered at the same time Henri said, “I’m coming too.”

I thought about telling him that wasn’t necessary, but Henri gave me a look that kept me from actually saying it out loud. I didn’t feel like arguing with him anymore.

So I guess he was coming too.

We were going to find out what Franklin had to say.