Page 160 of When Death Whispers

Rad growls, wiping splatter from his snout. “Hey! Do you know how hard that is to clean from fur?”

“Serves you right for disrespecting pancakes,” I respond, flipping the first perfectly golden pancake. “Parker loves these, remember? Show some respect.”

Steo materializes mid-chaos, arms full of random human objects—an alarm clock, two mismatched socks, and a potted cactus.

Rad eyes him skeptically. “Still figuring out human shopping?”

Steo scowls slightly, setting his loot down. “I thought Parker might find these items… useful.”

I try to hide a grin as the shadows eagerly present their latest pancake attempt to Steo. It's lopsided, slightly burnt, and probably raw in the middle, but the shadows pulsate proudly, waiting for approval.

Somewhere along the way, Steo figured out that he could come and go independently from his shadows, no longer fully one with them, especially when they preferred to stick close to Parker.

Steo raises an eyebrow, then carefully takes the pancake from the smoky tendrils. He takes a cautious bite, chews thoughtfully, then nods. “Not terrible.”

The shadows practically glow with joy.

I feel, before I see, the all-consuming warmth and glow that announces Parker’s awakening, like the sun rising from darkness, making the entire burrow ripple with excited light. She finally wanders in, silver hair wild and messy from sleep, yawning and stretching, looking ridiculously sexy. She eyes the chaos with sleepy amusement. “What’s all this?”

“Breakfast,” I announce cheerfully, presenting a plate stacked high with fluffy pancakes. “Courtesy of me and your favorite shadow chefs.”

She laughs, pressing a kiss to my cheek, but I turn my face just in time to capture her lips. “My heroes.”

Steo’s shadows immediately cluster around her, pushing me out of the way and vying for her attention, proud tendrils showing off their pancake-flipping skills as they gleefully turn a few more pancakes onto her plate.

“Rad, you gonna join us?” Parker asks, her voice teasing.

Rad feigns disinterest but slides out of the chair anyway, grabbing a pancake directly from the stove. He chews slowly, expression carefully neutral, but the bond betrays him, always. I’m not sure why he keeps pretending, we can literally feel everything that’s going through him, and Parker can now even hear some of his thoughts. Something that we recently learned was one-sided before.

“Acceptable, but not as good as sandwiches,” he finally grunts, sneaking another when he thinks we aren’t watching.

I wrap an arm around Parker’s waist as shadows flip lopsided pancakes and Rad pretends he’s not enjoying himself.

Monsters. Domestic chaos. And the girl who made it all make sense.

It shouldn’t work.

But damn if it doesn’t feel like home.

Epilogue

There aremany baffling human inventions, but none more so than this.

I stand motionless at the edge of the bathing chamber Parker insisted we install in our burrow, shadows twitching in quiet confusion. For cleaning herself she had said, because we all insist on acting like beasts with her the second she feels the smallest amount of lust.

It’s not untrue. But I prefer her smelling like our combined scents, the burrow thick with the smell of citrus blossom desire, her body dripping with our seed. She looks positively delicious when she is filthy. But alas, my Snow Pea gets what she wants, especially when she asks with my cock in her hand.

Hudson lounges in the steaming water, surrounded by what he gleefully callsbubbles.

He looks completely at ease, eyes closed, his face a mask of serene relaxation. Peaceful calm slithers along our tether, warming my chest.

Ridiculous. It’s a shame I can no longer kill the mortal.

“Are you certain this is necessary?” My voice rumbles with skepticism.

Hudson cracks open one eye, lifting an amused brow at me. “It’s called self-care, big guy. Might do you some good to unwind every now and then.”

“I do not requireunwinding.”

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