On that, he tossed his napkin on the table and stalked out.
“Shit, I need a cigarette,” Jabber muttered, pushing his chair back.
“I’m with you, brother. It’s time for a smoke break,” Hook stated, getting up to follow Jabber.
Moose did the same.
Poncho stayed seated.
“Any way you can get your auntie to speed things up?” Abel asked him.
“Not good to interrupt her when she’s working,” Poncho answered.
I sighed.
Abel’s jaw got hard.
“Is she really sacrificing a yak?” Leah asked.
“Ox,” Poncho told her.
Her eyes got big and they turned to me.
I gave her a lip curl but shrugged.
“I would agree with Cain,” Lucien interrupted his bride’s and my nonverbal communication. “A day, two, we can wait. Cosmo is working that vampire. Perhaps he’ll break him.”
“Abel?” Callum called after Lucien finished giving his vote.
And when Abel gave his, I knew it not only came from the fact that he wanted to give his brother this, but he also wanted to give it to me.
“Two days. Then we go,” he said.
“Agreed,” Callum finished it.
It didn’t escape me that they didn’t ask for Sonia’s, Leah’s, or my opinion, but since the vote went the way I wanted it to, I kept my mouth shut.
“We should train,” Abel announced.
“There’s little else to teach you, brother,” Callum told him. “By the fates, you’re a natural.”
“Then we should attack each other to blow off some steam,” Abel returned.
Callum held his eyes and nodded slowly. “All right, Abel.”
The men pushed back, including Lucien, his eyes to Xun, which meant they were training too.
Considering I didn’t think I was destined to karate chop my way to saving the world, I stayed where I was and reached for the silver coffeepot.
I had it by the handle held up in the air when I felt Abel’s hand curl around my neck.
I tipped my head back, he bent in to give me a short, soft kiss, then he was gone.
With similar gestures for their mates, Callum and Lucien were gone with him. Without bitches to kiss, the rest just filed out.
Leaving Leah, Sonia, and me with Poncho.
“Don’t you smoke?” Sonia asked him, and he grinned wickedly at her.
“I do, beautiful, but I do not when I got a shot at sittin’ at a fancy-ass table with three gorgeous women, drinkin’ coffee, and shootin’ the shit.”
That was Poncho. He was a flirt.
I gave him a smile.
He returned it.
Then I poured my coffee, sat back with mug in hand, and while the world continued to hang in the balance, I shot the shit with my friends.
* * * * *
I moved through the grass toward the wolves doing what they’d been doing for days and days.
And I did it enjoying what I saw.
Callum was an incredibly handsome wolf, Ryon, Calder, and Caleb weren’t slouches either, but Abel was glorious. Big. Beautiful. And his fur was amazing. I’d touched it and it was thick and soft. Seeing him as wolf, I hoped one day I’d have a chance (or many of them) to go out with my mate while he roamed.
Abel sensed me, separated from the pack, and leaped to man.
Okay, more glorious.
I turned, walking backward, giving them all time to do the same and get decent before I made it to them.
“We’re good, Lilah,” Abel called, and I turned back.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said loudly since I still wasn’t that close, “but Gregor’s chat with Gastineau is done. He reported to us girls and I’m here to report to you.”
“Leah go to Lucien?” Callum asked.
“Yes. And Sonia’s with the witches,” I told him, now close enough to stop so I did. “We decided to ask them if they could give Gastineau and the immortals that Gregor is sending to him a protection spell.”
“So Gregor is giving him reinforcements,” Ryon said, and I nodded.
“Etienne wasn’t where they’re holding Serena,” I shared. “It’s in a bunker, three stories down under a vampire-owned skyscraper, apparently where an old Feast used to be held. Hard to breach. They’re gonna try again anyway.”
The men had no response to this.
“Gastineau is, um…antsy,” I told them. “The second attempt is gonna happen soon.”
“He should wait,” Ryon muttered.
“Maybe, but a second attempt done quickly after so many losses were sustained would be unexpected,” Callum replied. “Perhaps that will aid their cause.”
Abel got close and curled a hand around my neck.
I looked up to him.
“You good?” he asked softly.
Two days of him safe, The Three safe, my friends and family safe, before we started to take risks in order to save the world?
I knew it made me chicken, but I was good.
“Yeah, honey,” I replied.
He studied me like he was attempting to see if I was fibbing, must have got the correct answer (since I wasn’t), and slid his arm along my shoulders.
“Think I’m done,” he told Callum.
Callum lifted his chin.
Abel looked down at me. “Let’s go see what the witches had to say.”
It was an unnecessary errand. They’d do whatever we asked. They might hate vampires, but they dug us. Not to mention, they kinda liked the world as it was.
Even knowing this, and knowing Abel knew it too, I replied, “Yeah, let’s go see.”
With waves to the others (from me, Abel did a chin lift), we walked to the house.