Feeling a rush of amusement tumble along the mating bond, Blair turned her head to see Luke laughing with Tate, Vinnie, and Elle. The joke might have been at Alex’s expense, because he was looking pretty surly over there in their little group. Then again, that was kind of his default mode unless he was with Bree.
Other groups were here and there—some in their animal forms, some not. Blair wasn’t even sure how it came about that so many gathered out here. She and Luke had meant to let their animals run together in the yard but had hesitated on finding Aspen and Camden near the pond in their animal forms—his tiger was pretty antisocial. She and Luke had been about to return inside, but then her parents, Mitch, and Kiesha were escorted to the backyard by Bailey … and somehow everyone got talking. Little by little, more and more people had begun to trickle outside.
Bye, bye alone time with Luke.
As Blair’s family visited every couple of weeks or so, the pride was used to them now. But a few did still hold it against Embry that he’d been so closed to the idea that one of his own was Blair’s stalker; they believed he might have otherwise seen that his old Beta was a freaking maniac, despite the fact that no one else had.
It was really no surprise that Embry had promoted Antoine to Beta, or that he’d then given Mitch the position of Head Enforcer. Although both males were happy with their promotions, they claimed that the whole thing felt tainted by what had led to them.
The Donal clusterfuck was still an unhealed wound for the pack, as was the fact that they’d once mistakenly pinned the blame for two deaths on a ten-year-old child who they’d subsequently ostracized. Embry had invited Gabriel to return to the Sylvan Pack but he’d declined. Blair was pretty sure she’d have done the same in Gabriel’s shoes.
“And the grizzly bites the dust,” said Havana just as he toppled over like a dead weight.
The four bush dogs let out satisfied little yips and then jumped into the pond like kids doing cannon ball moves.
Bailey smiled at Blair. “I’m finding that I really like bush dogs. Your family’s animals are fun. My snake wants to play with them.”
Blair felt her brow furrow. “I don’t think that would work out so well. Your mamba would try to bite them, and then they’d eat her. And if she didn’t try to bite them, well, they’d likely still eat her.”
“In which case, you should totally let your mamba go play with them,” snarked Aspen, approaching with Camden and Deke.
Bailey gave her a bored look. “You’re not still being whiny because she bit your bearcat’s nipple, are you?”
Aspen’s mouth thinned, and she opened it as if to yell … but then Camden put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Don’t waste your time pointing out that she did anything wrong. It will fly right over her head.”
Smiling at him, Bailey put a fist to her heart. “I love how well you get me.”
Aspen rolled her eyes and then cut them to Blair. “Your family seems to be enjoying themselves. Are your parents still making an effort to be nice to Luke?”
“Yup,” replied Blair. “I wouldn’t allow anything else.”
“Do you think it’ll stay that way?” asked Havana.
“I do.” Blair had been doubtful at first, but it was clear to see that her parents had officially changed their stance on her relationship with Luke. As if the moment their own personal bullshit stopped clouding their opinions they’d finally seen him.
He told her that Noelle recently said to him, “You love her, you make her happy. Keep doing that.”
That the woman acknowledged he made Blair happy said everything.
“It’s surprising how well she and Ingrid now get along,” said Blair. “I wasn’t so sure if Ingrid would give her another chance.”
“I think she only did it for your sake,” said Havana. “As for Valentina … yeah, I think it’s gonna take a few years before she does anything but snarl at your mom.”
Blair winced. “Probably. Can’t say I blame her, really. Luke is her nephew after all, and Noelle was always rude to Valentina whenever the woman took me on day trips when I was a kid.” Wolverines could sure hold a grudge.
“What are you doing?” asked Deke, frowning at Bailey.
The mamba’s unfocused eyes cleared, and she stopped dancing her fingers along her inner arm. “Wondering why we can’t tickle ourselves. Don’t you think it’s weird? I mean, we can make ourselves come just fine. There ain’t much of a difference.”
Blair exchanged an amused look with Havana.
Deke sighed at Bailey. “You’ll just blurt out any ole thing, won’t you?”
“Tact is for losers,” she told him.
He snorted. “You just like making people uncomfortable.”