TWENTY-TWO
Khent walked past Rolf,not surprised when the draugr accompanied him.
“Who’s come to play?” Rolf asked.
“My human’s friend.”
“Oh, the poisoner. Cool.” Rolf trailed him like a puppy then disappeared out into the front yard. The moon hid behind puffy white clouds, tucked away while the stars glittered overhead.
Khent could see just fine though, and he knew the golden eagle shifter could as well. He’d done some research into Talon months ago, when the shifter had proven himself an enemy, having poisoned Kraft.
Though Khent wouldn’t have missed his companion overmuch, he didn’t like the thought of anyone but one of his own kin killing a brother vampire. It just wasn’t done. Those Of the Bloode had the right to annihilate their own kind. No one else did.
Yet he also felt a surge of respect for anyone who tried.
He felt for his pets and watched through their eyes. The golden eagle sat high in a hemlock. A poisonous tree. How amusing, as well as appropriate. Had the shifter done that on purpose?
Khent didn’t bother hiding his presence. He wiped a speck of dust from his shirt, aware he looked perfect, never less than his best in dark trousers and a dark, long-sleeved linen shirt. Though the weather had warmed, an early May morning promised colder temps. But as a vampire, Khent acclimated, never feeling too hot or too cold, no matter the weather.
The bird, with those feathers insulating him, wouldn’t feel it either. But they couldn’t converse unless Talon shifted.
“Well?” Khent stared up at him through the many needles of the tree. “I’m waiting.”
The bird flew to the ground while Rolf silently took his position in the hemlock. Talon shifted to human, wearing nothing but a weird contraption cinched across his chest.
“Damn. It’s cold out here in skin.” He shivered.
Khent sighed, constantly surprised by magir weakness. He’d much prefer a battle where the enemy didn’t whine so much. Before he could respond, Kraft appeared at his back while his lycan mate walked forward with a blanket.
Odd that he hadn’t heard Riley return to the home. She often worked for her pack when not joined at Kraft’s hip, so her absence was to be expected.
“Here.” She tossed the blanket at Talon and in a growl said, “It’s more than you deserve.”
Khent had to admit she was a proper addition to the clan. She’d helped her mate fight a hell beast ten times her size, after all. And she didn’t appear to appreciate Talon’s complaining either.
“Still holding a grudge, eh?” Talon smirked.
Khent held back a grin and saw Rolf smiling up in the tree, his white teeth blinding in the dark.
Kraft glared up at him and snarled, “It’s not fucking funny, Rolf.”
“It kind of is,” Khent had to say, always one for pulling their youngest’s tail. The nachzehrer was so easy to rile. Almost too easy.
“Leave him alone, Khent,” Riley said with a huff. “I swear, you guys are so mean.”
“Thank you.” He bowed his head toward her.
She rolled her eyes before turning back to Talon. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to see Valentine.”
“Who?” Riley frowned.
“My friend,” he said at the same time Khent explained, “My human.”
He felt everyone’s attention turn to him and shrugged. “What?”
“You have a human?” Kraft blinked. “Like, pulled apart in your lab? Drained for dinner? Or to make some other fucked-up dead thing to play with?”
