amazing sight.
“Hey, dimples,” Basil whispered in my ear, “you need to eat your food. I know you’re hungry, and you need the extra calories after a big healing.”
Taking a breath, I pulled my attention away from Rasha and began shoveling food in my mouth. He was right; I was starving. The others kept peeking at me, but they mostly left me alone, probably because Basil was shooting daggers at everyone else. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve tried to engage, but the truth was, I was hardly holdin’ it together. Basil was saving me the trouble of acting like a nice human being, so despite it being weird and a little annoying, I appreciated it.
When he finished eating, Basil whispered, “I’m going to talk to Ailin for a second. Be right back.”
I nodded and watched him whisper to his older brother-slash-father, who was… about the same age as me, probably younger. Jesus. That was a little horrifying. As Basil made his way back over, I eyed him, wondering if I was too old for him.
“What?” he asked as he sat back down.
“I’m too old for you.”
He snorted. “Babe, one of Delaro’s viramores is over four hundred years old. There’s no such thing as too old when it comes to your soulmate.”
My eyes widened. “Four hundred?”
“Yep.” He grinned and pointed at Nikolai. “That pretty face over there is centuries old.”
I growled. “Stop calling him pretty.”
He laughed. “No way in hell.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why do you like getting me riled up?”
He shrugged. “You’re cute when you’re pissed, which means you’re cute at all times.”
I scowled at that, but that only made him snicker more. With an eye roll, I pushed his shoulder.
When he got his ridiculous—and absolutely not adorable—laughing under control, he asked, “You ready to go to my house? We can veg out on the couch and you can take a nap.” At my expression, he rushed to add, “Healing takes energy and makes you tired. You need more sleep.”
I sighed. “Yeah, fine.”
Before he could say anything, one of the guys at the other end of the table stood and said, “I have an announcement.” Everyone stopped talking and gave him their full attention. The guy smiled widely, and somehow it made his black eyes light up. “I found my viramore.”
“Are you serious, Tio?” that Opal chick asked.
The guy—Tio—nodded. “Yeah, she came into the restaurant last night. She’s a witch, so she felt the pull, too, and wants to see where it goes.” He shrugged self-consciously.
“That’s amazing, Tio,” Opal said before standing and pulling the guy into a huge hug.
Ailin turned and shared a look with Seb, then a look with Basil, and my own viramore nodded at his dad with wide eyes. Ailin nodded back before getting up and pulling Tio into a hug. Everyone was loud and firing questions at Tio, but I heard Ailin say, “We need to bring her onto coven land right away. Do you know where she lives?” I understood what he was thinkin’; there was a serial killer on the loose, murdering witches. It was too dangerous out there.
Jorah, Thayer, and Toby stood, and Jorah said, “We’ll come with you.”
And suddenly, a ton of witches were rushing out the door. It was a little surreal.
“Do you need to go?” I asked Basil.
He shook his head. “Nope. I’m right where I need to be.” He grinned. “Well, actually, I want to take you and Rasha to my house, but you know what I mean.”
I offered a small smile. “I’m ready when you are.”
He nodded and stood, saying, “We’re going to my house. Rasha and Niya, you two are coming with us.”
Rasha’s eyes lit up, and she asked Basil, “Niya gets to come?”
“Of course, sweetpea,” Basil said. “I have some stuff at my house for you guys to do.”
Rasha bounced in her seat, making my eyebrows go up, but I quietly asked Basil, “You have stuff for them?”
He chewed on his cheek for a few seconds. “I’ve been collecting stuff while I’m out in case you guys ever came over. And sometimes I babysit my little siblings, so I always have things for them to do even though I usually watch them here.” He shrugged and turned away, immediately walking over to Rasha and Niya. When the girls pulled him into the living room and began handing Basil some dolls and little trucks and a bunch of other crap, he took them without hesitation.
Since Basil had found out about Rasha, he’d done everything in