Page 6 of How a Vampire Falls

“Of course they do. If Nathan had his booth set up today, you’d have caught a wolf’s scent before now. He’s super talented, a glassblower.”

“Okay….”

“The wolves here have never made a problem with the humans, or with my family either.”

Ryker’s slow blink did not restore the color of his eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched as he resisted the obvious desire to bare his teeth. “And the wolf on his way over here…you know him personally.”

“Ezra Sterling. He’s another fellow artist. He loves my stuff. The human walking with him is Willow, his mate. Wife. Mate and wife.” She still didn’t quite get how that worked.

“Uh, okay.”

“So no teeth when they get here. I’m serious. This is my town, and if you—”

Ryker raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “No teeth. Got it.”

If he didn’t heed her, she’d cancel their date.

A minute later, the wolf and his mate reached Leslie’s booth. Both of them smiled. Neither showed their teeth. Ezra immediately positioned himself between Willow and Ryker.

“Hi, Leslie,” he said.

“Hi, Ezra. Hi, Willow. Meet Ryker.” Leslie nodded toward him. The nod he gave to Ezra was stiff as steel.

“This is just a guess,” Willow said, “but the way my wolf’s bristling at the moment, Ryker’s also a vampire.”

Ryker’s mouth fell open.

Willow gave a low, nervous laugh. “Sorry if that was rude.”

“Not rude, more like a surprise,” Ryker said.

As he spoke, his eyes shifted back to their usual color. Willow’s brown eyes grew wider. “Whoa. Do you know your eyes just changed from sort of blue-gray to sort of…blue-silver?”

Ryker tipped his chin at Ezra. “Threat perceived.”

“Same,” Ezra said. To his credit, his voice held no growling undertone.

“Oh,” Willow said. “But now it’s okay? And that’s why your eyes are brighter?”

“Basically, yeah. It’s nice to meet you, Ezra, Willow.”

“Nice to meet you too, Ryker,” Willow said.

For a long moment, the wolf studied Ryker in return, then nodded. He held his position, and Willow didn’t come closer to Ryker or to Leslie. It was custom when she and Ezra visited Leslie’s booth. Both women knew Ezra’s instincts demanded he stay between his mate and a vampire.

A few months ago, Willow had tried to apologize.“It isn’t personal against you.”

“He’d do this with any vampire,”Leslie had said, and when Ezra growled confirmation and Willow blushed, Leslie had taken pity on the human who was trying to be kind.“I’m fine with it, Willow. I’d do the same thing if I had a human mate.”

At last Ezra turned from his scrutiny of Ryker to face Leslie. “Please tell me the waterfall is here.”

“You know it,” she said. “Pictures always welcome.”

“Great. Thanks.”

A quiet pride filled her as Ezra took out his phone and snapped multiple angles—first of the waterfall model, then of several others. She’d seen pictures of his work—Ezra was far too introverted to book a public booth—so his high opinion of hers was special to her though their media were different. When he’d taken at least a dozen pictures, he came back to her.

“You sold the winter-scape.”

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