Vane turned back toward her. "But what about you? You don't believe in weird things, do you?"
"Not really. The scariest thing I've ever seen is my accountant in April."
Outwardly, he smiled at that, inwardly he shriveled. She would never be open to his world. To the reality that sometimes the people she passed on the street weren't really people at all. That they were the worst sort of predators.
Let her have her delusions. It would be cruel to take them away from her.
And for what purpose? So that he could show her a world where the two of them would be perpetually hunted?
Where their children would be outcasts?
No, that wouldn't be fair to her. He didn't need a mate, and he damned sure didn't need children.
"You okay?" she asked as she set out two plates.
"Yeah, fine."
He just hoped they both stayed fine until the mark vanished from their hands. It didn't take Fury long to find Stefan and the others who were in human form on Bourbon Street while they tried to recapture Vane's scent.
The three of them were outside a bar, sniffing patrons who came and went. As always, he was struck by the beauty of his people, but then, it was to be expected. In their world, ugly or different was quickly rejected or killedusually the latter. Animals had no mercy on anyone or anything.
Not even the animals who fooled themselves into believing they were mostly human. He'd been with Arcadians long enough to see for himself that when they said they were human, they were deluding themselves.
Just as humans did.
There was nothing humane about humanity. At the end of the day, they were all animals with only survival instincts.
It was dog-eat-dog. And Fury knew more about that principle than he cared to recall.
Stefan whirled about as he caught Fury's scent.
"Well, well," Fury said, gifting him with a smirk. "I've been standing here long enough that I could have killed all of you before you even sensed me. You're getting old, Stefan."
"Is that a challenge?"
Fury raked him with an amused stare. He fully intended to challenge the older wolf and kill him one day.
Right now, however, he wasn't in the mood.
"Don't make me hurt you, Stefan. You can prance around like an alpha all you want, but we both know who holds your leash."
Stefan grabbed for him, but Fury twirled out of his grasp.
"Don't, old wolf. I don't want to embarrass you."
"What do you want, Fury?" Petra snapped.
Fury gave her a full-fledged grin. Out of the group, she was the one who hated Vane the most. For years the she-wolf had wanted to mate with him, and when he had refused, she had moved on to Fang. She had stalked Vane to distraction.
Since he was the oldest of their leader's children, the natural assumption would be that Vane would one day inherit the pack. Even though his father hated him, Vane was without a doubt the strongest of them all.
Only Fury knew why. Vane wasn't Katagaria and the rest of them were too stupid to realize it.
He had smelled it on Vane the moment they met. That twang that came only from human genes. A so-called human heart. More than that, the scent came from the most elite of the Arcadians. Vane wasn't just an Arcadian. He wasn't just a Sentinel.
He was an Aristos. A rare breed who had the ability to wield magic effortlessly.
In the Arcadian realm, the Aristi were considered gods and were guarded zealously by werewolves who would gladly die for them.