I tried to follow Maddock’s orders.

Really, I did.

But being on call for people who didn’t actually need my help was making me lose brain cells. It was boring, and I felt useless. I hated feeling useless.

The mornings went fine, filled with training and exercises, but the afternoons, when I was supposed to play hostess to the pack, were dull. My normal duties had been reassigned, and not even the library needed dusted. There was nothing left to occupy my time, and I refused to be lazy.

So, instead, I did my job.

I chuckled to myself as I wrapped up a third afternoon of sneaky work. Most people made excuses to not do work. But here I was, tapping away on my keyboard because I had nothing better to do. It wasn’t a glamorous job; I mainly took care of some basic record keeping and communicating with clients about invoices and balances due. I was decent with numbers, I supposed.

But it wasn’t exciting. I didn’t hate it, but I wanted to find something that I looked forward to every day.

I had considered going to college, but eighteen-year-old me hadn’t been sure what she wanted to do. And I refused to spend that kind of money until I was sure what career I wanted.

Sending my last email of the day, I powered down my computer and grabbed my phone. It was well past dinner, close to eight-thirty, but everything was finally caught up. I didn’t know who Maddock thought would cover my actual job, but it was clear that it hadn’t been. Alone in the room, I rolled my eyes at the oversight.

I sent out a quick text to Valorie, seeing if she’d help me raid the kitchen for leftovers. Asa had informed us that she’d be out on a date with some boy she had met in town. I hadn’t been spending as much time with Valorie lately now that my lunches were spent with Jonah, and she had chosen the medical route.

I finished clearing up my small, shared office. It had been nice to be in here by myself since it was Saturday; I hadn’t had to sneak out my laptop during lunch and hide in my room like the past two days.

I checked my phone, but Valorie hadn’t responded yet. It was no matter; I’d raid the kitchen myself and then go find her.

***

Finding Valorie was proving to be difficult.

“Where are you, Val?” I muttered to myself. She hadn’t been in her room or any of her other usual haunts, like the gardens outside. Valorie had a green thumb. Mine was black.

It was getting close to ten, and after a half dozen more unanswered texts, I was getting ready to admit defeat and return to my room. But, finally, my phone buzzed in my back pocket with Valorie’s reply.

Just got back to my room. Meet me here?

I shot back a quick affirmative and trudged back the way I came. A couple minutes later, she was letting me into her room with a blush on her cheeks and eyes shining bright.

“What boy did you kiss?” I teased. She flushed harder and shook her head. We crossed the room to sit on her sage-colored bedspread, and she grabbed a pillow to hug it.

“I want to ask about you first,” she insisted.

“What about me? My mornings are fine, and my afternoons and evenings bore me to tears. And it’s been the same for the past three days, and even today up until now.” I grabbed one of her pillows and fluffed it up a bit before laying back on it, drawing my knees up towards my chest.

“You haven’t been eating lunch with us,” she pointed out.

I had to keep from rolling my eyes. “Just spit it out, Val.”

“You have to tell me about Jonah! He’s so broody whenever I see him. It looks like you two get along well.”

I shrugged awkwardly. “He’s…nice, I guess. He’s a private person. It’s been hard to get to know him.” It was true. After that first lunch, I was kept very carefully at arms length. I wasn’t sure if it was because he really wasn’t interested and didn’t want to hurt my feelings, or if he didn’t want to open up to me. Regardless of the reason, it wasn’t making things easier. I sighed, loudly and dramatically. “It doesn’t make this any easier, Val. I don’t want to marry someone I hardly know. But I also don’t want to marry an asshole.”

“Who’s the asshole?”

“Noah. He has his high horse that he won’t get off.”

Valorie considered. “Well, which is the lesser evil? The man you don’t know much about, or the one you know more about but don’t like?”

“It’s a game of chance, at that point. With Noah, I’d know exactly what I’d be getting into. But he won’t give me the time of day, so fuck him. With Jonah?” I rubbed my face, exasperated. “He’s a decent person, from what I can tell. When he’s not wearing that mask of his, I—”

I stopped talking when the lights went out.

“That’s odd,” Valorie commented. I could vaguely see her head swiveling as she looked around. I patted the bedspread to find where I had tossed my phone. I ended up accidentally knocking it to the floor before recovering it. I turned on the flashlight and pointed it to the ceiling. It cast the room in a flat light, barely enough to see by. But we were wolves, and even in our human forms our eyesight was a little better than others.

“The generators should have turned on by now,” I commented, a shiver rolling down my spine.

“Maybe there’s something wrong with them. Should we go see what’s going on?” Valorie wondered.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Someone else will get it. I wouldn’t know where to start with the damn thing.” Valorie hummed her agreement. I stood and snatched up my phone. “Well, I guess now is as good a time as any to call it a night.”

“Breakfast tomorrow, right?”

“Of course,” I answered. I took my phone and shined the flashlight under my chin, casting my features in stark relief. I smiled in what I hoped was a creepy manner. “Sleep tight.”

A tossed pillow smacked the door as I pulled it shut behind me.

The hallway was dark, but I put my phone away to conserve what little battery remained. I could walk back to my room from here with my eyes closed, but I trailed my fingertips along the wall regardless. As I passed other rooms, I heard mostly silence within them. A couple had some light shuffling, the occupants likely getting ready for bed or finding something they could do in the dark.

I reached the end of Valorie’s hall and turned left. My room was at the front of the building, looking out onto the front lawn and over to the parking lot. I had wanted a view of the backyard and all the nature, but none had been left by the time I turned 21 and got my own suite. Valorie and Asa were both months older than me, and got the last of the rooms on the west side.

Instead of going directly to my room, I paused at one of the large Palladian windows along the front of the house and peered into the darkness. The patrol would be back by now, standing guard closer to the building now that we had lost power. It was the standard protocol. They’d stand guard in case an emergency or situation arose within the compound. I tried to remember who would be on duty, but my mind couldn’t recall. After being taken off my own duties, I had stopped checking the schedules.

I squinted, trying to distinguish any shapes in the near pitch-black of the night. A thick cloud cover hid the waxing gibbous moon. Being several miles away from other civilization meant that the darkness was nearly total. I couldn’t see anyone, but that didn’t mean no one was nearby. Some of the wolves were dark as pitch, and others only a shade or two lighter than that. They were our best defense, nearly invisible to even each other when they held still.

I turned left again, walking its entire length to my room. At least I got two windows being on the end, even if neither had a particularly stunning view. I pushed the door open on silent hinges and took two steps in before I realized that something was wrong. Freezing in place, hand on the door ready to push it shut, I didn’t dare to even breathe.

My room was my sanctuary, just like the library was, and it felt violated. I still couldn’t see much. I could just barely make out the shape of my bed and the two windows on perpendicular walls.

Windows that were open.

The breeze was slight, the gentlest caress on my skin. The cold raised bumps up and down my arms and even my legs. Someone had been—or still was—in my room. At this time of year, I wouldn’t dream of leaving the windows open; the nights got cold, just hovering above freezing.

I took a hesitant step back. I could easily go back to Valorie’s room and spend the night there. It would be better to investigate with the morning light on my side. I pulled my phone out to text her that I was coming back. As soon as the screen lit my face, something careened into me and knocked me flat on my back.

Instinct taking over, I rolled as much as I could to try to dislodge my attacker. Sharp nails dug into my shoulders, drawing blood from thankfully shallow cuts. A scream caught in my throat as I was lifted and tossed like a rag doll into the hallway.

The screen of my phone was still lit, illuminating the vampire that stood in the doorway to my room.

It grinned at me and lunged.