Page 18 of A Bloom in Winter

In the silence that followed, the storm’s gusts blew around them, the swirling snow completing the embrace that Apex was sure only he wanted.

“You saved her life.” When there was no response, he couldn’t bear the awkwardness. “Mahrci’s.”

Like there was any question who had nearly been Purina Coyote Chow? Fuck.

“Are you okay?” he heard himself say.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be.” Callum nodded at the main house. “You staying the night?”

His heart skipped a beat. Even though it had no reason to. “I am.”

“We lose power with storms like this. If it goes out, I’ll make sure to start the generator so you don’t have to come get me.”

There was a brisk nod, and then some kind of generic see-ya or something.

Callum walked off, moving with that fluidity that was more lupine than human.

“You’re bleeding,” Apex said loudly. “Your ankle.”

A dismissive hand was raised over the shoulder as the wolven disappeared through a side door. Ten seconds later, the second story of the six-bayed garage lit up, light streaming out of the row of windows.

Apex stayed where he was, his head tilted back, the snow falling in his eyes and stinging, as he watched the male close heavy drapes one by one, down the line.

Until not even a glow showed from that which had blazed with such light.

CHAPTER SIX

Callum closed the last drape before the collapse happened. He hadn’t expected to go down to his knees, but without warning, there he was on the floor. Like he was praying.

Except he wasn’t.

He didn’t believe in higher powers that listened to mortals anymore. And while he was on the subject of not believing . . . how was Apex here?

“You came back to Connelly,” he reminded himself in a hoarse voice. “You chose to return.”

So how could he be surprised he ran into the male?

Lowering his head, he rubbed his eyes. “I thought he’d be gone by now, that’s why.”

His hand braced against the carpet as he sagged to the side, and then he just fucked the effort right off and let himself fall over onto his back. As he lay there, he stared up at the exposed beams overhead. They were a nice honey color, their rough cut flanks full of the character that came from hand-tooling. He imagined they were just as they had been when this outbuilding had been constructed around 1911, after the initial one had burned down. With the windows low to the floor and the roof’s overhang, there’d been no fading to the wood because the sun couldn’t reach that high up into the peaked roof.

The walls were finished with boards of the same honey hue, the flooring as well. If he’d had any soul left, he’d have appreciated the pine-scented, open quarters very much. With the galley kitchen and bathroom having been done over recently, it was the perfect meeting between the built-to-last past and the mod cons of the present.

Abruptly, he imagined Apex walking in. The vampire’s presence would suck in all the air molecules and ruin the brittle order of the place, messing up the bed Callum had made earlier, pitching the clothes in the old-fashioned wardrobe around, breaking all the dishes and glasses in the cupboard. He’d even tear the mirrored medicine cabinet out of the bathroom wall, and smash the claw-footed porcelain tub and the sink.

Hell, that male would bring down the structure. Until it was unrecognizable.

Even as he didn’t touch a damn thing.

Cranking his head to the side, Callum narrowed his eyes on the duffle and the suitcase he’d pushed under the bed. When he’d unpacked them, he’d expected to stay until the weather turned warm, and the buds came out on the bushes and trees.

He wasn’t going to make it to spring. Not if Apex was going to be in the big house.

“I need to leave now.”

His torso rose on his hips, as if he were coming awake in a crypt like something that was dead and shouldn’t have been able to move. Like he was the human stereotype of a vampire. And going with that flow, it was ironic that between him and Apex, he was the one who wasn’t really alive—

The sound of heavy boots coming up the stairs was not a surprise, and he told himself to get vertical. Put some clothes on. Pull himself together—

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