Page 25 of Even Vampires Bleed (Even Ever After #2)
Cassiopé
E lis is an asshole—a fucking bear asshole.
Yeah, you heard me.
It’s been a week since I started working with humans, and it’s only now that I discover Libération isn’t just humans.
I’ve met a couple wolves, a tiger, and a bull in passing. All told me what they were.
All but Elis.
Elis has stayed quiet about himself, and I’m only now discovering that the sulking male is a bear shifter.
And guess why?
It’s cold; the recovery team won’t be here for another hour, and we’re in the middle of nowhere near Chambord’s castle. He decided to undress because he was cold.
That didn’t make sense until I was sitting next to a very hairy black bear.
So, now I know.
And I can’t even yell at him that he could have told me, because we’re not supposed to be here.
I’m mainly mad because we’ve been talking a bit—really just a bit. It’s difficult to get more than two sentences out of that man, and I’m not really helping either—and I thought we were friends-ish.
And telling a friend—ish—that you turn into a freaking hair ball with anger issues would be the bare minimum in my book.
At least in this form, he can’t sneer.
I look up at him and… nope, he can do it in bear form, too.
“One day you’ll have to tell me what makes you so grumpy,” I say.
He growls something that strangely sounds like “pot meet kettle,” which is disturbing from a bear.
“I haven’t always been like that,” I respond with a sad smile.
There is a long silence after my words that none of us seem to want to break, and the next thing I know, I wake up to the sound of a flying car and a bear-shifter—not in his bear form anymore—shaking me.
Alright, we have stolen goods to bring back to the catacombs.
They’re old school weapons, but Libération is preparing for a full out war. Facing shifters, they need any weapons they can get their hands on.
To be honest with myself, I would have never come and helped them if my life hadn’t taken a turn for the worst, but now that I’m here and sharing their life I can see why they’ve been battling for years to overthrow the bird-shifters.
Yes, Christina has a nice office, but it’s in the catacombs. She would never get that above ground and most of the humans barely manage to scrap things together. We’ve been privileged in Notre Dame. I’m not scared to say it.
Life is rough for humans. It’s even worse for the wingless shifters.
They’re barely considered worthy of any attention from the birds and don’t have the protection that comes from living in Notre Dame.
They’re still faster and stronger than the humans though.
But that doesn’t change a thing when it comes to feeding oneself.
Because that’s something I never had to care about in my life, but this is different here.
This isn’t the first heist for me and Elis.
Yesterday, the goods we stole were fruits from one of the bird-shifters’ cellars.
We’re a good team because I can open any lock, and he can carry the same load as ten men, so we go in, go out, and no one seems the wiser.
It’s eye opening.
Because I didn’t think I would steal food. I didn’t think I would need to steal food.
I’m still getting some of my meals at Notre Dame, so I don’t exactly need the food, but the families Christina protects do.
But I’m also not forgetting that this isn’t why I joined them.
Yes, I needed a purpose, but I also need my revenge, and Christina doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to give me what I want.
And she said she didn’t need me…
“Christina, I’m tired of the small missions. I need something bigger,” I tell the leader of Libération a week later when Elis and I report back to her another weapon heist—modern ones this time.
She’s listening to something and taking notes. So, she doesn’t pay attention to me. Or so I think until I open my mouth to talk again, and she raises a hand in what is probably the universal sign for me to hold on.
Next to me, Elis looks at me like he knows I won’t manage to do it, so just to prove him wrong—I shut up.
I look like a sulking kid and him like a proud asshole.
We’re a weird-looking pair.
“Before you start asking me again,” Christina starts when she hangs up on her holo, “this was a lead for something bigger.”
She looks pointedly at Elis.
“This was the lead you were waiting for,” she adds, and for the first time in a week, I see a hint of a smile on the face of the grumpy bear shifter.
I have no clue what she means, and I’m about to ask when she stops me.
“I have one call left and then you can hit me with all your questions.”
Begrudgingly, I wait for her to connect her holo again.
“Elhyor, it’s Christina. We found something your people are going to want.”
There is a pause, and I barely hear Elhyor on the other side.
“The wings?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll send someone,” he says.
“Sending you the details by messages,” Christina adds before hanging up.
Wings?
What the hell am I about to steal this time?
And who is Elhyor sending?
I hope it’s not Pierre, or I’m going to throttle him before the end of whatever mission this is.
Pierre would be my worst nightmare.