Over the next month, Leana and I move into our new home. The days go by much too fast and the nights that I spend devouring and enjoying my mate go by even faster. Leana turns our little apartment into a cozy home, a place that I want to come to, to be with her at night. Her scent is everywhere inside making our place that much better. She agreed to let me buy all new furniture, after a bit of arguing. Since, it’s not the place I want to give her, she agreed to make me happy. She’s as happy here as I am and I think I finally understand the saying ‘old married couple’. She and I quickly get into a pattern of fixing up our apartment, around her stopping into the council nearly every day while I go shopping for more furniture. Guardian Grace left a few days after she arrived, and then Leana's Aunt Cara came by. While they were here, Leana joined them at the council, but her Aunt Cara had agreed with Grace that Leana needed to be very careful going in by herself. My father’s men had c

I’ve been running for two days toward what my grandfather called the ‘northern territory’. Me, I call it the frozen tundra. It’s a good thing I don’t feel the cold. I’m pretty sure even Kella would be cold in this place. I finally had to slow down when the snow became too thick to run in and now, it feels like there’s a blizzard blowing around me, the snow so thick that I can barely see. I make my way into a small town and find what looks like a tavern and hotel. When I step inside, it looks exactly like what you’d expect from a small town in the middle of nowhere that has a vampire’s adobe nearby. The room is dark with multiple round tables filled with men drinking pints of ale or shots of liquor. There’s a tavern girl behind the bar who looks overworked and underpaid and the overall feel is creepy, exactly like something you’d seen in a vampire movie that humans love to create. The room goes quiet as I walk in. I shake out my hair, stomping the snow off my shoes, as I casually sni

The next morning, I make sure I spend enough time downstairs where everyone is having breakfast before I pack up and head out, just in case anyone finds my dead man. Now that I know I’m close, and that at least one of my father’s men is there, I’m anxious to find this dwelling. The snow from last night has stopped but the sky remains overcast and dreary. The roads have been cleared and I begin walking north again, this time staying on the road. In this part of the world, there are more horses and horse drawn carriages than there are motorized vehicles. If a vehicle does pass me, it’s a four-wheel drive with chains on the tires, able to make it through these heavy snow drifts. But only one of those passes me as I make my way. The roadway begins to incline. I look up to see where I’m headed and that’s when I see it. I instantly know that it’s my grandfather’s place because it looks exactly like a haunted mansion from a human horror movie. I’m not sure who in my family tree had a sense

After getting the letter from my grandfather, I began searching through the house. I had Demetrius slowly start sell the old, antique, gothic furniture starting with the hideous chandelier above the dining room table. I carefully go room by room, searching for hidden passages, hiding spots or secret doors. Each day, I come away with nothing more than what I got from the letter, which Demetrius said he got from the safe when he arrived. When I asked, he pointed me to my grandfather's room where the safe, whose door now sits open, the inside empty, resides. Although Leana said she would contact me every night, it is not the case. Part of me begins to feel gloomy, wondering if, now that she’s away from me, if she has forgotten me. Or worse, if she’s realized that she doesn’t want to be mated to a vampire. What if she fancies a werewolf? Well, I'll just have to kill him. I periodically get text messages from her, letting me know she’s okay and asking how I’m doing and on occasion, we ta

I can’t believe the difference in how I feel now that Leana is back. The night has turned to day, the sun is shining on my face, I’m no longer thirsty and I feel almost human again. What little humanity I have has returned. “Does my wolf mate want to go for a run around the estate with me, see what there is to see?” I ask. I’m instantly rewarded with Leana’s sage green eyes turning gold. “Yes,” she purrs. Since I feel good and I know how my mate loves a challenge, I take a step away from her. “Do you think you can keep up with me, my mate?” I ask, taking another step. She growls low and just as she leaps to shift, I take off running. Rather than looking around the estate, we take a couple of hours to play, chasing after each other, Kella nipping at my heels when she gets close enough and me pinching her flanks when I’d catch up with her. Her howls of enjoyment go unanswered in the surrounding forests, so I begin to howl back at her which only makes her more excited. When we fin