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"You're such a drag, Rach," the other woman grouched, which made Lily chuckle until her laughter died off, her gaze drifting from us.
Giulia’s attention wandered to a point behind me as well.
"Oh, fuck," Giulia said on a sigh. "You met Amara on the way in?" At my nod, she huffed. "Did she ask you about animals?"
Rachel also sighed, and that had me twisting around to see what was going on.
Amara, Quin, and another guy, one who reminded me of Giulia with the dark coloring and strong features—Hawk, I thought his name was—were each holding an animal.
"It's like the Dr. Doolittle version ofJeopardy," Lily grumbled.
I noticed then that the guys who'd stuck close enough to their women to make their presence felt, all while giving us privacy to talk, moved further out as if the trio were contagious.
Lily grimaced. "Might as well get it over with."
"Get what over with?" I questioned in surprise.
"You're about to become a pet owner."
My mouth dropped open. "What?! I don't want a pet."
"You came to West Orange like a naive, naive fool," Giulia mocked. "That means you're going away with one of Quin's shadows."
"They're following Amara now too," Lily muttered. "Have you noticed?"
Giulia nodded. "It's freaky as hell."
The trio stopped in front of me. Quin's cheerfulness hadn't abated, Amara looked as if she were going to try to beat me in a staring competition, and only Hawk seemed not to want to be here.
"Before you give me shit, Giulia," Hawk mumbled, "we're running out of room at the bunkhouse."
"I don't want a pet," I blurted out.
"After our place is built," Giulia said, speaking over me, "we need to focus on getting you some land. You need somewhere to put them all."
"Hey! We're next on the list," a woman I recognized from the papers groused.
"Shut up, Stone, do you want another dog?"
Stone pulled a face, and that was, of course, when I remembered her.
She'd helped bring down an Angel of Death at the hospital where she used to work in Manhattan. The murderer had tried to capture and kill her, but Stone had freed herself—not without getting grievously injured in the process.
"Okay, you can get the next house," Stone agreed quickly. "I can't deal with more animals roaming around our place. Mrs. Biggins is wicked pissed at us getting some dogs. I don't think she'd cope with anymore."
"Mrs. Biggins?" I inquired.
Giulia smiled. "Stone's ancient cat."
"Less talk, more decide," Amara broke in. "Which you take?"
"I don’t want a pet. I live in an apartment in the city!" I retorted, but Amara demanded, "You pick!"
Rachel's tone was sympathetic as she informed me, "That's more choice than we got."
"She just turns up and expects you to take them," Lily agreed.
"Decide," Amara intoned with enough authority that I considered the animals in the trio's hands.
