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“Is Alistair coming with her?” Ren asked.

“I requested the human come alone.”

I agreed with Tobias. Alistair was still the Sire to his Coven. A powerful one. We needed to tread carefully even if we were on friendly terms. As friendly as vampires could be.

“This is the person you guys want me to learn from?” Catalina perked up. At Tobias’s nod, she clasped her hands together. “Are there any rules I have to follow with her?” Her slightly bitter tone wasn’t lost on me. I grinned and cupped her jaw until my palm settled under it.

“You are the cutest.” I gave her a squeeze, so her plump lips puckered. “Sometimes I have this overwhelming urge to squeeze you until you pop.”

“Are you serious? You have ‘cute aggression’ toward me? Like one would feel toward an actual pet?” She scoffed.

I understood about eighty percent of that, so I just smiled.

“You are not a dog, silly.” I gently scratched her nose.

She sighed.

THIRTY

catalina

The other Sire’s Petwaited for me on the top floor of Crimson Manor. The same space hosting Imogen’s old stuff. I walked inside, Maddy at my heels. Thank God she’d come with me. A woman with a high ponytail watched me with cool eyes. Her shoulders moved with her steady breaths, and her posture remained straight as an arrow. To the point that it looked like it hurt. I sank into the couch. Maddy settled in next to me.

The woman arrived just in time for Peter to head to the bedroom he was staying in. A good thing since I didn’t want him to overhear the conversation about ‘vampire etiquette’. All of which sounded intimidating, but . . . the woman did not seem happy. Why was she sitting so straight? It looked like it hurt.

I kept my lips sealed, waiting for the woman staring me down to speak.

“Erm.” Maddy coughed into her fist. “Well then, this is Catalina Herrera?—”

“I am aware,” the girl said. She seemed supernaturally still, but I could tell she was human. Even if her blinks seemed to be few and far between. She was dressed in a short silky number that draped across her skin. Her neck was fully exposed, quick to access.

“I belong to Blackthorn Coven,” she slightly inclined her head, finally speaking. My exhale did nothing to hide my relief.

“Hello,” I responded hesitantly.

Her lips thinned. I’d evidently displeased her. Uhm.

“That is not appropriate.”

I wasn’t sure how I should respond to this.

“That’s why you’re here Petunia, to explain things,” Maddy said, her voice low. Petunia returned her piercing gaze to me.

“You are blessed to have been taken in by a powerful Coven. Because of this, you are held to a high standard. What you do improperly will be seen as a mar on their reputation.”

That sounded intimidating and honestly, unreasonable.

“Even as human?”

She scoffed. “Even more as a human. We are a class beneath vampires. It is obvious. If they do not have their human in hand, it shows their weakness.” Um, okaaaay.

“And you are okay with being less than vampires?”

“We are not here to debate the topic,” she said sharply.

I straightened my spine. Before I could say anything back, she twisted to face Maddy.

“I thought since she was already their Pet, that she was in agreement with the ideologies.”