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Quinley had merely shrugged at Isaiah and then made her way to the chairs that were placed on the stage, along with a table. Patty towers identical to those that she and Alex had eaten last week were brought out and, yeah, she’d won again. Her cat didn’t understand why he was so surprised. Or why Valentina—once more “speechless” but not really—had strode off.
Isaiah took her hand and gently pulled her out of the chair. “Well done. Not that I doubted you for a second.”
Alex rose to his feet. “We’re having another rematch,” he told her.
She pursed her lips, lifting her shoulders. “Hey, if you want me to keep publicly humiliating you, that’s fine. I don’t mind. But I would have thought you’d be—”
“How could you, Aleksandr?” demanded Isaak, clambering onto the stage with his brothers.
Alex sighed. “Don’t.”
“Wolverines never pretend to lose,” Isaak clipped. “Never. Always we win.”
Quinley felt her brow crease, her cat bristling. “Hey, I won fair and square.”
Sergei gave her a pitying look. “That is what Aleksandr wants you to think. Not true. He lost on purpose.”
Alex shook his head. “Much as I hate to say it, she won.”
Dimitri glowered at him. “Why you lie to protect her feelings? It is good for people to lose sometimes. Builds character.”
“If she cries, she cries,” said Isaak dispassionately. “But she will learn from mistakes. You do her no favors by letting her win.”
Dimitri gave a hard nod. “People need to learn to lose.”
Quinley offered the three brothers a meaningful look as she said, “Yes, they do.”
Isaak spoke to Alex as he flapped a hand her way. “See, even she agrees.”
So that comment had seemingly gone right over their heads.
Sidling up to Bree with baby Aurora in his arms, James rolled his eyes. “Will you just accept that she won? It isn’t a huge deal.”
Isaak tensed, his brows flicking together. “No one asked for your opinion, dumb cat. Give us our Galina. You should not be touching her.”
James held the infant tighter. “Stop calling her that. Instead of trying to hog Aurora, why don’t you instead go gatecrash someone else’s party?”
Dimitri bristled. “We were invited.”
James arched a dubious brow. “Yeah? By who?”
Dimitri hesitated. “I owe you no explanations.”
“Ignore him,” Sergei advised his brother. “He is not worth energy. Why our Valentina does not see that I have no idea.”
“You know,” began James, glancing at all three wolverines, “most shifters in your shoes would have just accepted by now that I’m not going anywhere. They wouldn’t persist in being assholes, hoping it would scare me off. They wouldn’t keep trying to talk their sister into leaving me. They would also stop making attempts on my life and just—”
“So much unnecessary information.” Isaak sniffed. “I do not care.”
Amused despite herself, Quinley turned to Isaiah, stepping into his arms. “Aren’t you glad my family likes you?”
Isaiah hummed and curved his arms around her. “I am. Much as I’m glad my parents adore you the way they do. You’re easy to love, so it’s not surprising.” He gave her a quick kiss and then guided her off the stage as their pride mates began to move the chairs and table.
The Tavern was as packed tonight as it had been for their own party. Similar decorations were hung around. Plenty of food was spread over the buffet table. Drinks were flowing at the free bar. There was singing and laughter and dancing and lots of photos being snapped.
It wasn’t really just the coming of the new year that the pride was celebrating, it was the demise of the Vercetti Pack. News of it had spread far and wide. The Olympus Pride was now incredibly popular among shifters everywhere, so the Alphas had received a lot of gift food-baskets.
Quinley had charitably offered to take some off their hands, of course—as had the wolverines, including the three uncles.
