“Cross my heart.”
I got up from the seat I’d dragged over to his bed. “And no dying, ’kay?”
“No dying. Now get out of here so I can pretend to sleep before Mom barrels back in and tries to get memorecomfortable.”
I laughed, then pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Love you.”
“More than you love Liam?”
“Shut up.”
In my head, I floated down the stairs and down the hill. In reality, I limped all the way to Liam’s cabin, averting my gaze from the six-foot ring of blackened snow.
When I let myself in, I came upon more people than I’d bargained for. Liam, along with at least a dozen OBs, had colonized the living room. Considering the amount of snack food littering the coffee table, getting rid of traitors sparked appetites.
“Hi?” I closed the door a little hesitantly, wondering if maybe this wasn’t the best time to resume that conversation which Liam and I had apparently not finished.
“The she-wolf of the hour is in the house!” Lucas whooped before slinging a look at Ness, who was huddled against August. “Notice how I didn’t use the anatomically correct word for the female of our species, Fury?”
Sarah, who sat on the floor with her legs extended, slapped Lucas’s knee, while Ness gave him an eyeroll. The others either grinned or snorted.
Storm released a little squeak, clambered off Sarah’s lap, and speed-crawled toward me.
Even though my knee let out a squeak of its own, I crouched. “Hey, you.”
He sat back on his heels and wiggled as though he had ants in his pants, then latched on to my bent thigh and heaved himself up. “Look at you.” I put a steadying hand behind his rump.
In spite of my pintsized welcome committee, my encroaching discomfort grew from everyone else’s muteness.
Matt cleared his throat. “How’s Nolan?”
I could’ve kissed him for breaking the silence.
“He’s cracking jokes and wiggling all ten fingers, so he’s good.” Storm wobbled and wobbled, his knees more springs than cartilage. I smiled at him, which won me a mighty proud and mighty drooly grin in return.
“Want a beer, Knickknack?” Lucas stood up and headed to the fridge before I could even answer. I supposed it was five o’clock somewhere. After he’d handed it over, he scooped up Storm with one arm and blew raspberries against his belly, making the little one giggle his heart out.
“Don’t break him,” Sarah chided Lucas, big brown eyes filled with hearts.
“Break the Destroyer? Impossible.”
I stood back up, awkwardly holding on to my beer, wondering if I should maybe pull up a chair.
“Dave, up.” Ness elbowed a guy with a birthmark beneath his eye, who popped off the couch, freeing the seat beside Liam. “Sorry. We’re still trying to teach our males some manners. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks?”
That earned her a couple snickers from around the room and the bird from Lucas.
“You mean young wolves and old tricks.” Amanda gathered her highlighted brown curls and wound them in a bun.
As I made my way over to the freed seat, her fiancé bounced his leg, as though supremely uncomfortable. “I’m really sorry I abandoned you last night, Nikki.”
“You don’t have to apologize.” I was perched on the edge of the couch, not really daring to lean back because leaning back would put me in contact with Liam’s arm. “Camilla would’ve shot at us whether you’d been around or not.”
Liam, who still hadn’t moved or said a thing, chugged down his beer, leaned forward, and slapped it on the table.
“We’ll nail the bitch, Liam,” Lucas said as Storm tried to grab on to his nose. “We made lots of noise about Grant being locked up.” He nodded to Matt’s doppelganger. “Cole’s tracking their mama’s phone and monitoring cameras in town. Not to mention, Dex, Niall, and a couple others are out on the prowl.”
As Liam leaned back, I swigged down some beer, hoping it would hit my veins and loosen my nerves. “How’s Bea?”
