Remy sat waiting expectantly for Nadia to start asking questions. She fiddled around with her tea mug, staring down into the liquid as though it held all the answers she needed instead of the man seated across from her. He wanted to sit closer and his wolf was even urging him to do so, but he felt it better to stay a bit farther away.
Though he was slowly getting more control over his urges and they had cleared the air somewhat, now wasn't time to play with fire. Nadia wanted to take things slow and he was determined to stick to that.
"Well... I guess first of all... how old are you?" she asked, looking over at him. "I mean... do you guys live forever or something?"
Remy chuckled as he shifted around in the chair, getting more comfortable. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night. Thankfully, he had told Chloe and Tate that he was coming here and the patrols could contact him by phone or mindlink if they needed him. So far, everything was quiet though he wasn't sure how long that would last.
"We don't. Only fae, vampires, gods, and demons have immortality that I'm aware of. Shifters... most of us live longer than the average human and age slower, but not like hundreds and hundreds of years," he replied. "I've heard of some living to 250 or so, but around here, most shifters live about 150 to 200 at the most. I'm only 33, though."
Nadia's eyebrows rose as her cheeks flushed slightly. She gulped and looked down at her mug. Remy thought back to everything he had learned from Ms. Ingrid, hoping he could shed more light on what she could be facing since she wasn't completely wolf.
"Ms. Ingrid, she said that Havsfru live longer than that, but I don't know how much longer," he continued.
"Wow. Okay. So I could be around a lot longer than I expected," she said with a breathless laugh before taking a gulp of tea. "About this fated mate thing... is there anything else you know about it?"
Remy sighed as he looked down at his own mug. He was grateful he had found out a bit more information, though what he would give for more. At least so he could know what to expect.
"I've been researching it since I found out. Most I've already told you - alpha and royal bloodlines. There are stories, yea, but most of them are more akin to fairy tales and it's hard to know what's true and what's not," he said. "I do know that the bond between us, it'll push us to be together. To complete the mating process."
Nadia's cheeks flared a bright red as she sat up a bit straighter and her eyes widened. Remy wished he could see into her mind, but was pretty sure she was thinking of all the shit that had come out in books and movies. While some of them got it right, others had taken considerable liberties with their traditions.
It seemed Nadia had read some of those.
Immediately, Remy was tempted to mess with her. Perhaps get her to admit what she was thinking about right now. Thankfully, his rational side was in control.
As much as part of him wouldn't mind a repeat of earlier today, it was also important to build trust with Nadia.
"It's not what you're thinking," he said quickly. "Or well, I suppose some of it might be. Completing our mating process just means that we mark each other. Typically on the neck. It'll solidify our connection. You'll be able to connect with my mind and I'll be able to do it with yours. That's a normal part of choosing a mate, but with us... the connection is deeper. The bond stronger."
Nadia didn't speak, but only nodded slowly as she looked away.
"So you'll be in my head?" she asked.
"Well... yea... but only what you want me to hear or see," Remy said. "I have a similar connection with the pack and with the other leaders in town. It's mostly just a quicker way to communicate. Though with them, it only works at certain distances. And I would never invade your privacy or anything."
Nadia looked over at him, looking somewhat relieved.
"Good. I'm pretty sure if you were in my head all the time, you might question just why the gods put us together," she said wryly. Remy frowned. "It's... a lot."
"Nothing I can't handle," he replied quickly. Nadia just quirked an eyebrow at him. "I told you about my dad and everything."
"Yea, well... you were justified. I just fucked up."
Remy sat up and leaned forward, not sure where Nadia was going with this. She looked back down at her tea mug and sighed heavily.
"I wrote a story about a politician accusing him of covering up a murder and it turned out to be false," she said quickly. "I let my ambition blind me because I wanted to get on the investigative team. Even though something inside me told me to stop and take a deeper look, I went ahead. And in the process completely screwed up my career and almost his life. No one will hire me to be a reporter. And they shouldn't."
Silence filled the room after that as Nadia continued to stare at her mug. Remy wasn't sure how to respond. Sure the town had a small newspaper, but it wasn't anything hard-hitting, nor did anything that serious ever happened in Fisher's Bay. Not until recently, anyway.
"That's why I left Boston and jumped at the chance to come here. God, I really am like my mother..."
Remy pulled in a deep breath, still not sure what to say, but he knew he had to say something.
"I-"
"No, it's okay. You don't have to say anything," she said, finally looking over at him. She gave him a wobbly smile. "So... what's it like to turn into a wolf?"
Remy blinked a few times, not really wanting to change the subject, but willing to go with it.
"I don't really think about it any more. At first it was hard. A bit painful. Now, it happens so naturally," he said, sitting back in his chair. "It's like... I have this presence in my head. It's him. We can communicate in a way, though he doesn't use words. And when I shift, I'm mostly in control, but I can let him take the reins."
"Is it like... having a completely different person in there?" she asked, leaning towards him a bit.
"Yes and no. He's part of me, but it's not like I have a voice talking to me or DID. It's just another part of me," Remy said, struggling a bit with explaining it. He realized that he never had to. "We agree most of the time and sometimes we don't."
"I think I'm following," Nadia replied. "Though I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Well, we don't know yet if you'll have a wolf," Remy said. "You might. Or you might have a seaform. I'm not sure what that's like... Ms. Ingrid didn't really get into the details of it. I think it was too hard for her to talk about."
Nadia looked back at her mug, her brow furrowed. Remy felt like there was more she wasn't telling him. Had she heard something? She then shook her head and leaned back on the sofa, a small smile on her face.
"I can't believe that I believe all this. It's... ridiculous," she said, looking over at him.
"It's life," he replied. "You'll get used to it when it happens. And I'll be here to help. Chloe and Tate too."
"Honestly, it kind of makes sense that he turns into a bear," Nadia commented.
"Rob Nichols is a bear too," Remy chimed in.
Nadia's eyebrows shot up and she chuckled.
"Right. No one in town is human," she said. She glanced down at her mug and back over at Remy. "Up for some wine? Or do you need to be somewhere. I can't help but think I'm keeping you from work."
"I'm okay with wine. It takes a lot to get a shifter drunk. We burn through alcohol pretty quickly. And I have my phone and this," he said, tapping the side of his head. "If anything happens on patrol, I'll know almost instantly."
Nadia stared at him a moment before shaking her head as she pushed up off the sofa and started towards the kitchen.
"I still don't know if I'll even get used to that," she called out.
"You'd be surprised," he replied, turning to watch her.
"You run patrols every night?" she called back.
"Yep, though we have more people out than usual with everything going on."
"And you're still sure that it's Havsfru?"
"Not completely, but we do have more people watching the coastline," Remy said. "Whatever it is, they seem to have found a hole in our barriers along the coast and keep getting through."
Nadia returned, two glasses of wine in her hands. She held one out to Remy as she walked past him. He took it and watched her go back to her earlier spot on the couch.
"Barriers? You mentioned something about demons and borders," she replied.
"Our coven uses their magic to create a protective barrier around the borders of the town. It keeps anything unwanted out and typically alerts us to when or if they should get through," he replied. "Agatha, the high priestess, she's a piece of work, but she's good. It's frustrating her more than anyone that something keeps finding a way through."
Nadia frowned as she took a sip of her wine and Remy swore he could see the gears starting to turn in her head.
"How did Trevor get through?" she asked.
"He's human. We don't typically worry about them," Remy replied.
"But shouldn't you?" Nadia asked, looking over at him. "They could be working with whoever it is killing people."
"They-"
Remy stopped, almost wanting to smack himself. Of course. He never considered that whoever had a grudge against the town could use a human to get through their borders. Most supernaturals were too busy hiding what they were and the others were too busy playing with them.
Still, how could he be so stupid?
"Ah, so humans are so low on the food chain, you never considered it," Nadia said, a smug smile on her face.
"It's not that-"
"You sure?"
Remy didn't say anything but he finally huffed and shot a smile at her.
"Okay, you've made a good point," he said, reaching into his pocket for his phone. Sure it was late, but the town's protection couldn't wait.
"So... who would use a human to lure fishermen out into the sea so they could murder them?" Nadia murmured as he quickly sent Agatha a message to ward the barrier against humans too.
She quickly replied that she already had after some human got into town earlier in the day and that she needed her beauty rest so to leave her alone unless it was an emergency.
Remy sighed while putting his phone away, not wanting to think that this was a demon, but more and more, he realized that he couldn't ignore the possibility anymore.
Havsfru were too isolated. It didn't seem like them to reach out to a human. Not to mention, he couldn't think of a single reason why they would want to kill the people of Fisher's Bay unless it was related to Ms. Ingrid's death.
"No enemies in nearby communities?"
Remy looked over at her.
"No. We're on good terms with everyone that's close enough that could pull this off. It's really not that often that we have any conflicts anymore - physical ones, anyway. Draws too much attention and we like to keep things low key," he replied.
"I hate to say it, but it seems like a demon would be your best option," Nadia replied with a sigh. "What else can you tell me about the one that killed your father?"
Remy tensed, not really wanting to revisit that experience again. But it seemed like they had no choice.
"Like I said, Balthazar just showed up and started killing until my father faced him. Dad fought him, but... it was a slaughter," Remy said, tightly gripping the mug. "I wanted to fight too, but Dad ordered me to stay back. I couldn't disobey that order."
Nadia didn't say anything, just sat silently watching him as though she was giving him time and space to tell the story at his own pace.
"After he killed him, he looked at me and said 'This is what happens when you play with demons, pup.'" He then created a portal and left. Took me forever to track him down again," Remy said, willing the overwhelming anger to dissipate.
Balthazar was gone. He had made sure of that. So why would another demon be attacking the town now and trying to make it look like a Havsfru?
"They create portals?" Nadia asked. Remy nodded.
"Again, we strengthened the protections around our borders so they can't come in," he replied. "I suspect Agatha got help from Cian, but she's too proud to admit it... I just can't seem to figure out why now? I killed him years ago."
"Maybe someone was waiting for the right time to put some crazy elaborate plan into place," Nadia said.
Remy looked over at her, the urge to protect her nearly overwhelming him. He wasn't completely sure where it came from, but it had his wolf on alert. Was this somehow connected to the fact that they were fated mates? It seemed impossible - Remy only recently found out himself.
He stood and walked towards the windows at the front of the house, looking out into the night.
"Everything okay?" Nadia asked.
"Yea, just... I think I'm going to take a look around outside. Just to be safe. I'll be right back," he said, putting his wine glass on the table.
"Okay," Nadia replied.
He then stepped outside, shutting the door behind him before he pulled in a deep breath. Yes, he wanted to take a look around to make sure Nadia was safe, but part of him wondered if it was because he was still avoiding getting too deep into his father's death.
Either way, at least he had something to focus on that wasn't that.
Author's Note: Tada! Brand new chapter! This too was not in the previous version. I was struggling with the last few chapters, feeling like we were missing something. So I decided rather than glossing over the "explaining things" conversation, I would write it. Kind of some important information. Though if I ever publish this series, I have a feeling this chapter will need further cleaning up.
Anywho, hope you're enjoying. Thanks for reading!