She went back to her bike, deflated. The mood of the pack shifted in a wave as she passed them, as if they’d become emotionally entwined with her. Noah felt their resentment. Because he’d made her cry. Fuck them. It was better to make her cry than to make her bleed, and until he could trust himself not to want to hurt her for stupid things—scratch that—not to want to hurt her ever, they’d have to deal with her general unhappiness.
He ignored the accusation in their eyes and cranked his bike. Then they all followed Sydney home.
12
Sydney barely knew the way back, and yet something inside her directed her there like an internal GPS. There wasn’t space in her brain to navigate; everything was Noah. It was a mistake to claim him. It was a mistake to let him mark her. So they’d been friends when they were kids. So what? He was wrong about them. If they were meant to be together, whatever was happening between them now wouldn’t be happening.
Did he resent her strength? Did he find her feeding on him disgusting? Had he found his real mate in their new pack and now regretted the link with her? Maybe he was just now beginning to understand how impossible a mixed relationship could be. It wasn’t just working around sleep schedules and diets. It was… everything. She belonged with another vampire. He belonged with a wolf. Nature was as it was for a reason.
Tears blurred her vision, and she was grateful for the helmet and wind and the privacy. None of the other wolves would see or smell her tears. She needed this space to think. She blinked the tears away.
She couldn’t even imagine what her father would say. She’d been so foolish thinking if she claimed Noah it would make a difference. It wouldn’t make a difference. He’d kill her mate and then ground her for the next three centuries. Then she’d be back to living in a teenage holding pattern. Would her strength stay without Noah’s blood or would she go back to the way she’d been before?
All she’d been to Noah was nostalgia. It was embarrassing. Of course he’d latch onto her given the circumstances he’d lived in for years. Of course he’d confuse his feelings and think she was his mate. He hadn’t lived like a normal wolf. He didn’t even know how to be a wolf. And now he clearly regretted everything. The wall that had gone up around him the last time she’d fed… and that distance…
Before they’d left, she’d seen something in his eyes, like he wanted to kill her. A mate’s first instinct was supposed to be to protect, not whatever it was she’d seen before he’d brushed her off.
They rode straight through the night, pushing the limits of speed the bikes were capable of. Sydney was sure they could move much faster without the bikes, but they couldn’t bring anything that way. Everyone had been asked to leave most of their belongings behind. It was unreasonable to ask them to give up literally everything they owned.
Even though Sydney only stopped twice to refuel, it was a surprise when they reached Cary Town. The sun would be up soon, and although she could sense it coming, she didn’t feel tired.
The Cary Town Luxury Apartments were a far cry from luxury now. The building looked condemned. Sydney pulled into the parking lot and got off the bike. The other wolves followed suit. She’d forgotten they were there for most of the trip. She’d been too busy wrapped up in her pity party, but now she was alert. She didn’t sense any extra magic that would indicate the magic users from the city had beat them here, but they’d need to be on high alert until the sun went down again and they could get magic protections put on the place.
Sydney took a deep breath and took the helmet off. Any idiot would be able to tell she’d been crying. Crying made her puffy, and even vampire healing didn’t seem to erase the evidence any faster than on a human. The universe seemed determined to display her misery to the world.
“It’s not much, but we’ll fix it up. Your dad can get us set up with electricity and water and computer tech stuff, right, Noah?”
“Yeah,” he said, noncommittally.
He was almost back to the way he’d been when she’d first seen him in the cell next to hers, before she’d known he was Noah. He seemed just as dangerous and unreadable now as he had then.
“Room keys are going to be behind the front desk. They have the old-fashioned keys. They never switched to key cards before the place was deserted, so getting into rooms shouldn’t be a problem. Noah and I will be in the penthouse.”
The wolves followed her into the lobby. If she imagined really hard she could remember what the place had been like when she was a small child. Everything had been deep cherry paneled and gleaming and golden and sparkling with a large crystal chandelier in the center of the lobby. The walls were lined with mirrors from about halfway up the wall to the high ceilings. The floor had been such shiny tile you could see your reflection in it as you walked.
Cobwebs and dust covered everything now. Nothing was gleaming. Everything looked dull and in disrepair. Sydney caught a glimpse of herself in the clouded dirty mirror. Her demon form looked back out at her, so strong it almost overpowered the human side completely now.
Noah hadn’t said a word since they left, and he still wasn’t talking. Sydney ignored the tension and went to the front desk. She pulled a map from the drawer and put it on the counter. The wolves gathered around.
“Is this okay, guys? I mean, obviously it needs a lot of work, but it’s got everything we need. Plenty of rooms for everyone. There’s a big kitchen and a restaurant we can use for meals when we get it fixed up. There are conference rooms we can have pack meetings in. There’s a gym and a pool as well as a pool on the rooftop. It’s got everything. It’ll just need a LOT of work to get back to how it was. And I know some magic people who might be able to help it along.” It would need magic if it was ever going to go back to its former glory. Assuming Dayne and Greta and Tam and Anna agreed to help.
The pack tensed at that.
“No… they’re friends,” she said. But the wolves didn’t seem convinced. With the exception of the witch that had given them the enchanted music, magic users were persona non grata with them.
Sydney took the penthouse key from the peg on the wall. “We’ll have to take the stairs until the elevator is operational,” she said unnecessarily. Not that any of them had trouble with stairs. Sydney could move so fast now, six flights of stairs were more like six stairs, and wolf fitness was beyond elite human athlete level. Nobody needed elevators.
The wolves studied the map and picked their own keys and Sydney headed for the stairs. She felt Noah behind her but didn’t look back. She couldn’t let him see her cry right now. The sun would be up soon, and she needed to get to safety.
She coughed when she pushed open the penthouse door. The dark green carpet in the hallway was threadbare, and she squealed and jumped when a field mouse ran by. At least it wasn’t a rat. Three more mice ran out behind the first one, then they squeezed under the door to the stairwell.
“Someone needs to do something about the pest problem,” she said.
Noah still wasn’t talking.
“I understand if, now that you’re home, you think marking me was a mistake. But between that and my claim, we’re tied together now. There’s nothing you can do to fix it short of killing me.” Maybe that was a stupid thing to say.