Second Fate

19

Vine's brooding look challenged my decision, but I kept to it. I wasn't going to pay for a smirking cab driver to cross the street with us in the back like a pair of idiots. The distance to my flat might have been a little closer to three streets than one, but my opinion remained the same. After all, the place in front of the club, which was hewn into the city's asphalt like a stone clearing, was bordering onto one of the main streets. They were heavily frequented despite the late hour and the sidewalks were flooded with artificial light streaming from tall streetlamps.

It would be laughable to pay for a cab, I repeated my reasoning internally, while we reached the end of this brightly lit street and had to enter a smaller alley. Two more corners, and we'd be at my flat. Easy as pie.

But the tension hadn't left Vine throughout the whole walk. His eyes were wandering over the streets restlessly, checking every house entry, corner and shadow we passed by – as if he expected to be attacked any second now.

I pressed his arm to make him look at me.

"We're there soon", I promised him. "No more than two minutes. Three maybe."

I'd meant to calm him down a little, but my words seemed to have no effect. Instead of a reply, he quickened his step.

Muttering my disapproval, I tried to keep up in my heels. "We. Are. There. Soon."

After a quick glance at my tortured feet, Vine slowed down and put a hand on my elbow. I got the feeling that he considered carrying me down the alley to speed up our arrival.

I rolled my eyes.

"Unbelievable", he muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, what is?"

"You are. Aren't you the least bit scared?" His forehead was in wrinkles, while we turned around the second to last corner.

Here, the streetlamps were older and couldn't banish the dark entirely. In their dim light, the shadows grew into giants climbing up the house fronts.

What if he was right and we were being followed home? I'd felt safe around humans but in these side alleys, there was no life. The residents had jobs and responsibilities, so they'd all tucked in for the night. Not a single light was on.

Suddenly I felt a bit regretful about refusing the cab.

"My place isn't far", I repeated as much to him as to myself.

Perhaps he'd heard the nervous undertone in my voice because there were no further questions. For a while, the only noises between us were the clacking of my heels and my rapidly beating heart.

In the distance, the siren of an ambulance swelled up and I flinched.

Vine's hand wandered up my arm and over my back to pull me closer to him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything", he admitted. "It's better when you're not scared."

Even if it was a silent acknowledgment of my doubts, I pressed against him and let myself be soothed by the undeniable fact that he was here with me. Without the cold night air separating us, the alley seemed less threatening already.

We'd probably be fine.

"They wouldn't do anything to you. And even if – I wouldn't let them", he muttered, without interrupting his scan of the surroundings for even a second.

I didn't respond because I had no clue if he was fooling himself. Even if the Montgomerys seemed like a couple of crazy people to me, they'd been his mate's family. They should've been his family by extension.