Page 86 of Their Promise

He pecked me on the cheek. “You’re the best daughter.”

“I’m your only daughter,” I said, but accepted the compliment all the same. I grabbed two bowls and filled them up for Mason and I. He’d started into the kitchen, but I held the bowl out for him. “Here. Thanks for helping me today and listening to me in the car.”

Mason took the bowl and kissed my cheek. “You’re welcome.”

Trey stopped next to me, leaned over, and whispered in my ear, “You didn’t text me about our next date, Princess.”

“I was giving you time to deal with the changes from the extraction and decide how you wanted to proceed,” I whispered back. “I was waiting for you to speak to me.”

Straightening, he scowled. “Really?”

Feeling embarrassed, I nodded and headed to the dining table to eat my food. I sat beside Mason and my eyes widened at his already empty bowl. “Hungry, little fella?”

He stood and nodded. “Headed for seconds.”

“Good thing I made a shifter sized batch,” I chuckled.

Trey and Kayden sat across from me. Mom and Caleb sat at the ends of the table and everyone else filed in.

“Thank you for cooking, Lily and Kayden,” Caleb said. “It’s been a few years since we had curry last.”

“I’ve been craving it,” Mom sand and took a huge bite, moaning as she ate it. “So good!”

“Once we’re done eating, we’re going to meet everyone at my parents’ house,” Caleb said. “So, eat your fill because we’re likely going to be there a while.”

“Do I really have to go?” I asked softly.

“Yes, because you’re the one with the demon handling experience,” Trey said before my parents could speak.

“What was it like?” Mom asked.

“He reminded me of Tony,” I said with a half-smile.

“How so?” Tony asked.

“He ate a butterfly after it landed on his nose, too.”

Everyone laughed while Tony sighed.

“They understand our speech,” I said. “I asked him to do a flip and he did one.”

Everyone stared in shock at me.

“He felt like a hybrid shifter in a sense,” I admitted. “Maybe he’s a hybrid demon or something? I don’t know, I just knowthat he wasn’t trying to harm me, was scared of those bigger hounds, and listened to me. So, maybe our initial assumptions of the demons are all wrong. Maybe they aren’t all evil, just like not all of us are good.”

Their continued silent stares made me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

“I think you could be right,” Mom said. “Though, we can’t know for sure without more investigation. I did hear a voice that I thought was a random animal in the barn the past couple of days and it wasn’t aggressive.” She shrugged. “I can’t know for sure if it was the pup, but the timing fits, so it could have been.” One of Mom’s powers was the ability to hear animal’s thoughts and communicate with them. Once she communicated with them, it made them smarter, though, so she didn’t do it often.

“I think it’s probably a good thing you didn’t let your mom talk to him. The last thing we need is smarter demons,” Trey said.

That was something we could all agree on.

Chapter

Twenty-One

The meeting turned into an overnight discussion that lasted through breakfast and finally ended at lunch.

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