My eyes widened. “It takes them that long to get better at shifting?”
“Not to get better at shifting,” Connor said. “To learn how to live peacefully with their wolves.”
“Why does it take so long?”
“Not everyone reads werewolf smut.” Finn’s voice was cutting.
Ethan elbowed him significantly harder than he’d already been elbowed.
Finn bent over, wincing at the pain.
The fact that he’d called it “smut” instead of “porn” told me he was probably part of the online bookish community, or had at least looked into it.
“Monster romance isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. What kind of books do you read?” I checked.
Finn’s eyebrows shot upward.
“He likes epic fantasy. We have a book club,” Graham put in. “I started it. All of us read together.”
Ethan snorted. “Some of us enjoy it more than others.”
He looked at Nico.
The rest of them did too.
I flashed the man beside me a surprised look. “Tell me you aren’t a book hater, Cucumber.”
He looked slightly embarrassed as he grimaced, adjusting his arm over my shoulder. “I mean…”
“Whatever the opposite of a book dragon is, he’s that,” Finn cut in.
“If we were readingwerewolf smut, I think I’d enjoy it more,” Nico countered.
A few of the guys snorted.
“If you don’t like fantasy, you probably wouldn’t want to read about a tiny woman getting knotted by a big, bad alpha.” I pattedhis thigh. “It’s okay, you don’t need to like books. You can make me cookies while I read. I think that’s actually better.”
“I can handle that.”
Turning back to the rest of the guys, I found mixed expressions on their faces. I couldn’t read most of them, honestly, but I knew most of them were rejected. It made sense that they wouldn’t know what to think about Nico having a mate after so long.
“What was the last book you guys read together? I want to join this book club, by the way.”
“I don’t think we want to recruit an English professor. It’s pretty laid-back,” Finn said bluntly.
I waved his concern off. “I’ll binge it without you guys, and I can talk about it with whoever doesn’t hate me.”
Ethan smirked. “Don’t try too hard to make friends, Cupcake. Nico’s not going to want to share you.”
“Nico will be fine.” I looked at him.
He nodded, though he did seem reluctant to do so. “None of them hate you.”
“We’re the epitome of friendship,” Finn muttered.
His marshmallow dipped too close to the flame, and caught on fire.
Believable.
