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Though, if I was honest, I said that to sound smart. My favourite word was definitelyfuck.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, staring at my chat with Ren for a few long moments.

Somewhere in my heart, I knew they were right. I needed to give myself the chance to fall in love, to explore the feelings that were beginning to simmer alongside the undeniable attraction I had for the coven of vampires I’d accidentally fallen into.

I just needed to have faith… And maybe work on my communication.

Hell yeah, what a game! I’ll see you Thursday for coffee? Our usual time?

Ren’s reply came through almost instantly.

Ren

I wouldn’t miss it for anything.

dana

. . .

“I can’t do this,”I groaned, burying my face in my arms on the polished surface of the heavy antique desk.

“You can and you will,” Ren said smoothly, her tattooed hand running along my shoulders before she wheeled my chair aside to give herself access to my keyboard. “I never realised how much of this shit Cherie did. How did she find time to sleep?”

I peeked up at her from between my arms, it was a sentiment I often had. How did she do it all?

“At least you have access to the accounts for ordering now, right?”

“Yep, I’ll take care of it. Now, to help Juniper, let me see if I can make any sense of these inventory reports.” Ren ran a hand through her short hair as she crouched to get a better look at the screen.

Gratitude poured through me as I vacated my chair, nudging her into it. “Thanks.”

If I’d been doing this on my own, it would’ve taken hours. Instead, we’d drunk a couple of beers while we combed through the filing cabinets looking for Cherie’s missing will and werealready well into trying to put out the fire that was the club’s finances.

I was damn near sure I remembered her meeting with a lawyer to have a new one drawn up shortly before she’d passed, but when I’d called our usual firm, they didn’t have any paperwork for me. It was a stressful time; I could’ve easily been misremembering in my shock and grief.

As if losing my life partner wasn’t enough, I’d also been saddled with her absolutely insane workload—with no instructions for what the hell I was supposed to do—and with my first-of-the-month deadline from Garrett looming… We were fucked.

So fucked.

“I’m not going to let you do this alone, Dana. We’re coven.Family.”

In the months since our sire died, I’d really come to understand what that word meant to my coven. I don’t know why I half expected them to disappear after the funeral, but they didn’t. It wasn't just a promise for right now, for good times. It was a promise forforever.

My throat tightened at the thought of losing any of them.

Losing Cherie had nearly destroyed me, but the idea that Ren, Elsie, or Juniper could be next? It was… terrifying. To distract myself, I opened my emails on my phone, leaning against the desk while Ren typed away at the computer.

I scrolled through job applications for the bartending posting I’d forgotten to close now that we’d hired Vi, making a mental note to sign into my Monstra account and mark the position as filled—as if I needed yet another small task to add to the never-ending list.

Junk emails phishing for my bank account data, promotions from the company we used to print our flyers, and… a noticefrom our insurance company about our upcoming renewal. I clicked the message, scanning it quickly.

“Our building is up for renewal.”

“And?” Ren asked distractedly, her fingers flying over the keys. “You know we haven’t done monthly inventory in five months, right?”

“Fuck,” I muttered. “We’ll have to haul everyone in to get it done.”

We’d let a lot of things slip while Cherie was sick, but I didn’t realize just how much. It was my fault, but it still felt a little unfair to have to play catch-up.