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By the time I finished my rounds and trade-off, Aria was waiting for me, grinning ear to ear. Apparently, she’d gotten to catch up with Johnny and Marilyn while I’d been checking the perimeter, and the pair had asked us if we wanted to have another game night.
I swallowed down the immediate protest that tried to escape me and agreed, earning a swift kiss for my efforts before she bolted off to gather Auren and the others.
It didn’t take us long to get everything set up for a night in, though things had taken a weird turn when Neo and Reese sat on opposite ends of our living space.
The sun had already dipped below the sky, and I was more or less clinging to the bottle of whiskey Neo had dropped between us. Aria and Reese were sitting across from us, with Auren, Johnny, and Marilyn settled in between.
“So, are we thrilled about the new recruits, or what?”
Johnny finally broke the tension, and Marilyn laughed, bumping her shoulder with his. Auren let out a long sigh, tipping back his cup of wine.
“Donoteven get me started,” he grunted, which made Aria giggle. “I didn’t realize the fallen-blood packs were so disjointed. Most of them refuse to even acknowledge Elias as their representative.”
“Yeah, but that’s because they weren’t really consulted. Fallen-blood wolves get left out of everything—hell, most of them can’t even get the jobs they want.”
Everyone gave me affectionately dirty looks. I grimaced, tipping the bottle back before offering it to Neo.
“So what? We need both a blessed Alpha and a fallen one?” Johnny shook his head, looking baffled at the thought. “We’d never get anywhere.”
Reese rolled her eyes. “No, we just need someone that theyallwant in charge. Maybe take another vote or something?”
“I think Elias and his pack would have a meltdown,” Neo said, which earned some nervous chuckles from everyone.
There was no doubt in my mind that Jack would be the first in line to debate that decision, followed swiftly by Ashe. Both men were a force to be reckoned with on a good day, but it had become clear that when he wasn’t engaged in a chat, Ashe was a bit of a handful.
Despite his friendliness, the younger shifter was reclusive for the most part, but when hedidpop up, it was always out of seemingly nowhere, and always to eavesdrop. Having pretty much raised him as a son, Elias clearly adored him, but maybe he indulged him a little too much.
All members of Pack Olskin were pretty secretive, giving anyone who came snooping narrow-eyed looks. I could only imagine it was because their Alpha had nearly been ruined by loose lips before, and they were all shockingly close-knit. The more I observed them, the more clear it became that they were different from the other packs joining us in the compound; even Pack Homer seemed uncomfortably distant by comparison.
“I think we just need to focus on making it through the next few months,” Auren grumbled, shaking his head.
“Agreed,” Aria sighed. “Honestly, it’s amazing anyone is even joining us, to begin with. You’d think they’d just be happy to be out of the line of fire.”
Ever since it had started coming out how badly the fallen-blood wolves were treated, the consensus was that we should all just be happy to be alive and healthy.
After talking to Tiana, Auren had set up an older compound not too far from us for the ones turned away at the gate to borrow until they weren’t being used as test dummies. Most of them had been glad, but even more, had been frustrated. I could understand it, to some degree; it would suck if everywhere I went in life, I was treated like I had the plague and talked down to, even by the people who were trying to find a cure to the illness everyone was so afraid of.
The night was grossly serious as we all drank and gossiped like teenagers. Apparently, Kiran had eagerly taken in Caiya and Mia for his class—despite Atlan’s protests—so everyone had gotten a good laugh about it. The toddlers had not been great at paying attention to what was being taught, but anything was better than nothing.
Reese had tried to help them keep on task, too, to no avail.
By the end of the evening, Johnny was toting Marilyn home and Auren offered to walk Reese back to her place, since it was on his way. Neo had visibly bristled but didn’t interfere.
I couldn’t help but wonder how much of his attention was because he actually liked the little human. Part of me was certain at least part of his interest stemmed from a vicious need to protect any human at all, and she’d just been the unlucky person on the receiving end of it.
Aria gave me wide-eyed looks behind their backs, face expressive as Neo stalked out behind Reese and Auren. He watched them for a long moment before ducking into his own house across the street.
“They’re so pitiful,” my mate sighed, pressing her hands to her rosy cheeks. The alcohol had obviously worked its magic because she was babbling about them being star-crossed lovers all the way until I got her into pajamas and tucked beneath the sheets.
“Get some sleep,” I finally said, laughing when she started in on how bummed she was that Auren hadn’t invited Ashe to hang out with them, too.
Once she quieted, it didn’t take long for her to pass out, and I followed swiftly behind.
12
MEDITATION FOR DUMMIES
ARIA
