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“Did my grandmother say what she needed them for?” Nolan asks, pushing his blankets aside and bracing himself to stand up.
The woman’s eyes flash to me, clearly distressed over what she can and can’t say, before returning to Nolan. “She said she needed to perform some tests, but that you were to stay here and rest.”
“I’m not leaving my girlfriend alone with her,” he insists, irritation coloring his words and souring his expression. Today is one of his bad days, his exhaustion evident in the effort it takes him to sit up.
“Don’t be so dramatic, cousin,” Ellessa chastises, placing a hand on her hip. “Grandmother isn’t going to hurt her.”
“Matriarch Volkov is also in attendance,” the woman supplies, then her eyes widen as if she’s revealed too much.
Callie’s body softens in my lap, and she assures her with a gentle voice, “It’s okay, Maria. James knows that my family is well off, and because of that, sometimes people refer to my nan as the matriarch like it’s a title instead of just a position in the family.”
“Rich people are weird,” I add awkwardly, because I’m a terrible liar. Now, I completely understand why the guys didn’t tell me anything before I died. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Nolan rolls his eyes at me and then slumps back into the recliner. “Fine.”
Before standing up, Callie turns to give me a peck on the lips. I’m always happily surprised when she does this—that this is our normal—and can’t help feeling immediately better despite my misadventures with the creepy cousins. She then steps over to Nolan to kiss him on the forehead and whispers, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
He reaches behind her neck and pulls her to his lips. After kissing her like there’s no one else in the room, he murmurs, “Don’t let her talk you into doing anything you don’t want to.”
“Okay,” Callie whispers, a little wobbly on her feet.
I’m not jealous of the kiss itself, but I am envious of the skill he executes it with. My lack of experience is obvious when Callie and I are together. I know she loves me and hopefully finds my clumsiness endearing, but I don’t know if I’ll ever make her weak-kneed from a single kiss. Then I remember Nolan probably kissed James with the same amount of skill and attention, which, by proxy, means he’s kissed me that way—and now I feel weird again. The simplest solution would be just to talk to him about it, but I haven’t really found a good time this past week. Part of me is still hoping he’ll tell me, because I want to believe he wouldn’t intentionally keep this from me.
Ellessa interrupts my thoughts with her impatience. “You are well aware Grandmother deeply dislikes being kept waiting, correct?”
A blush crawls up Callie’s neck and cheeks, which is all kinds of adorable. “Coming.”
She rushes over to gently kiss Connor, gives an exasperated look at Donovan before kissing him as well, and then spins around to squeeze Kaleb’s shoulder, refusing to leave him out of her affections.
Ellessa rolls her eyes at the display. “How very diplomatic you are with your attention as others wait for you.”
“Sister,” Kaven warns mildly, “you know it’s important not to show favoritism within a nes—family,” he corrects with a tight smile, as if only just remembering I’m supposed to be one of the ignorant humans.
“Tell that to Grandmother as she chastises us for wasting her time,” she grumbles, stalking out of the room with Maria scurrying after her.
Kaven politely motions for Callie to leave before him and then shuts the door behind him.
There are several seconds of silence as we wait for them to get far enough away so their vampire super hearing won’t pick up our conversations, and then we collectively groan in relief that they are gone.
Nolan bundles into his blanket, looking drawn and subdued. “Sorry about them. It’s no excuse, but I genuinely think our way of life is a huge culture shock to them.”
“I don’t know what’s so hard to pick up,” Donovan complains, slouching back into the couch. “Don’t be assholes to the people who fucking live here and don’t eat the humans.”
“Don’t you also struggle with the first part?” Kaleb taunts with an amused smirk and raised brow.
“It’s fine when I do it,” D protests, pointing a finger at himself. “I fucking live here.”
“You can shift now,” I remind Connor quietly, still feeling bad that he had to wait so long to heal his injuries because of me.
Connor turns to Donovan, silently asking his permission.
“Oh, fuck you,” he responds, his body language going from annoyed to instantly pissed off. “I should punch you again for that look. You fucked up. You deserved to have your ass handed to you. I’m an asshole, but I’m not that fucking petty to force you to stay this way.”
Con moves his attention to Kaleb with the same question in his gaze.
Kaleb stiffens, looking visibly disturbed. “Are you serious? What you did was unbelievably selfish, and I’m incredibly disappointed in you, but I’m still your friend. I don’t want you to suffer.”
“I swear if you look at me with that wounded wolf face, I will stab you with the knife D gave me,” Nolan interjects before Connor can finish his tour of penance. “Go shift.”
