I’d moved out of my parents’ treehouse a year back, shortly before I’d applied to become a field agent. It felt like the natural thing to do, also part of the “new me” thing. I still had coffee with them every morning, but I did appreciate my newfound independence. The best part was that my parents encouraged me, no matter what I chose to do with my life.
“Just the basics,” I replied with a shrug. “We’re going to be there for three days before we come back for Harper and Caspian’s shindig, anyway.”
Mom laughed. “How many books?”
“A dozen,” I grumbled, then became defensive when I saw them both trying so hard not to poke fun at me. “What? I might get bored.”
“Sweetie, we’ll be out for most of our stay. We’ve got dinner with the Blackhalls tonight, followed by brunch with Vita and Bijarki tomorrow, plus a slew of activities throughout the trip. I doubt you’ll have time to read.”
“I think it’s best to be prepared, either way,” I muttered.
“Suit yourself. You’re the one who has to drag that thing around,” Mom replied, pointing at my trunk.
“Wait till the Blackhalls take you out,” Dad said. “I heard Aida was keen to have you around for their werewolf training session with Lumi tonight.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You just want me out of the house more, don’t you?”
“What gave that away?” Dad retorted, wearing a half-smile.
“Wait, hold on, Aida wants what?” I asked, after processing the rest of Dad’s statement.
“She wants you present for the shift,” he said.
I briefly remembered mentioning to Aida back at Serena’s dinner party that it would’ve been cool to watch her and her brothers turn into werewolves at once, but I hadn’t thought she’d actually want me there!
“That’s a pretty intimate moment for me to be a part of,” I murmured, blushing.
“Well, she wants you there,” Dad said, shrugging. “You and Aida have become good friends over the past year, Amelia. I’m not surprised that she’d want you with her when all the Blackhall siblings shift.”
That part was true. Aida and I had seen a lot more of each other lately. Whenever I went to Calliope for special GASP trainings, whenever she popped by The Shade with Field and Voss, she never forgot to come by and see me. In a way, she and I were a lot alike. Granted, I didn’t have her confidence, in general, but she was just as shy, sometimes. I considered her a kindred spirit of sorts, someone I looked up to.
“Wow, I don’t know what to say,” I managed. “I mean, she didn’t tell me anything about it.”
Dad’s face went white. “Crap.”
“What?” I asked.
“It was supposed to be a surprise,” he said, suddenly remembering. “She asked me not to tell you. My bad. Can you pretend I never told you?” he added, wearing a sheepish smile.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure, Dad, I’ll help you save face in front of the Blackhalls. We don’t want anybody thinking that Erik Novalik is starting to lose his vampy, mysterious touch.”
“Last time I checked, I ran circles around you in our father-daughter training session,” he shot back. “I’m pretty sure I’ve still got my game, so don’t get coy with me, young lady.”
Ever since I’d turned vampire, Dad had been determined to train me. Thanks to him and our bi-weekly practice nights, I’d honed my skills to a superior level—which, in the end, had helped me qualify for the field agent position. Simply becoming a vampire wasn’t enough to be in GASP. We had to bring something to the table.
Dad handed my ass to me on a regular basis in training, of course, but, even so, I’d reached some impressive physical milestones because of him. All I had to do now was apply everything I’d learned in the field. And that was the part that made me nervous. The field. I’d yet to receive my first mission, but I was eager to get into it. I figured it was like ripping off a band-aid. The quicker it came off, the better.
“No argument there,” I replied, and motioned for the portal. “Now, can we get going already, so I can act all surprised when Aida asks me to join her and her brothers in the garden?”
Mom laughed and took Dad’s hand. They stepped through the portal first. I went in last.
I had to hold my breath for a few moments as we walked from one dimension to another. It was still an intense experience for me. It would take a while for me to fully wrap my head around it all, since I understood the quantum physics behind it more than most.
For a few minutes, the three of us were suspended in time and space, making our way through a wormhole of sorts, with transparent walls and a full, brilliant view of the cosmos itself. It was breathtaking. Every. Damn. Time.
By the time I set foot through the destination portal and into Luceria’s throne room, my head was buzzing with delight. I could do this over and over, if possible. I could spend days in that wormhole, just to study its characteristics and better understand the principles upon which it functioned. But I had to save that for another time. Socializing with the Blackhalls was a priority for that night.
Dinner was delightful, as always. I couldn’t get enough of the spiced blood, while Dmitri, Jovi, Aida, and Bastien devoured a considerable amount of grilled meats. Victoria, Anjani, Douma, and Field worked hard not to laugh. In between bites, Aida always made sure to feed little Voss, too. He’d been moved to solids, and was quite partial to the grill as well.
They were funny to watch, I thought. Voss was looking more and more like his mom with each day that passed, but there was also a shadow of Field permanently etched into his expression. I had a feeling he’d grow up to become a fearsome Novak—and just as funny as his Blackhall uncles, with the influence they had on him.
Smack in the middle of dinner, baby Voss pushed a morsel of food away and wiggled out of Aida’s hold. He slid down to the floor, then quivered and went full wolf. Well, full pup. He was the cutest little thing, with puffy black fur and amber eyes like his mom, his high-pitched howling making everyone go into a collective “Aw!”
“Wow, his shifts are so smooth,” I said, genuinely amazed. “It took him seconds. Any hawk manifestations yet?”
Aida laughed. “No, no wings for now, but he’s young. He’s got time to show us what he got from his dad. And yes, the shifts are way better now. Lumi took him on the moment he started to crawl… It’s amazing how far he’s come with the right guidance.”
She picked her pup up and resumed her meal, occasionally letting Voss scarf down a piece of grilled meat. He huffed whenever she gave him a vegetable, but he ate it anyway. It was his way of protesting the menu.
“It’s amazing we’ve lived this long without knowing what we could do, as werewolves!” Bastien chimed in, shaking his head in amusement. “I grew up thinking I was the only wolf who could shift whenever I wanted, independent of the full moon. Then, lo and behold, in came Lumi and turned it all upside down.”
“But that’s good, right?” Dad asked.
“Oh, absolutely,” Jovi replied. “I’ve turned three times so far, and I have to say it’s amazing. It’s like all the exhaustion and bad energy I gather in human form over the course of weeks or days… it just evaporates when I go full wolf.”
“Like therapy,” Aida said. “It’s cathartic, if you ask me. The best stress relief!”
Dmitri groaned, then leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms, pouting like a little boy. “Well, goody for you two. Three, if we count the little spud, there.”
