“No, I’m serious.” He narrowed his gaze. “You aren’t psychic, are you?”
“No. I’m nosy, and I like to watch people, and I tend to notice the... discrepancies, I guess.”
Connor grinned. “Is that why you like rules? Because they prevent discrepancies?”
“It’s one of the reasons. I also like level playing fields and people who abide by the rules. Present company excluded.”
He snorted. “I interrupted your review. Keep going.”
I blew out a breath, took another look. Noticed the groups, the clusters, of shifters. That they were grouped together wasn’t necessarily unusual; that happened whenever people socialized.
Here, the young and old shifters seemed to stand apart. Again, not necessarily unusual. Maybe they wanted to talk to the people in the same generation, those who were facing the same issues. But there seemed to be tension. Not fear or apprehension this time, but suspicion in their glances at one another. Sneaky looks, side-eyes, and armbands.
“Young versus old,” I said quietly, and Connor nodded.
“I’m wondering how much is caused by his attitude.”
“Leadership matters,” I agreed. “Hard not to learn that lesson growing up in a House with a Master. No one is perfect, but the Cadogan vampires respected my father. Same for the Pack and your dad.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Until you find the groups like this where the Pack is no longer number one.”
“And what is?”
“That’s what we have to figure out.”
Cassie, Georgia, and the others began to descend from the top tier of the waterfall and head toward us.
“All right,” Connor said. “Let’s go meet the family. And keep the rest of this to ourselves.”
EIGHT
Hey, Connor,” Cassie said, pressing a kiss to his cheek when they’d descended to our level of the cascades. “It was wonderful of you to drive up.”
“Glad to be here,” he said, shaking Wes’s hand. “My parents send their regards.”
“Appreciated,” Wes said.
Cassie looked at me, eyes appraising above a bright smile. “And you must be Elisa.”
“I am. It’s nice to meet you. And thank you for the invitation.”
“I wasn’t aware I had a choice,” she said, sliding a grin toward Connor.
“Don’t be dramatic,” Georgia said, stepping up to us with Alexei.
“Aunt Georgia,” Connor said. “This is Elisa.”
“Welcome,” Georgia said, frowning at a smudge of something she tried to wipe from her grandson’s face. “Lovely ceremony, wasn’t it?”
“It was beautiful,” Connor said.
Cassie smiled, danced in place to keep the baby smiling. “And Will was surprisingly well-behaved.”
Right on cue, the baby burped, gurgled spit-up across his front and his mother’s new dress.
“He has good timing,” Connor said with a grin.
“We’ll see how good his timing is,” Cassie said, putting the baby into Connor’s arms before he could object. But he situatedthe baby like a champ, tucking him into his hip and tapping at his little round belly with a fingertip so Will flashed his toothless grin.