Lethe snapped out a roundhouse kick to his jaw so fast her leg blurred.
Boaz hit the floor on his back with a grunt, and she put her foot on his throat, pressing to make sure she had his attention. And then she smiled, and I almost wet my pants for him.
“You might think you’re insulting Linus when you talk smack about him, but you’re really insulting Grier. She wouldn’t be with a guy who treats her like dirt. Note how she’s not with you anymore?” She applied pressure, and he sucked in air between his teeth. “Even if Linus were literal pond scum, he would still be floating above the waterline. Even if he was a water snail eating pond scum, or water snail poop made of pond scum? Yep. Still better than you. You’ve sunk low before, but stay down there much longer, and you’ll drown.”
Hood walked up behind her, and he smiled down at Boaz, all teeth. Lethe ignored him and kept venting.
“Grier loves Linus. That’s all you get to know about them. That’s all you need to know. She. Loves. Him. And you know the best part? He loves her back. Actually loves her. Puts her needs ahead of his own, that kind of thing. I would go into more detail, really break down how badly you’ve failed as a man, but it would fly right over your pig head, and I’m too hungry for this BS.” She rubbed her belly. “And now I’m thinking about bacon.”
“I’ll handle this.” Hood bent down and fisted the front of Boaz’s shirt, using it to yank him to his feet. “You order breakfast.”
“I love you,” she said, stomach growling.
“You love bacon.”
“I have a big heart,” she protested. “There’s room enough for both of you in it.”
After they had gone, Lethe turned back to me. “He’s an asshat. Don’t let him get under your skin.”
“I screwed up,” I admitted. “I should have called Woolly or Oscar.”
“Grier.” She clamped her hands on my shoulders. “You’re allowed to make mistakes. You’re allowed to live your life. You’re allowed to enjoy yourself.” She shook me. “So you forgot to check in. It happens. Apologize and move on.” She smiled. “I’m proud of you. You put yourself first for like twelve whole hours. That’s got to be a record.” She shot a look at Linus from under her lashes. “I want all the deets, but let’s wait until we get back to Woolly. I’m going to need popcorn for this.”
With a wink, she set off down the stairs, leaving Linus and me alone.
His chill fingertips skated across my shoulders before drawing me against him. “Are you all right?”
“This is not how I imagined the morning after, but I’m good.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and let the tension drain away. “You okay?”
“We have to do something about Boaz. This type of behavior is inexcusable.”
“Request-a-transfer do something, right? Not off with his head do something?”
“I’m not going to kill him.” His expression shifted into thoughtful lines. “Unless he leaves me no choice.”
That sounded like him holding open a door waiting for Boaz to walk through it.
“He needs space to get his head on straight, not have it separated from his neck.”
Linus stroked down my spine, a smile playing on his lips.
“That’s not a murder smile, is it?” I jabbed him in the chest. “I thought you weren’t the possessive type.”
“I will never cage you.” He took my hand and kissed my fingertips. “Not with love or otherwise.”
“Keep sweet-talking me, and I might have to hold on to you.”
“I’ll bear that in mind.” He nudged me across the hall. “I’ll bring you a change of clothes.”
A bit of last night’s glow had returned while I was in his arms, and it carried me through the shower. But, try as I might, I couldn’t banish the specter of Boaz. Part of me had always expected to share the morning-after experience with him, but not like this.
Amelie’s disinheritance. His engagement. Our estrangement. His mother stepping down as head of the family. Him stepping up.
He had been through a lot, and I sympathized, but I was done being his verbal punching bag.
I had to get him out of my life, and I wasn’t above asking the Grande Dame for help evicting him.
After my shower, Linus brought me one of his button-down shirts and a pair of cotton boxers. I could have worn yesterday’s clothes—they weren’t that rumpled—but I wasn’t going to say no to him fussing over me. Plus, I had that whole shirtdress thing happening after I rolled the long sleeves up to my elbows and belted the fabric at my waist. Those were trendy, right?
At least with his undies on, I wasn’t in danger of flashing my butt getting in the van. My poor boobs, however, just had to hang there. Linus didn’t seem to mind me going braless. Really, he ought to be used to seeing my boobs jiggle since bras were the first thing I lost in times of crisis.
We met Hood and Lethe downstairs, and we all walked out to the van together.
Boaz was nowhere in sight, but Hood’s knuckles were scraped, and Lethe looked far too pleased with her mate.
“I ordered breakfast.” She popped me on the rump. “We gotta vamoose, or the food will beat us there.”
“Hey,” I yelped. “That hurt. This shirt isn’t all that thick.”
“Oh, that’s right.” She snickered. “I’m used to you wearing jeans, but you slept here last night, and you didn’t pack a change of clothes. You were too busy having sex.”
I refused to blush.
Fiddlesticks.
Okay, my face was on fire.
“Grier had sex,” she sang. “Grier had sex.”
“Hood,” I pleaded, “a little help here?”
Lethe rested her hand on his thigh, her nails trailing upward, and fluttered her lashes until he caved.
“Linus had sex,” he chimed in. “Linus had sex.”
“I quit the pack,” I grumbled. “I’m going lone wolf.”
“You can’t quit,” Hood said, “and we’re only half wolf. You’re actually zero wolf. So there’s that.”
The ride home was more of a ride of shame than anything. Lethe and Hood sang jaunty tunes about how much sex I had last night, and Linus was no help at all. He didn’t manifest his scythe or offer to cut off their heads or anything useful. Mostly he just sat there, a tiny smile playing on his lips, and pretended not to hear their caterwauling.
Back home, Woolly barged into my head before Hood threw the van in park. Her panic and relief clashed in a halting melody that made my ears ring. She bulldozed into my memories, discordant noise vibrating in my back teeth, and saw last night through my eyes. The complete quiet on her end startled me into a new blush.
Mortified, I dropped my face into my hands. “This night keeps getting better and better.”
“Oh.” Lethe plastered her face against the window. “I think that’s Joe.”
“I can’t remember the last time you were this excited to see me,” Hood remarked.
“The last time you brought me bacon,” she answered before hopping out and sprinting to the curb.
“Lethe and bacon sittin’ in a tree,” I grumbled as I stepped out into the driveway. “C-R-U-N-C-H-I-N-G.”
Chuckling under his breath, Linus emerged behind me and slid his cool fingers in mine. The happiness on his face, there for anyone to see, made my chest ache that he couldn’t be this Linus in our world. But his status made him a target, and so did mine. People wanting to hurt us would take aim at those we loved.
“I need to go check in with Amelie.” I heard the resignation in my voice, but it needed doing. “Why don’t you help Lethe bring in her order? I’ll be right there.”
He squeezed my fingers once then left to help my friend juggle her armload of bags and drink trays.
“How mad are you on a scale of one to ten?”
I whipped my head around at the sound of Amelie’s voice. I hadn’t realized I had turned to admire the view as Linus walked away until I glanced back at the carriage house to find her standing in the doorway.
“Maybe a three.” I shrugged. “You did the right thing.”
“I would have called anyone else if I had known anyone else to call.”
“I get that.” I used my modified pen to write a number on her palm. “However, if I vanish in the future and you can’t find the gwyllgi, I want you to call this number. He’ll know what to do.”
Her lips moved over the number as she committed it to memory. “Who do I ask for?”
“Midas.”
Perhaps not the best option considering the fact he struggled with control around Amelie. The darkness in her rankled his animalistic nature, which viewed her as sick prey in need of culling. But she didn’t need to know that, and it’s not like I had any better options. Hopefully, she would never need to test his restraint.
“He was the blond, right?” Her focus zeroed in on where we used to spar in the garden. “Blue eyes?”
“He would have to drive down from Atlanta, but he’s worth the wait.”
Chin lowering, she asked, “Boaz stuck his foot in it, didn’t he?”
“Your brother is under a lot of stress, and he’s making bad decisions. Talk to him. Or Adelaide. I met her at the ball, and she seems to have a good head on her shoulders.”
“No one else in your position would have put up with us this long.”
“The three of us have a lot of history. Just because I don’t think we’re good for each other now doesn’t mean I don’t care. I do. I want you to both be happy.”
“You are.” She cocked her head. “Happy, I mean.”
A dopey grin crept up on me. “I am.”
“I’m glad.” She smiled, and it was genuine. No shadows. No undercurrents.
“I should go.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder. “Woolly is going to give me an earful—if she lets me back in the house.”