“You let me know if anyone bothers you.”
Caia chuckled, remembering her giving a similar demand when she’d begun the ninth grade. “I will.”
“Guess what?” Irini whispered, smiling widely as she changed the subject.
Caia’s bag was heavy and her stomach was growling but she smiled as she asked the expected question. Irini didn’t answer at first, just smirked mischievously at Lucien as he walked around them and into the kitchen. Caia could hear more than one male voice greet him, as well as the soft cadence of Ella’s voice.
“We have guests.”
Caia glanced meaningfully behind her at the driveway. “I gathered that.”
“Aidan’s here.” Irini hungrily ran her tongue across the bottom of her top row of teeth.
“Aidan?”
“Ssh.” Her eyes darted back to the kitchen. “Ryder’s brother,” Irini whispered. “The one that got away.”
Her eyes were round, sad, but hopeful. Caia gazed beyond her to the kitchen door where she could hear those voices, before returning to Irini’s face, capturing the anxiety there. It had never occurred to her that when Irini had ran into hiding with her that she was leaving more than her family behind.
“Irini, I’m sorry,” she whispered, not even meaning for the apology to slip out.
“Wh-”
“Caia,” Ella suddenly interrupted, appearing in the hallway. “How was your first day at school?”
She sighed. How many times was she going to have to lie today? “It was fine.”
“Good. Come on in, Honey. Dinner’s ready.”
The sight that greeted her in the kitchen was more intimidating than having met all of the pack at the same time. The intimate setting, a table set for seven, four of which were for large lykan males, made Caia’s smile of ‘hello’ tremulous. Magnus strode over to her immediately, drawing her to his side and giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.
“You OK, Kid?”
She nodded, craning her neck back to look up at him. His eyes twinkled happily.
“Cy, this is Ryder.” He nodded to the lykan standing next to Lucien. He was about an inch smaller than the Alpha but shared a similar build to him. His face, however, was not nearly as severe as Lucien’s. He had constant humor in his eyes and a warm quirk to his top lip. The lovably, shaggy, brown mess of his hair only added to his approachable appeal.
“And this is Aidan.”
Aidan, an almost mirror image of his brother, except for the straight blonde of his hair, stood directly across from Ryder.
“Hi.” They waved comically at her.
“You met them last night but I thought a second introduction might be needed.”
Caia threw the Elder a grateful smile.
Ella had laid out a beautiful dinner; fillet of beef and all the trimmings, and Caia smiled secretly, thinking how Irini hadn’t inherited her mother’s ability to cook. For the longest time the two of them had enjoyed many a microwaveable meal until Caia was old enough to start experimenting with cooking. From then on she had cooked all of their meals.
She tried to offer Ella help but was shooed back into her seat between Magnus and Irini. She watched incredulously at the amount of food these males piled onto their plates. She hadn’t touched her own plate yet, her eyes jumping from Lucien to Ryder, to Aidan, to Magnus, as they scoffed large amounts of beef down. Irini giggled beside her before elbowing her to get her to stop staring and start eating.
Ella laughed, obviously having noticed and understood the reason behind Caia’s wide eyes. “Don’t mind them, honey. They’re just animals. You’ll get used to them.”
Ryder choked in amusement as he took a swig of water, and Aidan and Magnus joined his laughter.
Lucien merely shrugged. “What?”
This set them off again.