She'd never cried in front of anyone save for her mother, not since she was a baby.

When she'd regained her composure, she tried to speak without losing it. "When I talk to everyone…you guys are talking about the future. Tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. And then I have to remember that maybe I won't be there after tomorrow. Maybe the other person will win, and I'll die. That's what happens to werewolves who lose their alpha's challenge. They die." Her voice broke. "I never cared. I never had a lot, my life wasn't great. But now I'm looking forward to so much. And I might lose it."

So much for keeping it together; she was bawling.

Alexius pressed his forehead to hers, and remained like that until her tears were dry. Then, he carried her in his arms.

"You'll get wet."

He wore something that looked like it should get dry-cleaned, as usual.

"You say that like I'm supposed to care."

She managed a chuckle as he carried her to her bed and tucked her in before hopping on top of the small mattress. She tucked herself against him and he held her in silence.

Heat slowly returned to her limbs, and she stopped shivering.

Somehow, she fell asleep for the first time this week.

And woke up on the day of the full moon.

End of the Tunnel

He knew better than to trust Avani's cheerful demeanor the next day, not after her meltdown. She smiled all morning, all afternoon, running around all day to see her friends.

Alexius realized what she was doing around five in the afternoon. Making sure she saw everyone. Saying her goodbyes.

Fuck no.

She wasn't dying. She wasn't dying even if he had to kill every single member of the pack to ensure it. That said, he was pissed at her attitude, her negativity, because if she got into a fight with that mindset, the likelihood of her losing was much higher. And for what it was worth, he would prefer to avoid ripping a hundred or so wolves apart.

"Now I just need to go to—"

"No. Enough."

She stopped to look at him, confused.

"You need to rest. You've been on your feet all day. I need you to be in good form tonight. Sleep, and I'll wake you up at ten."

She bit her lip, no doubt seeing the logic behind his words, but still reluctant.

"I should go speak to Fin today, before…"

"To see him before you die?" he guessed, his voice curt.

Her eyes averted from his.

"No," he repeated. "You resting is far more important than your preparing for the worst."

"He's been a good friend. A great mentor."

"And if he were here, he'd tell you to get your ass to bed." They were going nowhere. "I'll tell him to stop by my place tonight. Is that good enough?"

She sighed. "I can't sleep," Avani confessed. "Not well. I mean, I managed last night, but…"

"I have draughts that can help with that."

Out of arguments, she let him take her back to his room and took three drops of sleeping draught to take the edge off.

The next five hours might as well have been five days. He spent the entire time sitting up, looking at the woman cocooned in the middle of his bed. She'd become the greater part of his life, the better part of his own mind and soul.

His. She was his. His to kiss, to console when she was sad, his to take wildly in the middle of the night, his to keep.

Suddenly, a wild thought entered his mind. He had to count the seconds until ten, eager to share his idea with her, and yet, so very nervous about it.

He woke her with a kiss and a gentle caress.

"Hey, sleepy head."

She yawned and stretched, like a languorous cat. Every single one of her actions was so graceful, she could have been a dancer.

Blinking, Avani jumped to her feet and rushed to the bathroom, as she always did. She brushed her teeth before speaking to him, ever since she'd found out he woke up without morning breath.

Someday, he'd tell her that had to do with a potion he'd concocted, not with being a vampire. He could make it for her, but everything she did was so entertaining, he didn't want to stop it yet.

"What time is it?"

"Just past ten. You have time."

"And you've called Fin, right?"

He had. Whether the fae would be joining them was another matter. Fin Varra did as Fin Varra cared to do, and that was it.

"Come over here. I want to talk to you."

She rolled her eyes. "We are talking." She came closer anyway, sitting right on his hips and curling her index finger in his hair.

Distracting. "So, what?"

"I have a proposal for you."

She laughed. "It must be bad if it takes you this much time to spit it out. Go on."

"I'd like you to drink my blood, if you don't mind."

She tilted her head and frowned.

"As well as healing you faster, like it did last time, vampire blood also tends to temporarily increase your strength and your energy level. You said it yourself; you haven't slept well recently, you're not in top form. I'd feel better if you were a little stronger." He paused, knowing he had to be entirely honest. "And if something does happen to you, in the end, having my blood in your system preemptively would also help me bring you back."

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. After a minute, she tried a second time. "You don't mean as a weird zombie like the huntsman dude, right?"

He smiled. "As one of us. As a vampire. It's something you'd have to think about, and agree to. It'd condemn you to an eternity of drinking blood to survive, having control issues ten times worse than any werewolves, and—"

"And spending that eternity with you. Assuming we don't get on each other's nerves by the end of the century."

"Yes." Heat and need colored his voice; he knew his eyes were red, betraying how much he wanted her to agree. "That, too. Though we could part ways. Who's to say what tomorrow's made of? I'm no seer. For now, I'm only concerned with your immediate survival."

Avani grinned, then laughed.

"What?"

"I didn't think of it. All this time, terrified of being killed, and I didn't, for one moment, think about asking any of you to turn me if things go wrong."

That wasn't an answer. "Was that a yes?"

He needed a yes. "That's a hell yes. Please. Last time I was hurt, my mother and Knox made that choice for me. I'd be delighted. And honored. It's the best thing that ever happened to me, but it wasn't my choice. This, I want. I choose."

If she had something else to add, he'd never know, because he'd plunged to her lips, needing her with a raw, wild abandon. His hand dipped into her PJ pants, and finding her wet, he growled with satisfaction. He teased her, his finger now familiar with her every curve, so getting her to moan for him took no time at all.

"God."

"My name's Alexius, ma'am."

She laughed at his terrible jokes, all the while pushing his torso down on the bed. He bit his lip, watching her peel the shorts off her long legs and climb over him. "So, my pussy's so good you want it until the end of time?"

"I just figured it might take me a century or two to get you to give me that ass."

She pulled her tongue out. "Never."

He rolled his eyes. "So you say."

Avani impaled herself on him and rode him slow and deep, running her hands over his torso. He groaned, clawing her ass and grabbing her hips.

She lifted her knees, pulling herself up in a squat and lowered herself down on him to the hilt.

"Fuck!"

The angle. The depth! She was just so fucking tight around him. And she did it again. And again. And again. Increasingly faster, harder, making him yell each time.

Damn, he was going to embarrass himself and come in a minute. He wasn't even sorry. Another squat. He exploded inside her, groaning, tightening his hold. Never mind. He always came three or four times with her; his dick was hard again within an instant for Avani Parker.

His mind was still full of cotton when she leaned over him, her mouth opened wide, baring fangs; not just two elongated canines like his—her mouth was full of actual wolf fangs, meant to rip apart her adversaries. He could have—should have—been petrified, not aroused.

Her teeth broke the skin of his right shoulder and she sucked at him. He groaned again, thrusting up inside her.

She lowered her knee back on the bed and rode him as he screwed her, never letting go of his shoulder.

He didn't think he'd ever come that hard. He was actually seeing stars, and incapable of moving, breathing in unison with her.

He kissed her lightly. "Come on. Shower, then you have some ass to kick."

They were down the hill in half an hour, arriving a little early in the narrow valley between the lake, the Wolvswoods, and Night Hill.

Alexius held Avani close, wishing he didn't have to let go, knowing he would. He respected her strength and understood her need to prove herself, to free herself from the pack.

If their paranoia proved founded and there was something else going on, they were ready. Levi himself was patrolling the hill with Sylvan, his best slayer, who'd arrived sometime when Alexius had been otherwise engaged that day. There were huntsmen in the shadows everywhere. Mikar, Cat, Bash, and the witches weren't far either.

Alexius had never truly felt like he was part of something bigger before today. But the way they had each other's backs made it clear. He was a part of it. An important part of it. Every time he'd been there for them, showing up just because he had nothing else to do? It had mattered.

He tensed as he smelled the wolves approach. Four of them, and there was something else underneath.

"What is that?" Ruby glared in the distance.

If Alexius hadn't been concentrating quite as much, he might have mistaken the scent of the stranger for that of a mortal. Instead, there was more to it. Something he couldn't identify. It almost seemed like the scent of a fledgling vampire before transition—a mix of immortal blood covered in darkness, iron, and blood—although not quite.