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“The pack are…chatty.”

“Yeah. They’re also scary. Once upon a few days ago, I thought they were going to eat me.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Nasty.”

“Right? How did Declan get them on board?”

“I’ll let him explain it.”

“Cool.”

He smiled, straightening his spine. “Shall we go downstairs? I made some caramel shortbread earlier.”

My eyes widened, mouth instantly watering. “Huh?”

“Rochelle was kind enough to let me use the kitchen, and I know how much you love it.”

“Understatement.”

“Peace offering.” He rubbed his cheek. “I thought.”

I stared at him, my stomach grumbling.

“Paris?”

“Please take me to the sugary goodness.”

Wow. Wow. Wow.

The perfect ratio of chocolate, caramel, and shortbread. Basically, perfection.

I ate two slices while I sat in the lobby with the others, probably revealing some mighty hog behavior to them. Whatever. This was heavenly.

Elio and I had a long journey of figuring stuff out ahead of us, if at all, but this was certainly a step in the right direction. Anyone who could make caramel shortbread as fine as this couldn’t be all bad in my books.

I washed it down with a cold beer, sitting with Alistair and Lia and Elio on one large sofa. We didn’t say much, even though I’d come down to talk to them. And we would. That first bridge had been crossed earlier. The other bridge could wait for a bit. I wasn’t in the mood for any more emotional stuff, and hanging out was a form of bonding, right? An easy way of observing each other.

At least in my head.

Declan nodded at me, constantly making sure I was okay.

This time, I gave him a thumbs up.

He’d made his wolves drink his blood, testing a theory he’d come up with.

“I figured Silvanus’s rot-cleansing energy might still be inside me,” he’d said. “So, I made them drink.”

“And what tasty blood you have,” Oskar, an incredibly muscly wolf, declared.

Well, it’d worked, and could be useful going forward.

Yay for handy tools to fight the golden prick.

We sat in a circle, the furniture arranged by Declan and Vaughn so we could all face each other and talk it out. I sat with my family, Declan and four of his wolves occupying two more sofas. Vaughn sat beside him in an armchair, Medusa beside me on another, and there was one left empty for when Silv woke up.

Wake up soon, erm… Yummy Lips?

Rochelle stayed out of the way. She popped out now and again to check on us, boasting the most incredibly pink hair I’d ever seen, her lips painted a glossy black.