Chapter 3: Continued
The dinner had been an exercise in suffocating silence and forced smiles. While Silas and Drac discussed the logistics of the "Blood and Fur" alliance, I felt like the walls of our new house were closing in. Finally, Drac gestured toward the back door.
"Drayan, why don't you show Wolfie the garden? It's small, but the view of the valley is quite something under the stars."
It was a command, not a suggestion.
I stood up, my chair scraping harshly against the floor. Wolfie followed suit, her emerald dress rustling. She looked at her parents, then at mine, her expression unreadable. As we stepped out onto the wooden porch, the freezing air of Redpaveley hit us. It should have been a relief, but the atmosphere between us was heavier than the winter sky.
The moon was nearly a perfect circle tonight—huge, glowing, and silver. It hung over the mountains like a watchful eye. I noticed Wolfie's breathing had changed. It was deeper, more rhythmic. Even in the cold, I could feel the heat rolling off her skin in waves.
"You're shaking," she said. It wasn't a tease this time. She sounded tired.
"I'm a vampire, Wolfie. We're always cold," I replied, leaning against the railing. I looked out at the frost-covered trees. "I didn't know it was you. My father... he just said it was an 'alliance.' I thought he was selling me to a stranger."
Wolfie walked to the edge of the porch, looking up at the silver disc in the sky. Her pupils were blown wide, nearly swallowing the amber of her iris. "I knew my father was looking for a partner for me. He wants to 'stabilize' the pack's influence in the village. But I didn't think he'd pick a city-stray who looks like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders."
She turned to me, and for a second, I saw a flash of something wild in her eyes—a predatory glint that hadn't been there at the Academy gates. "Tomorrow is the full moon, Drayan. You've never lived in a village like this. You don't know what it's like when the blood starts to hum in your veins."
"I know what it's like to have no choice," I said bitterly.
Wolfie stepped closer. The heat coming from her was intense now, almost feverish. She reached out, her hand hovering near mine. "I'm not a cage, Drayan. I'm just a girl who was told she had to marry a boy to keep her family strong. But I'll be honest... when I saw it was you, I didn't hate the idea as much as I thought I would."
My heart did that stuttering thing again. I looked at her, really looked at her. She was beautiful, but she was also dangerous. In less than twenty-four hours, she would be something else entirely.
"What happens tomorrow?" I asked.
"I shift," she whispered. "The first time is the hardest for outsiders to watch. My father says I should stay in the cellar, but I hate being locked up." She looked down at her dress, then back at the house. "I wish we could have just met at the gate, Drayan. Without the contracts. Without the fathers. Just us."
I felt a sudden, sharp pang of protectiveness. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the silver locket—the one she had saved from the slush yesterday. "My mother used to say that some things are written in the stars, but we're the ones who have to choose to read them." I held it out to her. "I don't want this to be a contract. I want to know you. The real you. Not the 'alliance.'"
Wolfie's fingers brushed mine as she took the locket. The spark was there again, but this time it felt more like a slow burn. She smiled, and for a moment, the "Wolf" in her eyes receded, leaving just the girl I'd met in the snow.
"Then we'll start over," she said. "Tomorrow night, after the moon peaks. If you aren't too afraid of a little fur."
I looked at the moon, then back at her. "I've been alone in the dark for a long time, Wolfie. A little fur doesn't scare me."
Inside the house, I could hear our fathers laughing, toast to a future they had built for us. But out here, in the freezing silence of Redpaveley, we were finally building something of our own.
As the night grew darker, she shivered—not from the cold, but from the pull of the moon. She looked toward the woods, her instincts screaming for the hunt. "I have to go," she said suddenly. "The moon... it's getting too loud."
She hurried back inside, leaving me alone on the porch. I stayed there for a long time, watching the silver light wash over the village, wondering if a vampire and a werewolf could truly survive a life that had been forced upon them—or if we were just two different kinds of monsters trying to find a home in each other.