When I straightened, I glared at her.
“That’s a yes.”
I stopped her as she spun to go get Olivia. “Please, don’t. Yes, it hurts, but it’s bearable. And I don’t need anyone clucking like a mother hen and telling me to go lie down. There’s too much work to do, and a finite clock on getting it done. It’s just heat cramps. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
She squinted at me, probably noticing the sheen of sweat on my forehead despite the cool evening air.
“I won’t go get Oli on the condition that you take it easy the rest of the night. You double over again, I’m going to be the mother hen you’re afraid of. Capiche?”
I snorted. “Fine, capiche.”
Satisfied, she threw an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in for a side hug. “You know, you could also talk to Valens about how you’re feeling. I’ve been reading up on wolfy stuff, and the more physical contact you have with him in the run-up to the heat, the less pain you’ll have.”
I paused, looking down at her in surprise. “Why are you reading up on heats? As a djinn, you won’t ever have one, right?”
She shook her head, lifting her marked palm. “My daughter will one day. I don’t want her to feel like there’s anything she can’t talk to me about, even if it’s a wolf thing. I didn’t have that with my family. It’s important to me.”
“Goddess, you’re going to be a great mom one day. You’re already a great friend now. You know that? You may not have been born for pack life, but you make it look easy.”
She smiled out over our pack mates, considering the compliment. “You guys are my real family. When it’s right, it’s right.”
“Amen, sister.”
“On to more important business! I need food. Stat. I’m dying of starvation, and I have it on good authority that you didn’t eat breakfast when the rest of us did, and we missed lunch getting the clearing set up for tonight.”
My stomach growled, a different kind of hunger loudly announcing itself.
“That’s settled, then. Come on, we’ll get the others. I might need your sword to retrieve Bri,” she admitted with a sigh, pointing out the flock of women surrounding the high alpha mate.
“Now that’s a job I can do.”
Fiona gathered up the rest of our pack’s she-wolves while I extricated Brielle from her throng of fans.
We walked together back up to the castle, the mood light. We were all satisfied with a job well done.
“Did you guys see the posters someone put all around the castle?” Shay asked, shooting a bright grin back at us from where she led the group.
“No, what posters?” Bri asked, exhaustion dragging her voice down.
“Oh, just that there are going to be games after the official gathering ends. There was quite an exhaustive list. Wrestling. Sparring. Card games from all over the world. Oh! Somebody wrotestrip pokerfor singles at the end of the list.”
Fiona snorted at my side and added under her breath, “Not sorry I’ll missthat.”
But I heard a wistful sigh on my other side and shot a surprised look Dakota’s way. “Don’t agree? Got it in mind to strip for strangers?”
The younger maiden blanched, and I felt bad for teasing her.
“Look, no judgment. Just don’t go alone, okay? Male wolves in large groups can get territorial, and we’ll need to keep our heads. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun. Galyna’s on hallway duty tonight, right?”
She nodded. “I would like to go out, have a little fun before things get too serious.”
I resisted the urge to tell her they were already ninety percent of the way there.
Fuck, who was I to judge a little harmless fun when she was off duty? Nobody, that’s who.
“Well, you should go, then.”
“Just not alone. I will, thanks.” She flashed me a bright grin, her usually happy personality right back to the surface now that she had plans for the evening.
