The sound of a door creaking open roused Vesper from a sleepless rest, causing her full ear to twitch and swivel backwards. She continued to face the wall, however, curled up into a ball in the lupus form she’d frantically reclaimed after the agony of her first shift. It was probably just Enkiel checking up on her, which meant another silent visit of letting him do what he needed and bothering him the least that she possibly could. The silence wasn’t as uncomfortable as being looked over, anyway, but she’d resigned herself to being treated. She might have been a stubborn ass of a proud female, but she wasn’t a suicidal idiot.

The coywolf closed her eyes, tucking her slender muzzle between curled forelegs, but the sudden bellow of “You!” made her head jerk up. She turned and glanced at the dusky male in disbelief, large ears turned toward him.

“Fuck you,” Vesper said flatly, her features tired rather than angry. She managed to shift her weight slightly, lazily tossing her hips to so she could lean on her other side. She winced, but the show of weakness didn’t persist longer than that single moment.

“Fuck you,” she repeated dryly. “Now what do you want?” Her blue eyes wandered over his form, one that she hadn’t seen yet. It made him look even shiftier than before, though she was somewhat pleased to see that he had some bandages and healing wounds of his own.

“Aww, you don’t look so pretty anymore,” the newly-changed luperci mocked, and her smirk wavered between hate and exhaustion.

A bark of cruel laughter escaped the dusky coyote, and Vesper frowned coldly at his comment before offering a rough, amused smirk. “I suppose not. But I’m not going to just sit on my ass if a prissy little girl threatens me.” She paused, head tilted in an almost charming manner. “Didn’t sit on my ass for the mongrel luperci who gave me these new ones, either.”

Her haughty, scornful demeanor faded away slightly as he stepped up to her, effectively using the breach of personal space to intimidate. Any other time, she might have snapped at him—but she remembered a situation like this before, his stench in her nostrils and his breath on her pelt. It unnerved her, almost scared her, but she did her best to keep a straight face. They were no longer on neutral lands; she was in his clan’s territory under the watch of his clan’s healer. This gave her enough confidence to turn her muzzle toward him, eyes cold and defiant.

But the moment of danger passed as the male, frowning, pulled away. Her brown-caped fur lay flat, and the coywolf quickly, angrily averted her eyes from him as she guessed what he’d just discovered. She hated what she’d become, after trying so long to prove herself as a non-luperci. Her work would be hypocritical now; it was easy to say that she had been perfectly fine, once, if she was changed. The anger faded, and she gave a small scar on her leg a lick.

Vesper snorted when he spoke. “It was close, and I was bleeding and completely out of my fucking mind.” She glanced at him with an arrogant smirk, not altogether serious. “Though the place is nice so far—this little room alone has a pretty nice set-up.” Her movements carefully slow but smooth, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and locked eyes with him.

“Let’s get this straight. I don’t know if I’m staying here or not; Inferni seemed pretty damn interesting, which was why I was so close that other night.” She managed not to allow her voice to falter as she remembered the stars framed by the trees, that night when he’d assaulted her. She frowned momentarily then went on: “But you’re obviously going to want to destroy me if you get your chance.” One last pause, hoping that he would get this fact through his thick skull and learn his place with her. “But for as long as I’m here, under Inferni’s protection or a part of Inferni, and you make one move toward me—I’ll let them know what you tried to do when we met.” Her gaze hardened, and it was clear she wasn’t talking about a trivial fight, the chasing of a rogue from the borders. No, there were sins that ran deeper than that, and she figured his leaders would frown on taking a coyote against her will.

Unexpectedly, the dusky coyote knelt next to the bed, his bronze eyes staring at her without a word. She resisted the urge to scoot away from him like—well, an injured and frightened animal, though that was what she was. Few canines were able to get under her skin like this, but he had found a way to burrow deeply, intimidating the normally fearless woman.

Calmly, the male informed her that she was not as protected as she claimed. His smooth voice rattled her, but she kept her mouth shut, not confident enough to argue against what he said. She knew that Enkiel wouldn’t let her get ripped apart as long as she was a patient of his, but as soon as she was improved enough to leave the guest house, she was consciously aware she was in foreign territory. A lump in her throat bobbed as she swallowed, though her blue eyes did not turn away from his, refused to turn away.

Vesper went deathly still as he drew close once more, his breath hissing around her face as he made some facts very clear. Teeth glittered as he informed her of her place in the clan, and she finally let her eyes drop until he stood. There was no arguing with him, and she knew that she wouldn’t give him any reasons to be pissed at her if she could help it—not here, on his turf. Ultimately, it would be up to her decision and the acceptance or rejection of the leaders, but until then she knew to tread carefully. It pained her to be knocked down from the lofty podium she’d claimed as a wild, free, defiant non-luperci, but the fact was that her world had been turned upside down again.

She was a new Vesper, for better or worse.

What also bothered her was that she could respect him—a fearful, intimidated kind of respect, but something that he definitely earned if he could cause her to revert into this wary individual. She hated him, and she doubted she would ever completely forgive him for his behavior the first night they met, but as a warrior and as a ranked member of the clan, she had to respect him.

He had crossed the room in the time she’d spent thinking, her blue eyes fixed on her forepaws, but now he spoke to her again, telling her to get better with obvious frustration.

Vesper blinked then dipped her head. “Y-yeah. I’ll try.” She pushed her forequarters up, sitting and facing him. “I hope we’re comrades before we’re enemies.”