Chapter 7
Corbin
Thea eventually showedup for brunch as well—I figured Jude had texted her. Sometimes she joined us for stuff like this, and sometimes she didn’t. Jude and I tried to give her space and freedom even though she lived here a lot of the time. Something told me that although she was a part of the pack, her place wouldn’t be to stay here in Paradise Falls with the rest of us. She was also still a little skittish about being a hellhound, which I understood. It was probably hard to find that out after so many years thinking she was human.
I’d have to do a reading on her; I thought the cards would probably have some insight into things.
Sebbie was cute as hell with her when she showed up. He made a space for her to sit next to him, and he chatted with her, asked her questions, and generally ignored any grumbling she did. He kept calling her bestie, even when she frowned, and I could tell she was actually enjoying it despite her eye rolling.
After everyone finished eating, Aiden, Q, Toby, Sebbie, and Thea headed out to go into town for something. (Sebbie insisted that Theahadto go, and she had grudgingly agreed.)
Josh was, of course, invited along with the rest of the humans, but he opted out. Something about having to work onsome financial stuff today. Fluffy and Dexter walked out with them, although I figured Fluffy would probably be back since most stores didn’t welcome very large dogs.
Once the humans were gone, Jude folded his arms and stared at me. Wilder and Liam turned to stare as well. It didn’t take Josh long to look over at me, too, probably because everyone else was.
Crow fluffed her feathers and cawed at them. I just ignored them; I didn’t feel like explaining myself at the moment.
“What’s going on?” Josh asked, looking between us.
“Corbin’s got a bandage on his arm,” Liam supplied.
“Because he came home bloodied,” Jude added.
Wilder hadn’t said anything, but he was looking at me curiously. I knew he’d leave it alone if I wasn’t inclined to talk.
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Josh asked. “What happened?”
I turned to face him. He looked genuinely concerned and upset, which I didn’t like. I could annoy my brothers until the end of days, but I felt far more protective of the humans in our pack.
I sighed. “The land wasn’t as tightly bonded to us as I’d hoped. Thea said things felt weird away from town, and I wanted to solidify the pack’s connection to Paradise Falls.”
Liam pulled out his computer, probably to run some program to assess all nearby cities for crime or something like that. I didn’t ask. Wilder nodded his head and drank some more coffee, but Josh looked confused.
“Witch stuff,” I said, smiling a little at Josh. “Sometimes a blood offering is called for.”
“Umm. Okay. Why the bandage, though? Shouldn’t it be healed by now?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s healed by now,” Jude answered smugly. “So why don’t you take off the bandage, Corbin? Hmm?”
I glared at him. He laughed, though.
“Guess who put the bandage on? I bet Corbin’s feeling attached to it after their special bonding moment,” Jude teased. Then he sing-songed, “Corbin and Sebbie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…”
I huffed. “Why would we be sitting in a tree? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Huh. You know, I never thought about that, but it is an odd line,” Josh agreed. “Anyway, everything is okay now? You’re okay? You’re healed? Do we need to worry about anything?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Everything is okay. Don’t worry.”
Josh really was perfect for Wilder, and I appreciated his concern. I was saved from further questions that I didn’t have answers to when Fluffy strolled into the room. Crow gave him a soft coo as a greeting. She loved all of my pack, just as I did, but she had a special fondness for Atlas when he was in his Fluffy form. I thought that she might have been able to communicate a bit with him that way, which was something she couldn’t do with the rest of the pack. I reached up and rubbed her neck, sending a feeling of love to her. She responded by fluffing her feathers and nibbling at the top of my ear in affection.
Fluffy sat in the middle of the kitchen, and I swear he was grinning at us. Josh seemed to pick up on it as well.
“Why do you look like you’re going to start trouble?” Josh asked, quickly followed by, “Clothes!” as if he knew Fluffy was going to transform right then.
To be fair, he probably was, and he did hate clothes. Fluffy grumbled a bit but stalked off, and he returned a second later, wearing sweatpants in his human form. Then he leaned against the counter and continued to grin at us.
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Jude said, looking gleeful. “You haven’t had that look since we decided to take out the gang headquarters that one time.”
