“Okay,” I mumbled, which seemed to shock him.
It was a shock to me as well, but he wasn’t wrong. I’d rather not have this dark cloud appearing over me every time I saw him. The Diana I used to be, wasn’t here anymore, she was a ghost, but I remembered that she was happy.
Would it be so bad to try and be her again?
This hot and cold within me, wanting peace but wanting to remain angry at the same time, was tearing me apart.
I held my hand out, gesturing for Kaleem to walk ahead of me. “Lead the way,” I told him. “One drink, and that’s it.”
***
I downed my second glass of the specially brewed alcohol for wolves and sighed while its warmth spread across my chest. Across from me, I could see Kaleem smiling behind his glass, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
We’d found a relatively empty bar, and after one drink I still felt on edge, so I decided to have another. If we were to talk, I’d need to lose some of my anger, and I was hoping the alcohol would do that.
“I can literally see you smiling,” I grumbled, and he lowered his glass to the table.
“I remember you being a lightweight,” he replied. “So maybe you should slow down.”
“Or maybe you shouldn’t tell me what to do,Alpha. You asked me to drink with you,” I pointed at him. “So let me drink.”
He leaned back, a smirk on his lips, and I rolled my eyes and looked away. Goddess, he was beautiful. Why did I agree to have this drink with him again?
“You were always temperamental, but it has gotten worse,” he said while drumming his fingers on the table. “People say I’m scary, but you outshine me there.”
“Well,” I drawled. “With the things I’ve experienced, you’d change too.”
His cheerful attitude seemed to die then, and the skin on his forehead creased. “Diana, I didn’t know your pack would wander for years without a territory.”
I held my hand up. “I know that, Kaleem. You did what you had to.”
Kaleem wasn’t to be blamed in that regard. Colin was when he’d failed at being a good alpha. He’d failed royally.
I sipped my drink while looking around the bar. There were a few humans, a witch, and a male fae behind the bar, his white hair short and spiky, which emphasized his pointy ears.
“I’ve missed it here,” I said more to myself than Kaleem. “Do you think it’s going to snow? It’s getting colder by the day.”
“Perhaps,” Kaleem replied. “It snowed the night we met.”
“Did it?” I grumbled while scanning the bar still, but I was only trying to avoid his piercing stare.
“You forgot?” he asked, and I shook my head.
No, I hadn’t forgotten. How could I? It had been a shock to both of us that we’d been so close for years. I was a few years younger than Kaleem, but we’d been so close for years until we met deep in the woods, where it was rumored dark creatures could be found.
I’d decided to prove my bravery to Jackson and the others who thought I wasn’t bold enough to face a dark creature alone, and at the time, there had been rumors an untamed vampire was living in the forest. Tamed vampires were those who weren’t classified as dark creatures because they’d curved their hunger for blood. The untamed were vile, blood-thirsty beasts.
Kaleem had heard the rumors and took it upon himself to check that neither of us found a vampire. Instead, we found each other.
Back then, I hadn’t left the pack unless necessary. Marian’s family had lived close to our territory, and that was how we met. I was the pack nurse of sorts with a natural affinity for knowing herbs and their uses, so I spent most of my time in the pack while my dad worked in town.
“It started to snow the second I laid eyes on you,” Kaleem spoke and pulled me from my thoughts.
“You scared me,” I laughed while remembering that night. “I’d never met a vampire before and wasn’t sure how they were meant to smell. When I smelt you at first, I was so confused that I was drawn to it. I was so worried it was the vampire playing a trick on me that I didn’t notice there was the smell of a wolf under that sweetness.”
Kaleem leaned forward across the table and crossed his arms. “You think my scent is sweet?”
“Not the point,” I rebutted, and he chuckled.