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“I’ll have you know, I’m quite happy with my head on its shoulders, thank you very much. And would like to keep it there. Next time, call your brother back.”

With that, Alessandra stood up, reached a hand out to Drake, and helped him to his feet.

Charlotte suspected he didn’t need the help, but the fact that he took her hand after she’d knocked him onto his ass spoke volumes.

Unless he was playing a ridiculously long game, it would seem he really had come in peace.

Alessandra whispered something to Kenton, whose shoulders immediately relaxed.

“He’s not a danger,” Toni muttered, which was when Charlotte remembered Alessandra’s special Cheld ability.

The group approached the bar just as Laria emerged from the kitchen.

“Nice of you to let me know it’s safe to come out,” she said, watching as they all sat around the bar. “The waitresses are scared out of their minds. They think we’re being robbed.”

“I’ll talk to them,” Lawrence said, leaving for the kitchen.

Charlotte noticed the look exchanged between Laria and Drake. Interesting. The tension between them felt different than the outright enmity between him and her brothers.

“I’ll stand,” Drake insisted, lingering a few feet from the bar.

“Sit,” Kenton ordered.

At first Drake simply glared at his elder brother, but then Kenton reached out a hand to him. He took it as the two embraced.

Men. Five minutes ago, she’d suspected they would go at it, and now they were hugging. She shook her head and glanced at Torr. His face already partially healed, he took the drink Toni passed to him as Lawrence walked back into the room.

And then winked at Charlotte.

Like a buffer between the two feuding families, Alessandra sat in the middle, Kenton and Drake on one side, Lawrence, Torr, and Laria on the other. Because it was a circle, albeit a big one, they could mostly see each other, and Charlotte only wished she could video the whole thing.

It would have made a damn good reality TV show.

“Talk to us,” Kenton demanded.

Drake eyed Alessandra suspiciously.

“What did she say to you? What changed your mind about me?”

“I can sense danger,” Alessandra blurted. “And you are not a danger to me, or, I assume, my friends.”

“I’m glad for the stamp of approval.” Drake completely ignored everyone to his right. “But Rowan is a threat. And he’s on his way here.”

“Why didn’t you call?” Kenton asked.

“I’m old-school,” Drake interrupted. “Besides, this has gone on too long.”

Kenton visibly perked up.

“Are you saying—”

“I was wrong not to answer you the last time I was here when you asked what my intentions were.”

Charlotte caught Alessandra’s eye and moved away, not wanting to intrude on a conversation that didn’t concern her. Moving toward Torr, she reached out to touch his cheeks, which were, for the most part, healed.

“Remarkable.” That was a part of the change she very much looked forward to.

He captured her hand from the other side of the bar.