Sally looked around and then back to Jen. “Where’sTitus?”
“Gavril carried him off after he ate. He’s in good hands. Oh, Dec, I forgot to tell you.” Jen cast a dangerous smile at him. “I ordered Slate a wooden castle playhouse.” She paused and then smiled wider. “Actually, I orderedtwo.”
Wadim and Zara walked in on the tail end of Jen’s statement, and Zara smiled big. “Is this another Alpha-Luna argument I get to give commentaryon?”
“No.” Decebel grunted. “Commentary is completelyunnecessary.”
“I kind of feel like itisnecessary,” Jacquesaid.
Jen nodded. “Agree,totallynecessary.”
Without even thinking about it, Sally gave a thumbs-up as she dug her fork into her eggs. “I’m with them.” It felt so good to feel a part of her pack. She wasn’t even close to being over anything, but, for the moment, she was surrounded by people who loved her, and she fit withthem.
Breakfast continued much the same way. Jabs being passed between Jacque and Jen, or Jen and Decebel, or Jen and Fane. It didn’t go unnoticed that Jen was the common denominator in all the arguments. Even Zara got a few in on Wadim, which completely tickledJen.
“Do you have to argue with everything we say?” Jacque finally huffed as some of them began to stand and take their plates to thesink.
“Red, think about how boring life would be if we all just got along with each other all thetime.”
“I think some would call that peaceful,” Fanesaid.
Jen snorted. “That’s not peaceful. That’s complacency. There’s nothing wrong with a good, healthy argument to make you see if your own opinions are airtight.”
“Jen, we were talking about the brand of diapers Slate seems to do best in. Why on earth do our opinions on diapers need to be airtight?” Jacqueasked.
“Having a firm footing on where you stand on diaper brands is essential to having a quicker shopping experience when you’re in the store with a screaming child. You don’t have to think. You just grab what you already know is exactly what you want.” Jen smiled as if she’d just said the smartest thing since Abraham Lincoln’s GettysburgAddress.
Sally snorted. “Sorry, Jen, but that waslame.”
“I think that should be my next T-shirt,” Wadim said. He ducked as a biscuit flew over hishead.
Lilly walked in with Cypher by her side, and his hand reached out and snagged the flying baked good. He didn’t even miss a beat as he took a bite out of it and nudged his mateforward.
“Good morning,” Lilly said, her brow raised as she looked around the room. “Should I be concerned that there is food flying across thekitchen?”
Vasile stood from his place at the head of the table and shook his head. “It really isn’t breakfast if Jen hasn’t thrown a baked good at someone. And now that she has, I’m going to get started on my day.” He pressed a kiss to his mate’s lips and then left theroom.
It wasn’t long after Vasile left that the room gradually cleared until Sally, Costin, Jen, Jacque, Alina, and Lilly were the only onesleft.
“Why do I feel like this is an intervention?” Sally askedslowly.
Jen smacked Jacque’s shoulder. “I told you she’d think that. We totally should have ambushed her inbed.”
“And that wouldn’t have felt like an intervention?” Jacqueasked.
Sally bit her bottom lip as she shook her head. “No, that would have felt like Jen being the nosy cow we know andlove.”
“Good point,” Jacque said. “Next time we’ll do it yourway.”
“If you would all just learn to do it my way the first time, then we wouldn’t get into half our usual messes,” Jengrumbled.
Jacque was about to argue, but Lilly held up her hand. “We have more important things todiscuss.”
The two girls nodded. Jen added, “You’re right. I can berate y’alllater.”
Sally met Lilly’s eyes as the woman who was like a mom to her smiled. “I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. You have us worried … really, really worried. Last night while you slept, Rachel took a look inside yourhead.”
Sally’s eyes widened, and her chest felt tight. “She looked into mymind?”
