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Raven and I both stared at him.
“You know, where you can’t find anyone to help you?”
“How would we know that?” She shook her head. “You never take us with you.”
“Because you hate it.”
“If you can’t ever get help, why do you go?”
I left the two of them play arguing and went off to find a private place to FaceTime Valentina. A bench in an alcove off a quiet hallway fit the bill, and I curled my legs under me and hit the icon for V. Funny how we’d never known one another growing up and then my father had sent me to kill her…and now we were thick as thieves. I missed her already.
“Hey, cousin!” Her cheerful voice lifted my spirits and made me homesick and happier at the same time. “How are things with the rich people?”
I filled her in, and so did she in reverse. Was there never a quiet moment for either of us? Diana murdered! I had so much to tell my mates, and then…when I was about to hunt for a staff member to show me to the game room, one of the snootiest couples from dinner walked past my alcove.
“Can you believe that Raven showing up here like that?” the gray-haired woman who had clearly been stuffed into her dress with a toilet plunger said, sounding delighted. “Her parents were right when they disowned her, marrying outside pack like that and without even asking permission.”
“I’ve heard they’re coming tomorrow,” the man said. “That’s going to be quite a mess.”
“Richard and the ladies wouldn’t have invited them,” the woman said. “Probably just a rumor.”
“Oh, I don’t think they waited for an invite…”
Fuck.
Chapter Twelve
Raven
I had to admit it was fun seeing old friends and catching up. I’d never been one of the really “in” people, but returning from school mated to Asher, who most of the girls and some of the guys had been swooning over since we entered our teens, garnered a whole lot of interest. Even more so since I had two mates. They all wanted lots of details, some of which I was willing to share, and a lot I was not. But it was still nice to see them, and I appreciated so much that they did not ask about my family. That was an open wound.
And within twenty minutes or so, they were bored with interrogating me, and everyone found something else to do. The PS5 was no surprise since Asher’s moms had been gamers since I’d known them, but there was also an electronic dartboard, table tennis, billiards, board games…just about anything you could want to amuse yourself. Asher and I got into a game of Clue. It was a silly kids’ game I’d protested, secretly excited to settle into my childhood favorite.
Onyx joined us after a bit, but she wasn’t interested in playing anything, just said she’d watch. After a while, I noticed she wasn’t even talking, and I nudged Asher. “I think something’s wrong with our mate.”
“I think so, too. Should we call it a night and get her out of here? I hope none of those early arrivals hurt her feelings in some way.”
“Let’s head upstairs.” I didn’t even like to think of something like that happening. In fact, it enraged me. “Onyx, honey, we’re getting tired. You ready to go?”
“Sure.” She shrugged. “But don’t leave your friends because of me.”
“Not in the least. As they keep reminding us, we have mates and they don’t. Which means we have options for the rest of the evening they may not. At least not under my parents’ roof.” Asher’s grin was infectious, and once he threw the game so one of our opponents won, we were off and headed down a narrow hallway toward the back of the house.
“Yeah, like they know what everyone gets up to here.” I smirked at them. “If we did a room check, we’d find not everyone in their assigned quarters.”
“Hey.” She stopped and dug in her heels. “Where are we going?”
“I thought we’d take the elevator,” Asher replied, grabbing my hand and towing me along. “I wanted to save my energy for when we’re alone together, but if you want me to waste it climbing…”
I giggled. The elevator was supposed to be a family secret, but you couldn’t be a kid visiting any of these big houses without sneaking around and exploring. I’d found the elevator my very first trip here. “I vote for saving energy for fun.”
It wasn’t a very big elevator and not nearly as old as the house. It had been installed when Asher’s great-grandmother was too old to manage all the stairs, and if his folks knew we used it all the time, they never said anything.
“You have an elevator in your house,” Onyx huffed. “I hope you never want us to live here because I think I’d get lost and never be found.”
I patted her arm. “Until the smell led us to you. Like one of those mice that die in the walls.”
“Raven, sometimes I wonder about you.” Onyx rolled her eyes so hard, I was afraid they might stick. But at least I’d distracted her from whatever had her so down.
