I left you hanging yesterday, and I’m sorry. There was a massive storm again, and it knocked out the hotel’s entire electrical system before I could finish the post. It took hours for it to come back online. 

I am 99 percent certain the storm was caused by what happened in the courtyard with those demons. Who knows? Maybe the statue sucked all the demon bodies back up again?

The healers in the Healers’ Hall were able to give Ryrk something restorative. He was back to full strength within a matter of moments. Marea, a young healer I have met once or twice, efficiently treated his wounds. She didn’t seem the least bit afraid of him. 

Even though he was a strong, very dangerous creature. 

Tol texted the head of security about the attack.

I found myself being interrogated by them again. Aodhan Adrastos, Kierce Adrastos, and Cormac Jareth. 

The three musketeers of intimidation. 

They asked so many questions and so rapidly that Ryrk stood from where the healer was examining him and crossed his massive arms and challenged the three male warriors right there in the small healing chamber. Demanding to know why they were harassing me, after I had been so viciously attacked! Asking if this is how all Dardaptoan females are treated.

Well, that just ended up as horribly as you can imagine. 

I ended up telling Cormac again that I knew nothing about what was happening in this place. And then, feeling more fire than I have in a long, long time, I demanded of Kierce to know what he was doing to find the ones threatening me in the first place. Or if he had bothered to do anything at all? 

I will admit, staying in the hotel these weeks, I am getting a bit more forward in my words than I have been before. 

Maybe a part of me has just…let my sisters do my speaking for me?

Not exactly something I am proud of.

I asked all three males the question that had been burning in my mind for weeks now: Have they just put me on the sixth floor and forgotten about me? 

None of the trio could give me a satisfactory answer. But at least, they know now that I am not going to just be pushed around any longer. 

I can’t. 

I won’t just stay up here forgotten forever. 

I can’t. I may not have a Rajni but I have a full life left to live. 

I can’t do that if I’m stuck in a two-room suite at the back of the sixth floor.

I need to stop making assumptions. Ryrk is…a good hero, I think.

I know, the exact opposite of what I was saying in my last post. But without Ryrk, I’d probably be dead. Tol, too. 

I was in the courtyard—the private one, looking for an ancient statue of one of the ancestresses of the Woald. I hadn’t even known it existed, but I found mention of it in Alaun’s research, and I wanted photos of it—since my family is very unlikely to ever be given access to the private gardens at the hotel. 

An ancient Woald had had the statue commissioned more than five hundred years ago and brought to Colorado all the way from South America, back when Dhar Rydere led us north in the Dardanos Great Migration. 

My parents came north then. They were always filled with stories of the Woalds that came before. One day, now that I am getting more comfortable writing things out, I am going to write their stories down. For the Woalds that come after.

Maybe that will be my gift to the world. My contribution, so to speak. My name will go down in history, just like Alaun’s. Wonder what old prune-faced Maryin would think about that?

When they left the old tribe, the Woalds numbered three hundred and forty-two. My mother and father were not found by one another yet. They found each other in a moment of horrible danger for my mother—on the journey. 

I have always loved the story. I will tell it to you sometime. It is so beautiful. 

Every last Woald left the old tribe for the Dardanos Great Migration then. The former dhar was an Adrastos, and everyone said he was not well liked. Mother had said he was almost cruel—especially to those humbler tribes. Woalds have always epitomized humble in so many ways.

Definitely arrogant. 

That is a trait that most Adrastos share, as far as I can tell. 

I have met many Adrastos in my day, after all. 

I miss my parents tonight. It would have been their anniversary today. I will never stop grieving them. 

I have digressed, haven’t I? I should tell you about Ryrk. 

He is an arrogant wolf. Of that, I am one hundred percent certain. 

But without him, I would have been killed. 

Demons attacked in the private courtyard today. The instant I touched the statue of Aerim that I found in the middle of the courtyard. 

There was this horrible wailing sound—it almost sounded like a real beansidhe.  

The sky overhead clouded instantly. It went pitch-black. It was like something out of a Harlos Trianu novel!

(In case you’ve never read him, he’s that horror author who thinks his books are soooo much better than Alaun’s. He’s made all sorts of comments about romance that is extremely rude. He’s good—but Alaun is worlds better. I mean, the demons in his book eat Dardaptoans! Not exactly something I want to consider…especially today!)

Anyway, I screamed. A demon was right there in front of me, hideous and fanged. He had actual horns and wings! Then there were others. 

They seemed to be coming from the statue. From her heart.

I screamed and tried to run. 

Then my cousin Uruses was there. He and Tol battled back the six or seven demons. One was coming for me. 

I tried to pull myself to my feet. The demons weren’t super large. I managed, somehow. 

Tol shouted at me to run. To get inside and go straight to the main security office. 

I tried. I truly did. 

But they had him on the ground. Uruses hit them with a garden hoe, but it wasn’t enough. 

I couldn’t let them kill Tol. I couldn’t.

I had no real weapon, but there was a rake right there. 

I did what I could. 

Then…a dark wolf ran right by me. 

A Lupoiux. 

The battle was over within moments. Then the Lupoiux shifted—not even two yards from where I stood. Ryrk. It shouldn’t have surprised me that it was Ryrk, but it did.

He had blood streaming down his muscled chest. He staggered. 

I moved to him quickly, ignoring Uruses’s hiss to stay far from such an animal. 

It wasn’t an animal in front of me bleeding, but a living, breathing male who had risked his own safety to save me and Tol. And Uruses as well, for that matter—grumpy old goat that my cousin is. 

I didn’t listen to Ryrk’s protests that he could walk. I know Lupoiux heal exceptionally quickly, but… “L-let me help you to the healers. And…thank you. You and Tol saved my life.”

I looked at my guard. He was wounded, as well, but in far better shape than the wolf. He was brushing dirt off his Thurgis-olive pardus.  “Are you ok, Jume?”

“Bruises. Terrified. But I will be ok. It’s the Lu—Ryrk who is the most injured!”

Couldn’t they see that? Ryrk was leaning heavily on my shoulders, and he was a big-enough male that I was feeling it. But I tightened my arm around his waist. 

The Healers’ Hall was just off the justice hall. I knew the back way. “Hurry. W-we’ll get him to the healers.”

My hand landed on his strong chest. His heart beat against my palm. 

Wildly.

My eyes met his. “The healers here are the best.”

His hand tightened on my shoulder, and he pulled me closer. I’m not certain if it was because of weakness or because he was taking advantage of the opportunity.

To be honest, I think it was the latter. 

By the time we made it to the hall, he was walking more or less unassisted.

Uruses was trailing behind us, muttering about dirty dogs the entire time. I turned to him and told him to go away. That his prejudice wasn’t helping the situation at the moment, and it was inappropriate and rude. And painted him as completely bigoted and ignorant. 

I didn’t stutter even once. Uruses had made me so angry.

Ryrk had fought to protect me, the least Uruses could do was treat him with the respect he was owed. That all beings were owed, regardless of what Kind they were.

“My little defender,” Ryrk whispered near my ear. “Thank you, little kitten. You will not ever be forgotten.”

Tol walked with us to the Healers’ Hall, though his own wounds were negligible. I didn’t have to ask—he wasn’t about to leave me to my own devices. Not now.

I still haven’t processed what had happened. 

But…those demons had seemed to come straight from a statue. How could that have anything to do with me?

That werewolf is still here. I was carrying books back from the library, and Tol got caught up in a crowd behind me. I’m not even sure how the humans got to the floor with the private library. They shouldn’t have been in there at all. 

Kierce’s mind-clearers were probably busy for hours. 

Anyway, I had just rounded the corner that led into the main lobby, where I’d have to cross to get to the private family wings, when I once again came up right in front of that same werewolf. 

His hands went around my waist. Instantly—and without invitation. Unlike our Dardaptoan males, apparently, Lupoiux touched females freely. “Steady there, little kitten. The big bad wolf might be around somewhere, just waiting to gobble a golden Dardaptoan like you right up.”

“I…” I finally looked into his face. And stared. I couldn’t help it. He was beautiful. Strong and muscled, though not as tall as the average Dardaptoan warrior. 

And there was a look of real hunger in his blue eyes when he stared down at me. 

I shivered and stepped back. I didn’t want to be a snack for a werewolf, either. 

Since coming to stay at the hotel I have been exposed to Dardaptoan warriors, Druids (there are a few wandering around the place), and more demons than I care to remember. 

And Lupoiux. 

I am definitely earning my pay as Alaun’s researcher—her field researcher at that.

His hands were still on me. “I…I…excuse me.”

I tried to step around him. He wouldn’t let go of my arms, and I had the books in my hands. 

I was pretty well stuck. I tried not to be a real wimp. What could he really do to me right here? 

I mean, there were security guards and humans right there behind us. “P-please let me go.”

“Maybe I don’t want to. You intrigue me, little female. I think it is the curls. I have always loved curls on my females. And you…are the first I have seen with them here.”

He had an accent. Ancient European, I think. I’m not good at those kinds of things. “Wh-who are you?”

“I am Ryrk, alpha of the Misham Pack. I’m here to speak with Rand Taniss about…shared interests.” He finally let go of me, then deliberately stepped back as Tol got closer. Ryrk gave a mocking bow. “Lupoiux females of my area are very rarely blond. I am sorry if I frightened you.”

I just nodded like an idiot. 

I am not stupid. He was a very dangerous male—no matter what Kind he was. 

He didn’t care one bit that I was frightened of him. I rather think he liked the idea. 

No doubt, this werewolf has killed many of our Kind.

How do the dhar and his board of advisors honestly expect the rest of the tribe to forget that?

Tol was there, anger in his golden eyes. He put his big, strong body between me and the wolf. 

We both watched as that werewolf strolled away—almost as if he owned this place.

I just shivered.

Tol broke custom and put his hand on my back and pulled me closer. Much like Mak had done time and time again. “Are you ok, Jume?”

I just nodded. 

I’m beginning to think Alaun is insane. Demons and Lupoiux did not good romance novel heroes make!

They caught the tapper! Well, Tol and another of the guards did. Tol had taken me to dinner in the midrange dining room, where some of the more well-to-do staff members and royal families liked to eat on occasion.

The dhar and dahn were in there. I watched them for a few moments. 

Just to see. She looked happy, thankfully. And very much like Blaire. 

Tol took me to dinner, and we were seated no more than fifteen feet from Maryin Sebastos. She just shot me the evilest of looks. 

Probably because I was there with a handsome warrior and she was just there with her parents and her younger sister. Again.

Maryin hasn’t found her Rajni yet. And her father has a reputation for being very, very controlling.

I hope she doesn’t find her male anytime soon; I wouldn’t wish Maryin on my worst enemy.

Well…maybe Olietus Black. 

They would deserve each other.

Anyway, there is a female staying in the room next to mine. She saw the tapper last night after I had gone to bed. Apparently, she has the ability to see incorporeal creatures.

She reported the tapper to security, and they set a trap for the creature. 

The tapper didn’t have a real form. That made it a bit difficult for security to trap, but they finally did.

It was a type of demon from a realm I have never heard the name of. Galbrohn, I think. I’m going to look up that place in the restricted portion of the library tomorrow.

If I can get in there without the clerk seeing. 

Riv works at the public library; she could probably find me some things. If I ask her to.

But to be honest—I don’t want my sisters to know just how deeply I’m researching demons right now.

They would just worry. Say I am inviting trouble. 

Especially now that I am in a hotel that seems to have a demon prince—usually a brother of the High Demon King, who is mated to Kindara—on every floor.

I swear, the more I learn, the less I know. About anything.