Page 371 of Pucking Feral: Part Two

Like it's nothing.

Except his giant shoulders are tense and his hands are jammed in his hoodie pocket, so it is very much not nothing.

Okay. Three seconds of eye contact. Normal amount.

I'm gonna count.

One.

Two.

"You look GREAT," I announce.

The garage echoes it back at me.

GREAT…

GREAT…

GREAT…

Plague closes his eyes.

Wraith stops moving.

"I mean—" My mouth keeps going without authorization. "Not, like, great in a way where I'm noticing anything. I'm not noticing anything. There's nothing to notice. Your face is… it's a face!" I gesture wildly at my own. "A regular… it's a good… I look at it a normal amount."

"Whiskey," Thane grits out.

I groan and throw my head back. "Come on, bro, I even counted the seconds! I was doing so good!"

Ivy is biting her lower lip and I can tell she's fighting for her life to not laugh. Valek is staring openly at me, head slightly tilted, one eyebrow raised.

And then Wraith laughs.

Well, that rough, scraping huff-huff-huff that's his laugh, anyway, and his shoulders relax slightly.

I let myself breathe. Okay, I fucked up and made it weird, but I made it weird enough that it looped back around to funny, and that works.

Thane lets out one of his famous long-suffering sighs and walks straight up to his brother, hesitates in front of him, and pulls him into a bear hug.

Wraith goes stiff for a second. Then his chin drops down onto Thane's shoulder and his arms come up, and the two enormous alphas hug while I'm suddenly trying not to feel emotional about this.

Ivy leans into my side. I put my arm around her and don't say anything, which for me is a medal-worthy display of restraint.

Thane steps back, clears his throat, and scrubs a hand through his hair. His eyes are looking kind of wet. I might harass him about it later. "Good trip?" he asks hoarsely.

Wraith tilts his hand back and forth. So-so.

"He beat up Valek," Ivy offers.

"He's stronger than you," Valek says to me right away.

"You LET him beat you up?" I demand. "In CANADA you flipped our whole⁠—"

"Whiskey." Plague pinches the bridge of his nose. "Why don't you go get the cake before the buttercream completely melts?"

Oh shit.