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“I really don’t think that’s the case.”
“Because they’ve successfully brainwashed you.” She patted his cheek, all mock sympathy. “It’s so sad.”
Isaiah couldn’t help but chuckle.
Deke fisted her sweater. “No one has brainwashed me, least of all scientists. They deal in logic—something I’m aware you fail to grasp.”
“Preaching logic is another way to shape and control you. Do what’s rational, follow the rules, blend with the flock.” She cupped his chin. “Don’t let them trap and rule you.”
His brown eyes glinting with exasperation, Deke insisted, “There is no trap.”
“You have so much to learn, young grasshopper. Stick with me, kid. You’ll be fine. I’ll open your eyes to reality in time.”
“My eyes are wide open.”
“And seeing only what scientists tell you to see. Hello, brainwashed.”
Isaiah bit the last of his chicken from the bone to keep from laughing out loud.
Deke let go of her sweater and threw up a hand. “Okay, this conversation is just plain over.”
“It’s a good sign that my questions make you uncomfortable,” she told him. “It means you’re starting to believe I might be right but you’re not ready to face it yet. I can work with that.”
Done with his chicken wing, Isaiah walked over to the nearby portable trash can and dumped his rubbish into it. As he wiped his fingers with a napkin he’d earlier pocketed, he sensed someone approaching and looked up. His Alphas were on their way over—probably to check if Isaiah had heard from Quinley yet, since they’d said they would.
To be fair, she might have reached out again. It was so loud in here he wouldn’t have heard his phone beep.
Having tossed his balled-up napkin in the trash, Isaiah dug his cell out of his pocket and checked his notifications. She had actually sent him another message. Reading it, he felt an unexpected sizzle of anticipation enter his bloodstream.
Isaiah had no sooner finished rattling off a reply than his Alphas reached him. “Just heard from Quinley.” He closed the app and returned his cell to his pocket. “Her Alpha suggested we meet tomorrow morning at ten. I told her that’d be fine, since you said any day or time would be good for you.”
Tate nodded. “Still is.” The dark, well-built male cocked his head. “I wondered if you’d change your mind once it all became real. It’s one thing to answer a questionnaire and contact someone online, it’s another to take the next step. But you really are sure of your course of action, aren’t you?”
Isaiah gave a slow but decisive nod. “I thought hard and long about it. Then I thought hard and long about it some more. And some more. This is the right thing for me.”
“Then we’re fully behind you,” declared Havana, leaning into her mate as he stroked her long maple-brown hair. “Having a black-foot around could be interesting. I’ve met a few in the past. They seemed pleasant enough. They always seem pleasant enough”—mirth bled into her almond-shaped bluish-gray eyes—“but when riled… Well, ‘mean’ often goes along with ‘small’ in the shifter world.”
Very true. “Which is why she’ll fit right in.” Pallas cats could be mean as fuck, as could Havana’s kind for that matter.
“I’ll make an effort to befriend her so she doesn’t get lonely,” the Alpha female assured him.
“At no point does a black-foot ever feel lonely,” Isaiah told her. “They treasure their alone-time. But I do appreciate the sentiment.”
“Do you have a picture of her?” Havana joined her hands as if in prayer. “I want to see what she looks like.”
“You’ll have to wait.”
Havana all but pouted. “What? Why?”
“I can’t be bothered pulling my phone back out of my pocket.” Well… it was more that he didn’t really want to show Quinley’s profile to others. He felt protective of it. Didn’t want to share it.
“You suck,” groused Havana.
As tenacious as she was nosy, the devil shifter continued pestering him to show her Quinley’s picture. When he didn’t, she pulled both Bailey and Aspen—her best friends and bodyguards—into the matter.
Even as all three nagged him, he refused to share the profile. Mostly, at this point, to fuck with them. Their mates knew it, hence why Tate and Deke were biting back chuckles. Even Aspen’s mate Camden was struggling not to smile, and the male tiger shifter rarely smiled about anything.
It was a few hours later that the party died down and people began returning to their homes. As one of Tate’s bodyguards, Isaiah waited until the Alphas were ready to leave before making his way to the exit. Tate’s other bodyguard, Farrell, did the same with his family, as did Bailey and Aspen with their mates.
