Chloe broke the lengthening silence. “I know! Avani could enroll at the Institute. Stay here as a student. If we banish the alpha and make it clear that you’re under our protection, they should leave you alone.”

They were stunned into silence.

Chloe didn’t let that discourage her. “There are other shifters, you know. It’s not quite a pack, but they spend time together. I think you’d fit in fine.”

Alexius turned to Levi, fully expecting him to point out that it was a stupid idea. Avani should stay here, on the hill, where she’d be safe under their protection. Even if they got rid of the alpha, there was no way that the pack would leave her alone. The alpha assuredly had some supporters. They would see what she’d done as a betrayal, and they would eventually seek revenge.

“It’s not the worst idea.”

Alexius groaned. “It’s stupid. The Institute is an advanced college. Do you even have an academic record?”

Shit. He’d expected more indifference, another shrug, maybe an eye roll, but he saw hurt flash in her eyes.

“I passed high school,” she said. “It’s not like a werewolf stuck here needs a higher education.”

“Well, you don’t have to be stuck here, you know,” Chloe said gently. “You can stay while you get back on your feet, then we can help you rejoin the world—a pack, or get a job in the regular world, if you want. I think it’d be fun. My friends and I can help you catch up if you need help with your undergrad courses.”

Alexius had a million protests at the ready.

Then he saw Avani’s eyes brighten in something close to excitement. Hope.

So he shut the hell up.

History

Alexius gritted his teeth, taking a moment to breathe in and out, before speaking. “All right, glad it’s sorted. Now that’s enough. The human needs to lie on a flat surface before he falls off his stool, and I’d wager my guest could use some sleep. You can keep interrogating her in the morning.”

Avani narrowed her eyes—he didn’t think she appreciated anyone speaking for her. Or being told when to go to bed, for that matter. To his surprise, no one protested.

“Yes, of course.” Chloe was the first to acquiesce. “Sorry, I forget what it’s like to need more than a few hours of sleep. Are you comfortable staying here? We can take you up to my place, or Levi’s, if you’d prefer?”

The offer was fair—Avani was, after all, a woman and a stranger. At the same time, Alexius couldn’t say he liked it. Did the fledgling have so little trust in him that she believed him capable of hurting the she-wolf?

Avani shrugged. “I’m fine here. And I won’t lie, I could use a bed right now.”

That surprised him—she didn’t look tired at all. Not to the point where a little trip up the hill would have been unappealing.

“All right.” Chloe stepped toward the girl and wrapped her arms around her.

The wolf leaned into the hug, closing her eyes and squeezing the woman right back. Werewolves were known to be tactile with those they trusted. Normally, that only meant their pack.

Maybe the woman needed some contact now that she’d become a loner in the space of a few instants.

Alexius accompanied the other vampires to the door and locked up the heavy bolt of his wood-and-gold door behind them. While atypical, considering the guests in his home, being more careful than his norm couldn’t hurt. He didn't think that the Elder Pack would storm the hill to take Avani, but he wasn't going to take any chances just in case. A locked door couldn't stop any shifter, so his was sealed with spells that would delay—if not stop—any intruder.

By the time he made it back to his kitchen, Avani was leaning on a wall, eyes closed, and now her fatigue was plain as day. She might fall asleep like this if he left her to it for long enough.

Her pride or her sense of self-preservation hadn't allowed her to drop her guard in a room full of predators, he surmised.

"Your room's up on the second floor. Shall I carry you?"

Her eyes flew open, narrowing on him.

He laughed. "Maybe not, then."

Alexius effortlessly lifted the teenager up on one shoulder and led the way.

The house had been built somewhere around the sixth century—it had been five hundred years old by the time he'd opened his eyes. In fifteen hundred years, it had been demolished, built, entirely rebuilt, extended, and polished. In the nineteenth century of the previous era, the Helsings and Drakes started an open war that destroyed most of both families. Alexius wasn't totally sure who won; all he knew was that his family went from fifty-something annoyingly smug know-it-alls to a handful of sullen survivors. One of those survivors had been bitter enough to whisper in a human ear in order to destroy the Drakes' reputation, and the novel Dracula was born. Ironically, the Drakes loved it.

Before the clan war, the Helsing house had housed hundreds of people at times. Guests and family members.

The first floor was laid out in rows of identical rooms, comfortable, certainly, but small and impersonal. As Alexius rarely received guests, he had the entire floor shut off a couple of hundred years ago.

The second floor only accommodated ten rooms, all much larger and more luxurious. In the old days, the master used to be at the center of the floor, and the servants had been housed on the third floor. He still used it occasionally, when he brought his conquests home.

Rather than housing servants, Alexius hired maids from Adairford now, so he had had the last floor entirely remodeled, breaking down every wall and turning it into an open concept space that was solely his. No one had ever stepped there and he liked it that way. Though cleaning it was a bitch. Praised be whoever invented robot Hoovers.

Alexius stopped by a cream and yellow room with heavy brocade and raw silk curtains, dropping the boy on the elegant bed before walking out.

Avani waited until he'd shut the door before whistling low, visibly impressed. "Damn, I know you guys are vamp royalty, but I didn't expect your houses to actually look like palaces."

Alexius shrugged. "They're just old. And I'm not inclined to have it redesigned again. This way."

He bypassed the master, which he didn't think had been cleaned since his adventure with…Laura? Lise, that was it.

To its right, there was one room that had been redesigned at the same time as his—the only one he'd bothered with on this floor.

Instead of outdated four-poster beds with curtains and dusty tapestries on the walls, this room looked like the inside of a cabin, with wood on three of the walls; the last were fresh doors leading out to its own balcony.

The bed was a high fabric box spring, and at each side, there was an antique Chinese bedside table—one bright red and the other turquoise. Fresh flowers had been set on them.

Walking in, Alexius started the mechanism of a fountain that lit up in a dim glow.

Avani practically leaped inside and threw herself at the bed with a sigh of delight.

Alexius laughed.

"Were you waiting for company?" she asked, pointing at the flowers without moving her head.

"No, I get maintenance to change them weekly. This is my sister's room."

Avani peeked up at him. "Won't she be pissed I use it?"

He chuckled. "I wish. But she'll never know. Diana doesn't come here. It's only set up in case she chooses to."

Seeing some pity in her eyes, he was quick to change the subject. "The clothes in here are new." He tapped his fingers over the surface of a wardrobe. "They should fit you, more or less. Help yourself. If you need anything—well, you have legs and a brain. Use them."

"Thank you." She didn't seem put out by his abruptness. Maybe she was just that tired.

Or used to assholes.

"I don't even know your name."

"I'm Alexius Helsing. And you're Avani."

"Avani Parker. Nice to meet—" Her words were interrupted by a long yawn.

"I prefer crazy girl. Sleep, Avani. The others will arrange your transfer to the Institute shortly. You may remain here in the meantime."

"You know, I thought you were a complete prick, but you aren't. You simply keep people at arm's length."

Her voice sounded heavier, indicating that she was close to crashing.

"What makes you think that?"

There was no answer. From the sound of her breathing, she'd finally succumbed to a deep slumber.

Another World

Avani woke up alert, every memory from the previous night crashing into her like a freight train. The run, the hunt, then being chased by the pack. Zayn.

And of course, the skinless monster who'd saved her from him.

Avani remembered smelling Zayn's blood, and the wolf's head had been twisted at a wrong angle. Had Alexius drained him? Broken his neck? Either way, she was fairly certain that the alpha's son was dead.

Which meant that Draiden would find a way to make her pay for it.

Shit. How could her life have changed so much in such a short time? Yesterday she'd been in the Wolvswoods, hanging out with Julie and the twins. Now she knew that entering pack territory was a death penalty for her. Whether or not Levi had banished Draiden from Oldcrest, he'd still be the pack's alpha.

God, she was in deep shit.

She had to admit, she didn't exactly feel like she was in deep shit right this moment, though.

The shirt around her shoulder smelled like heaven. Her bed was far too comfortable for her to give in to fear. There were fragrant bouquets of sweet peas either side and a stone fountain with amethysts set up around it. It occurred to her that, while empty of personal touches, this room had been designed with loving care, to fit the taste of a specific individual. She imagined a hippie would love it here.

Alexius had said it was his absent sister's room. If she hadn't been exhausted, she might have been nosy enough to ask more about why she never used it. It was their family home, right?

She managed to sit up on the side of her borrowed bed. The box spring was so high she had a bit of a Princess and the Pea fantasy, looking at the floor two feet down.