Page 9

T he last few weeks have gone by in a comfortable and only slightly chaotic sort of monotony, all of us settling back into our routines. Sure, the world still feels like it's on fire as long as Roman's father and his counterparts walk free, but we can't put our entire lives on hold while we do what we can.

By we, I mean the men, mostly Slate. I don't know how that man can even see with the amount of time his face spends staring at a laptop or other electronic device.

He still hasn't found anything that leads us to where Avram is hiding out, and we can't exactly storm Zabella and take on the King's advisor without all the evidence, lost princess or not.

So, I've been getting all my schoolwork done between hockey games and practices. Most of the boring academic stuff is already completed for the semester, so I get to spend the majority of my time on my photojournalism assignments.

Nearly all of my assignments have featured the Predators, but we did have one recently that allowed me to choose a zookeeper to shadow at the Cleveland Zoo. Naturally, I requested the wolves, which turned out to be a group of six Mexican gray wolves. I got to feed them, clean up after them, and photograph them, of course.

My favorite part was the way they looked at me. They didn't lower their heads and watch me, like they did with the keepers. They kept their heads up, eyes locked on mine, with the occasional tilt to their head like they were trying to figure me out. My wolf perked up and was all excited over the change in scenery, and it was almost a struggle to convince her that we couldn't just shift and make new friends. I settled with letting a little of her energy out when one of the wolves was making eye contact with me again. I was surprised when she yipped at me, and her tail began to wag. The keepers were in awe that after that the wolves were following me around, and they even let me pet them. I decided that I would have to bring the guys to visit them one day as well.

Khaos had to return to his hockey team in Augusta since the season was still in full swing. He had slipped into our family surprisingly well for being Roman's lifelong rival. I think a lot of that comes from actually taking the time to understand each other without their fathers hanging over their shoulders.

Runa and I have become good friends, and when Zoey stayed over last weekend, the three of us were inseparable. It's hard keeping secrets from Zoey about everything going on in my life, so I'm glad I have another girl I can talk to, other than Miss Tilly, of course.

Tonight, the guys have a big home game against the Kansas City Warriors. I guess this is their next biggest division rival, after Khaos' team, of course. They're neck-and-neck in points; even though it's only December, the teams are already laser-focused on getting that home rink advantage in the playoffs. Well, most of the teams are laser-focused. It's not that the Predators aren't; it's just hard with everything we have going on. I've been trying to convince them to try and enjoy the game they loved so much before I came along, but it's still a work in progress.

I also finally talked Runa into joining me for the game tonight. Between the twins and the giant crowds, she’s managed to avoid going so far. But I told her I'd be there with her the whole time, along with our guard, because I still can't go anywhere alone. After the interaction at the game with Khaos, I'm thankful for the extra layer of protection.

The new guard Roman has on standby is a large and terrifyingly beautiful woman that goes by Fran. Not Franny, not Francine, not Frankie, just Fran. I know because I asked. She doesn't really talk or smile or do anything but watch. Everything. Which again I appreciate, but she's so intimidating. I'm pretty sure she could bench press Benny, which would be really fun to watch. I'm glad I'll have Runa with me tonight so I can talk to someone who talks back.

The men are all at their pregame meeting, so it's just us girls at the house. I talked Runa and Miss Tilly into watching Twilight with me, and watching them watch the movie has been almost more fun than watching it with Roman.

“Vampires that sparkle?” Runa snorts. “You've got to be shitting me. I wonder how they feel about this monstrosity,” she wheezes, doubled over in laughter. Her laugh is the contagious kind where I could have no idea why she was laughing, but if she's laughing, I'm laughing. And, apparently, so is Miss Tilly.

When we all recover from our ten-minute fit of laughter, my mind returns to me and registers what she's just said. “Wait, vampires are real too?” I don't know why I'm surprised, but the guys hadn't said it so directly, so I hadn't given it any more thought.

Runa’s head ticks to the left when she looks at me. “Really? I thought Roman caught you up on everything you'd been missing?”

I just shrug, because as usual, I don't know how much I don't know.

“Yes, vampires are also real, but they’re so much different than the movies. Like, they obviously do not sparkle,” she scoffs, but I can tell she's trying not to erupt into another fit of laughter. “They do prefer less sunny areas, but only because it's more comfortable. They can be in the sun now, thanks to a tonic they developed with the white witches about a millennia ago, but the stronger UV rays still make them uncomfortable. One I met explained that it feels like wearing a wool bodysuit.”

“Oof, that does sound awful. What other mythical things are real?” I ask, sipping on a passion fruit green tea from the café we had lunch delivered from.

“All of them,” she says with too much seriousness. I start to laugh, but she gives me that head-tilt look again, and I realize she's serious.

Setting my cup down on the coffee table, I ask, “Wait, really? What about…dragons?”

She nods her head, slightly bobbing it left to right like she's weighing how to explain herself. “Yes and no. The—”

“What do you mean, yes and no?” I laugh.

“Well, it depends who you ask. If you ask more direct people who stop at what they're told, like my brother, he would probably say they used to exist, but I believe they're still out there.”

I nod my head, understanding what she means. “So, like, with people who believe in aliens and angels? Some believe, and others are firm in their stance that some things just aren't possible.”

“Exactly like that. They are, or were, shifters, you know? Dragons. I think they just got tired of being demonized for their beast forms and decided it was easier to disappear. When you're raised being told how impossible something is, it's easier to just remain a secret…” Her voice lowers as darker times flood her features.

Leaning forward, I take her hand in mine. “You're not there anymore, and you never have to go back. That place in your mind isn't needed anymore. Fuck your father—not literally because eww—but you know what I mean. Don't let him shadow you. I'm not,” I finish, sitting taller and trying to sound braver than I am.

Runa gives me a weak smile and nods. I don't push her, and we return to watching the movie while she keeps pointing out the cringey moments everyone knows and loves.

Miss Tilly just watches us, taking everything in and not interjecting. I think it's killing her to sit still and watch the movie with us, but it's good for her to rest. I've never seen someone constantly need to be doing something the way she does.

The men arrive home just before the ending credits start rolling, and as soon as I hear the door open, at least two of them groan before Benny laughs. “Why are you torturing them with that mess?”

“It's been very educational.” Runa tries to keep a straight face and hold in her laughter, but it ends up just making her release a raspberry sound. All laughter is forgotten when Eris comes through with that new constant nasty look on his face. Runa folds in on herself, sinking into the safe embrace of the couch. Unluckily for Eris, Dolos and Roman see it at the same time and stomp after him before slamming a door, and I can only barely hear the rumbles of their shouting.

Returning my attention to Runa, I say, “Hey, I'm sorry. It'll be okay eventually.”

She nods, but it's one of those nods you give to someone just to be nice and hope they'll shut up. So I do. Shut up, I mean. We sit on the couch and cozy up in our blankets, ready to watch New Moon until it's time to get ready.