“No more hide and seek,” he decided after a moment. “I still think we lucked out that Fillian and Alarick forgot about the roof.” I snorted.
“They’ve been too busy with everything else, but I’m still waiting for that to come around. Fillian seems to have a thing for punishment,” Zev teased.
A hand cracked against my butt and I squealed, kicking out at them. “Hey, no fair!” I flipped over to glare at them. “Which of you was it?” Dual expressions of innocence met me as they blinked wide green eyes. My eyes narrowed as I searched their faces. “I’ll totally tell Ian on you.”
“No you won’t,” Chann retorted smugly. “Because then he’ll just remember he wants to spank you for that anyhow.”
“Ugh.” I flopped down and threw an arm over my eyes before peeking back out at them. “We never did get a chance to talk about any of that day—or night, for that matter,” I pointed out with a sigh.
“Do you want to?” Zev asked, studying me.
I shrugged, staring at the ceiling. “I feel like I should. Or, I mean, I think I should?” I growled, ready to scream again. “I hate this! There’s too much going on and my head is just spinning.”
Chann squeezed my hand. “So scream if you want to. We don’t care.”
“But none of you are! Your dad betrayed you and you aren’t screaming.” The twins shared a look and then shrugged.
“I’m angry,” Zev admitted, “but not surprised. We told you how they were, how they’ve pushed and pushed us to try and get the alpha to change his ways. He didn’t know about the poisoning, just that Gwyar wanted to overthrow Raff, which any of us would have known.”
“Given a few more years, he probably would have encouraged one of us to challenge Alarick, and not in a way that was on the up and up. Mom’s the same way.” Chann waved a hand as I sputtered.
“And you’re okay with that?” I threw the pillow I’d been using at them.
“Okay with it?” Zev rolled his eyes. “Of course not. Used to it, yes. But until we get through this challenge, we can’t be worried about restructuring the pack and dealing with internal politics. We’ve got to handle Gwyar first because once we bring Starlight Woods in, the whole process would have to start all over again anyhow.”
Chann reached out and tugged me onto his lap. “What about you, Tinkerbell?”
I nuzzled into his neck, running my hands down the buttons on his shirt. “I’m still not sure. Everything else seems more real, I guess, than that does. I kind of thought it would change things somehow, but it hasn’t yet.”
“It may in time.” Zev’s hands were gentle as he laced our fingers together. “That was a lot to process all at once, and then you got nailed with a lot more.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what Shannon said.”
Chann laughed, shifting to look at his twin. “I swear, she’s always trying to show us up.”
“Well then, let’s see what else we can come up with. You want a distraction, Poppy? Let’s find you a distraction!” At the manic gleam in his green eyes, I began to get very nervous. He scooped me from his brother’s arms before darting from the room and down the hallway as I giggled madly. It only took me a few minutes to recognize where they were headed.
“What are we doing?” I laughed, dizzy from the bouncing.
“We are going to get into our pajamas, play video games, and eat cereal until we’re sick,” Zev declared, veering toward their bedroom. “We’re going to be seventeen-year-old students for the next few hours and nothing else.”
“Sounds perfect,” I murmured. It really did.
“Oh, burn!” I yelled around the mouthful of Cap’n Crunch, waving my controller in the air as Zev’s cart spun in circles and hit a wall. My car passed the finish line, and I jumped up to do a victory dance.
Zev swore, tilting his bowl up to get the last of the milk before setting it aside. “Best nine out of ten,” he demanded, as he glared at the screen.
“Dude, she’s already beat you the last five,” Chann drawled, hanging upside down off of his brother’s bed, his own controller forgotten in his hand as he tormented his twin. “Give it a rest already.”
Zev grumbled but didn’t argue for a rematch.
“Thanks,” I told them, looking between the pair. “Both of you. You have no idea how much I needed this.