Gaslight (Crossbreed #4)(20)
A few nails popped out of the board, and Christian pried off the lid with his bare hands.
“She’s afraid,” Niko murmured. He knelt down on one knee before the crate.
The board hit the floor with a loud thud, and Viktor tossed the crowbar aside. I watched eagerly to see what kind of animal would leap out.
Slender fingers gripped the top of the crate from inside, and a head emerged, pieces of straw clinging to her hair.
Shepherd cut a sharp look toward Viktor. “She didn’t travel in animal form?” he growled.
The woman peered over the top of the crate at the semicircle of strangers.
“Huh. Red hair,” Blue muttered.
“Why do you say it like that?” I asked quietly.
“It’s a rare color among Shifters. They supposedly have stronger offspring than the rest of us. Not all wolves have an alpha child, but redheads almost always do. Assuming she’s a wolf.” Blue sucked on her teeth and gave the crate a skeptical glance. “I hope Viktor knows what he’s doing. I don’t want my bird to end up on her dinner plate.”
“Maybe she’s a mouse and she’ll end up on yours.”
Blue chuckled and shifted her weight to one leg. Despite the late hour, her tomahawk was hanging on the side of her dark-green cargo pants. Blue’s tough demeanor and wardrobe never entirely erased the fact that she had a killer body. She stood two inches taller than me, and that was when she didn’t have her boots on. She appraised the new girl as if working out a problem in her head.
Kira rose to her feet, and I admired the length of her wavy hair. The red changed to a golden shade at the ends, a blazing ombré effect resembling fire.
“Claude’s gonna love that hair,” Blue mused.
Kira’s sage-green dress was old-fashioned, the laces tied in front. Beneath was a long-sleeve blouse with drawstrings on the cuffs. Her copper-colored eyes looked among us, and when she found Viktor, her expression changed to one of relief.
Viktor clasped her hands and planted a kiss on each cheek. When he spoke, it wasn’t with the usual Russian words and speech pattern I was familiar with.
Gem furrowed a brow and stepped out of line. Then she cartoonishly whirled around to face us. “I’ve never heard that language before. Ever.”
“There’s a first,” Wyatt quipped.
Viktor said something and gestured toward Christian. She nodded warily.
“Help her out,” Viktor ordered him. “Her legs are weak from the confinement. I do not wish her to fall on her first night.”
The moment my Vampire partner tucked his hands beneath her arms, a knot tightened in my stomach. It was obvious by her guarded reaction that they had never been intimate, but Christian wasn’t exactly blasé about the graceful way in which he handled her.
When her bare feet touched the ground, Claude rushed forward. “She’s hurt.”
No blood oozed from the gash on her foot, but the bloodstains told the story that she hadn’t been handled with care.
When Claude crouched in what was clearly a posture to lick her wounds, Shepherd yanked him back.
“You don’t waste time with introductions, do you? Keep your tongue in your mouth. I’ll get my bag.” Shepherd brushed past us toward the medical room down the hall.
Niko could have healed a cut that small, even after sustaining injuries tonight. But I had a feeling he wasn’t eager to reveal his Mage gifts to a complete stranger on the first night. Aside from that, he never wasted healing light on superficial wounds. Still, he remained in a genuflecting position.
Wyatt strutted toward her, hand extended. “I’m Wyatt Blessing. Affable, handsome, and your tour guide of the afterlife.”
Blue’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. “She doesn’t understand you.”
He peered over his shoulder, arm still extended. “How do you know what she does and doesn’t know, buttercup?”
“Because Viktor would have greeted her in English.”
Wyatt completed his unreciprocated handshake with a flamboyant bow, removing his hat and then stepping aside.
“How do we communicate with her?” Gem asked. “I don’t know the language you two were speaking.”
Viktor steadied Kira’s arm as she wobbled, not having used her legs for who knew how many hours or days. “Kira speaks a dead language known to very few. She’s a bright girl and will learn quickly if she chooses.”
“She doesn’t speak any Slavic languages? German? Russian?”
“Nyet. She only left the farm to deliver messages for her aging father. That is my understanding, but we have much to catch up on after she settles in.”
Shepherd reappeared with a medical kit. “Wyatt, grab that chair. I can’t do this with her standing up.”
Wyatt dragged a green upholstered chair away from the wall, and Viktor helped her to sit. I’d never seen anyone with such a regal posture—as if she were looking upon her loyal subjects. Viktor plucked a few pieces of straw from her hair, and between words, I caught our names. He must have been giving her the scoop on each of us. When he got to Shepherd, a flutter of laughter caught in her throat before she silenced herself.
Shepherd gave Viktor the evil eye as he pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. If I’d been a betting woman, which I was, I’d guess that Viktor had just given her the speech about Shepherd’s ability to offend.