shame.
Maria—who'd fit right in, especially with Siobhan and Jamie—grabbed her own coffee and plopped down on the large sofa. "All these people have no idea how close they came to hell on earth. It's like, I want to tell them, 'Do you know who this sandwich is for? Someone who saved your life, pendejo.'"
"Maria!" Al scolded.
Maria shrank from her uncle, sinking her head between her shoulders and hiding behind Siobhan's hair. "It's just, they should give them their food for free and make it like they would for a hero."
"Nah." Jazz waved his hand, or would've if he wasn't feeding Angus. He waved his shoulder, though, and I knew what that meant. "I've gotten tons of free food and drinks. It isn't difficult. I can teach you—"
"Maybe not," Hallie said, returning with a pillow no one had asked for. She absently stuffed it behind Sitka's shoulders. "I know how you get free drinks."
"Hallie! I am a claimed man," Jazz gasped. "I am sure you meant how I used to get free drinks."
Sitting in a chair beside his mate, Knox didn't look the slightest bit convinced. That just meant he knew his mate.
Jazz cupped his hand over his mouth like he was telling a secret. "But seriously, if we ever have a no-alphas-allowed night, none of us will have to pay for a single thing. I'll just give you all a few pointers before we go out."
I enjoyed listening to their banter and felt no need to contribute. For once, I wasn't walking around with a bullseye on my back. We were safe, and not just for the moment, but at least until the next big bad popped up in our lives. My alpha held me. The pack gathered around us, both to dote, but also because this had been how I wanted to spend my fourteenth day. Lazy, watching the rain fall, while we all just breathed for a while.
I made everyone turn off their alarms. I didn't want my labor to be a countdown; we'd had enough countdowns. I simply wanted to sit, listen, and enjoy my pack and mate, and when I started glowing and turned into a wolf, the conversation could simply continue—hopefully for the next three days. Then we'd pack up, go home, and begin to rebuild what was destroyed.
"Here we are, demonling." Claus swept inside the penthouse, coming from the elevator. He'd adopted the lumberjack look as his main persona, but at the moment, he paired that burly physique with a long, gray, wool peacoat, crisp black slacks, and charcoal leather loafers that looked like they'd feel like butter beneath your fingers. His hair was slicked back, along with his beard, which not only shone but smelled like sandalwood and citrus.
He set a thin rectangular box wrapped in black velvet on my lap.
Diesel's body tensed beneath mine. He looked over my shoulder, breathing softly on my neck.
"Well?" Claus pushed his hands forward like he was urging us along.
The velvet slid from the box like water. The box beneath was black with gold gilding. I lifted it open, revealing a folded blanket made from a caramel-colored fabric that looked most like wool.
Jazz's mouth dropped. "Is that…? You're giving a Vicuna wool blanket to a baby?"
I decided not to take offense, but I was too distracted to be offended anyway when Sitka blasted from his seat, shadow-hopping the few feet between us, to land nimbly on the balls of his feet between my calves. "May I touch it?" he whispered. His burns were nearly healed, as were the others'. Mine were taking a little longer since I was still without nephi-shifter powers. Diesel hoped they'd be healed by the time I woke up.
"What is it? What's Vicuna wool?"
"Only the most expensive fabric in the world." Sitka dropped his head, depressed at putting the blanket back in the box.
I looked to Claus. "Is this for the baby?"
His lips pouted as his eyebrows joined in a furrow. "Of course. I am the little hellraiser's uncle. Or am I not allowed to bring the child a gift? Is this a Sleeping Beauty thing? It's not cursed."
He looked so close to being sad—and Claus was never sad—that I would've fallen from Diesel's arms if he hadn't held me down in my haste to console him. "No, it's perfect. I love it. I will totally let my baby pee all over this really expensive blanket."
Sitka's face turned a shade of green, like he was going to be sick.
I obviously wouldn't say anything