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I glance at Logan, whose expression gives away nothing, as per usual.
“We don’t want to impose,” he says, and it sounds perfectly reasonable and polite.
“You’re not imposing.” Connor leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “Pine Valley is the safest place in the world for a star touched champion.”
“Because of the divine shield,” I say.
“Yes. But that’s not the only reason.” He pauses, and his eyes move between me and Logan with the weight of an alpha who’s about to say what he considers the most important thing of the night. “It’s the safest place in the world because no shifter has joined the Blood Coven, and none ever will.”
My electricity prickles under my skin. “Why not?”
“Because when Ambrogio turns a shifter, our wolf doesn’t survive. Our earth magic would stay, since all supernaturals who turn keep the magic they were born with, but our wolves aren’t our elements. They’re the inner voices that have been part of us since birth… and they die in the transformation.”
Ruby’s hand tightens on Connor’s knee.
“The mate bond goes with it,” she says quietly. “Mate bonds are tied to our wolves. Sever the wolf, sever the bond.”
My ribs tighten so hard I can’t breathe.
Lose the wolf. Lose the bond. Lose the person you’re cosmically tied to—not because they left you, but because the part of you that loved them no longer exists.
Just like how Logan’s love for me wouldn’t exist without his ankar token.
“Every other supernatural species has members who’ve joined,” Connor continues. “Witches who want amplified fire. Fae who want to keep their water and gain vampire strength. Vampires who want more strength than they already have. But shifters?” He shakes his head slowly. “We’d never trade our wolves and our mates for power or immortality.”
Ruby leans into him, as if her wolf is calling to his.
“Shifters outnumber every other supernatural species in Pine Valley by far,” she adds. “Which means Pine Valley is the one place where you know the majority of people around you are trustworthy, and that if any Blood Coven members get through, they’ll be dead before they take their next breath.”
The silence that follows is so heavy my electricity dims to nothing, and I can’t look at Logan. I physically cannot turn my head to the left, because if I do, I might break. If I break, Ruby and Connor might figure out that there’s something seriously, seriously wrong with Logan, and that it’s related to the Blood Coven.
“We’d love to stay with you,” I force myself to say, and my voice sounds too tight and controlled. “Thank you for the offer.”
“Perfect.” Ruby smiles, stands up, and stretches. “I’ll go set up the guest room.”
15
EVIE
Lenore opens the door to the guest room at the end of the second-floor hallway, and my brain immediately runs three calculations.
One: the room is twelve feet by ten.
Two: there’s one bed. A full. Not a queen. Not a king. A full.
Three: Kieran is standing close enough behind me that his heat is pressing against my shoulder blades through my sweater, and his core temperature is climbing by the second.
“This is perfect,” he says to Lenore. “Thank you.”
“Actually, we need two rooms.” I step forward, putting distance between my shoulder blades and his thermal output. “I know you said some of them are full of inventory, but I can sleep with the inventory.”
Better than sleeping with Kieran.
Actually, not better than sleeping with Kieran.
But definitely better than a repeat of Lotus Island. Being so close to him and having him pull away almost broke me, and I have no interest in almost breaking again.
Lenore’s gaze moves from my face to Kieran’s position behind me, then to the space between our bodies, and I can practically see her cataloguing the data.
