Chapter 11 A Gift
❀ Maeve ❀
Our fates would be decided tonight.
I watched my mother pack up her purse, heavy with coin. Every single woven basket had been sold, snatched up by hopeful young women heading to IronWolf Pack for the mating ceremony.
The market was quiet, save for the occasional sound from other stalls and the rustle of leaves. The moon peeked behind the clouds as if anticipating the event.
I imagined the Moon Goddess up there, threading invisible lines between fated mates across the world.
I would find my mate, I was sure of it.
I could feel it.
I allowed myself a small smile.
“Let me help, Mother,” I offered, already gripping the basket carrier.
“No,” she patted my hand off. “You must keep your hands soft and unmarred, Maeve. Your mate won’t like your hands feeling like crushed glass on his member.”
“Mother!” I gasped, more embarrassed than horrified.
Heat rushed up my cheeks.
She scoffed. Her lips curved into a knowing smile.
Even the walk home felt charged with a new energy. Every step buzzed with anticipation and change. With opportunity.
Tonight, even if I didn’t find my mate at the ceremony, I’d stay behind in IronWolf and find employment. Anything to secure our ticket out of Blackbridge.
Lost in thought, I jerked to a stop when Mother froze in front of me.
I looked up at her.
Her face was white as a sheet. Heart thudding with dread, I followed the line of her frozen, terrified gaze.
A few feet ahead, our house sat in a clearing, lit by the quickly dimming sunset.
And in the shadows under the tilted roof stood two tall figures. So tall, one of them was hunched, face drawn in annoyance.
Sheet-white faces. Blood-red eyes. Thick black cloaks.
Vampires.
My skin pebbled with goosebumps.
Mother took a step backward. Her chest rose and fell in measured breaths.
“Why now?” she whispered. Her voice shook, thick with fear.
She turned to me. “It’s still light out. When I tell you, run. And don’t look back.”
Snapping my gaze between hers and theirs, I seized her arm.
“I’m not leaving you as bait or whatever you’re planning. We’ll face them together,” I hissed.
Then the strangest thing happened.
One of the figures disappeared from our porch. And reappeared right in front of us.
A loud shriek. Mine or Mother’s?
I didn’t know.
The vampire caught the fist I swung.
Surprisingly, she didn’t crush it in her powerful grip.
“Stop screaming! We do not herald death.”
“W-what?”
“If we’d come to kill, you’d be dead, pet.” She sneered.
“P-pet?”
“You have a delivery. Come get it so I can leave this—wasteland.” She drawled the last word with disgust.
And disappeared once more, to appear back at our porch.
Fist aching, I looked at my mother. She looked as confused as I.
We walked the rest of the way to the house, clutching each other. Her hand shook in mine. I gave her an assuring squeeze.
At the door, Mother fumbled with the key twice, her fingers quaking.
The vampire muttered a curse.
I moved to help. “Let me…”
The door swung open.
Entering after my mother, I noted how shaken she was. She avoided the vampires’ gazes, holding the door open.
The one who’d caught my fist ran a bored gaze over our living space. I bristled but kept my words to myself.
The second figure, similarly dressed in a red cloak, walked in last and approached me.
Though masked, her red eyes glinted with displeasure. I could picture the snarl underneath.
She held a parcel I hadn’t noticed.
I held my hands out, gaze still locked on hers.
She dropped the parcel into my arms, almost sending me to the floor.
“Maeve!” Mother yelled. She rushed to my side.
“It’s fine. Just heavy,” I gasped.
Gods. It was so heavy, I let it fall with a thud on the floor.
A scoff. “Mortals.”
“Sign here,” the parcel-wielding vampire said. She held out a thick brown paper.
“Um, I don’t have a quill?”
“Use. Your. Finger.” She gritted.
The second vampire floated around the small area, peering at our effects beneath her lashes.
I held out a finger and pressed it to the paper, feeling stupid.
What was I missing? I didn’t bleed ink.
Oh.
Fast as lightning, the vampire grabbed my wrist and pricked my fingertip with a claw.
I winced.
I did, in fact, bleed ink.
With a simple letter M, I signed the paper.
“If I may… what’s in the package?” I started. “We did not purchase anything from vam—”
I trailed off.
The vampire had disappeared.
I whipped around to find the other one still perusing our house.
“Such squalor,” she murmured. As if sensing my gaze, she turned to me. “The package is a gift. And make no mistake. We’re both incensed to have been used as mere servants for your beau.”
“A gift?” I glanced down at the package. Realization welled. “From Nikolai?”
A glance up confirmed the absence of the vampire.
Vanished.
A gift?