but for Dick, this is normal,” Jane said. “Zeb mentioned he told you this already, but for Dick - once you’re family, you’re family forever. And he will violate a lot of state and federal laws to protect his family.”
“I don’t know if that makes me feel better.”
She shrugged. “That is also normal.”
Without warning a huge man burst through the door at full vampire speed, yelling in what sounded like Russian. It was alarming enough to make me shift into werewolf form, standing in front of Jane and snarling viciously before I recognized the vampire was Nik Dragomirov.
“Aw, look at you, jumping in to defend me,” Jane cooed, scratching my back. Nik was sorted into the “not a threat” part of my brain, so my hackles dropped. Gigi practically baseball-slid into the shop, yelping at the sight of an enormous wolf occupying retail space. I huffed what I hoped sounded like an apology at Nik, who had at least stopped yelling.
Nik threw an arm in front of Gigi, pulling her behind him. I was no longer growling or snapping, but I didn’t blame him for not wanting her near me.
I transformed back into a human, ducking behind Jane. “Sorry! You startled me!”
Of course, it wasn’t just that he’d startled me. It was that he’d barged into the shop, an apparent threat, and the wolf-y part of my brain had considered the shop to be my home territory.
He was a threat to that home and the people there that I cared about, and I’d shifted without a thought to protect them.
I gripped a nearby stool as the full force of that thought hit me. The compound wasn’t home to me anymore. The shop was home. Jane and Dick and Alex and all of them—they were my home. Somewhere inside my chest, the ropes that kept me bound to the packlands seemed to snap, the weight of them easing away. I felt like I could breathe freely for the first time since…ever.
The shock of this unnatural change in instinctual loyalties was almost enough to distract me from the fact that I was standing naked in the middle of the shop. My clothes were shredded in a pile on the floor.
“What’s going on?” Dick yelled, coming out of the office. He blanched and covered his face. “No! My eyes!”
“Um, Dick, can you toss out an extra t-shirt and sweats?” Jane yelled.
“I’m just going to stay in the office, where it’s safe!” Gabriel called.
Dick backed into the office, his eyes still covered and knocked several books off of the shelves in the process. For his part, Nik was staring up at the ceiling, respectfully studying the light fixtures. A purple shirt and sweatpants came flying out of the office.
“I’m just going to stay back here for a bit!” Dick called. “I think I’m coming down with hysterical blindness.”
“Family forever,” Jane sang to me as I slipped into the clothes. “Nik, as much as I enjoy drop-in visits, care to explain your dramatic entrance? Is everything all right?”
“I’m afraid not,” Nik said. “I need to speak to you in your capacity as Council Representative, Jane. Dick, too, when he’s comfortable.”
“Is Ty dressed?” Dick called.
“Yes!” I yelled back.
“Sorry, Buttercup,” Dick said, walking into the café area. “I was not prepared for werewolf nudity.”
“No one ever is,” I told him. “But I think Nik needs your attention.”
By this point, Nik had calmed down considerably. I supposed unexpected nakedness tended to shock people out of their emotional states.
“Yes,” Nik cleared his throat while Gigi settled on the barstool nearest to me.
“You all right?” I asked.
“Just preparing myself for the protective shenanigans to come,” she said. “You should know, he called Alex and Cal over here, too. So, you’re in for it.”
“In for what?”
“The ‘secret underground lair' treatment,” she said darkly.
Gabriel and Dick poked their heads out of the office, presumably to make sure everybody was clothed.
“I’ll start the coffee,” Gabriel said.
Dick replied, “I’ll get the murder board.”
“It is always this dramatic? Is the new ‘weekly terror’ element in my life because I’m dating someone that’s so much older than me or is it because he’s a vampire?” I asked Gigi quietly, while the “adults” tried to return the room into something like order.
“A little bit of both,” she conceded. “It’s not always like this. And relationships with vampires are always sort of high tension, even the super functional ones like Cal and Iris. Nik basically had to rethink everything he thinks about women, relationships, culture. And I have