“Quiet’s boring,” I protested.
“Not if you do it right.” Ko’s smile held more teeth than the wolf pup’s.
I gave him an answering grin, then shook my head.
“A homeschooled farm girl. Explains why she has zero survival instincts.”
“Not her fault,” Cas told me, his voice flat, like he was commenting on the weather.
“Have to admit it’s a genius strategy. Kept her safe from bad boys like us.”
“But shedoeshave us now,” Koa chuckled lightly.
“Hell, yeah, she does! Three dhampirs raised on violence and artillery.”
“Again, not her fault,” Cas smirked with rare humor.
“And now we bad boys will keep her safe forever,” I said with great satisfaction as they both nodded.
Having finished his business, Brumous slunk back over to us, his eyes as haunted and cautious as Seri’s, and I palmed him a gingersnap I’d snatched from a jar in the kitchen.
“Good job with nanny duty, buddy.”
He licked the crumbs off of my fingers, then sat and stared up at me, making his eyes impossibly wide.
Smart bastard.
“You’re supposed to be terrifying,” I reminded him. “Dire wolves don’t beg. They menace. They— Cruor! Stop wagging your tail!”
“Wait. Where did you get cookies?” Ko demanded.
Smirking, I held up the other two I’d grabbed.
“How bad do you want ’em?” I teased, then backpedaled literally and figuratively as the mountain surged toward me. “Here, here! Take them!”
Tossing them to him, I dodged behind Cas. Ko got scary when cookies were on the line.
“Zane, stop being a fang-rotted menace!” Cas barked. “We need to start figuring out this shitshow!”
“No worries.” I whipped out my phone and spun it like a six-shooter. “Already started drafting a group chat with Angelo della Morte. He owes us a favor after what happened with that cursed karaoke machine at that supernatural bar.”
“I think we should call Father first.” If Cas’ knuckle rubbed any harder, he was going to drill himself a third eye socket.
“How about we try a little diplomacy and call Seb first?” Ko suggested around his mouthful of cookie goodness.
Cas and I cut our eyes at each other, then shrugged in sync. With a tiny smile of victory, Ko pulled out his own phone.
“Ditched your bride on day one?” Prince Sebastian Ro?u’s deep voice thumped through the phone speaker. “Or did you kill her already?”
“Of course we didn’t,” Cas snapped. “She’s sleeping in her room—”
“Quick question, eldest bro,” I butted in, grabbing Ko’s phone. “Where’s the staff and security we were promised?”
“What are you talking about? Everything should be set.”
“I’m talking about no one being here but us. Not to mention there’s not so much as a dummy security cam to be seen.”
“The staffshouldbe there,” Sebastian insisted. “I vetted them all two weeks ago. Except for your estate manager, Gregory Storms. He came with the property. I’m already looking for his replacement.”
