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“I have something to tell you,” Talia said and only the shotgun kick of her heartbeat gave her away. It’d been almost 20 years and somehow those words still had the power to make her tremble if she only allowed herself to.
She’d shaken her head in bemused disbelief, just barely kept from smiling at the unnecessary extravagance that was once her bedroom.“Is all this really necessary? It’s just a movie marathon.” Victoria may have only been sixteen but she was still eminently practical.
Talia only raised a sardonic eyebrow at her in response before she plugged something into the wall and turned off all the lights. Bedsheets were tucked and tied like a tent over the floor in front of the TV while pilfered Christmas lights shone like stars against the dark blue fabric. their work was ridiculous, wasteful, and mami would have a fit if she saw it.
She loved it.
She said nothing but Talia snorted and smirked as if she knew, clearly pleased.
“There are those among us that would seek peace if you would allow it,” Talia continued smoothly. Considerate as always of the pride Victoria’s worn like a shield against her weakness for all these years. She wished she could hate her for it, but hate was impossible. As impossible as anything between them ever was.
Most places had been a blur of people and places as dull and uninteresting as an after school special but Beacon Hills was different. They’d been there for almost 8 months now, the longest they’d stayed anywhere in the past five years, and it didn’t look like they were going anywhere anytime soon. They’d had time to settle, to relax.
Victoria’s guard lowered considerably over the course of the movie, head pillowed in Talia’s lap and oddly soothed by the fresh scent of rosemary that always seemed to follow her. It was strange, the skin of Talia’s thighs petal soft against her cheek. With some detachment Victoria felt her face heat by how strangely intimate it felt and how oddly aware she was every detail of everything around her but the movie, how aware she was of Talia.
The more she focused on the feeling the more her shoulders tensed as if preparing for an attack, as if invisible eyes weighed and judged the increased thrum of her heart. Then Talia’s nails scratched delicately over her scalp and through her hair. Coaxed a shudder and the smallest of sounds from her throat until the trapped animal feeling faded away to something vastly different. Something warm, predatory, and completely inappropriate.
She turned her head to gaze up at Talia but didn’t know how to proceed. People weren’t real to Victoria, men and women no different from cardboard cutouts until she’d learned them. The things that made the light in their eyes flare up, fade, and soon enough what would make it die.
Talia showed her.
“The Code stands. Unless you and yours have chosen to hunt something other than deer,” Victoria replied haughtily. The sky was clear and full of stars, the forest lush and alive behind the vibrant alpha of the Hale pack.
“It does, so long as there are those that choose to follow it,” Talia replied evenly, eyes dark with some emotion Victoria refused to name. Somehow she was still so damn beautiful.
For once she couldn’t feel the cold weight of her father’s body in her arms. The violence of her life held temporarily at bay by the strength of Talia’s arms and the churning heat between them.
Dawn rose too soon and with painful clarity Victoria remembered that beautiful things like this were not meant for people like her. She never should have invited Talia over. Her family was here for a reason. She was finally old enough to join them on the hunt and this one was special. Rumors of a true wolf, something out of myth and legend, living here in the Hills. A primitive kind of monster, and all monsters must die.
“I have something to tell you,” Talia whispered.
She wishes she hadn’t.