Relief and a profound feeling of peace filled me. Heaviness stole over me again and I fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

Chapter 11

The smell of coffee and bacon woke me the next morning. At first I was disoriented when I saw where I was, but the events of the night before soon came crashing back. I pushed back the quilt and got gingerly to my feet, aching all over but surprisingly well rested considering the night I’d had.

I looked down at the large leather jacket I wore. It smelled like Nikolas and warmth suffused me when I remembered him wrapping me in it. The scent also conjured a hazy memory of him here in the room with me last night. Was that real or had I dreamed it?

“Oh, you’re up.” Judith walked into the living room and gave me an appraising look. “Well you don’t look too bad considering. How do you feel?”

I winced. “Like I was attacked by a pack of giant mutant hyenas.”

She laughed softly. “I’m glad you can joke about it. What a goings-on. I’m just relieved you three are okay, though I hear you got the worst of it.”

“Yeah, lucky me.”

“Here, let me have a look.” She came over and reached for Nikolas’s jacket, sliding it off me and laying it across the back of the couch. Then she helped me out of my own ravaged coat and inspected my arm.

“I can hardly believe it. These scratches look at least a few weeks old.” She straightened and smiled at me. “Roland told us about your mother. I guess you inherited the Mohiri ability to heal.”

Her remarks were so casual, I had to know. “It doesn’t bother you – what I am?”

“Of course not. Just because we don’t associate with the Mohiri doesn’t mean we think they are bad people. Some of the younger hotheads like to hold on to the old grudges but they’ll grow out of it. In any case, your parentage doesn’t change who you are, just like finding out what we are didn’t change how you feel about us.”

“Never.” I reached for my coat when an object on the coffee table caught my attention. It was the knife Nikolas had given me – or one just like it. I picked it up and ran my hands over the finely made sheath before I drew the knife and marveled over the small blade that had helped to save my life. In the light of day, it was hard to believe all that had happened last night.

Judith stepped back when I flashed the silver blade. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” I rushed to sheathe the knife. “I forgot that you guys can’t touch silver.”

She waved dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It burns but we heal fast.”

I tucked the knife into the pocket of the leather jacket. “I thought silver was deadly to werewolves.”

“Only if the silver gets inside and we can’t get it out, which is where the whole silver bullet legend came from. It poisons us and we can’t heal as long as it’s there.” She smiled. “Luckily, you don’t see many pure silver bullets.”

“There’s still so much I don’t know.”

“I think you’re doing pretty good.” She waved a hand at my clothes. “Now let’s get you cleaned up. I can’t believe Roland let you sleep on that couch and in your wet clothes.”

I grimaced at my badly wrinkled jeans and shirt. I didn’t want to imagine what my hair must look like. I’d been so worn out last night that I didn’t even realize I was wearing wet clothes when I laid down.

“My clothes are a bit big for you but they’ll do while I wash yours. I left some things on my bed for you. Breakfast will be ready by the time you’re done.”

I was suddenly ravenously hungry so I showered and changed as fast as I could. When I entered the kitchen, Judith was putting scrambled eggs, bacon and toast on a plate. I sat at the table and she laid the plate in front of me with a glass of orange juice. She disappeared for a minute and I heard the washer start up. Then she came back and sat across from me with a mug of coffee. I dug in and polished off half my breakfast before I realized she was watching me with an amused expression.

“I forgot how good your appetite is. When you kids were younger I used to make extra whenever you stayed for dinner. You and Roland were quite the pair.”

I smiled at her sheepishly. “Where is he by the way?”

“He and Peter went with Max to show him where you were attacked. We’re all shocked that something like this could happen so close to us.”

‘Shocked’ was a polite way to say it. Werewolves are very territorial and other predators rarely cross their boundaries. Even having the Mohiri here last night had raised a few hackles despite the fact that Nikolas and Chris had helped to fend off our attackers. A pack of crocotta hunting in werewolf territory was probably unheard of.

“Did you guys find anything in Portland?”

Judith’s smiled faded a little and it looked like she was trying to decide how much to tell me. “We found no vampires but there were signs that they were there for a week, maybe longer.”

“By signs you mean the missing girls?” I suppressed a shudder. I was the same age as those girls, exactly Eli’s type.

“You know about them?”

I nodded. “It’s not hard to guess what happened to them.”

Judith ran a finger along the rim of her mug. “You are handling all of this amazingly well.”

“I’m coping.” If you didn’t count the nightmares. Strange that I didn’t remember having one last night. I would have expected to wake up screaming about giant hyenas.