“You don’t look okay. You look like you got mauled by a pack of wolves.”
“Close enough.”
She pulls me into a hug, and I sink into it. Amara’s hugs are legendary—full-body, bone-crushing things that make you feel like everything’s going to be alright even when it’s not. I wrap my arms around her and hold on.
“I was so worried,” she says into my hair.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
She pulls back, her hands on my shoulders. “You went into heat.”
It’s not a question.
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t call me.”
“I didn’t know it was happening. It came on fast. The storm, Thistle running away—it just hit me out of nowhere.”
“Okay. That part I get. Unprecedented heat, stressful situation, your body does what your body does.” She pauses.“But you didn’t call me after. Four days, Caroline. You were in heat for four days, and you didn’t call me once.”
“I couldn’t. I wasn’t—I wasn’t in a state to make phone calls.”
“Then one of them could have called me. One of them—” She stops. Her gaze moves to Griffin on the couch beside me, then to the kitchen where Silas is still clattering around, then to the back door where Damon is re-entering. “All three of them were here?”
“Yeah.”
“All three of them.”
“Yeah.”
“For four days.”
“Amara—”
She holds up a hand. “I need a minute.”
She stands, paces to the window, presses her forehead against the glass, and stands there. The silence stretches.
Griffin’s hand finds mine on the couch cushion, his thumb tracing absent patterns on my knuckles. Damon leans against the kitchen doorframe, arms crossed, waiting. Silas has gone quiet in the other room.
“Can you guys give me a minute? I know you’re all territorial and shit right now, but I dropped everything the second Damon told me she was ready for visitors. So, please.”
The guys heed my friend’s request and make themselves scarce.
“You fucked Damon,” Amara says without turning around.
“Yeah.”
“My cousin Damon.”
“Yeah.”
She turns around. Her expression is complicated—surprised, confused, maybe a little amused underneath it all. “How long has that been going on?”
“It hasn’t. It just… happened.”
“So you just, what? Fell into bed with him?”
