A Fall of Secrets

She smiled. “I’m not even sure that wolves can turn into vampires. Perhaps it’s something that could be done with the assistance of the black witches… But honestly, I’m not sure I could handle being so cold all the time.”

“You get used to it,” I said grimly.

“Hey, Aiden!” a familiar voice called from outside the cabin.

I walked over to the door and opened it. Claudia stood on my doorstep, hands on her hips.

I raised a brow. “What brings you here, Mrs. Lazaroff?”

She cast a fleeting glance over my shoulder into the cabin and waved at Kailyn. “Hi, Kailyn,” she said.

The wolf appeared at my side. She gave Claudia a smile. “Hello.”

Claudia looked back at me. “Well, as you know, Yuri and I have some… business to do.”

She paused.

“And?” I prompted.

“And it means that not only will he and I turn back into humans, we’re going to leave this island for a while. Like Xavier and Vivienne, Yuri and I didn’t ever have a proper honeymoon. We were stuck on this island as vampires.”

“When will you turn?”

“Tomorrow morning. We’ll take the cure and leave right afterward—assuming we recover quickly. So… I wanted to invite you round now, to catch up on a few things and to say goodbye.”

“Oh, I see.” I looked down at Kailyn. “Would you like to come?”

Claudia cleared her throat. “Yuri wanted to have a bit of private time with you. You know, man to man.”

Kailyn was quick to pick up on the hint. “You go, Aiden. I’ll stay here, or I might even go to my sister’s cabin to see how she’s settling in with Micah.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you back here in a while.”

I gave her a hug before setting off with Claudia down the mountainside. I cast her a curious glance. “Man to man?”

“Well, I’ll be in on the conversation too but…” Her voice trailed off. “Kailyn,” she mouthed silently. I had no idea why the couple would want to talk to me about Kailyn. But now wasn’t the time to press. We had to reach the treehouse, where we would be far enough from Kailyn for there to be too many other noises for her to distinguish our voices.

We reached the couple’s treehouse in a matter of minutes. Entering through the doorway, Claudia called out, “Baby.”

Yuri strolled into the entryway. He gave me a smile before leading us into the living room and sitting down on the couch, gesturing that I do the same. I sat down in an armchair opposite him while Claudia sat next to him.

“Glad you could make it,” Yuri said.

“Claudia tells me you’re leaving the island tomorrow.”

“That’s the plan.” Yuri placed an arm around Claudia’s shoulder.

“Where will you go?”

Claudia’s face lit up. She placed a tender kiss on Yuri’s cheek. “We didn’t want to be copycats and go to Greece like Xavier and Vivienne. So I convinced Yuri to take me to Paris.”

“Paris?”

“Uh-huh.” Claudia nodded, a huge grin on her face. “My father was a Frenchman. And Yuri has French roots too, on his mother’s side.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. I could just imagine Claudia prancing along a Parisian boulevard, bags of shopping dangling from her arms as she dragged Yuri along behind her.

I gave Yuri a broad smile. “Make sure you bring enough cash.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Anyway,” Claudia said, “I didn’t just call you here to say goodbye. I wanted to talk to you about Adelle.”

I groaned internally. “What about Adelle?”

Claudia exchanged glances with Yuri. “She’s broken up with Eli.”

“What?”

Yuri nodded.

“Why?” My mouth hung open.

“From what I managed to get out of Eli,” Claudia said, “she didn’t give a reason. She just said she felt that they needed a break… But I have a theory. I think she broke up with Eli because of you.”

I narrowed my eyes on Claudia. “What makes you say that?”

She shrugged. “Just intuition, I guess…”

I let out a groan. The last thing I wanted was for Adelle to break up with Eli. I’d been devastated when they’d first gotten together, but since I’d met Kailyn, I’d grown to feel pleased for the couple. Eli deserved happiness just as much as I did.

“That’s why you didn’t want Kailyn here,” I muttered.

Claudia nodded.

I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m not sure why you’re telling me this. Adelle doesn’t concern me anymore. You know I’m with Kailyn.”

“I just thought you ought to know,” Claudia said.

I stood up from the armchair and walked over to the window. I stared out at the tree branches. “I loved Adelle for years,” I said softly. “There was nothing stopping her from approaching me if she’d felt the same.”

“Well, witches are different than wolves,” Claudia said. “They’re more traditional.”

I exhaled sharply. “I’m with Kailyn now.” I realized that I was repeating myself. I was saying this more to myself than to anyone else.

I’m with Kailyn. She’s right for me.

I turned around again to look at the couple. “So was that all you wanted to tell me?”