Alexius hung up on the annoying ass, turning back to Avani. "I know he's your protector, but he has shitloads on his ass. He's holding the entire shifter community worldwide together, keeping everyone in check, playing nice with human governments, and appearing on TV to make speeches about sups being normal people that don't need to be feared. He works with scions who travel to other worlds, occasionally. He can't prioritize you. If you have a problem, you can come to us first."

Me, he meant. You come to me.

He said that slowly, intently, holding her gaze until she nodded to show she understood.

"I just…don't get your angle. You guys are strangers. Why do you want to help me? What do you have to gain?”

Damn the woman and her questions. Her pertinent questions.

"Because it's the right thing to do," he replied.

It sounded good.

It was also a lie.

The problem was that spelling out the truth wasn’t going to be that easy. For one, he didn’t have much in the way of an explanation.

Alexius was an impulsive, short-sighted, simple creature driven by his desires at the core. He wanted her to stay here. It was as simple as that.

She snorted. "Yeah, right. I call bullshit. Whatever. But I can't trust you until I know your motives."

Irrational

Avani walked in to find the house occupied by all the vampires she'd seen the previous night, a scary-looking waif in white who looked like she devoured raw hearts for breakfast, and a pretty mortal girl.

The mortal would have stood out among the gathering in any case, because she wasn't holding herself quite as still as the vampires, and her smell was different—more appetizing. Right now, Avani zeroed in on her, narrowing her eyes. She’d identified her specific scent before, just minutes ago.

It was all over Alexius; around his neck, arm, torso. The mortal was his girlfriend, then.

Avani forced a smile.

She should have guessed that a male exuding sex appeal like him would be taken. But she just hadn’t, so she’d shamelessly drooled over him. Now she felt some shame, and no small degree of annoyance. At herself. At the pretty woman. At Alexius. It was his fault. He didn’t smell taken. A man like him should go out with a damn sign saying “I have a girlfriend, stay back” or whatever.

She didn’t know why that annoyed her quite so much. It wasn’t like she’d planned to jump him or anything. On the contrary. She wasn’t likely to get her paws on the guy she lived with; the last thing she needed right now was to complicate her already messed-up situation. Besides, he clearly wasn’t into her; he barely spared her a glance. Alexius treated her like an irrelevant child. She just would have appreciated being able to secretly drool over him guiltlessly.

Which was too self-centered for words.

In short, she wasn’t exactly being fair, but then again, she wasn’t sane, so trying to justify her feelings was pointless. Instead, she controlled it, doing her best to appear the picture of self-confidence.

"It's five o'clock somewhere, I guess?" she asked, seeing that they all seemed halfway through some form of alcoholic beverage.

Chloe snorted. "Trust me, it doesn't need to be five o'clock today. We had to kill a zombie."

"Four times," the woman in white added cheerfully, like that was her idea of a good time.

"And then burn it. Because he wasn't actually dead after the fourth time." Alexius winced.

They explained their misadventures with the corpse-zombie-thing she'd helped up the hill just a week ago. Avani grimaced, imagining the writhing severed limbs.

"Is that a normal afternoon on the hill?"

The mortal woman, who'd been introduced as Greer, snorted. "Zombies aren't even close to normal, even for us."

Avani tilted her head. "Any idea why it was after you?" she asked the witch.

The others turned to Avani, visibly confused.

She shrugged. "From what you said, the thing has been in the fridge for a week, acting like a good corpse. Then the one day Greer is alone it awakens and goes for her. And when it's cut into pieces, a couple of those pieces try to attack her again. It stands to reason that she was its target. Don't you think?"

The expressions around the room ranged from curiosity to downright disbelief.

Chloe was the first to speak. "How could we miss that?"

"It makes sense," Levi admitted. "We should have seen it. You’re very perceptive, Avani. Thank you. Now that we know it wanted to harm Greer, we can prepare accordingly.”

Avani really wasn’t fond of compliments. She shrugged it off. “Sometimes, it takes someone outside of the situation, looking in, to see some obvious stuff. After all, you were in the middle of cutting up a corpse. So, anyone have a beef with you?"

Other than Avani herself.

She wouldn’t have set a zombie on the witch, but she certainly wouldn’t have minded clawing her a little bit. Just where she could still scent Alexius on her skin.

Dammit. Why was she so unbalanced?

And possessive of a complete stranger. That made even less sense.

She was going to have to keep her distance from him—if it was possible, in his house—so she nipped that attraction in the bud.

"No one specifically, but some stand to gain if I weren't around," Greer admitted.

Levi stood, and almost immediately, half of the vampires were also on their feet.

Watching their dynamic, Avani noticed they weren't very different from a pack. Levi was clearly the alpha male, and Chloe, his alpha female. The scary redhead was an enforcer; the gorgeous brown guy, an omega, holding together the pack with his organizational skill and soothing presence. Cat and Bash, the couple spooning on a loveseat, were enforcers.

As for Alexius…she couldn't place it. It was as if he was purposely standing one or two steps removed from the pack. Interestingly, his natural role, the feeling she got from him and the way Levi deferred to him when he had a question, checking that he agreed, might have made him beta, if he'd wanted to be.

He didn't.

Greer was…the pack child, cherished by all, protected.

And she got on Avani's nerves for it.

That wasn't really fair, or logical. The girl seemed nice. She'd been as friendly and welcoming as the rest of them. Not to mention Avani wasn't the jealous type. At all. Even if she’d had something with the guy—which she clearly didn’t—she shouldn’t have cared whether he was seeing someone else. She played with humans here and there, and she had zero interest in whatever lovers they might have taken before or after her. Regardless, the faint smell of Alexius on Greer and Greer on Alexius truly bothered her.

Which was stupid. She didn't like the guy; she didn't even know him. Besides, he'd clearly proved to be an asshole when he wanted to be.

"We need to organize a guard for you, Greer. And reinforce the borders. Lex, thank you for the drink."

"Any time."

"Greer, I know you prefer to have your own space, but would you mind staying on the hill for a time? Until we've tightened security."

She was quick to agree. "It's not a problem."

The vamp king and his delegation left, leaving only Greer, Alexius, and Avani in the drawing room.

Because that wasn't awkward at all.

She shifted. "Shall I make myself scarce and leave you guys to it?"

Shifters didn't like guests when they were having fun with their partners. They were apt to jump each other on the floor, counters, walls, stairs; she wasn't going to hang out if they wanted to break down the house.

Greer tilted her head, frowning, and Alexius laughed. "Not necessary, wolf. Greer is like a little sister to me. I don't need privacy with her." He flashed her a gorgeous smile that made her shift on her seat again.

Greer's eyes widened. "Oh!" She blushed. "Yeah, no, we—never. Definitely not."

Avani shrugged to feign indifference. Hopefully, they bought it. "My bad. I smell you on each other."

“That would be a direct consequence of the zombie thing. I carried her when her leg was hurt, that's all.”

“Oh.” Of course. They had mentioned that the witch had been hurt when they’d recounted their afternoon adventures. Avani had seriously put her foot in her mouth. "You don't need to justify yourselves, you know."

"I'm not fond of misunderstandings.” Alexius got to his feet. “Greer, you know where your bedroom is, you can stay as long as you need. Avani, likewise. I have to drink. And shower, apparently. If you'll excuse me."

The vampire left the room on that note.

"Wasn't he drinking just now?" Avani mused, mostly to fill the awkward silence.

Greer attempted a smile. "He means he has to drink blood. Alexius doesn't tend to do it in front of me. I grew up here. Sometimes, I think they still see me like a twelve-year-old with pigtails."

Avani smiled back genuinely, now that she didn’t feel like clawing the girl out.

Seriously, what was that all about?

"Well, we have that in common. And I guess we were neighbors, too."

Greer's grin widened. "You know, I noticed you. You use the water on Leah Hill. I go there sometimes to get some clearwater for spells. We might not have spoken, but I've seen you around."

Avani frowned. She should have detected a human around her.

Greer might as well have read her mind. "I masked my presence when I saw wolves around me. I know you guys aren't fond of strangers in the woods. Technically, we’re allowed on that side of the Wolvswoods, but it’s your home. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable on your turf.”

The witch truly was a nice, thoughtful person.

Strange to think that if the Elder Pack had been different, she might have known this woman.

"I don't mind other people," Avani replied, shrugging.

That was an understatement. Avani craved company. Most shifters did, hence why being a loner was so hard.