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‘Prude,’ I teased. The shift had made me hungry so I sat delicately on a prickly bale of straw next to Finley and wolfed down a few burgers.
‘That was exactly what I needed,’ I told him and beamed. ‘Just so you know, Ares seems to have adopted the baby unicorn we brought in earlier, so you’ll need to increase Ares’ food drops.’
Finley nodded. ‘Okay.’ He looked at the masses around us, ‘Again,’ he muttered under his breath.
‘We have more than enough money,’ I murmured. ‘Don’t skimp on food.’ An army moved on its stomach and so did a werewolf pack.
‘Here.’ Nova came over with Reid on her hip and some colourful fabric in her hand. She passed it to me: it was a summer cover-up dress. I pulled off the apron and pulled it on. ‘This is a great idea,’ I enthused. ‘So much prettier than black tracksuits.’
‘Takes up less space in a bag, too. Though it really only works as it gets warmer. We still need the trackies in winter.’
‘I bet.’ I grinned. ‘Ugly tracksuits have their time and place, and that is in the depths of winter.’
‘Which is all the time in the UK,’ she joked. ‘Though it’s unseasonably warm this April.’
‘Climate change is doing its thing.’ I twirled then fixed my brother with a mocking look. ‘Is this better, Ben?’
‘One hundred percent,’ he confirmed.
I turned back to Nova. ‘Thank you. I’ll see it is laundered and brought back to you.’
She smiled. ‘Not at all. It is a gift, my Queen.’ She bobbed another curtsy then she and Reid swayed off together.
‘You’re good with them,’ Ben said softly, his tone surprised. ‘You’re a good Queen.’
I gave a wry smile. ‘I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.’
He grinned. ‘So what’s new?’ His smile faded. ‘I mean it. You’re good at this, Lucy.’
‘Thanks. And how are you and Ro—Rohan getting on?’ I remembered at the last minute to use the new name we’d given to Roan.
‘Well, thank you. He’s great.’ Ben kept his voice down and shot a look at Noah.
‘How is he adjusting?’ I asked, also keeping my voice low.
‘Okay, but I feel so bad. I already can’t imagine not shifting, not having Rohan with me – it’s bizarre how quickly he has become integral to me. I can’t imagine having him taken away and given to someone else. I think I’d be mad with jealousy.’
I shook my head. ‘Noah thought he was dead. Lost forever. To have him back … it’s a gift. Please share it with him, if you can.’
Ben looked at me wonderingly, ‘When did you get so wise, Lucy Caboosy?’
I gave him a wry smile. ‘I think it was around about the time that I nearly died.’
Ben nodded sombrely. ‘Nothing like a brush with death to give you an injection of perspective.’ His brush with death was no doubt still fresh in his mind.
‘You’re not wrong,’ I agreed. ‘And on that note, how are you doing?’
He grimaced. ‘I’m okay. I put in for some emergency leave from my employer, which they granted, but I need to decide what I’m going to do long term.’ He paused. ‘I’d like to be helpful to the pack if I can, but I don’t want you scratching around to find me work – and nor would I like to be bored.’
‘Ben, we had two people die on our lands last week. Nothing about pack life is boring.’
‘I heard about that. Are you any closer to tracking down Larsden’s killer?’
It was my turn to grimace. ‘I’m pretty sure I’ve connected the dots. Now I just need a confession.’
His eyebrows rose. ‘You going to do a Poirot-style accusation?’
‘No. I don’t want to humiliate the killer. I don’t even really want to punish them. I need their side of events, but the clues are all pointing one way.’
