Page 64 of Forever Touched

Out of nowhere, Zoey launched some of her breakfast at hertwin. Nico made a startled noise, then gleefully reached into his bowl of oatmeal, prepared to escalate the food fight.

Kade, who’d been surprisingly quiet until now, lunged off his stool toward them. “Quit it, you little goobers.” He tried to stop Nico from lobbing the oatmeal at his sister, but the goo ended up hitting him instead. The twins shrieked with laughter. As the big vampire got pelted a second time by Zoey, I couldn’t help but smile a little.

Just like that, the tension in the room vanished.

While Kenna helped Kade break up the fight, Loch looked on with amusement dancing in his eyes.

“Theyneverlisten to me,” Kade grumbled, setting Nico’s bowl of oatmeal a safe distance away.

“You just have to be more firm with them,” Kenna said and grabbed some paper towels to wipe up the mess. “And don’t give them sweets first thing in the morning.”

“I didn’t this time, Iswear,” he replied, pausing to give me an apologetic look. “We’re not usually this chaotic. The twins are just going through a throwing phase.”

“And a ‘test their pushover uncle’ phase,” Isla muttered under her breath.

“I heard that, shortcake,” Kade growled at his wife. When she tossed him an impish grin, he winked at her.

Overwhelmed by all the back and forth, I kept silent, until I caught a flash of silver from the corner of my eye. Following it, I gasped at the sight of afoxin the living room.

“Is that a . . . ?”

“Kenna’s familiar. Her name is Silver.”

I still didn’t acknowledge Everett, choosing to ignore my hurt by ignoring him. As the fox turned to face me, I was struck by her beauty. Pale blue eyes were set in a silver and white face. Her neck ruff andlegs were pure white, but the rest of her fluffy body was silver, similar to my hair color. Her large, black-tipped ears swiveled forward as she in turn assessed me.

Knowing she was only part animal, I dipped my head respectfully before saying, “Hello, Silver. It’s nice to meet you.”

Good thing Pepper wasn’t here. Although the creature before me housed a celestial spirit, she still possessed animal instincts. Foxeslovedto eat mice.

Silver dipped her head in return, and I smiled. She was friendly. Not all familiars were.

“She senses the angelic magic within you,” Kenna said, moving from the kitchen to join me. As she did, Silver hurried over and pressed herself against Kenna’s legs. “Do you possess a familiar of your own?”

A lie instinctively sprang to my lips, born from the necessity to protect my tiny familiar. But I didn’t feel the need to hide her for once. A fellowwitchstood before me. Maybe not a full witch anymore, but she understood how important the bond between witch and familiar was. I could trust her.

I just didn’t know if I felt the same about the male standing behind me.

Still, I decided to lower my guard once more and admit, “Yes. Her name is Pepper. She’s a . . . she’s a mouse, actually.”

“A mouse? That’s adorable!” Kade exclaimed, joining our ever-growing circle. “Is she here? Can I hold her? Silver never lets me hold her.”

“That’s because you squeeze the daylights out of her,” Isla commented with an eye roll. When Kade came up from behind to wrap her in a tight bear hug, she squealed and playfully slapped his arm. “Likethat, you big oaf.”

In reply, he bent down to nuzzle her neck and squeeze her even more, which she didn’t seem to mind in the least.

When I fished for a reply but came up empty, Loch saved me by saying, “I think that’s enough questions for now. We should let Adalyn eat.”

“Yes. Adalyn, we made several different things, not knowing what you liked,” Kenna said, gesturing for me to follow her into the kitchen. Suddenly more comfortable withthemthan the male I’d come in here with, I obediently trailed after her. As she pointed to the impressive spread on the kitchen island, my focus went solely to the food.

There was somuchof it. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit, bacon, and toast with jelly. There was a carton of orange juice, and I could smell fresh coffee brewing. I hadn’t seen this much food inages.

Barely able to contain my excitement, I waited impatiently for Kenna to finish speaking so I could dive in. The second she stopped, I was off like a shot, piling as much food as I could onto the plate she’d offered me. When someone handed me a fork, I plopped onto a stool and got to work.

Only when my plate was half-cleared did I finally realize how quiet it had become. With my mouth still full of food, I lifted my head to find the entire room staring at me.

Great. My social skills were apparently a bit rusty.

Noticing that Everett was now across the island from me, I made the mistake of glancing at his face. He looked . . . troubled. Feeling uncomfortable all over again, I quickly swallowed my food and said to no one in particular, “This is really good, thank you. It’s been awhile since I’ve had breakfast.” Alarm trickled through me, the emotion decidedly Everett’s. Cursing my slip, I hastily amended, “A breakfast thisbig, I mean. I usually eat pretty light the first half of the day.”

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