Page 127 of The Hunger
“She’s right. He wouldn’t self-sabotage like that,” I said.
“Yep. More than likely, Aubrey got mad and pulled Raiden in somehow.”
Which had been my fear when Fenris had initially offered to drive the convertible home. As much as I’d hated the idea of him facing Aubrey on his own, I also knew how much the girls wanted to avoid her. Therefore, I’d gone along with the plan and given the group a ride here so they could evade Aubrey as long as possible.
“I’m just glad our phones aren’t buzzing with messages from Raiden, telling us to head home,” Jenna said seconds before hers vibrated.
She glanced down at the screen.
“Fenris made it. Aubrey’s pissed and claiming we’ve betrayed her. Raiden is fine with us being here and says to thank Laurel for loaning Fenris her phone.”
Willow let out a frustrated growl. “Of course. Why wouldn’t Raiden be fine with us distracting Eliana from Fenris for a while?”
“We should ask if we can spend the night. I bet our parents would say yes.”
Laurel’s suggestion had them all fast-talking excitedly, especially Eugene, Kelsey and Zoe. I hesitated to share their excitement.
Would it be safe for them to sleep here? It could be. If I closed the doors between my room and theirs and if Eugene kept his word, it should be fine. Yet a level of worry remained. As Fenris had proven, my control was at its weakest when I slept. Those accidental feedings on top of knowing the full extent of what I could do didn’t give me any confidence in how well the sleepover would work.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Kelsey said, looking at me. “We didn’t mean to invite ourselves.”
I gave her a small smile.
“I wouldn’t mind the company. I’m just not sure where you’d all sleep.”
“Humans in Oanen’s room and pack in here,” Jenna said.
It would put the werewolves closer to me and protect the humans. I liked it.
Six sets of pleading gazes locked on me, and I grinned.
“Ask your parents, and I’ll ask Mrs. Quill about you three,” I said looking at Kelsey.
Mrs. Quill was ecstatic about my first “group” gathering and promised that the humans would be completely safe. She didn’t even bat an eye when I told her I wasn’t inciting an orgy.
“Of course you’re not, my darling. That isn’t your style. But this is so healthy for you and just as good.”
It was no surprise when Mom texted me a while later, telling me how proud she was of me in every way. I smirked and could only imagine how she would react when I told her I’d purposely mind-controlled Eras into remembering and had accidentally swayed the opinions of all the mermaids in the pools.
While Eugene, Kelsey, and Zoe ran home for overnight supplies, the girls and I picked out our selection of movies. They were lounging in my loaned pajamas by the time the other three returned.
“You will not believe what the fuckboy from next door did,” Zoe said, grinning like crazy. “He yelled at Kelsey to get off his lawn.”
Zoe and Eugene laughed hard while Kelsey rolled her eyes.
“Whatever type of creature he is, perpetual anger has to be a trait. His lawn is snow-covered, and the only reason I walked on it was to get my scarf that the wind blew off of me.”
“Hotness rules out trolls,” Willow said.
“Eras is an ass. Maybe the guy is an incubus.”
“No,” Zoe said quickly. “He’s never made a pass at either of us.”
I made a mental note to remember to ask Mrs. Quill about their neighbor before the girls left in the morning.
Sweets dangled from the branches. The varieties of lemon cake and baklava didn’t make me pause. I ate them all ravenously, inhaling every delicious crumb, only slowing to run my tongue through the lemon curd. When the trees started to shake, I grinned and kept eating.
“I know what you’re doing,” the trees said.
