"Yeah, I know. I can't stand you either, butt-munch."
Laughing through her tears, she pulled back to wipe them away. "Gods . . . what am I supposed to do? I love Fang and I don't know if he's innocent. What if he has killed the others?"
"Do you really believe he's done that?"
"No, I don't."
"Then he needs a friend right now. You want me to help you find him?"
"I don't know." She sighed as she thought about it. Fang had been unpredictable the last few times they'd met. But he'd visited here recently. Her gaze fell to the small black teddy bear in her suitcase that he'd left for her on her bed a week ago . . . one that held his scent-he knew she slept best whenever she had something of his to hold. He'd placed it on her pillow with a single rose. Even though he hadn't seen her, he'd still been thinking of her.
But that act of kindness didn't change the fact that he was a powerful Were-Hunter who was possessed by a demon. "He might hurt you."
Dev gave her an offended stare. "I doubt it." He looked over at the picture of her and her brothers that was on her dresser before he spoke again. "Just so you know, Papa, Serre, Griffe, Cherif, Remi, Kyle, Quinn, Zar, and I aren't leaving."
A shiver went over her. "What?"
"We're not about to leave Maman here unguarded. If shit goes down the way we think it's going to, she can't be here alone with the humans."
"Have you told her that?"
"I was on my way down to let her know when I stopped in to see you. Want to come see the party?"
"Oh, yeah. This I definitely don't want to miss." Maman didn't like anyone disobeying her.
She followed him out of her room and downstairs to the parlor where Maman was saying good-bye to the women and children of their family as they left for the Peltier compound in Oregon. It was where they'd lived prior to coming to New Orleans. They maintained a place there and in Nice, France, where her parents had been born. But Nice would be too hard a trip on their pregnant females, so Oregon it was.
Alain, Cody, and Etienne were going with them to watch over and protect them.
Cherif, Quinn, Remi, Serre, Kyle, Griffe, and Zar stood at the bottom of the stairs with their arms folded over their chests. A united front against the world. Never had they looked more imposing. The twins and the quads were barely discernable from each other, but Aimee could tell them apart. Subtle differences that were obvious to those who knew them best.
Remi's perpetual sneer. Quinn's gentle eyes and overt optimism. Cherif who always stood with his weight on his left leg-an injury from childhood had damaged his right knee and so he always favored his other leg. Serre who was a hair thinner than Griffe and who always tucked his hands into his armpits. Griffe whose nails, because he was always tinkering with something, had grease under them.
And then Zar . . . he was Bastien's twin and sometimes it was hard for any of them to look at him without feeling a new stab of pain at the loss. He never really spoke about Bastien, but Aimee had wondered many times how much harder that loss had to be on him. He saw his twin brother's face every time he looked in a mirror.
The two of them had been closer than close. . . .
She couldn't bear the thought of losing another brother.
Ever.
Dev moved to stand with them while Maman kissed the cheeks of her grandchildren.
Once they were gone, Maman turned to the quads. "You will stay safe, non?"
"Oui," Remi said. "But we're doing it here."
Maman's face blanched as her eyes darkened with fury. "What?"
Zar stepped forward. "Nothing you say or do will change our minds. We're not leaving you, Maman."
"And neither are we."
Aimee turned at the sound of Carson's voice. He came down the stairs with Justin, Jasyn, Sasha, Max, and the Howlers: Angel, Teddy, Tripper, Damien, and Colt.
Tripper Diomedes, who was an Arcadian lion, spoke for the group. "You've given us shelter when no one else would and we're here to stand with you no matter what."
"As am I."