Page 91 of Haze

In a short angry huff, normally reserved for when she’s pissed Magnus off, Revecca dismisses herself down the hallway, entourage following toward the rooms Cade has set up for them.

“She made the ancestors disappear,” Deacon mutters.

Leaning back on the sofa, he licks the blood from his hand.

Taking plates of food into the formal ballroom for dinner seems strange, but sitting around one of the large tables with Lena, Cade, Thalia, Dinah, Deacon, Ezra, and myself, it’s full. It feels homey.

Lena is quiet, picking at her plate through dinner. I try not to hover and mind everything she does. Try being the operative word. I’m obsessed with her. My wolf is obsessed with her. There’s no part of her life I don’t want to be immersed in.

Her family, however, chats and catches up on things like Judah—Dinah and Ezra’s brother and Alpha of the Alloway pack—and his disdain for a printer. The fact that Dinah, the Alloway’s Alpha Female, can’t convince him to hire some help because she’s not putting her life on hold for a job she doesn’t want is telling of the pack dynamic.

Ezra managed to tell me he has the gift of reading minds before I tapped him on the shoulder to offer him a plate. He’s apparently quite handy and does everything he can to stay out of Judah’s way. That gives Dinah something to roll her eyes over.

Anytime the conversation comes back around to Lena, she redirects, casually segueing into other topics. She’s excellent at shifting herself out of the limelight. I want to know more about her, but the faint feeling of Lena’s wolf is thready, like the pulse of someone bleeding out.

Cade is recounting a meeting with a Canadian diplomat, who is apparently sending him maple syrup beer, when I finish my plate. I lean back and wrap my arm around the back of Lena’s chair. She stiffens for a moment before relaxing into it.

“So, Finn.” Ezra looks at me and then to Lena. “Tell me about yourself.”

Lena huffs before glaring at Ezra and rolling her eyes. “No.”

“I’m just saying, I didn’t get to pick him. I don’t even know him.” Ezra is nearly pleading with Lena. He pauses, taking his eyes from her before bringing them back to me. “It’s no secret Lena’s the favorite. I need to be sure you’re good enough for her.”

What does he want? With a glance at Cade and his noncommittal shrug of approval, I start, “I have an accounting degree from Trinity College. I’ve been Magnus’s left hand for the last eleven years. And before that, I was one of my father’s advisors for five. I’ve run the pack during Magnus’s short-term stints in jail and, for the most part, only knock heads in when I need to.”

Ezra nods along and, when I pause, asks, “And why is it Revecca Ardelean hates you?”

I shake my head. “That’s between her and me.”

Ezra’s eyes narrow, then he pulls them from me to look at Lena.

“Try again.” Ezra pushes.

“You’re more than welcome to come over here and use your gift and pull it from my head, or you’re welcome to have Cade command it out of me. But it’s not my place to speak about what stands between us,” I answer.

Shifting in his seat Ezra turns to Cade.

“I won’t do it, Ezra. It doesn’t matter right now. Revecca’s leaving tomorrow. Let’s be grateful Lena is alive and that we have a new member of the family. One who, so far, we actually like,” Cade adds that last bit in.

Ezra sighs and sets his jaw. He looks again to Lena before nodding and letting it go.

“Alright. That’s enough people for me today.” Thalia clasps her hands softly. “Until tomorrow.”

When she stands, I rise out of my chair. The others at the table look at me in various states of confusion.

Sitting down, I respond to their inquiry, “Not a thing here. Got it.”

“Good night,” Cade answers as he stands and threads his fingers into Thalia’s.

Mine itch to do the same to Lena. But she’s found a way to move over in her chair to not be close again.

“Text me first if you need me.” Cade looks between all of us again before pulling on Thalia to lead her from the table.

She waves, but the hungry look in her eyes is all I need to know that there’s no way in hell I’m bothering them unless the house is literally going up in smoke.

Deacon says nothing but kisses Lena’s head, shakes my hand, and with a brief wave to the Alloways, retreats to wherever his place in the house is.

“Alright, love birds.” Dinah smacks Ezra on the shoulder.

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