And now we and Hana know more about Albert’s past.
I’m not proud of what happened on the train with Albert. That’s not the kind of behavior I would typically take part in. I chalked it up to this unexplained way these males short-circuit my brain without a mate bond or their powers at play. I at least managed to shut that down before it went too far, much to the ire of my vagina. She’ll survive. If Pam stays overnight with Malcolm, I can handle things myself when I get home. No man necessary. The heavy petting and hickey aside, the train ride gave me a meaningful insight into who Albert is. His connection to Auðr was cool. Albert has a passion for music, even if he never pursued it as a career because his grandmother didn’t consider music a career. My heart broke for him when he told me he never knew his mother and his father was an absentee drunk. That explained what he meant when he said he lacked faith in humanity. I still think it was his father, Gustav, who turned Albert. He can live his immortal life in denial if he likes. I,
As the final song ended, Albert tightened his arm around me, pressing me against his chest. I sighed, leaning into him as he kissed my neck below my ear. His lips were cool and felt nice enough, though I worried being sweaty was a turnoff for him. For me, his cool touch was refreshing. “Ready to meet the band, Liebling?” Albert asked. “Um. Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, with Agustín already having a ton of questions?” I asked. “It’ll be fine. Come on.” Albert assured me as he slipped his hand into mine. Albert led me away from the crowd and through a door marked for staff only. When Albert showed the passes, the bouncer nodded to us. We made our way down the hall and into a room in the back filled with chatter and laughter. When we walked in, the room went silent, and everyone turned in our direction. I’ve never felt so out of place in my years of attending important functions as the Bloodmoon Princess. It was surreal to be in the same room with all of them. Part of
I won’t commit matricide. I won’t commit matricide. This has become my mantra since Scorcha showed her whore-self at the Order weeks ago. I know it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black. I’ve fucked my way around the world for centuries. The difference is I have standards. Scorcha doesn’t. Example A: she slept with my father. It takes a special kind of stupid and horny for that shit. And now, she openly flaunts that she’s fucking Eliezer at the least and has some freaky mommy kink shit going on with Azer around the Order. Why do I know this when I avoid being at the Order’s headquarters? Because the fuckers have been having a MANDATORY WEEKLY roll call. All members within North America, for species able to teleport or within an 8-hour drive for those who can’t, are required to show up once a week and report to their faction leader to be marked as present—failure to report results in being fetched and locked up for a month. Paxton is serving week three for missing one of Scor
I hadn’t accomplished what I wanted before the semester ended. Sure, I passed all my classes, but that’s not what I meant. I haven’t found anything regarding Gustav Weeber, which makes me think that, like Auðr, he changed his name after his ‘death.’ I’m still digging. The other thing I haven’t worked out is who summoned Albert, Isak, and Aidan. I only know whoever it is has placed a curse or something like an alpha command forbidding them from speaking of it. They are incredibly dangerous since they have avoided interacting with me in person, and people are following them to ensure they stay away from me. As weird as it may sound, I missed them. I missed seeing them around campus and especially spending time with them. It has been strange and fun passing secret letters to them. Albert was the easiest. I would turn in an assignment and include a letter, and he’d include his letter when he returned my graded paper. Isak and Aidan were trickier, as we had Harris, Pam, and Malcolm as m
Something wasn’t right. No, I don’t mean the overall hole in my heart knowing Hana was on the other side of the country where we couldn’t even write to her. I can worry about that later. Hana and the mixed feelings we likely all have about her aren’t a priority right now. Aidan is. He went to the Order this morning to report to one of Scorcha’s roll calls and hasn’t returned. While each leader’s meetings vary in length, this was getting ridiculous. He’s been gone for seven hours and twenty-six minutes. Something bad has happened. I can feel it. I’m not the only one either. Albert has been pacing for the last five hours with worry. Our eyes connected as he paced toward my side of the den. At that moment, we both silently agreed: Time was up. We would fetch our friend, and someone would pay if he were hurt. “All right. We’re going.” I nodded, standing. “About fucking time. I swear to Cain, Lilith, the Creator, Moon Goddess, God, or whatever fucking being is listening if anyone ha
Thankfully, Daisuke wasn’t at dinner last night. Aurelia told him it was a family dinner, so he wasn’t included, and we went to Uncle John’s to have dinner with his family. I don’t think I’ve ever been more grateful to Aurelia for saving my neck. Yes, I know she literally saved me from being killed by Siegfried as a child and nearly died as a result. I’m eternally grateful for that, but ensuring my first night home wasn’t spent awkwardly eating dinner with a lackluster fling is up there. It was great to see Uncle John and his family. I adore my little cousins. They helped keep Dad and Uncle John from putting me through an inquisition regarding my love life at college and who took me to Barcelona. Whenever they started to take the conversation that way, I asked one of the kids a question. Which turned into thirty-minute ramblings about what new thing they did, learned, or saw. CJ and AJ caught me up on ALL the Bluey episodes I missed. It was super informative. I had fallen asleep
It made sense why Paxton looked like shit. I had only been in that cell for a few hours and felt drained. Even while weak, I was still smug when Scorcha came to fetch me. I knew by the annoyed look on her face why she was there. It wasn’t to try and mess with me. Isak and Albert had come, and for all their big talk, Azer and Eliezer knew they weren’t a match for my friends. I hadn’t been strong enough to gloat at Paxton or the trio of fuckwits. I was just relieved to see my friends. I knew they would come for me. I felt no shame in being rescued or leaning on them for support. That’s what friends, nay family is for. Isak and Albert are my true family—blood of the covenant and all that. I was too tired to care about where Isak took us. I faintly registered that we were at DKE. I know I saw Malcolm gently shooing Pam back into his room to help get me to a room. At some point, someone brought me food and water. That’s right, the fuckers didn’t even give me water while holding me priso
My morning was going great, or it would be great if I could get my mind off Aidan. I couldn’t get him out of my head since I read Pam’s text that he showed up in rough shape with the others. A million possibilities ran through my head, and all I wanted was to be in New Haven to see for myself that he and the others were okay. I was distracted enough that my friends noticed it. I thought I’d been doing a good job engaging in conversation, but it went downhill when we all ended up at the training center. I’d lost focus thinking about Aidan being hurt, and Dervila got in a pretty brutal hit that sent me flying. While I’ll never pretend to be physically stronger than any of my packmates, I’m human. That’s just the nature of things. I’m usually better at dodging an attack than this. “Fucking hell,” Shamus grunted, catching me before I would’ve hit the wall. “You okay, Hana?” Alisha growled, narrowing her green eyes at me or specifically at Shamus’ hands on me. I rolled my eyes and got