Quinn gave a little laugh, set aside his Battleship board, and leaned forward on his knees. “Stop, Aunt Em. If you really want to acclimate to us, you just give us permission and we’ll let you.”
She looked from Quinn to Aaron. “And afterward, you’ll stop shielding me.”
“Right,” Aaron said.
“Then yeah, I’ll do it.”
Thank the fates. Had Ember refused, they’d have honored her choice. But Malachi might have sent her off the Lane.
“Quinn first.” Aaron motioned to the pup, who sprang to his feet as if to perform some honorable duty. Ember stood too. “He’s family and he’s still a pup, so acclimating to him will be easier on you.”
Ember’s scent now dripped skepticism, but she nodded.
“You’ll only be scared for like a minute, okay?” Quinn said. He looked from Aaron to Malachi and back again. “I just—I just look straight at her?”
“Spot on, pup,” Aaron said. “Like you were looking at another wolf.”
“Okay.”
He turned back to Ember.
Two seconds later, she gasped and took a step back. Her fists tightened at her sides. Her breaths came hard. But about twenty seconds after that, her shoulders slowly sank, and her breathing deepened.
“Wow,” she said quietly. She continued to study her nephew a long moment, then smiled. “Hi, Quinn.”
“It’s all of me now.” Quinn grinned. “Do I look different?”
“No,” she said, then tilted her head. “It’s not how you look, it’s how you feel in the room.”
“Bigger?” The pup thrust out his chest.
“Actually yeah. And…um…settled in? Never mind, I can’t put words to it.” She stepped to the center of the room, folded her arms, and all but glared at Aaron. “Okay, next.”
He choked on a laugh. “We can give you a minute.”
“What for?”
“Adrenaline roller coaster?”
She waved a hand. “Whatever. Go ahead.”
To reassure her, to know her better, to prove his reliability as Quinn’s guardian—all these things would be easier when he could give her his full focus. His reluctance to get on with it made no sense. But his hands had clenched along with hers when she stood petrified of a thirteen-year-old pup. He didn’t know how he’d stand it when she gaped at him with fear.
“Okay,” he said. He drew a deep breath and looked into Ember’s eyes.
They were gray as a winter morning, forthright and true. He braced himself for those eyes to go blank with fear of him. But they didn’t.
“Hi,” she said instead, and she smiled.
Aaron blinked. “You’re okay?”
She smirked. “I guess my nephew’s got a higher fear factor than you do.”
He blinked again. He shook his head. “No, that’s…that’s not possible.”
She shrugged.
“Do I feel different in the room?”
