Page 39 of Unnatural Fate
“What?”I asked.
“You’re so different from the image you present,” he said softly.
“No, I’m not.”
“You are. I know a big part of your identity is taking care of your people, but this…” He turned in a slow circle. “This is not what I expected. I’ve seen the club and the debauchery. The animals and hyped-up fight club stuff, and I loved you for it, but this is a depth I’d not seen before. And I guess that’s on me for not looking closer. But you are much more than you appear, Dominic.”
My body flushed with heat. “This isn’t the part of me people want. They want the protector and the alpha. But this is what they really need. Not the fucking war and blood oaths for revenge. They need to focus inward and take care of here. Our kids. Our elders, not that we have many left.” I sighed because it felt like a never-ending battle with the tide of life. Every time we made progress digging ourselves out, a wave washed it all away.
“This is the part they need to see. I know you show them. I know they know where their food comes from, but I don’t think any of us get it. I didn’t until today.” He closed the distance between us, slipping his hand into mine.
“Did you ever think you’d be foraging in the woods in sweats made for a child?”
He side-eyed me. “Not in my wildest dreams did I expect this, nor thought to find it romantic.”
“I’m very romantic.” I bent to pick some flowers to make tea with.
“Are you?” He knelt to help me.
“I am. You haven’t given me a chance.”
“Now I am going to expect it.” He held out the flowers, and I bundled them with mine and added them to the top of the bag.
“I don’t offer things I won’t deliver on. Come on.” I turned off the path now that the bag was overfull.
“Where are we going?”
“To swim under the starlight.” I led him to a small clearing framed with massive willow trees where the river ballooned out to three times the size of its normal bank, where the current slowed and we could swim.
Darkness hugged the sky, and the stars dotted into view. More and more appeared by the minute as the world was swallowed by full night. The crickets chirped, and the fireflies were taking flight for the night. The air still held a chill, but with my higher-than-normal body heat, we’d be okay. I’d put a raft anchored to the bottom a ways out.
“Wow,” was all Vin managed. “It’s beautiful.”
“My oasis.” I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent in my space.
The frost he carried in his skin mixed with the promise of spring. I was summer and he winter. We were never meant to meet, but here we were, and I’d cling to the minutes and moments until the sun set on our days.
“Do you come here often?”
“Not as much as I’d like in recent years. It’s far out of the way and makes me inconvenient to reach if I’m needed.” I wasn’t sure how closely he stalked me or if he knew what was going on with the pack. I’d like to think pack matters stayed amongst the wolves but expecting hundreds of people to keep a secret seemed impossible.
“Why not? The war has been on a downturn?”
I weighed telling him. “We’ve had issues. I don’t know if it’s the war or something else, but it’s kept us on high alert.”
He sat with my words before replying, stroking fingers over my cheek. “Are you not allowed time off?”
“It’s not that type of job. It’s twenty-four-seven with no vacations.” I leaned into his touch like it could refill my cup. “The second they think I’m not living up to my title, I’ll be challenged.”
A silent snarl curled on his lip. “And your kind wonders why they can’t get a leg up on the vampires.”
“I don’t wonder. I don’t think any of the smart ones do. We eat our own. We have to solve the problems inside our own community before we have any chance of making a stand against the vampires.” I tugged at his tight sweats. “Come swim.”
“You just want to watch me take these off.”
“Of course I do.” I stepped out of his embrace, or we’d never get in the water.
“It’s going to be cold.” He hooked his thumbs in his waistband, and I wished there was a way to hold on to this night. Spend a year here making up for all the time we’d wasted.