Page 79 of Starting a New Life

“Glitter.”

I laughed. “That’s not a colour.”

Nix rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a real smile on his face. “That’s what Levi said.”

“Well, Levi is right. Oh, I know. Tell me how you and Levi met.”

“Okay, but it’s not a particularly interesting story.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care. He’s your best friend. Tell me how you met, and then I’ll tell you the amazingly boring and common story about how Rhett and I met.”

Nix hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Deal.”

Chapter 17

Nix

I can do this.

I was allowed to go downstairs on my own. I was allowed to get coffee for myself. Besides, it was barely six a.m. There weren’t gonna be dozens of shifters waiting for me, and even if there were, I was allowed to go downstairs.

I’m not a prisoner, I told myself, taking a deep breath as my hand hit the railing and I set my foot on the first step. I’m allowed to go downstairs. I’m not doing anything wrong.

My heart was hammering in my chest, hands sweaty as I gripped the wooden railing tighter. I sent out my magic, feeling for auras. Fifteen wolves in this house. Gray wasn’t one of them. I knew because the bond kept pulling me away from his office and northward. I also knew because he’d told me he wanted to check on his house, make sure everything was okay. Something about bursting pipes. I had no idea about pipes in general, bursting, frozen, or normal ones, so I’d kept quiet and nodded, agreeing that going home was the sensible thing to do.

And it was.

I just hadn’t expected that the distance his spending the night away from the packhouse created would mean I wasn’t able to sleep at all.

A yawn made its way out of my chest, and I stopped on the stairs, putting my hand in front of my mouth, waiting for someone to react, but no one did. There were still fifteen shifters in the packhouse, but everyone was in their room. Two or three were awake, though.

You are allowed to go downstairs. Still, part of me expected all hell to break loose at any moment. Waited for someone to shout at me, to shoo me back upstairs.

My cold feet hit the bottom of the stairs, and I released a shaky breath. Okay. Done. I just needed to go to the end of the big entry hall and walk right into the dining room. Then turn right into the kitchen, and… yes!

I smiled triumphantly as I laid eyes on the prize—the old coffee machine, just sitting there, waiting for me to put it to use. Levi might not like it, but I was kind of glad he hadn’t talked Rhett or Gray into buying an espresso machine yet. This, however… this thing was easy. Especially because someone had already prepared it. There was fresh coffee sitting in the filter, and the water was all filled up. The only thing left to do was hit the start button, and I did so with a small sigh, listening to the coffee maker come gurgling to life.

Just a couple of minutes and I could go back up, treasure in hand, and it’d be as if I’d never been down here.

The burnt aroma of coffee started filling my nose, the coffee machine gurgling and hissing, steam wafting over, promising relief for my tired body.

Had Gray been able to sleep at home, or had he been lying awake the whole night too? Maybe he was able to relax at home because my not being there didn’t mean he felt unsafe. He was in his own home.

I, on the other hand…

“Good morning,” someone said, and I jumped, pulling up a shield around me as I whirled around.

Holy shit, why hadn’t I noticed her approaching? Had I been so lost in thought that I hadn’t noticed a shifter coming up from behind?

“I’m allowed to be here,” I said before I could stop the words from tumbling out.

“If you share the coffee, you definitely are,” the shifter told me with a smile on her face, rubbing her eyes. “The jet lag is killing me. For some reason, it gets worse with age. Not that you’d know about that. You don’t look a day over… twenty?” She cocked her head at me, eyes tired but sharp as she studied me intently. I was glad I’d put on the biggest hoodie I’d been able to find.

“I’m actually twenty-six,” I said when she just kept looking at me expectantly.

“Twenty, twenty-six, you’re still very young. But you need to eat.” She was still smiling at me kindly, but it was unnerving. Her aura was calm, all happy, her shoulders loose as she came closer and walked past me, opening one of the fridges.