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and spent some time with me.”

This was another subject matter that Vlad was having difficulty  broaching. He was torn between thinking that Ivan was somehow  stringing along Eli’s hopes, or believing that Ivan really was seeing  the things that he claimed.

Ivan just wished he had some way to prove to his brother that he  was not mentally unstable or randomly violent.

Vlad seemed to decide that Ivan’s time spent with Eli was  harmless, at least. “Well, I guess there’s that, but even being with one  person all the way out there can be dangerous. People in this pack  have been attacked at that pond. It’s too far off the main property.”

That was right. The pond might be on pack land, but there was so  much land here that it could not all be watched all of the time, and the

farther away one went from the houses, the more risk there was of  being accosted by the wild werewolves who roamed the outskirts of  the property.

Apparently James DeWitt, the pack alpha, had bested another  pack alpha and had taken his land for his own, the members of the  other pack vanishing as they were freed from the old rule.

That defeated alpha, in his anger, had created a large group of  wild werewolves and set them loose on the land. Sometimes they  were known to enter pack territory, and because that pond was not  exactly close by, it was dangerous to go alone.

Dangerous for the omega wolves, that is, who were too small to  fight back, needed the protection of their alphas, and were not as  quick to run away.

“I know the dangers, but I can hardly go there during the daytime  with the others.”

The pack made a family event out of swimming in that pond, taking the omegas and the children along with them to cool off during the hot hours of midday.

Of course, being vampires, Ivan and Vlad could not attend such functions. Vlad seemed at peace with this, but Ivan enjoyed having

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the pond all to himself.

“I am fast enough to run away from any threat and strong enough  to defend myself,” Ivan said.

Unlike Vlad, Ivan had grown up having to constantly fend off the  spirits wishing to possess him. He knew how to fight back.

Vlad’s lips thinned. “Very well, just, let me know the next time  you wish to go out there. I will go with you. It’s much harder to sneak  up on two vampires than it is one.”

Especially because vampires had no natural scent that the  werewolves could pick up on.

Not wishing to argue any longer, Ivan simply nodded and agreed,  and then Vlad went off in search of Andrew, his werewolf mate,

while Ivan had naught to look forward to but spending the rest of the  night by himself.

Not for the first time since coming to this land, he damned Eric  Martin for ever coming into his life.

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Chapter Three

Eric sat on top of the brand-new roof that had been installed on the cottage where he and his brother used to live. After Eric’s death,  Eli moved out, unable to stomach being inside the cottage they both shared. Then, when Eli took a mate, he happily built a cottage of his own that the two could have, giving them some privacy and preventing the need to share with any of the other alphas or omegas.

No one had bothered to move into the cottage Eric and Eli used to live in. They feared it, and more than once Eli overheard the children whispering to each other that it was haunted.

Which it must be, considering Eric was still here. He’d stayed with his pack, unable to move on, until the day he was mysteriously transported to Ivan.

He didn’t know how it happened originally, but once it did, he could not stop himself from splitting his time between his pack and  Ivan.

Now Ivan was here, and he was living in the cottage that Eric used to live in. He was eating at the table that Eric had once eaten at and sleeping in Eric’s old bed.

The sun was high in the middle of the sky, so it was more than likely that Ivan would be inside, the heavy curtains pulled shut, sleeping.

Eric wanted nothing better than to let himself drift through the roof and into the house, walk into that bedroom, and wake Ivan up the best way he knew how.

His dick pulsed at the thought of putting Ivan’s cock in his mouth and teasing the other man until he woke up.

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He forced himself to not do anything but keep watch over his pack and make sure that no wandering spirits came too close to Ivan.

He saw none today. Maybe it was going to be a good day.

What a stupid thing to think about. Of course it wasn’t going to be a good day. Ivan was growing more and more miserable as the days progressed, and no matter what Eric said to himself, he couldn’t stop himself from being such a pussy and just come out and tell Ivan the truth.

What they were doing, what they had been doing, would not

work.

A living being could not live happily with a wandering spirit.

Eric would just leave if he could, but he didn’t know how to cross over, and so he was trapped on this plane of existence.

Even if he knew how to leave, he knew that he wouldn’t. He

couldn’t leave his brother a second time, and he couldn’t leave Ivan

alone to be constantly attacked and beaten by wandering, angry  spirits.

Eric wished he knew what their problem was. Eric was dead, too,  and he wasn’t running around haunting people.

Eli and Chris walked out the door of the small cottage they’d built  together, hand in hand. Eric watched them go with a mix of happiness  for his brother and envy.

“He can see him,” Eli insisted. “You should hear him talk,

everything he says. He knows things about me and Eric that we never  told anyone before.”

Chris still sounded a little skeptical, like he wanted to believe and  be happy for his lover, but at the same time was hoping for Eli to slow  it down a bit just in case his hopes would be crushed. “I hope you’re  right, and I hope he is, too, but for someone to be able to see  ghosts…”

“Werewolves and vampires and a lot of other things that normal  people don’t think about are real, so why not this?”

“Yeah, but the normal people are the ones who don’t believe in

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vampires and werewolves and ghosts. You and I know for a fact that  two out of those three mentioned are real, but if ghosts were real, if  there really was a bunch of spirits wandering around here since the  dawn of time, why haven’t any vampires and werewolves seen any of  them until now?”

Eli clenched the muscles in his neck and frowned. He was being stubborn, as usual. Eric smiled at the sight.

“Ivan said that it was Eric who pulled you out of the pond that day. He really is here. You said it might be him, and it was him. He saved your life.”

Yeah, Chris had nearly drowned in the pond that Ivan was so fond of visiting. It was the healing pond, and still no one knew where its powers came from.

The day Eric had been murdered, Eli had tried bringing him to the pond, but its powers hadn’t worked on Eric. He didn’t heal, and he didn’t return to life.

Chris, however, was a different story. Maybe it was because of the man’s multicolored eyes. According to werewolf legend, they were good luck, so maybe that had played a part in it.

Chris had been wounded by another werewolf, and like before, Eli had brought him to the pond, hoping for a miracle.

The miracle happened, but not until after Eli had thought he was too late and his mate had died. Eric had been there when it happened, and he’d mourned for his brother’s loss.

Only then, after Eli had allowed Chris’s body to sink to the bottom of the pond and ran off to get his revenge, did the healing powers of the pond finally take place.

For some reason, the pond not only healed Chris, but also brought him back to life. The problem was that it turned out the poor guy didn’t know how to swim.

Eric had to do something at that point. Whether or not he came back to life again was not a risk he could take if Chris would have drowned in the water, and even though he hadn’t been able to

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physically touch anything before, he ran into the water, grabbed Chris  around the back of his neck, and then pulled the man to safety.

That had been the first time Eric was able to physically touch  anyone, and he hadn’t been able to do it to anyone other than Ivan  since. Was it because Chris had the lucky eyes of Romulus and  Remus? Or maybe because they had been in the healing pond when  Eric pulled him out? He didn’t know.

Maybe that was the reason for Eric’s sudden departure and  meeting with Ivan. Maybe making contact with the man with  multicolored eyes had somehow given Eric enough luck to meet Ivan.

Just not enough luck for the both of them to be alive when that  meeting occurred.

He’d been so stupid. Why hadn’t he resisted before? Why let it get  to this point at all? Completely stupid.

“I just hope you’re right about him,” Chris said.

Eric didn’t blame the other man for his lack of faith. Werewolves

prayed to the spirits of Romulus and Remus all the time, but to have  someone who claimed to have a direct link to them was something  else entirely.

“I am right,” Eli said, his voice filled with all the faith he  possessed, and Eric’s heart, if he still had one, or maybe just the  empty space inside of his chest, felt warm.

I miss you, too, bro.

A commotion sounded as several of the younger teens and  children started running back to the group of houses, and Eric and  every other adult looked to see what had them spooked. A gray Ford  truck that neither Eric, nor anybody else in the pack judging by their  expressions, recognized drove in through the unpaved road, slowly  riding along the dirt clearing before coming to a stop where all the  other vehicles in the pack were either parked or broken down and  being used for scrap metal.

A woman stepped out. She was tall, slightly big boned, with her  long, straight hair kept back with a red bandana. The wind blew as she

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stepped out, ruffling her long brown skirt and gold hair.

As James was not immediately on hand, Eli was the one to step  forward. Eric jumped off the roof and ran forward to be next to his  brother. Likely this woman was just lost and in need of directions, but  there was something about her hippie look, the floral flip-flops, and  dream-catcher earrings that had him intrigued.

“Can I help you?” Eli asked. He was big and dark enough that her  attention was immediately on him as the speaker. Anyone who was  still transformed as a wolf was easily able to slip away into the trees  and hide until the woman left.

She looked at him and smiled, holding out her hand for Eli to shake. “Yes, my name is Opal Drew. Are you James DeWitt?”

Eli took her hand and shook it anyway. “No, but he should be around. There a message I can give to him?”

It was never good to assume things. Eric was aware that Eli knew this. Just because this woman in the strange clothes was asking for  James didn’t mean she knew anything about werewolves. For all anyone knew, she was here to talk about the giant hunk of land they’d all been sitting on for the last couple of months and ask James if he was interested in selling off a couple of acres of it.

“I would rather speak to him in person, if he’s available.”

She was polite enough, and Eli nodded to Chris, who went off in search of their pack leader. James would likely be out hunting, but if that was the case, Chris would need to find him, and fast, bring him back to the main part of pack land, sneak him into his house to put on some clothes, and then come out to meet the woman who wanted to

see him so badly.

While Eli was explaining that it might take several minutes to

bring James out here, Opal looked right at Eric.

His breath caught in his throat as her pale-green eyes locked onto

his.

She could see him. Just like Ivan, she could actually see him. Eric knew this wasn’t a mistake or even a coincidence that she was

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looking at something just beyond him. Nope. It was him she saw.

The extra little bit of confirmation was when her eyes went down,  almost against their will, and she blushed and looked away as she  caught sight of his dick.

Well, what the hell did you expect, lady?
 
he wanted to ask. He’d  died when he was naked. It wasn’t like he had any clothes to wear.

He walked up to her, stepping right through one of the teenage  weres who was staring at Opal like she was the most amazing thing  he’d ever seen.

All the newcomers to the pack had been male, after all. Poor kid was in a desperate need of a social life outside of the pack.