My lips twitched. He wasabsolutelylistening right now.
“All the way from the living room?” she squeaked.
“Dhampir hearing is exemplary.” A loud crash punctuated my words, followed by Zane’s unrepentant laughter. I tilted my head toward the sound. “Of course, with Zane being the way he is, Cas could be too distracted strangling him to pay attention.”
That made her giggle, a soft, musical sound that I wanted to bottle up and keep forever.
“Zaneisloud and playful, isn’t he?” she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “And he’s always moving his hands when he talks. And he talks a lot.”
“That’s Zane living in his own mental theme park. Chaos is his favorite weapon.” Her brow wrinkled in confusion, so I elaborated. “Like tossing flashbangs into tense negotiations. Calculated misdirection tactics.”
The memory materialized clear as glass: Zane moonwalking through a nest of pissed-off harpies while I snatched a cursed artifact from under their talons.
“I think he’s funny. Exhausting, but funny. I’m sure he’s fearsome when monster hunting, but—”
“Fearsome?” I snorted. “The man cried when we liberated a dozen baby wolpertingers from a night circus.”
“Wolpa what?”
“Picture fat bunnies with fangs, tiny antlers, and dove wings.”
“Really?” Her gasp was full of delight. “Oh, they sound adorable!”
“Zane thought so, too.” Images of Z wailing and clutching a box of tissues rocked behind my eyes. “Blubbered on about their ‘little waddle struggles.’ ”
This time her laughter shook her shoulders. I committed to memory the seismic beauty of it: Her head tipping back, throat exposed, freckled nose scrunching, gray eyes crinkling at the corners.
Years hunting monsters, and this single sound pierced me faster than any claw or fang.
“Just remember, beloved, this is new to us as well. If you find it confusing, imagine howwefeel. We’ve spent our whole lives in fightmode. It’s as big an adjustment for us to become husbands as it is for you to become our wife.”
She fell silent, deep in thought as her fingers absently played with the rim of her mug. The minutes stretched as we ate the last of the popcorn and finished our hot chocolate. Then her head flew up.
“Koko!” Her eyes widened, naive and earnest. “Do you think it’s possible that IscareSimmy?”
I blinked, momentarily caught off guard by the question, then a mischievous grin tugged at my lips.
“Baby, youterrifyhim.”
Of course Cas wasn’t scared of her. Not in the way she thought, anyway. I wasn’t about to spell that out for her, though. Let her figure it out on her own.
“Really?” Her jaw dropped.
“Really. Seri, we’re dhampirs. Half-breeds. Neither human nor vampire. We’ve spent most of our lives believing our only worth lies in spilling blood. You?” I cupped her cheek in my palm. “You’re the first thing we’ve ever wanted that wasn’t a weapon.”
“But I’m just me. Just Seri.”
“Notjustanything.” I drew my thumb across her cheeks in slow, lazy strokes. “Everything. You’reeverything, Serafina. To me, to Zane, and to Cas.”
“I feel that way about you three, too. And I’m sorry about how you found me.” She bowed her head and fiddled with her fingers. “I know you were probably expecting, um, a wedding night.”
“Wereyou?” I cocked my head to one side. “Is that what you thought would happen?”
“I didn’t know what to expect.” She shrugged a little. “I read the contract carefully, and it didn’t say anything aboutthat. And I thought my husband would be a vampire, so I tried to prepare for anything. I kept telling myself it was just for a year. I could survive anything for a year. Even if it meant letting a stranger touch me.”
When she broke off with a shudder, I slid my fingers under her chin and tilted her head up, then waited until her eyes met mine.
“We will never pressure or rush you into that. Don’t doubt that we desire you because we do, but we’ll wait for as long as you need us to. When you’re healed, when you’re ready, and not before, okay?”
