Chapter 93: A Little Puppy

Blair stared blankly out the passenger window, watching the endless blur of snow-covered pines rush by.

Heather is alive.

She repeated the words over and over in her head, but they didn’t bring her the relief she was hoping for. Daemus had delivered the news, but that was all he had. He didn’t know if she was safe, if she was healthy, who she was with, or where she was being kept. The informant only managed to confirm she was breathing.

Blair’s brow furrowed. She found that incredibly hard to believe. If this person knew Heather was alive, they must have physically laid eyes on her, right? Obviously, they weren’t getting the full story.

She turned her head, looking over at Daemus. He was sitting in the middle seat, his baby brother perched happily in his lap, tapping away at a colorful game on his phone.

"Do we have any more favors?" Blair asked quietly, leaning just a fraction closer.

Daemus’s silver eyes blew wide open. His head snapped up. He shot a frantic, wide-eyed look toward the driver’s seat, then quickly mouthed the word later to Blair, his eyes darting back and forth between her and his mother.

Blair stiffened, realizing she had almost exposed them. She offered a tight nod and sat back against her seat with a heavy sigh.

At least she is alive, Blair tried to reassure herself, staring back out at the snow.

She could only pray that Heather was safe and well. There were stories of beastmen taking human pets, torturing them right to the cusp of death, but keeping them breathing just to prolong the game. Heather had been so eager, so desperate to stand at a wealthy beastman’s side. Blair squeezed her eyes shut, praying to the heavens that her roommate had managed to find a kind beastman. As impossibly rare as they were.

A sudden, light pressure on her arm pulled Blair from her dark thoughts.

She looked down. A tiny hand was gripping her sleeve. Following the arm up, she saw a messy mop of dark blue hair and two fluffy, twitching ears. Daemus’s baby brother was climbing over the center console and right into her lap.

His little dark blue tail swished back and forth excitedly as he looked up at her, offering a bright, toothy smile.

Blair’s cheeks instantly flushed a warm pink. "He’s so cute," she gushed quietly, completely melting at the sight. "A cute, little baby beastman."

Kael babbled happily, his silver eyes sparkling as he stood up on her thighs. He reached out with both his tiny hands, gently grabbing her cheeks and squishing her face.

Daemus leaned his head back against the cold window glass, a small, fond smile touching his lips as he watched Blair play with his baby brother.

But beneath his smile, a terrible guilt was eating him alive.

The Snake Prince has Heather. Daemus had purposefully left that crucial detail out. He couldn’t tell her. He refused to let Blair deal with the snakes ever again. She had almost died saving his life; she didn’t need to put herself in any more danger trying to track down her roommate.

He was going to find Heather for her. It was the least he could do.

I’m her boyfriend, after all, Daemus reasoned in his head, his chest swelling slightly with pride. I have to protect her.

The thought of the title made his smile widen just a fraction. He looked at Blair, who was currently giggling as Kael poked her nose. My pretty girlfriend.

"He’s usually very shy," Daemus told her smoothly, resting his arm across the back of the seats. "My brother must like pretty, shy girls too."

Blair’s face instantly burned a brilliant shade of crimson. She ducked her head, suddenly very interested in Kael’s little shoes.

Right as she looked down, Kael’s form blurred. With a soft poof, the toddler vanished, replaced instantly by a tiny, dark blue wolf pup standing right in her lap.

Blair let out a startled, delighted squeal. He looked exactly like a fluffy, oversized puppy. He was a little ball of soft fur, his tiny tail wagging so hard his entire back half wiggled as Blair gently caressed his head.

"You aren’t cold, dear?" Clarice suddenly asked, glancing back at Blair through the rearview mirror.

Even with the car’s heater blasting, the chill of the mountains still seeped through the windows.

"I’m not cold," Blair assured her quickly, pulling Kael’s warm, furry body a little closer to her chest.

The car ride stretched on for hours, the bright white snow outside slowly fading into the deep purple shadows of dusk. They finally pulled into the snowy parking lot of a rustic timber lodge resting right at the foot of the cold mountains. They would stay here for the night before making the rest of the journey.

Inside the cozy, fire-lit lobby, a problem quickly presented itself. The lodge only had two rooms left, and both only had single beds.

"Daemus will take his own room," Clarice suggested smoothly, accepting the room keys from the front desk. "Blair, Kael, and I will share the other."

"Why can’t Blair stay with me?" Daemus argued immediately, crossing his arms.

Blair shifted uncomfortably on her feet. Sharing a bed with Daemus’s mother sounded incredibly awkward and intimidating, but she remembered the full moon was tomorrow night. She needed to stay far, far away from him.

Clarice let out a tired sigh, turning to level her son with a stern glare. "You know exactly why, Daemus."

Daemus frowned, his jaw tightening. "I’m in control."

"For now," Clarice corrected sharply. "Blair is staying with me. End of argument."

Without waiting for another word, Clarice grabbed Blair by the arm and pulled her down the hallway, leaving the towering Wolf Prince standing in the lobby holding all their luggage.

Inside the small, warm room, Blair stood in front of the bathroom mirror. She had a thick wool beanie pulled down tight over her head, carefully hiding the iridescent roots growing from her scalp. She stared hard at her reflection. She couldn’t allow something like this to slip again.

She showered quickly and changed into the clothes Clarice had packed for her. They all belonged to Luna. The sweatpants and long-sleeve shirt fit a bit too snug for Blair’s liking, hugging curves she usually preferred to hide in oversized sweaters, but it was infinitely better than being naked.

Naked.

The word echoed in her brain, instantly conjuring up the image of Daemus dropping his towel.

Blair shook her head, slapping her hands against her hot cheeks. Not the time, she scolded herself.

She stepped out of the bathroom. Clarice was already in her pajamas, laying a few extra blankets and a pillow out on the wooden floor.

"Kael shifts a lot in his sleep," Clarice explained, pointing to the floor. "So you can sleep here. Kael and I will take the bed."

"Okay," Blair agreed easily.

"You should get some sleep," Clarice instructed softly, fluffing a pillow on the bed. "We leave early tomorrow morning. We are still a day or two away from the academy."

Blair nodded and stepped over to the makeshift bed. She lay down, pulling the blanket up to her chin. The hardness of the floor pressing against her spine, paired with the flat, saggy pillow, felt strangely nostalgic. It was exactly like her cot back at the church. It reminded her of home.

Clarice reached over and clicked the bedside lamp off, plunging the small room into darkness.

Blair lay quietly, staring up at the dark ceiling. Just as the exhaustion of the long day finally began to pull her into sleep, she felt something furry walk right over her hand.

Her eyes shot open. A scream bubbled up in her throat, but she quickly swallowed it when she saw the familiar outline of a tiny wolf pup in the dark. Kael circled twice on the floorboards before nestling his warm, fluffy body right into her side.

Blair smiled, her heart melting all over again. "Hey, little guy," she whispered into the dark. "You wanna come sleep with me?"

Kael let out a soft, sleepy huff in response.

The room fell into a peaceful silence. But a few moments later, the quiet was broken.

From the bed across the room, Blair heard the muffled sound of Clarice crying. The quiet, heartbreaking sobs echoed in the dark room.

Blair’s heart sank like a stone. She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders, squeezing her eyes shut as the crushing weight of guilt settled heavily on her chest.

It’s all my fault.