Page 6 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 3
“Why do you say that?”
“Because wolves mate for life. Like us. Forever. Always,” Grayson whispered.
He was half asleep as he said that. Ryder stroked one hand down his back.
“Like us. Forever,” Ryder agreed. “Always.”
So Much To Say
The next day...
Mairead stared at him. She wasn’t the only one. Amara and Eiji were also staring, but they were being more discreet about it. Covert glances that they quickly dropped anytime Grayson’s head might shift in their direction. Mairead was just being more obvious about it.
To their credit, he had come out of his bedroom with Ryder. Again. And Dani had shown up almost immediately and fussed over him, while Ryder had made him breakfast. Plus, there were the other Ashyr Vampires that were surrounding the dorm. Some were watching the dorm unseen, but others were perched like birds of prey on nearby rooftops, wanting him with them, wanting him safe. But making a nuisance of themselves. He would have to talk to them about that.
There’s so much I need to talk about. But I can't do it now.
“So,” Mairead began, “are you actually going to join the rest of the students today or are you just going to skip the student part and go straight to the Vampire one?”
Grayson took another forkful of creamy scrambled eggs and a mouthful of toast with homemade strawberry preserves that tasted like a sunlit field, chewed, and swallowed before he answered her, “I’m going to be with you guys. For a lot of it.”
Because one of you might be the target of a death plot.
“Right.” Mairead’s eyes were narrowed with suspicion. They slid past him where he sat at the peninsula in their shared kitchen to where Dani perched on the sofa arm and then over to where Ryder was pouring him more orange juice. “Are you sure you’ll have time with your busy social schedule with all of the Vampire leaders?”
She didn’t know that Ryder was Weryn reborn. Yet. But the way she hoovered up news, he was sure it would be out of the bag soon enough.
“Mairead,” Amara muttered under her breath, but she had been looking at the two Vampires as well, and clearly wondering what was going on.
“I think what Mairead means is that we would all like such personal attention from such honored members of the Vampire community,” Eiji said with a gentle smile.
Mairead rolled her eyes. “Of course, we would! I would! C’mon, even you would, Amara!”
Amara sipped her tea and said nothing.
“Guys, don’t get all excited. I knew Ryder and Dani and the others… before,” Grayson said.
Before, of course, meant millennia ago when he was Ashyr, Ryder was Weryn and Dani was his Dani. Not to mention Balthazar, Caemorn, Seeyr, Daemon… and the list went on. But his statement was still accurate.
He took a mouthful of the orange juice that Ryder had gotten him. It was pulpy and sweet. He nearly chugged the whole glass. He was going to have a busy day today with his powers, he was sure so he needed energy. He smiled at Ryder in thanks for the juice. Ryder’s lips curled into a playful grin in return.
The Weryn Vampire rested his back against the refrigerator and crossed his massive arms over his chest. Grayson thought of those arms around him and he felt a welling of want. They’d been there that morning after Ryder had shifted back from his wolf form. The bear one was just too big for the bed, the fox one too small, the buck one too pointy, the birds would get crushed, and so on and so forth. Besides, he had a soft side for the wolf whose tail wagged whenever Grayson looked at him.
“You knew them before? You hung around with Vampires before?” Mairead qualified.
She goggled at him. She wasn’t alone. Amara lifted her eyes from her tea cup while Eiji continued to clean the same spot of countertop for the fiftieth time. Grayson wondered how to answer that question, but it was the truth if he simply said, “Yes” and so he did.
“Oh!” Amara blinked, surprising him and herself by speaking. “So you were--ah, they were thinking of turning you before the school thing happened? Then they had to just bring you in as a student?”
“Ashyr and Weryn Bloodlines both going after you? And you met them outside the school?” Mairead’s eyebrows crawled up into her hairline. “That’s a little… weird.”
“Why do you say that?” Grayson asked as he finished off his toast.
“Well, those Bloodlines are not at all alike now, are they?” Mairead answered with her forehead furrowed as if this was obvious on its face. “No one would have them aligned in any way.”
Grayson hated to admit it, but she was right. His and Weryn’s Bloodline had never been truly aligned until he and Weryn had come together. The General and the Soldier. Their gifts were very different. But he wouldn’t want Ryder to be any way other than what he was. He was glad they were so different.
“I mean like how did you meet? Did you know they were Vampires before the school thing? Who are you going to choose to turn you?” Mairead rattled off questions.
