I can see how hard this is for Tala. I know how hard Sarah has found sone things. She’s had longer than Tala to come to terms with everything, and she’s still struggling. I know what I can do to make it easier for Tala now. “You don’t have to say yes right this instant. You can think about it as long as you want. And I’d like to stay friends even if you say no. Just, there’s stuff we might not be able to talk about with you, if you’re not Pack. And, you won’t have the same protection.” I see Tala glance at Shelley, and shake my head. “I have that agreement, with a vampire. He’s called Aloysius Cavendish-” I catch Reese moving, out of the corner of my eye, as if they jumped or flinched. “-and he’s the second of the Vampire Prince. Uh, not sure what the Prince is Prince of…”

I’m doing this for Sarah, but I’m putting her in more danger. Or maybe, making some things less dangerous for her in one way but more dangerous in another. The protection from Cavendish has never been enough to keep her safe from vampires as a whole. She’s proved she has power to face them herself, with the help of Blackmarsh. I’m so twisted up about this. Partly because I don’t really know the true value of any of it. Sarah seems to think that having a vampire controlling their next door neighbours is a threat to the whole country. Why there, instead of the places owned by the British royal family? Does’t Blackmarsh have other neighbours anyway? There’s the coast on the West side of them. A bit more than one side, the coastline cuts in on the South side. East of Blackmarsh is wild moorland. Why wasn’t that under threat too? Trying to answer that, I found the

Nobody’s laughed yet. That’s good, right? If they haven’t straight up mixed the idea, they’ll maybe think about it. So they’ll want time to talk about it without me in the room. “You’ll want to get back to your guests, and I’m keeping you.” I’ve been talking to all of them, but I look at Cavendish now. “There’s just the matter of a favour.” Maybe he’ll want to discuss that alone. Maybe not. He waves a hand in a ‘go on’ gesture, without even pausing to think about it, so I carry on. “You know of Walther Sutcliffe.” I pause just for a moment, checking. I’m pretty sure of it, but pretty sure isn’t certain. The vampire I think is the Prince keeps his expression blank. I guess he’s had a lot of practice at that. Hell, he’s got the right sort of unreadable face to keep every secret in the world. His lack of expression now is the blank of not giving away what he thinks about Sutcliffe, not the blank of someone w

I fumble with the door key. I feel clumsy. Werewolves need as much sleep as humans, and I haven’t had enough. I get the key into the door on the third try and stumble inside, letting it close behind me. It’s Sarah’s apartment, not my own room, but it feels like home anyway and a weight rolls from my shoulders now I’m back. I lift my head, and there is an angel standing in front of me. An angel wearing a silky little top and tiny lacy panties. An angel with a gleaming halo of black hair framing her face. The light of the lamps paints the softness of her dark skin with an aura of rich gold. Her feet are bare, the nail of each toe glittering silver. My eyes follow the long sweep of her slender legs, past the enticing sliver of skin between her panties and her top, up past the bow of her collarbones and the soft skin at the side of her neck where I set my Mark on her. There’s no makeup to hide her beauty, no

When I wake up, I’m in a comfy tangle of Sarah and bed clothes. I can guess the time by the faint light creeping past the curtains. I don’t think it’ll be too long before the alarm clock reminds us that I have college. I mumble some sort of complaint, and get a sleepy response from my Mate that makes even less sense than I did.I spit out a few strands of Sarah’s glossy hair. “What time is it?”She gropes for the clock and turns it so she can see the numbers. “Early enough to mess about in bed before getting up?” she suggests, squirming around until she’s nose to nose with me and winding her arms around my neck.“We should probably talk,” I say with a sigh of regret. Messing about in bed sounds way more fun. “I couldn’t sleep at first, las