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Claudia looked at me with wide eyes, slowly shaking her head. “I feel for you,” I said. “I really do. But I have to say, I’m glad it’s you instead of me this time.”
“This is going to be a disaster,” Claudia said, rubbing her forehead.
Two arms wrapped around my neck, nearly pulling me out of my chair. “You took too long,” Meredith said.
I laughed, and slapped at her arms. “You’re choking me.”
“Serves you right. Ignoring me.”
The rest of the gang pulled chairs up to the table as I made introductions. Dastien disappeared for a second, but came back with a plate of food.
“I’ve been watching how much the Weres are eating,” Claudia said. “You really weren’t getting enough food.”
“Tessa,” Dastien growled.
“Tattletale,” I said to Claudia. “I was doing fine.”
“Maybe that’s why you were feeling so dizzy,” Claudia said.
“Maybe. Or it could’ve been because of the gris-gris Luciana planted in my bed. Or the whole stripping my powers thing. Or the stress. I mean I’ve been told stress is hell on the body.”
Dastien pushed back from the table. “I’m getting you some more food.”
I rolled my eyes. “See what you’ve done. He’s going to be a pain in my ass.” I leaned back in my chair and watched as the two groups mingled.
They’d fought together, but when I got to the cafeteria, the witches had been sitting isolated. Now, I was back and everyone was hanging out like old friends.
Maybe Muraco was right. Maybe I did have a bigger role to play. Bringing people together didn’t sound bad at all.
Dastien came back with two trays. “Eat.” He was still growling.
“I’m already full. We ate before we got here aaaaand I already ate another tray full of food.”
He stared at me, eyes glowing yellow.
I’m okay. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.
He pulled me out of my chair and placed me on his lap. I don’t think you get it. I can’t do this without you. I tried, but I was a mess. I don’t know when my world started to revolve around you—around us—so much, but it does. And you almost died. So you’ll have to excuse me if I try to feed you a little more because I heard that while you were away, you’d been starving yourself.
That’s not true, I said through the bond. I wasn’t starving myself.
Well, you weren’t eating enough.
I sighed. His panic and distress beat against me, and I pressed my forehead to his. All right. I’ll eat.
He brushed his lips against mine. “Thank you.”
I tried to move back into my own chair, but he held me tight. “Okay. Guess I’m eating from here then.” I went to grab the fork, but he did it for me, making a huge bite of roast beef and some mashed potatoes. “Okay, mister. This is where I draw the line. You’re being ridiculous. Give me the fork.”
His chest rumbled with laughter, but he didn’t hand it over.
“Seriously. You’re not feeding me in front of everyone. It’s embarrassing. Give me the fork.” I tried to reach for it and he moved his hand.
His chuckled, and I dug my fingers into his sides. “Give me the damned fork.” He dropped it as I hit his ticklish spot. His chuckles turned into full-on belly laughs.
I snatched up the fork, and took a bite. Everyone at the table was watching us.
“You’ve made us a spectacle. I hope you’re happy.”
