Page 110 of Rogue Wolf

Roan looked at her. “As long as he doesn’t overdo it.”

Of course Kodiak would overdo it. He wouldn’t be Kodiak otherwise.

And it wasn’t over. They all knew that. Especially Kodiak. He didn’t have to tell her, he wanted his revenge, to end this horror show so badly the room almost vibrated with it. Although Tamaska had reclaimed the Blood Opal, the vampires were most definitely still a threat.

Who knew what they would do, now that their precious gem had been lost?

Tamaska took the Blood Opal out from her pocket and looked at it. The stone reflected the room’s light, showing off its brilliance despite a crack down the center and a missing shard.

“We got it back?” asked Kodiak. He held out his hand, and Tamaska gave him the gem.

“I think it’s broken,” said Tamaska.

“No way to know for sure, I suppose.” Kodiak turned it over in his hands.

She rubbed her arms. “Amdis didn’t go after it, not once it cracked.”

“Hmmm, you could be right. We can always test it.”

“How? We don’t want my blood coming in contact with it.”

“That ship’s already sailed,” said Kodiak, his voice light.

A chill ran through Tamaska. “What?”

Kodiak held up the gem. “You’ve got blood on your hands.”

“Oh…I thought I was being careful.” Horror spread through her.

“It’s not doing anything,” Kodiak said as he handed it back to Tamaska.

“Maybe it needs more blood?” But somehow, she knew.

Turning it over in her hands, adding more of her blood to its surface, didn’t provoke a change in its appearance. Even as her blood soaked into the gem, no power was released, no abilities enhanced. It was no longer a threat to her or a boon to the vampires.

“No, it’s broken. I know it.” It was a relief to say the words, knowing the security that had been granted to her after the gem’s destruction. But the stone had also made her feel connected to her ancestors—part of her lineage that, until recently, had been hidden and forgotten.

“It’s yours now,” Kodiak said, interrupting her thoughts.

“I don’t know what to do with it.” Her whole plan in retrieving the Blood Opal had been to return it to its owners so she could get on with her work as an event planner. But there was no going back to that life. She no longer belonged to that world, and her urge to give the Blood Opal back had disappeared. It was part of her heritage. “All this…for nothing.”

“Not nothing. If it isn’t working then you fixed the vampiric problem. They should go back to their normal light hating selves,” he said. “I’m not saying they’ll give up coming for us; Amdis has an ax to grind. And we’re not going to let them rest and wreak their regular havoc, either.”

“I hope that’s true,” she said. “I just…I guess I hoped the opal could bring us something, but now it’s not even worth money.”

She placed its two pieces on top of the bedside table.

“You don’t have to decide anything right now. But at least you’ve learned about an entirely new world,” said Kodiak.

“A world I want to be part of, fully,” said Tamaska, looking deeply into his eyes.

He nodded. “I’ll turn you at the full moon, in a few days,” said Kodiak.

Tamaska smiled, joy surging. “You will?”

“I will. On one condition.”

“What?”

---