“And she’s back,” Peri muttered.
Decebel reached over and grabbed another empty chair, pulled it to his side, and then tugged Jen by the back pocket of her jeans until she sat down in it. He placed his hand on her thigh, as if that was going to keep her in place and then looked at Vasile. “Now, what plan did you have in mind?”
Peri glowered at the two females sitting across from her. She knew when the meeting ended, and Jen had regurgitated some bull crap about wanting to have girl time with Peri, that she and the wolf-princess were going to corner her.
“No,” Peri snapped for the fifth time.
“But—” Jen started.
“No.”
“What about—” Jacque countered.
“No. And how about no. Also, no.” Peri smiled.
“Wow, who crapped on your Oreo?” Jacque narrowed her eyes as she flounced back on the couch with her arms across her chest.
“Don’t you have a baby that needs a boob?”
Jen threw her head back and cackled—literally cackled. “I’m sorry, Red, but that was awesome.”
Jacque turned her scowl on her best friend. “Don’t you have a mate who needs a boob?”
Jen snickered. “No, he prefers two.”
Peri pressed her fingers against the spot just between her brows and squeezed her eyes shut. Patience, she told herself. Vasile would not be happy if she maimed the mother of his grandson. Decebel would probably forgive her if she only roughed Jen up a bit.
“What are you smirking about?” Jen asked her.
Peri chuckled. “Not a thing. Are we done here?”
“No,” they both snarled at the same time.
“Okay, you two are about to get shock collars if you don’t get that crap under control,” Peri warned. “I will not be snarled at in surround sound. You want to snarl individually, maybe I’ll give you a pass. But you do it together and I go all glowy on your asses.”
“Peri you know you want to take us with you.”
“What gave you that idea? The part where I told your mates I didn’t want to take you with me?”
“You were lying,” Jacque said as if it were the most plausible thing on earth.
“Uh-huh, and you’re still sitting here not giving your boob to your baby. Why?”
“What’s this obsession with her boobs all of a sudden,” Jen piped in.
Peri groaned. “What did I do!” She yelled up at the ceiling. “Great Luna, if you’re listening, I take it back. Whatever I said that caused you to punish me with them” —she pointed at the two girls across from her— “I take it back and beg your forgiveness.”
“Ha, ha,” Jacque said dryly.
The room was suddenly quiet as Peri stared back at Jen and Jacque who were in turn staring right back at her. The clock on Vasile’s wall ticked away as the seconds turned to minutes. Then, at the same time, both girls slid to the floor on their knees, hands folded together at their chests and begged. “Pleeeeeeeaaaaase,” they said in unison.
“Oh, good mother of pixie butts. Seriously? This is what you two are reduced to?”They nodded. Peri was sure they’d choreographed this little show.
“Peri, we have to see her,” Jacque said, still on her knees.
“If you don’t take us, we’ll just sneak off on our own,” Jen added.
And they would do it. Peri had no doubt in her mind that if she didn’t take the two cows with her, then they would be on the internet ordering tickets on the first flight to Oceanside. They’d have to sneak away and get to the airport without their mates’ knowledge, of course, but they would do it. They probably had secret credit cards their males didn’t know about for just such an occasion.
“It’s too dangerous,” Peri told them, again.
“We aren’t scared,” Jen scoffed.
“I didn’t mean dangerous for you two nimrods. I meant for the people Sally has built relationships with,” Peri told them.
“We won’t mess with her new Beau,” Jacque huffed.
“And what about her new best friends?” Peri challenged.
“What best friends,” they gasped together, both of their foreheads drawing together as they frowned.
“What is with the talking at the same time? It’s beginning to creep me out.”
“You didn’t say anything about her having best friends. You said she had some werewolf she was swapping spit with,” Jen challenged.
Peri held up a finger. “First, I never said they were swapping spit. That was you and princess leaky boobs over there who had decided that she must be allowing Jericho to shove his tongue down her throat. Second…” She cut Jacque off who was no doubt going to refute the leaky boob comment. “I might have said something about best friends—in my head, to my mate.”
“Does she have new friends?” Jacque asked as she brushed away imaginary fuzz from her pants.
“Maybe…” Peri said, not that she had seen any evidence of new friends when she’d first scouted Sally’s new home.
“Are they nice?” Jen asked. “I bet they’re not nice. They’re probably really snobby, big mouthed, floozies.”
“So she befriended you guys again in a new life?” Peri laughed.
A rumbled started in Jen’s throat and Peri was surprised to see the Alpha female’s eyes glowing. Girl’s got claws.
Jacque put her arm across the front of Jen’s chest as if to hold the blonde back. “Peri, please quit poking the crazy she-wolf. We get that you have reservations about taking us. We get that you’re worried we’ll lose our crap and screw things up. But you know how much Sally means to us. We won’t do anything to jeopardize her life, or anyone else’s. We just…” She paused as she pushed herself back up onto the couch and ran her hands over her face. “We just need to see her, with our own eyes.”
Peri did know how much Sally meant to them. She meant that much to Peri as well. Peri had watched Sally die. And the healer had done so to save Peri’s life. She’d never met someone as brave and selfless as the young girl. Sally was one of those people that there just weren’t enough of in the world. She saw the good in everyone. She wanted the best for everyone and she was often willing to take second best if that’s what it took to make that happen.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit,” Peri muttered under her breath as she considered her options. If she took Jen and Jacque with her to keep an eye on Sally, their mates were going to turn her into puppy chow for their young. Vasile probably wouldn’t help them, but he probably wouldn’t stop them either. Not that they really could do that but they could be incredibly annoying with their snarling, growling, and overall obnoxious posturing. However, if she didn’t take them with her, they would find a way on their own and they’d probably get captured by some obnoxious vampire, or troll, or rogue werewolf, or something else unsavory. Then she’d have to waste time rescuing them, and then she’d still have to deal with their incredibly annoying, snarling, growling, obnoxious posturing mates anyway. It really was a lose-lose for her. “Dammit!”
“Finally realized it, didn’t you?” Jen said with a smile as she got up from her kneeling position and sat back down next to Jacque.
“What?” Jacque asked. “What did she realize?”
“That she has to take us with her.”
Jacque’s head swiveled comically between Peri and Jen. “Why? Why did she realize that and why does she have to?”
Jen reached over and patted her best friend’s leg. “Did I get this dumb when I first had Thia?”
Peri nodded. “It’s the over usage of boobs. That’s what happens when you have to use them for double duty. Your brain just can’t process it.”
Jen nodded. “Yep, totally make sense.”
“Why the heck are you two yapping about my boobs? And what does that have to do with Peri figuring out she has to take us?” Jacque huffed. “And who the crap says they’re getting double duty? I had a baby ten days ago. Fane has not gotten any action from the girls since his son took them over, so there is no double duty going on!”
“Whoa, TMI, wolf-princess. T.M.I.” Peri held up her hand.
“Jennifer,” Jacque growled.
“She has figured out that she has to take us because either way we will go, and either way, our mates will hold her responsible.” Jen looked over at Peri and smiled sweetly. “Sucks to be you sometimes, doesn’t it?”
“Sometimes?” Peri snorted. She shook her head unable to believe that she was about to say this. “Fine, I’ll take you with me.”
“It’s not like our mates are going to be around to miss us,” Jen pointed out. “They’re going hunting after Costin.”
“What about your babes?” Peri asked.
“Can’t you flash us back to see them?” Jacque asked. “I’m sure mom and Alina won’t mind taking care of them for a while.”
“Ugh, fine.” Peri huffed, knowing full well that huffing did not become a member of the high fae.
“Quit pretending that you’re upset about taking them with you,” Lucian’s voice purred in her mind.
“I’m not pretending,” Peri snapped, so annoyed that she didn’t even realize that she had responded out loud.