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Bailey and Havana exchanged brief greetings with the adults.
“How are you not a walking icicle?” Bailey asked Dante, who wore only a tee and jeans.
The huge hunk of a guy shrugged, replying, “It isn’t that cold.”
“Oh, it absolutely is,” said Jaime, huddling in her coat. “But Popeye here never seems to feel it. I worry there’s black magic at work.”
Havana snorted. “How come you guys decided to come trick or treating around these parts?” she asked the wolves. “Not that you aren’t welcome or anything.”
It was Mila who explained, “Dillon’s best friends with Bastien, and Emilia adores little Juliette, so they wanted to stay together. Since my monsters weren’t prepared to skip trick or treating, we all came as a group.”
Dominic plucked a piece of candy from his son’s pumpkin bag, earning himself a very adult growl. “You gotta learn to share, boy.”
“No, I don’t.” Dillon snatched it back and returned it to his bag.
Bastien, who’d pushed his way to the front, gazed up at Bailey. “You smell a bit like one of my pack mates, Savannah. She’s a viper shifter. What are you?”
“A demon straight from the bowels of hell,” she deadpanned.
Havana shot her a glare. “Bailey.”
She lifted her shoulders. “What? People have said that to me.”
Jaime laughed. “Bastien, get over here.”
Juliette did a little curtsy. “Thank you!” Then she scrambled off the porch with the other kids.
All the adults said their goodbyes, and then Havana closed the door.
Turning, Bailey realized that the others were no longer in the hallway. She tracked their voices into the living room, finding Tate and Deke standing near the patio doors while Camden sat on an armchair with Aspen on his lap.
The tiger shifter looked up at Bailey. “I hear a congrats is in order.”
After a few moments of silence, she asked, “Are you going to say congratulations?”
“Maybe later.” He grunted when Aspen playfully socked his arm.
“Okay,” began Havana, “someone needs to be on trick or treat duty.”
“I’ll do it,” Bailey volunteered.
The devil sighed. “Someone other than Bailey.”
Affronted, she frowned. “Why not me?”
“When unsupervised, you scare the kids and then eat the candy they would have taken.”
“It’ll otherwise go to waste.”
Aspen lifted a hand. “I’ll do candy duty.”
Havana smiled at her. “Thank you.”
“What are we watching?” asked Deke, striding across the room.
“First, Hocus Pocus,” Havana told him. “We have to watch it every Halloween. It’s the law. Before we get started, who wants drinks?” She took everyone’s order and then headed to the kitchen with Tate.
Deke dropped a kiss on Bailey’s mouth. “Need to answer a call of nature. I’ll be back in a sec.”
As he strolled out of the room, she sank onto the sofa and grabbed a chip from a bowl on the coffee table.
“I’m so happy,” Aspen told her, beaming.
Bailey blinked. “About what?”
The bearcat seemed to be fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “That you and Deke are imprinting on each other, dufus.”
“Oh.” Bailey tossed the chip in her mouth.
“Did you freak out when you first realized?” Camden asked her.
“No. I might have, but I followed your advice not to panic.” Bailey smiled. “You’d have been proud of me.”
He snorted. “Let’s not go that far.”
She only laughed.
Aspen looked at her mate. “Wait, you gave her advice?”
“You told me I’m supposed to repay any favors,” he reminded her. “She once did me a favor by giving me sound advice, so …”
Aspen’s face went all soft, and she gave him a quick kiss. “You know, not only can you be super sweet at times, you’re not as mean and rude as you used to be.”
Tate hollered Camden’s name. “Need help carrying these drinks!”
The tiger didn’t respond in any way, nor did he move.
The bearcat raised a brow. “You’re going to ignore him?”
“I don’t want to get up.”
Aspen sighed. “I take back the whole you-not-being-so-rude these days.” She slid off his lap. “Go help him.”
Rolling his eyes, Camden pushed to his feet and then left the room.
Aspen flopped into the chair and refocused on Bailey. “I thought there was a chance you and Deke would imprint, but I figured it wouldn’t happen for a long time—you’re just so cagey and stuff. He apparently smashed down your defenses, huh?”
“Something like that,” said Bailey.
Aspen bit her lip. “Do you worry that, since imprint bonds can be broken, he’ll always have that ‘out’?”
“No. Because Deke doesn’t commit to anything half-heartedly, and neither do I.”
“That’s true. And he obviously means a lot to you if you were able to push past your panic and follow Camden’s advice.” Aspen paused. “I was clearly right in what I said not so long ago—you’re growing up.”
Bailey flicked her head to the side. “Huh?”
“You never used to follow anyone’s advice. I feel like you’re maturing.”
“I’m already mature.”
Aspen barked a laugh, looking like she expected Bailey to join in. But her smile faded when it didn’t happen. “Oh, you’re serious. Wow.”
