“Nothing!” I say quickly.
Maurice looks at Njáll instead, who pats his ankles gently. “You wear them well,” he replies, and Maurice fucking melts into the sofa, which is weirdly adorable and also makes my heart hurt.
I dart a look at Vlad. He’s not looking at me. He’s not looking at any of us.
“I’ll ring Quinn,” I say. I remember his pack vaguely from his would-be challenge a few months ago. Sam dresses pretty well. “He might be able to pick up some stuff.”
“You only have the day tomorrow,” Vlad says, words still sharp.
My cheeks heat. “Yeah, I know,” I mumble and get to my feet. “I’ll go ring him now.”
Again, I leave before any of them can stop me, mostly because Jeremiah seems annoyed at Vlad, and I feel like I’m only making it worse. The lock on my door will do nothing to keep them out, ultimately, but I feel better flicking it shut and then I drop onto my bed and dig my phone out of my pocket.
Quinn answers straight away, which has me frowning because surely he should be eating dinner or something? I glance at the clock.
“Grant! Everything okay?”
“Yeah, sure. You?”
He’s silent for a beat. “I’m good. Did you want to come and hang out?”
I do. Desperately, sometimes, but we’ve been so busy here and I know Vlad doesn’t really want me out of the wards while it’s dangerous and I don’t like being away from him while he’s off chasing high fae…
“I need a favour,” I say instead of all that because Quinn doesn’t need me whining at him for an hour. Maybe longer.
“Sure. What is it?”
“I, uh…” I frown at the door. “So I have to go do something. I need clubbing clothes, and I don’t have anything, and I need them, like, tomorrow so I can’t order online, something that really attracts attention, you know, so would you be able to go and pick up some stuff for me?”
Quinn’s silent again for just a second too long. I clench my hand on my duvet cover. If he says no, then I guess Paxton can go and video call me.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Of course. Attention-grabbing? I might need to get Sam to help, if that’s okay?”
“Please! The more dramatic the better, honestly.”
“Yeah, okay, let me just ask him.” He sends a text, then tells me Asher is planning on being back in London the next day, which feels like good news because at least if Vlad and I are going together, the rest of them will be together for a bit.
“How’s Maurice?” Quinn asks, and I lean back against the headboard with a sigh.
“I mean, they said he’ll be okay. He’s just resting a lot. His magic feels all weird now.”
“Do you think he’ll get better? Asher told me he was hurt when I rang him this morning. That’s why you’re going off to dosomething, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I think he will.” I mull the next question over. Quinn already knows about us, of course. I don’t think Asher keeps anything like that from him, and truth be told, I think the Huntsman understands it. Wolves have mating bonds, like the fae have bonds. Even he can’t fight those. I think. “And yeah, it is.”
“Is it going to be dangerous?”
“I hope not,” I say with a little laugh, but Quinn doesn’t laugh along with me. I frown, even though he can’t see it. “Really, it’ll be fine. Vlad is going with me.”
“Oh! Oh, okay. Yeah, you’ll be fine then.”
“What does that mean?”
“You think he’s going to let anything happen to you?” Quinn’s tone is teasing more than anything else, even if the truth behind his words stings a little. “You still haven’t come to see us shift. I have noticed, you know.”
