“I don’t want respectful. I want normal. Or at least as normal as things can be.” A futile wish and Luca knew it. “Just use my name.”
Seung bowed her head.
“And that too.”
She raised her gaze.
“Don’t bow. It’s also weird.”
Her confused expression spread into a grin. “Alright, call you Luca, and no bowing.”
“Thank you.”
She got out and so did Dr. Dante.
Nox stared out the window in the direction of the woods edging the far end of the field.
Luca nudged him.
He gave Luca his attention and his stern expression melted.
“Are we going in or sleeping here?”
Nox glanced at the farmhouse.
“C’mon.” Luca nudged him again before he got out.
Nox followed but stalled at the bumper of the station wagon. Again he watched the woods. His breathing hitched. Shivers racked his body despite the sweat gluing his shirt to his skin.
“Are you okay?” Luca said.
“I have no idea. I just feel…” Nox shook his head. “Disconnected? Like I’m here but not? I know that doesn’t make any sense.”
“It started when you got the first dose of Rakta from Isaiah,” Seung said.
Nox frowned. “Maybe. Yeah, yeah, I think so.”
“But now it’s worse.”
Nox flinched. “Yeah.”
She nodded. “Isiah’s blood has weakened your tie to Luca.”
“Tie?” Where had Luca heard that word? “Isaiah said something about those.”
“Yeah, they’re connections, bonds if you want to call them that. They’re what holds everything from a pack together to dedicated bedmates. There are at least a dozen different types and ways they form. But they all need to be reestablished.Sajatiis the strongest and made by the wolf.” She gave them both a knowing look. “Or, in your case, the Anubis.”
Nox shook his head and made a frustrated sound. “I’m going to go hunt.” He started toward the woods.
“Deer isn’t what you should hunt,” Seung said.
Nox froze.
“It’s not what the Anubiswantsto hunt.”
In one fluid movement not born of the natural world, Nox was in front of Seung, towering over her, his massive form vibrating with potential violence.
Luca tried to get in between them.