First things first, as if she hadn’t been sent into the Kept Brides Habitat on an important mission.
Wild growled low in his throat.
And I rolled my eyes before answering, “Apologies, Astrid. Didn't occur to us while we were kidnapping enough she-wolves to jumpstart our population numbers from a clan of hostile Scots to tell thebanriónwho’s already decided she despises us about our messy family tree.”
“Yeah, she did go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how much she hated you.” Astrid grimaced. “Which sort of sucks for the two of you, doesn’t it, considering you’re supposed to be…”
“Astrid…” Wild said with another warning growl.
I'll admit I had some trouble keeping my voice unexasperated as I commanded, “Give us your report, then.”
“Well, first of all, she might hate you,but she loves me!”
Astrid was a Trinity scholar with an advanced degree in medicine. But she stuck her tongue out at Wild and me, proving herself the annoying little sister she truly was underneath all that prestige — before adding, “Second of all, you basically sent me into a lesbian porno.”
Both Wild and I stilled.
“Are you attempting to tell us that ourbanrión…?” Wild began to growl.
“No, you jealous eejits. Not her. Some other nameless blue dresser was gobbling on Amanda’s muff, and yourbanriónwas having a right time sorting them out when I cruised in with my needle. She was upset, but I do believe it’s unlocked a new role-play scenario for Frey and me.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” Wild cursed, covering his ears with both hands. “Sea, have you any acid lying around your castle? That might be the only thing to scrub that picture out of my mind's eye."
This time, I couldn’t accuse Wild of being dramatic.
“Please stop making me reconsider my decision to lift the ban on gay mateships,” I begged Astrid. "Do you have any idea how hard that was to get passed, considering the state of our population?"
"Oh, I feel so terrible for putting you in that position. I mean, it's not as if you're the absolute monarch of Ireland or anything like that." Astrid rolled her eyes without even a speck of gratitude. "It must have beensooohard to use your dictator-level of power to catch the Irish Wolves up to the current century."
I glowered at her for an annoyed second before asking, "Is she going to let Lorcan and Ronan have their mate?"
"Oh, yeah, that." Astrid's snarky expression morphed into agrimace. "Well, brothers of mine, I’ve got good news, and I've got bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”
Naomi
"Oh, my wolf,"Priscilla wailed. "I'm going to hell for what I did, aren't I?"
I somehow resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Funny how our teachers had managed to instill in Priscilla that same-sex intimacy was a one-way ticket to Hell but hadn't managed to get around to teaching her about the evils of slavery during the entire eight years of education we were allotted within the one-house St. Ailbe school system.
Rather than pointing that out, I suggested, "Maybe you should stay in my room until we get everything figured out with Amanda."
Wrong tact.
"Iamgoing to Hell, then!' Priscilla's face paled, and she asked me directly in Wölfennite."Naomi, am I going to Hell?"
I bit my tongue, knowing it would only upset and confuse her more if I told her the truth — that I'd stopped believing in Hell asanything more than a convenient tool that the St. Ailbe elders used to manipulate us and control our actions a long time ago.
Luckily, Frey had a kinder response at the ready.
"There, there now. No need to fret on about it." She pulled Priscilla off the couch and directed her toward the door with a guiding arm around her shoulders. "The heat's a right powerful beast, isn't it? Certainly more powerful than us. The rule here in Ireland is that no one can be blamed for what they do when they've got it in their nose …"
"My room's two doors down," I called after Frey as she escorted Priscilla out. "And bring back the quilt from my bed, will you?"
Leaving Frey to the task of comforting a weeping Priscilla, I untied Amanda's ankles from the bedposts — and considered whether or not to wrap the poor she-wolf up waakye burrito style before the sedation wore off, which, according to Astrid's dire warning previous to her departure, would be “sooner than you think it will.”
I still hadn't decided for sure when Astrid re-entered the room, saying, "I have good news and bad news. Which would you rather first?"
I scraped a hand over my face. “Good, then bad.”
