“Best when served at room temperature and drunk straight from the source,” Kit said without missing a beat.
Quin chuckled. “C’mon, tell me. What are my tasting notes?”
Kit held his gaze. “A little spicy. Like black pepper with a hint of cloves.”
“Oh,” Quin said, turning Kit’s words over in his head.
Kit shifted in his seat. “Anyway,” he said, waving a hand. “What have you been up to today?”
Quin let the conversation move on. “Not much. A bit of work, a bit of shopping for supplies for my change. And I caught up with my cousin. He says hi.”
“Your cousin? You told your cousin about me?”
“Well, yeah. Is there a reason I shouldn’t have?”
Kit was silent for a few moments. “I suppose not.”
Quin had spoken about Sage in conversation a few times now, so he hadn’t thought it would be out of left field for him to tell Sage about Kit. “Is that okay with you?” he asked anyway.
“It’s nice,” Kit replied, though he was staring off into space as he did so. “He knows what I am?”
“Yeah. It was a little hard not to mention it.”
“Hmm.” Kit sat with his arms folded, gazing at the fire. “You can say hello back.”
“He wants to come up and meet you.”
Kit looked alarmed. “We’re at that stage already?”
“I, uh…” Quin faltered, not wanting to seem like he was rushing Kit into things. “We haven’t defined the relationship yet, so probably not?”
“Is this about your ex-boyfriend? The one you moved here to avoid?”
“Lark?” Quin blanched. “God, no. That’s done. There’s nothing there that you have to be concerned about.”
Kit’s gaze was sharp when it met Quin’s. “What happened with this ‘Lark’?” Kit spat Lark’s name as if it wasn’t even worth the energy spent in saying it aloud.
The memory stung even though Quin no longer cared for Lark in the way he had mere months ago. “Well, I came back to our house one day and found him getting railed over the kitchen table by someone else.”
Kit’s expression turned thunderous. “Wait, he cheated on you?”
Quin couldn’t deny his satisfaction at Kit’s rage. It mirrored his own on that day. “Uh-huh. After years of being together, he decided he wanted someone else. Just didn’t bother to inform me of that fact first.”
“What a cunt.”
“I won’t disagree with that observation.”
“Who was the other guy? Did you kick his arse?” Kit sounded delighted at the prospect of Quin having beaten someone up, which was as endearing as it was alarming.
“I was too shocked to do much about it. Besides, he’s the son of the pack leader.”
Kit’s face lost some of its excitement. “So, he’s the alpha’s son?”
Quin shook his head, smiling. “Our elected leader of the pack. More like a mayor. We don’t have alphas or betas or omegas or anything like that. You can thank the Internet for popularising that misconception.”
Kit frowned, went to speak again, but hesitated.
“What?” Quin asked, coaxing.
