Vera sauntered in with two giant iron pots of cooked ducks cooked with fragrant carrots and potatoes. A trio of bread loaves already sat on the table with butter, and Jenner was in the process of setting out mason jars of dark beer.
Dinner was one of those times in her life that Nicole would never forget. She didn’t have to be nervous around these people. They were easygoing and bantered constantly as Vera served heaping portions of duck, carrots, and potatoes onto metal plates for each of them. Laughter filled the room in a never-ending ebb and flow as they ate. She didn’t talk much, but she didn’t have to. Each conversation was funny and lifted her heart, and the others looked at her often to include her. Beside her, Link relaxed more and more. Under the table, he slid his palm over her leg, and when he looked at her, there was a lingering smile on his lips. His dark hair was windblown after the snow machine ride and had that sexy just-got-out-of-bed look. Dark, day-old scruff graced his sharp jaw and made his blazing eyes look even brighter. And any time she returned his smile, he leaned over and kissed the tip of her shoulder, which settled her further. The food was incredible, the beer flowed freely, and she was lulled into a tipsy, warm fog as her chest filled with joy at seeing Link joke with the people he’d talked about with such adoration.#p#分页标题#e#
She hadn’t fully understood until now what had made him pull away completely from his own pack and tether himself to the Silvers. But sitting here in the warm glow of the chandeliers, breaking bread with them and immersed in such a feeling of acceptance, she got it. Link’s pack had been poisonous, but these people were incredible. They were vibrant, easy, and their moral compasses were steady on due north.
Link’s first decision to help himself had been to bond to a better set of people than the ones he’d been born into.
Outside the windows, the snow had begun to fall again, blanketing the evergreen woods that surrounded Tobias and Vera’s cabin in white, but inside was filled with such warmth it banished the Alaskan chill completely.
Jenner grinned wickedly and poured Nicole a third beer the second she drank down the last of her mason jar.
Vera jerked her chin to her glass and beamed. “I made the beer.”
“Oh, she makes a mean moonshine, too,” Lena bragged proudly. “She’s teaching me and Elyse. One of the perks to having a mad scientist as a sister-in-law. Or…future sister-in-law.”
Link warmed Nicole from her middle out when he pushed his empty plate aside and draped his arm over her shoulders, then kissed her temple, right here, for everyone to see. Cheeks flushing with pleasure as the others smiled and gave each other knowing looks, she snuggled against Link’s side and asked Vera, “When is the wedding?”
“Oh,” Vera drawled out, lifting her shoulder to her ear in a half-shrug. “The wedding doesn’t feel so important right now.” She ghosted a quick glance to Link, then began spooning another portion of food onto her plate.
Link growled softly beside Nicole. “Vera, I don’t like you putting off your big day because of me.”
“You’re more important.”
“I’m not. And besides, I want to stand for Tobias when he says his vows to you. If this doesn’t work—”
“It will,” both Nicole and Vera said at the same time with the same amount of determination infused into two simple words.
Vera’s eyes locked on Nicole’s, and a challenge sparked there for just an instant before the fox shifter nodded and allowed a tiny smile. Vera swallowed hard and arched her gaze back to Link. “Nicole and I say you’ll be fine, so you will. The wedding can hold while I work on you.”
Link shook his head. “Vera, I know you. You’ll put off building a family to obsess over my cure—”
Vera slammed her palm against the table, and her eyes blazed a fiery gold. “You are my family, and I will be goddamned if I lose you. Tobias and I will marry when this is through, and I’ll wear that pink jeweled dress I always dreamed of, and it’ll be extravagant and fit for an Alaskan princess, and you will still be here, standing beside Tobias as we say our vows. And your eyes won’t look like a fucking demon’s anymore.” She slammed the spoon down in the pot and said, “Nicole, can I talk to you alone?”
“Of course,” Nicole whispered, pulling her napkin from her lap and setting it gently on the table. She leaned over and sipped at Link’s lips, smiled her adoration for him, then followed Vera down a hallway off the main room.
Vera was right. Link’s eyes were still that bright white color, and the snarl in his throat had been constant since they’d come into the house, which was unsettling, because he seemed more relaxed. It shouldn’t be like this. He shouldn’t feel so riled up around the people he loved more than anything.