Page 31

Maxine

Leah’s grandfather was a goddamn delight and all the Leyore women seemed to agree.

Even darling Dylan—who kept everyone at arm’s length—was grinning as the old man spun story after story about his life. He’d only been in the grand hall for fifteen minutes, but already, he’d charmed the entire crew.

He was currently chatting with Amara, engaged in a lively conversation via eccentric hand signals and expressions. I recognized the distinct, looping gestures of sign language, and my brows lifted in surprise.

“Where’d he learn that?” I nudged Leah with my elbow, directing my chin at the two new besties, chatting up a storm like they hadn't just met that morning.

Leah laughed, shaking her head. “He had this friend from back in his army days—apparently the guy lost his hearing from some accident in the field. Grandpa learned sign language so they could still swap old anecdotes. I think he’s happy for the chance to flex his skills.”

“Of course.” I giggled, watching the exchange. Though I only understood a few sporadic signs—my knowledge paled compared to Dylan’s or River’s—it was clear they already had their own inside jokes, glancing between the rest of the group and tittering amongst themselves.

Amara was looking better. Well, actually, she was looking like a tried and true vampire. She was grinning, moving her hands through quick motions while she talked, occasionally batting off a hovering Dylan who buzzed around her like a particularly faithful fly.

She’d found her feet in this new life faster than I could have anticipated, and she and Dylan slotted together like a lock and key.

I watched Amara shoot her wife a sidelong look, fingers wiggling through quick signals, and caught the quick quips between them. “Dylan, stop hovering.”

Dylan let out a spluttered exclamation, touching fingers to her eyes as she signed out the words. “I’m not hovering!”

“Yes, you are, go bother Maxine.”

Dylan’s gaze flicked over to me and I offered a snide little wave in response, chuckling when her eyes rolled like they did ten times a day.

Amara's grin was playful, her next sign too fast for me to catch entirely, but I caught the vague mention of “helicopter wife” and Dylan’s delightfully exasperated expression.

Eventually my attention wandered to the side, where Hunter perched, half-turned away from the group. The look she gave me was mildly barbed, arms folded across her chest. Oh right, that.

We hadn’t properly smoothed things over since Addison’s kidnapping and the whole fiasco with Gregor.

Hunter blamed me—blamed my secrets—for the danger Addison ended up in.

And though we’d all survived, the sting of her resentment lingered.

She was fierce about protecting her fiancée and I respected that, even if it meant bracing myself for her wrath.

“I’ll be right back,” I murmured to Leah, catching Hunter’s eye again and tilting my head toward the corridor to the left in the hopes that the scorned vamp would follow.

I half-expected her to ignore me entirely, but a moment later I heard her clipped footsteps rounding the door before Hunter was standing right in front of me, hands fastened on her hips.

I swallowed, forcing myself to meet her gaze. “Hey,” I said quietly, bracing for the worst.

Hunter let out a breath, almost a hiss, but didn’t speak—for a tense beat, neither of us did.

“Hunter, I…” I hesitated, searching for the right words. “I’m sorry. I know I messed up with the secrets, with Gregor, with… everything. It put everyone in danger, and that’s on me.”

Her jaw tightened, though she said nothing. I prepared myself for scathing remarks, but Hunter only glared for another second or two—just enough to let me sweat—before letting out a resigned sigh.

“You’re an idiot,” she stated flatly, pinching the bridge of her nose. “A well-meaning, infuriating idiot who nearly got everyone killed.”

I hung my head, wincing as her words hit home.

Hunter stepped forward, resting a hand on my shoulder. “But you came through, too—you and Leah both. You risked everything to get Addison back.”

I blinked, relief rocking through my chest. “If you still hate me, I get it,” I stuttered out. “I did keep you all in the dark, and–”

Hunter barked out a laugh, cutting me off. “I don’t hate you, Maxine. I was pissed as hell, sure—but we’re a team, or a family, or however Jordan likes to put it. We fight, we forgive, we move on.”

A slight, wry curve crossed her lips. “And it’s not like you’re the only one of us who draws trouble like a magnet. We’re all guilty of wreaking havoc from time to time, myself included.”

And then, to my utter shock, Hunter stepped forward and grabbed me in a tight, unexpected hug. I froze, unable to compute the sudden embrace. Hunter was infamous for begrudging every show of affection unless it involved Addison.

“Just… talk to me next time,” she muttered. “I’m always gonna have your back, even if you are doing something stupid.”

A second later she pulled away, cheeks faintly pink. She shot me a narrowed glare, gesturing between the two of us. “If you tell anyone I just did that I’ll kick your ass.”

I bit down a grin, raising my palms. “Understood. My lips are sealed.”

With one last quirk of her brow—a silent warning not to blab about her secret softer side—Hunter strode off to rejoin her fiancée.

I sagged against the wall of the corridor, a weight sloughing off my shoulders.

Across the hall, Leah’s grandfather was in the middle of regaling the group with some long-winded story about a military prank gone wrong. Leah was standing beside him, both mortified and helplessly amused as the Leyore women leaned in, enthralled.

River asked polite questions that made him beam with pride, and Amara offered affirmative little nods like she’d heard the story before—though I suspected she missed half the anecdote, busy fending off Dylan’s fussing.

From my vantage at the edge of the room I watched Addison put a hand to her mouth at a particularly outrageous detail.

Hunter had rejoined her side, arms crossing over her chest in that usual bodyguard stance she wore around Addison.

Jordan lingered nearby, exchanging eyerolls with Sky every time the old man delivered a dramatic flourish.

Leah caught me staring, her lips curving into a gentle smile that made my pulse flutter. She waved me over, raising her brows in a silent Everything okay? I nodded, warmth seeping into my bones, blazing from my heart in waves.

It was better than okay. It was the best it had ever been, though it would take some getting used to.

It was hard to believe it had only been a few hours since that brutal final battle, but a part of me was still raw. Like I’d torn myself open to vanquish my past, and the wound was still fresh, throbbing and aching in time with the beat of my heart.

I closed my eyes—and saw Gregor staring back at me.

I pushed the image from my head, rubbing my eyes.

I killed him. He’s gone. The thought slipped through my mind, unbidden, sending prickles down my spine.

He would never threaten us again, never haunt my nightmares—there was no longer an axe over our necks.

Still, it wasn’t something I could just shrug off in the span of an afternoon, I knew that.

I caught my reflection in one of the polished gold moldings.

I looked the same, maybe a bit paler, a bit hollow under the eyes.

But inside, I felt fleeced open and stitched together again.

But you’re alive, I reminded myself, and free of him at last. I inhaled slowly, catching a hold of that vow I had made to myself—to live my life, on my own terms, from now on.

A burst of laughter from the group brought me back to the present. Leah’s grandfather was spinning a yarn about her childhood antics, to her very vocal dismay.

“Grandpa, they really don’t need to know about–”

“Oh, but you were so cute, Leah!” He nudged Amara with one patched elbow, signing alongside his monologue. “ She was so cute. She’d put the bucket on her head and run around the garden pretending to be a scuba diver–”

Leah caught my eye mid-groan, begging with her eyes for a swift rescue. I huffed out a hushed laugh, loping over to add fuel to the fire instead. “She did something similar when we were teens, though I believe that time it was a fish bowl instead of a bucket…”

“That’s right! It was your Halloween costume that year,” her grandfather chimed in and Leah buried her head in her hands, muttering all the swift punishment she planned to enact on the lot of us.

A few hours and many an embarrassing story later, I found myself staring out the window, leaning against a pillar with my arms clasped loosely across my chest. We’d migrated to the sitting area of the grand hall, and everyone was still chattering away behind me.

There had only been a few slip-ups on the Leyore women’s part—the occasional mention of werewolves and one or two brief displays of impossible strength when Dylan caught the marble statue that Sky had knocked from its post by accident.

Leah’s grandfather had simply blinked, thoroughly impressed, and took off on a tangent about how he and his buddies could have used muscle like that back in the army.

The werewolf thing he misheard completely, and launched into a detailed review of the story Beowulf—which he’d read recently, and ‘ What do you read, Amara? ’ And ‘ What are your thoughts on the latest Jeff Noon? ’—and so on and so forth.

“Hey.” Leah’s voice drew me back to the present. She’d detached from her grandfather, sidling up to my elbow with a soft smile. “You okay?”

I forced a slow breath, leaning my head back beside hers when she slid her arms around my shoulders. “Yeah. Or… I will be. Eventually.” My lips curved, a shaky attempt at a smile. “Killing my fiancé, confronting my family… it’s not exactly a tidy resolution.”

I felt her nod, her voice tickling in my ear. “You don’t have to be fine right away.”

“I’m not,” I admitted, little more than a murmur. “But I’m done dwelling on it. I’m ready to—live. For myself, finally. I’ll probably be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life but…” I stared down at my hands and balled them into fists. “I want to live .”

“And you will.” Leah ghosted her lips across my cheek, not quite a kiss but brimming with affection all the same.

“Leah–I wanted to say…” I sucked in a breath. Blew it out again. “I don’t expect you to put your life on hold for me.”

Leah’s arms tightened on my shoulders. “Maxine–”

“No, just let me say this.” I leaned into her, keeping my eyes on the window and the streetlights flickering outside. “If you want to go back to San Francisco and put this whole thing behind you, I won’t stop you. I won’t even be mad.”

When Leah stayed quiet, I tilted my head to meet her eyes—ocean green and just as deep. “But if you want to stay… If you want to—see where this goes, feel it out…”

Our lips were a hair’s breadth apart, though neither of us moved to close the distance. I forced the tremor from my voice. “If you’ll have me, I’m yours.”

Leah swallowed, ocean eyes teeming with life. I turned fully in her arms, twining my own around her waist, and waded deeper into those waters.

“I’ve always been yours.”