***
Vivienne came awake with a start, blinked, and pushed her body up. It had been a dream, a bad one, but a dream nonetheless.
She’d been running beside a wolf, a sleekly built white wolf with intense blue eyes a shade lighter than Conall’s. It had been like running with Eli or Zahira, but in the dream, she was in a forest. She didn’t know how she knew it was a forest, and not Conall’s estate, but she did. When she came to a halt, breathing hard and laughing down at the animal beside her, she’d noticed the wolf was sitting on its haunches, silently staring up at her.
“What’s the matter?” The fact she’d spoken to the creature told her that it was a werewolf. She’d leaned down to touch the wolf’s head and quicker than the blink of an eye, the wolf had attacked, catching her hand in its powerful jaws. The bite had awoken her, and it was for that reason her heart pounded fiercely, her mind slowly coming to terms with the fact she’d just had a nightmare.
Strong arms encircled her body, and she was pulled back down to the bed. Conall easily maneuvered her body so she faced him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked softly, and when she continued to stare at him wide-eyed, not seeing him but the white wolf who’d bitten her, he probed her mind himself. When he pulled away, he tightened his arms against her and nuzzled her cheek and neck.
You had a bad dream, alainn.
“It was so real,” Vivienne whispered, and Conall’s lips settled over hers. He traced kisses from her lips to her cheek, across her face, down her neck, and she slowly relaxed. “A dream.”
He nodded against her, and she closed her eyes. Almost instantly, she opened them again. The wolf had been staring directly at her.
***
The dream was all but forgotten when Vivienne walked into the dining room the next morning.
It was crowded. Well, not crowded, but she was usually accustomed to seeing at most two people when she came down. Sometimes the young girl who stocked the refrigerator was there, sometimes Sloan or Raoul. Eli was a late riser, so on the occasions where she slept in, she would have breakfast with him. But today, almost every were she knew was in the dining room.
Conall sat at the head of the table, with Raoul and Sloan on either side of him. Zahira sat opposite Verity. Eli was toward the end of the table. Latriel sat next to Eli. They had all been speaking as she descended the stairs, but the moment she walked into the kitchen, the conversation stopped.
Feeling self-conscious, Vivienne offered a little smile, and found Conall’s eyes. An empty chair was next to Raoul, and she watched as Raoul scooted over to it, making the chair next to Conall free.
She took a seat, and immediately Eli asked her what she wanted to drink. Passing the excited teenager—okay, so what he was thirty-something, he still acted like a teenager—a grin, she told him sweet tea.
“What’s going on?” she whispered to Conall when the conversation had resumed.
“The preparation for your blood rite,” he replied blandly, indicating the people around the table, and the large portions of food in the middle. She saw scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, strips of bacon, ham, sausages. “What would you like for breakfast?”
Vivienne didn’t answer. She simply stared at the people around the table in confusion. Conall grabbed a plate and passed it to Raoul, who spooned a serving of eggs onto it, and passed it to Sloan. He added a generous helping of sausages and passed it along. Everyone placed something onto her plate before it was handed back to Raoul, who then laid it out in front of her. She glanced down, her mouth slightly open as she tried to understand what was happening.
“Is it not enough, alainn?”
She looked up to find Conall’s eyes teasing her. A little smirk was on his lips. How could he tease at a time like this?
Eli chose that moment to deposit a mug filled with tea next to her plate.
“Anything else, Viv?” he asked eagerly, and Conall turned to glare up at his nephew. Eli only smiled and walked back to his seat.
Vivienne leaned closer to Conall, her hand on his thigh beneath the table. She squeezed lightly, needing his explanation of what was happening.
They’re showing you their support, alainn. Zahira arrived with Verity about half an hour ago, and Latriel showed up after.
She turned her gaze to the Elders, who, as if expecting her to have done so, smiled at her and dipped their heads. Acceptance. She smiled, looking to the familiar faces of Sloan, Raoul, and Eli. Raoul and Eli grinned at her, and Sloan stared at her in a type of reverent way that told her if he were one given to smiling, he would have smiled as well. She smiled and nodded to each of them.