Page 39 of The Human’s Heart

That made me grin, and I did my best to send Zay a rush of love through our bond. Before I could even take a breath, I felt that love flow right back to me. It was like Zay was giving me a hug, but even deeper than that. Like his soul was wrapping around mine and offering the most comforting affectionate embrace ever.

The feeling brought what I was sure was a goofy smile to my face, but I couldn’t help it. It was just so warm and loving and fuck… it was something I hadn’t felt in so long. Actually, I’d never felt it, not like this.

Sure, my sister and I loved each other, but the love I felt with Zay went way beyond that. It was deep, soul deep, and I was grateful every second of every day for it, for Zaos.

“I love you so much.”

“I love you too, isa mezelie.”

With that same grin on my face, I rejoined Jett to get back to work.

Hopefully I didn’t scare off any customers with my silly smile.

I was surprisingly excited—and a little nervous—about dinner with our friends. It was so weird to me that less than a year ago, Jett was my only friend. Now, I had enough to fill my entire living room. I had enough to need to go out in groups, just so I was able to talk to everyone.

We’d thought about inviting Kian and Phia as well, but we didn’t want to overwhelm Beatrix or Arzu. I was pretty sure Quinn would be fine no matter what. From what Zay said about Beatrix, she seemed like an anxious person, and Arzu was super shy at times. So we figured a smaller group made more sense.

I was okay with that.

Plus, we made plans with Key for next weekend, anyway.

If he stayed for the weekend again, maybe we could have all of these guys over for brunch or something too.

If tonight went well, anyway.

Since Sebastian and Ailin hadn’t vetted our new friends yet, we decided to go out to a restaurant, and if we wanted to keep hanging out, we’d find a bar or somewhere else to go. Since Jett and Ward’s place also had enough wards around it to stave off a bomb—Ellwood wards were stronger than I could ever imagine—we couldn’t go there either. If things went well, we’d ask Zay’s grandparents to officially vet our friends so we could have them over either of our houses.

I was hoping it’d go well. Actually, I kinda felt like it would. I kinda felt like I was maybe finally finding my people.

It was still weird to me that I had to run people past someone else. But after everything that happened with Bart, the kitsune who’d tried to kill us all, I was definitely on board with Sebastian and Ailin doing their magical whammies on anyone who wanted to come onto our property.

None of our new friends knew we weren’t bringing them to our house for a reason. We just made plans outside of our home so we didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. If I’d been on the other side of things before I’d known the things the Ellwoods faced on a regular basis, I could admit that my feelings would’ve been hurt. Or perhaps it was more that I would’ve been offended. And that was the last thing I wanted to make our new friends feel.

When Zay and I arrived at the restaurant, Arzu was already there, looking nervous and adorable. I grabbed Zay’s hand and dragged him over to them.

Arzu’s eyes went wide when they caught sight of Zay. I couldn’t blame them. He was a sight to behold. He was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

But. He. Was. Mine.

So I grabbed Arzu’s attention, saying, “Hey, Arzu. This is my viramore, Zaos. Zay, Arzu.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Zay said, wrapping an arm around me, clearly feeling my protectiveness and absolutely amused and delighted by it, the butt.

Arzu smiled shyly. “You too.” They turned to me and mouthed, “Wow.”

I couldn’t help but snort at them, and some of my tension left. It was very clear that they had no intention of putting the moves on my viramore. They’d simply been… checking him out. I grumbled in my head a little at that, but I really couldn’t blame them. Just because I got to look at my pretty boyfriend every day didn’t mean others were used to his beauty.

Zay huffed, shaking his head at me as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and I realized he’d heard my thoughts. Well. They were true.

I gave him a squeeze as I wrapped an arm around his back, then opened my mouth to ask Arzu a question, but another voice jumped in, saying, “We’re heeeeeerrrrree!”

I glanced at my best friend and rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn’t stop the small smile.

Jett walked over and kissed my cheek before grabbing onto his viramore and wrapping his arms around Ward’s biceps as he introduced him to Arzu.

Quinn arrived next, and he immediately went to Arzu’s side and even gave them a little shoulder bump. The way Arzu’s face flamed was a dead giveaway, and the adoring expression on Quinn as he stared at them proved Jett’s theory was right. They were totally into each other.

I looked at Jett, and even though the two of us couldn’t speak telepathically, I knew he understood what I was thinking. We have to make this happen. Jett even gave me a nod and a grin.