Page 150 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

So far past irritated I couldn't see the line anymore, I stomped up the steps to the townhouse and flung open the door.

I barely made it two steps inside before Ansel appeared, arms crossed over a fitted black tee.

“Um…hello? What’s happening?”

Tears pricked behind my eyes the moment I saw him. That gravel-edged voice, the scent of home—of him—washed over me in a wave. My teacher. My friend. Alive. Not a prisoner of war. Not a broken shell after months of torture.

I’d seen a thousand brutal ends for the people I loved. But this? This hit me like a sucker punch.

And the threads were so damn fragile I didn’t even dare hug him.

Stop shifting, I growled in my mind. Literally growled—like a mutt snarling at God.

Mad. I’d gone mad.

“Hey, hi, how are you?” I chirped, zipping around the room like a tornado, deliberately not touching a single thing. Not a table. Not a dust bunny. Nothing. “Good? That’s good.”

“What are you doing here, Ally?” he asked, silver eyes narrowed. But behind them—anxiety. I tapped his mind, and his walls dropped.

He was worried. Not just about me—but Freya. She was across the country, and the last time he saw her, she was still healing.

I wrapped my mind around his in response. The closest I could come to a hug.

“What?” I squeaked, voice several octaves too high. “You don’t recognize a meddler when you see one? I learned it from you.”

“Somehow, I doubt that,” August snorted—right as Lana came sauntering around the corner…in bunny slippers?

A blush rose to her translucent cheeks as I blinked between her pink feet and her wide-eyed expression.

“Is that a cat?” I barked, eyeing the spotted brown and black furball in her arms.

She glared and pulled him protectively against her chest like I’d try to confiscate him.

Never was one for cats. Or most animals, really.

“Nat’s familiar,” she snapped. “He likes to hang out over here when she’s gone.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Fucking rude, Ally!” Alec bellowed, stomping up the stairs behind us. I squeezed my eyes shut. What in the seventh circle of hell were they doing here?

“Just felt like having an impromptu family reunion, and you left us?!”

“It was pressing,” I grumbled as he wedged himself between me and August.

Fae made a beeline for Lana’s feline companion, but I snatched her arm mid-reach.

“Oh,” Alec added, casually saluting Ansel and flipping off Lana, who returned the gesture without hesitation. “Hey guys!”

“Don’t. Touch. Anything,” I barked. “This thread is balanced on a goddamn blade, and it likes to teeter even when I’m not interfering. So do not. Touch. Anything.”

“Do you need a good lay, sister?” Alec deadpanned, glaring at August like it was his fault before rounding back to me. “You’re extra cranky today.”

“Oh my God!” I groaned, pressing my palms to my face as August muttered something unintelligible and Lana snickered into her coffee.

“Shut up. All of you. Look—we’re not supposed to be here.”

“So why are you?” Ansel asked, clearly unimpressed. “It’s your damn plan we’re following.”