To Love a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,31

that I need it, the Wanderers are suddenly a sober community.

Great.

Luca quirks a delicate brow at me as she takes a bite of her steamed broccoli. I shake my head at her and draw my attention back to Ayden.

“It’s good. It’s really good,” he says, but his look doesn’t reflect this. Sadness touches his russet eyes, a frown threatening the smile that’s tilting his lips.

I stare at him for a few moments, the sweet, gangly boy I grew up with is no longer present. We’re both older now, aged by society in different ways. He’s as happy as he always knew he would be; miserable is an understatement.

“I missed you,” I finally say, the words nothing more than a whispered revelation.

The smile that’s in place against his lips pulls a little higher, almost genuine. “I—" He pauses, glancing to Michael who looks quickly away from us, pretending to be enthralled with the baked chicken on his plate. “I missed you, too,” Ayden says, his solemn eyes drifting away from mine, staring at his hands that are neatly folded in his lap.

My brows lower as my stomach sinks.

We’re not at all the friends we once were.

“Tell me, do you work with your mentor, Ayden?” Raske asks, raising his head high to look down the table at the man seated across from me.

Ayden glances to Michael as if the man might guide him in his response. Michael shifts in his chair, his eyes not meeting anyone else’s, like his personality is shrinking away from us by the second with uncouth movements.

“No, I didn’t have a mentor.”

“You didn’t have a mentor?” I repeat, bringing my attention back to him, my spoon held at mouth level, but forgotten.

How did I not know this about my friend?

“No, you were the only person I knew that had a mentor,” Ayden says before taking a big drink of water and busying himself by filling his plate finally.

Lord Raske’s dark button-like eyes shift from Ayden to Michael a few times before he lowers his attention back to the dune of hot food in front of him.

I study Michael for a few moments, the sweat that adorns his creased brow, his thin lips that he licks repeatedly between messy bites. The overall nervous energy that’s pouring off of him. The wolf seated across from him assesses these details, as well.

Kaino’s slow traveling eyes seemingly catch every minor thing Michael does, almost as if he’s storing the actions away in a large file within his mind. Kaino holds his hands in front of him, braced on his elbows against the table. Massive hands are clasped in front of him, one fist is held in the other while he sits quietly watching the representative eat.

When did Michael become someone to be monitored? He was my friend all my life. Or was he?

Shane bumps his arm against Kaino’s, sending him a questioning look before returning to the mound of food before him, drawing Kaino’s attention away from the suspicious human.

Dinner passes slowly, dread and sadness and impatience is forming with every hour that we sit at the table. Raske insisted on a private meeting with the president that has taken longer than I thought it might. I know what they’re discussing and I want to run and hide before the two of them have a chance to return.

I stand from my seat, Michael, Ayden and the other two representatives look up at me. Kaino and Shane whisper quietly among themselves, while Luca subtly etches her blade into the side of the wooden table. She has a nice divot carved into it and doesn’t seem to be drawing attention to herself as she whittles away.

“Sorry, I haven’t been feeling well. It was very nice meeting you all…” I pause as everyone stops to stare at me. I begin to get the feeling that leaving isn’t an option just yet. “Please tell the president it was an honor to meet her. Sail safely on your journey home.” More surprised attention pins me to my spot.

I give a hesitant smile that probably resembles fumbling nervousness rather than happiness.

“Let me walk you to your hut,” Ayden says, pushing out his chair in an instant, not looking back at the other representatives that stare wildly at him.

Michael’s face is set into a look of panic, a look that almost makes me hesitant to leave. “It was nice seeing you again, Michael,” I tell him in an unsure voice as I walk toward the tree line.

He nods at