“Well … I prefer to piss them off, but ‘uncomfortable’ will do in a pinch.”
“Why? Why not simply let people be?”
“I don’t question your life choices.”
“But you should question your own.”
“Whatever for?”
The enforcer stared at the mamba, as if desperately trying to understand her. Or to intimidate her, maybe. It was hard to tell with him at times. He was difficult to read.
Bailey’s lips curved as she met his stare with her own. “All this intense eye contact … I feel like we’re bonding right now. Don’t you?”
Grunting, he shook his head and walked away.
Watching him go, Bailey blew out a breath. “He so doesn’t deserve that butt.”
Blair frowned. “What?”
“It’s a spectacular ass,” said Bailey. “Nature should have given it to someone worthy.”
Aspen blinked at her. “By ‘worthy,’ you mean someone who’ll take your shit without dishing it back or asking you to be more conscious of your behavior?”
“Yes,” said Bailey. “That is exactly what I mean.”
Tate exhaled heavily. “Do you have to bring up old shit?”
Luke felt his brows draw together. “When said ‘shit’ left me with a scar, yeah.”
“You can’t still be pissed about that. We were kids. I don’t even know why you made such a big deal about it back then.”
“Oh, you don’t?” Unbelievable.
“It’s not like it was the first time I stabbed you with scissors.”
“But it was the first time you did it unprovoked.”
Tate’s brow creased. “You threw a balloon at me.”
“Yeah. A balloon.”
“It was filled with paint, you little shit.”
“Good God, boys, can you not stop squabbling?” Vinnie broke in. “You’re too old for this now. I—” He cut off, his brow pinching as Deke approached. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” the enforcer clipped, his expression dark, his nostrils flaring.
“Well you seem fine,” Alex deadpanned.
Deke fired the wolverine a narrow-eyed glare.
Elle sighed. “You’re grumpier than Alex these days, and that’s saying something. You recently got to kill a bunch of extremists. That should have cheered you up. Especially since we got away with it.”
The extremists had contacted Vinnie about Wheeler, but they’d bought his story that all had been fine at the meeting when he left the drop-off point. The police hadn’t contacted either Vinnie or Camden regarding Zayne, so they were all currently presuming that there’d been no evidence to link the celebrity to them.
“I’m not grumpy,” Deke told Elle.
“Ooh, I beg to differ,” she said. “And I’m thinking that Bailey”—she tipped her chin toward the mamba—“has something to … God, I honestly feel sorry for Havana at times.”
Tracking his sister’s gaze, Luke saw the Alpha female standing between Aspen and Bailey, palming each of their foreheads as they argued about God knew what. Blair was battling a smile, her shoulders shaking.
As if she felt his attention settle on her, Blair looked his way. A smile did curve her mouth, then. It wasn’t one of amusement. It was a wan “I told you our quality time would be invaded” smile. Yeah, it was becoming too much of a pattern for his liking.
“Havana told me that those two have been bickering about the most senseless stuff since the day they first met,” said Tate.
Deke grunted. “I can believe that. They’ll argue over just about anything.”
“Like there aren’t bigger things going on in the world,” said Elle, shaking her head. “They should be more concerned that the Harbinger will soon be born.” She glanced over at Damian, who was snuggling on a bench with the girlfriend he’d recently discovered was also his true mate. “When those two reproduce, we are fucked.”
Vinnie frowned. “Instead of branding their future child the Harbinger of Death, could you not just make peace with Damian and congratulate them on their mating?”
“I offered the girl my condolences,” Elle told him. “There’s really nothing else to be said on the matter.”
Vinnie rolled his eyes. “I worry about you, Elle. I really do.”
“Why? I didn’t mate Beelzebub.”
“Your brother is not—forget it, let’s just drop the subject.”
“As you wish,” said Elle, ever so graciously. “I want to return to the topic of why Deke’s being so grumpy anyway. Tell us what’s wrong.”
The enforcer sighed. “Nothing is wrong, I’m perfectly—what the fuck?”
Whipping his head to the side, Luke saw his mate running at Aspen and Bailey like a human crab. The two females ceased arguing in an instant, their eyes going wide. They squealed like little girls and took off, but an undeterred Blair chased them around the yard.
Scraping a hand over his jaw, Luke chuckled. Not a lot could spook a pallas cat, but people were quick to move out of his mate’s way, all looking varying degrees of freaked out. Damian and his mate actually jumped up onto the bench.
“Please, no more!” Bailey cried out, almost falling into the pond as the bush dogs leapt out of the water. Mitch’s animal nearly crashed into the grizzly, who then snapped his jaw at him, grazing the bush dog’s ear and eliciting a little yelp from him.