“I can check with the spirit realm,” Harry says. “I have contacts.”
Wait, we have serpents in the spirit realm? Very cool.
“I have already done an audit of my demons. It’s not coming from the underworld,” Lucifer said.
“I’ll put out feelers in my community, but unless she’s blood bonded, I can’t see how,” Aira added.
Lucifer already confirmed it wasn’t elemental power, making me feel useless. It wasn’t like my father’s angel buddies invited me around for tea and cake.
Aunt Sophia looked in the wool bag at her feet and grasped a pair of scissors before snipping the wool and finishing the scarf. She handed it to me with a pat on my shoulder. “You’re going to need the gift you were thinking about. I’ll bring the matching onesies if you send me His size.”
No fucking way.
CHAPTER FOUR
Your mind is your greatest ally and your greatest enemy.
Iwas a fool. Not only was it built, it was in its place and full of his clothes, which had been living in strategic piles around my bedroom. While I was grateful I could once again walk on my floor without falling over a pile of ironed underwear, I was pissed because The Principal had clearly outmaneuvered me.
I folded my arms and glared at the gloriously naked male lying on my bed. He twisted onto his side, leaned his head into his hand, and grinned at me. After my return from my super secret meeting that had raised more questions than answers, I had done thirty minutes of admin before stalking up to my rooms, ready to poke fun at the shifter who couldn’t figure out which screw went where and refused to even glance at the instructions.
I jerked my head at the dresser. “Do you want to explain how you put that together in less than half an hour, after spending the entire afternoon making zero progress?”
He patted the bed next to him in invitation. My eyes narrowed, making him sigh. “I got a spark of inspiration, and suddenly, everything just fit together—like me and you.”
“Sweet talking me doesn’t excuse the fact you played me.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.”
“Lies aren’t me being dramatic.”
He raised a brow. “So you’ve told me absolutely everything going on in that pretty head of yours?”
My mouth snapped closed. How much did he know? Did he suspect something, or was he just guessing? How did Dangerous Dave do this? Keeping secrets from Hudson felt like a betrayal on the deepest level, and it wasn’t just because of the nakedness and orgasms. It was because of who he was. He exuded an aura of quiet command, which wrapped around you in a comforting caress.
Then there was the added layer of his kisses touching me so deep, so hot, that I felt him everywhere. I couldn’t get him or his touch out of my head. I acted like a silly teenager, wanting to know where he was and what he was doing at any given moment. When I planned my groceries, I made sure to include ingredients for his favorite meals and snacks. His preferred shampoo was in my bathroom. I bought sexy lingerie for the first time in my life. I hadn’t worn it yet, because I needed to find the confidence and perfect situation. One didn’t just turn up for breakfast in black silk panties and drape themselves over the table, demanding he swapped blueberry pancakes for me.
“Are you telling me everything?” I fired back, because I couldn’t tell him about the Serpents of the Dawn even if I wanted to.
“No. I have many, many more things I want to tell you, but I’m an open book. Ask me anything, and you will get an honest answer.”
“Did you pretend to be bad at DIY in order to orchestrate a bet, knowing I would take it and lose, resulting in me being naked?”
“Yes.” He looked smug about it, too. I sighed and started stripping off my clothes and dumping them on the floor as I strode closer to him. “Just to be clear, this isn’t the start of those twenty-four hours.”
I paused with my hands around my back and scowled. “What?”
“Tomorrow is the pack meal. Unless you want to serve roast chicken to the alphas wearing only your apron?” He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and smiled like he was imagining it.
“Not happening.” I’d rather not serve anything. “If I get naked now, can we skip the dinner?”
His lips twitched. “Try it and find out.”
Guess that’s a no. I unhooked my bra, slipped out of my panties, and crawled under the covers. He yanked the blankets up and over us so we were nothing but shadowy outlines before tangling his legs with mine and holding me close.
His warm breath floated over my neck before his tongue swiped out and licked it, making a shiver course down my spine. Hudson Abbott was a cuddler, a spooner, a male who needed touch. For the sake of my sanity, he reserved those urges for the bedroom, unless it was a full moon. Then, all bets were off, and unwitting supernatural passersby got more than they bargained for.
The pack meal tomorrow was a weekly event, and we started staying at his house a few nights to appease the pack. I hated appeasing anyone. You either liked me or you didn’t. But I could admit when I was being unreasonable. Families were complex, multilayered, and dimensional. They had messy histories and subtle tendencies that you could only learn by being immersed in them. I knew the pack before meeting Hudson and wasaware of the general inner workings, like how they operated and behaved. But only since dating their leader did I come to understand that I, in fact, knew nothing.
