Chapter 10 With My Mates
Seri
I twirled my fork through the last few strands of spaghetti, savoring the rich, garlicky scent that filled our dining room.
My husbands were discussing what sounded like business.
Important business, by the way Casimir’s shoulders tensed and Zane’s usual smirk flattened into a straight line.
My appetite, only recently recovered from months of near-starvation, faltered under the weight of their serious expressions.
“Seri, we have a call scheduled tonight,” Casimir said, placing his napkin beside his empty plate. “With Foster Collins.”
I paused, wondering if I should know the name, then decided to just ask. My mind had slipped a lot today, and I blamed it on all the walking I’d done, although Zane had given me a piggyback ride all the way home from the woods when I couldn’t get off of the picnic blanket.
Stupid siphoning, I grumbled to myself with rare sulkiness.
“Who’s Foster Collins?”
“A wolf shifter.” Koa’s eyes met mine across the table. “He’s currently positioned where we need him to be.”
The hesitation in his voice made me set down my fork. Something in their carefully measured words felt like they were handling me with kid gloves, a sensation I was growing less fond of by the day. I might have endured years under Arabesque’s cruelty, but I wasn’t made of glass.
“Just tell me. Please don’t tiptoe around me.”
Casimir’s green eyes softened just a fraction.
“Foster’s past is mysterious at best, but he’s an ally who has proven useful on several occasions.”
“By ‘useful,’ Cas means he has a knack for getting into places where nobody wants him.” Zane leaned back in his chair, balancing on two legs. “Not unlike yours truly.”
He winked, and the corners of my lips curled up.
“Which is why, when we needed someone to infiltrate Arabesque’s army of rogues, he was our first call,” Casimir added.
The mention of my stepmother’s name sent a chill down my spine. I wrapped my arms around myself, fighting the tremor that traveled through me. Three weeks free from her, and still, the mere sound of her name turned my blood to ice.
“She’s building an army?” My voice emerged smaller than I intended. “I knew there were a lot, but a whole army?”
“More like a ragtag collection of exiles and outcasts at this point,” Zane scoffed. “Rogues, lone wolves, a few low-level witches with questionable morals. Nothing we can’t handle.”
“After we took care of Claudio Kane,” Koa was obviously picking his words with care, “Arabesque needed a new enforcer. Foster was the next most dominant wolf in her little group, so she promoted him.”
Claudio Kane.
The name conjured flashes of a towering man with wolf-lit eyes and a vicious scar across his throat.
I’d only seen him a handful of times at the Bell homestead, and each time, he’d looked at me like I was something to devour.
Not in the playful, heated way my husbands sometimes did, but in a way that made me feel like prey.
And once I was his prey.
“Look at those pretty eyes. Like a cornered doe. Makes a man hungry. Cribs make good coffins, little dove.”
My hands shook at the memory.
“Seri?” Zane stood and came over to kneel next to my chair. “Brumous showed me Arabesque talking to Claudio, then you crawling back to the house with your arm bleeding. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who hurt you.”
“I’m not keeping it secret because I want to.” I wound my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, laying my head on his shoulder.
“The silence shackle?”
“Yes, but even if I could tell you, I wouldn’t right now. You three would…”
“Lose our shit? Destroy more topiaries?”
“I liked that elephant. I don’t want to risk the hippo or the giraffe. Do you think the garden man will create a lion one if I ask?”
“Darling, give him a pretty please with a flutter of those eyelashes, and he’ll carve you an entire zoo,” he cooed, lifting me out of my chair and carrying me around the table.
“And if he doesn’t, we’ll carve him,” Koa snickered, making me frown.
“Seri, you only need to say what you want.” Casimir shot Koa a look. “You are the queen here. You rule.”
“Yeah, sweetheart. Tell your peasants what you want.” Zane hooked his boot around the front leg of Casimir’s chair and jerked it around before lowering me onto Casimir’s lap. “Here, grind that sweet little ass on the husband who would massacre more than a hedge maze.”
“Seri?” One of Casimir’s arms went around my waist as his other hand cupped my chin and turned me to look at him. His eyes blazed with concern. “What is it?”
“What do I need to know about this call tonight?” I deflected.
“Foster was on scene before you left your home, although we didn’t know that until the day we all arrived here,” Casimir said. “In case you recognize him, we didn’t want you to be caught off guard.”
Ah. The reason for their caution. They were worried that seeing someone from my old life might trigger another panic attack. But this was different. This was work. Serious work that might keep us safe from Arabesque.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, my voice steadier than I expected. “I’m not… I wasn’t as afraid of the rogues as I was of… her.” I couldn’t say my stepmother’s name again. “They were just her tools. She was the real monster.”
Zane reached over, taking my hand in his. His fingers were warm against mine, a tangible reminder that I wasn’t alone anymore.
“Look at you, being all brave and shit.”
I ducked my head, unused to praise, but hungry for it all the same.
“I’m trying to be. Brave, I mean. Like you three.”
“Seri,” Koa’s voice was gentle as summer rain, “you’re the bravest person at this table.”
I blinked at him, certain I’d misheard.
“But you hunt monsters. You’ve faced things I can’t even imagine.”
“With weapons, training, and each other.” Casimir rarely handed out compliments, which made his next words even more meaningful. “You faced your monsters, alone and unarmed, for years. Don’t underestimate what that took.”
A warm flush crept up my neck, and I stared at his fingers in my stomach, unsure how to respond. I wasn’t used to being seen after so many years of being treated like furniture at best, a punching bag at worst.
“Still,” I said after a moment, “I need to be stronger. For all of us. I want to help with whatever’s coming, not just be something else you have to protect.”
My three husbands exchanged glances, a silent conversation passing between them. It was Koa who spoke first, his eyes holding mine.
“You don’t have to prove anything to us, Seri.”
“But I want to. For this call tonight, for whatever comes after. I’ve spent too long being afraid.”
“Well, if you’re sure, the call’s in an hour.” Zane squeezed my hand. “Plenty of time for dessert first.” His grin turned mischievous. “I was thinking something sweet. Maybe with cream?”
Something in his eyes made heat bloom in my cheeks, but I wasn’t sure what he was implying. Whatever it was made Koa roll his eyes and Casimir cough into his fist.
“Dessert would be nice,” I agreed with a smile. “Maybe there’s still some apple pie left from yesterday. That would be good with whipped cream.”
Zane burst into laughter.
“Apple pie it is, sunshine. With whipped cream.”
As Koa began clearing the plates and Casimir poured us each a cup of after-dinner coffee, I felt a flutter of determination. I’d survived years under Arabesque’s thumb. I could certainly handle a phone call with a man who was helping to keep us safe.
I had to be brave. I had to be strong.
Like my husbands.
#
The security room reminded me of a butterfly mid-transformation, caught between what it was and what it would become.
The brothers had only started converting this room into a proper command center.
Cables spilled from unfinished walls like exposed veins, computer monitors crowded a makeshift desk, and three rolling chairs huddled before them like eager students.
Zane snagged one of the rolling chairs, spinning it once before dropping into it with the casual grace that seemed to define his every movement.
“C’mere, pixie.” He patted his lap with a grin that made my insides flutter.
I hesitated, glancing at Koa who was already busy waking up several computers, his fingers dancing across keyboards with practiced precision.
“Should I get another chair?”
“Nope.” Zane reached out to snag my wrist and tugged me toward him. “This one’s perfectly sized for two. And I sacrificed my turn to Cas earlier, remember?”
I found myself settled across his lap, his arm a warm, secure band around my waist. My cheeks burned, still unaccustomed to even innocent intimacy.
“To save our topiaries,” I acknowledged with a small smile.
“Temporary reprieve.” Casimir stood behind our chair like a sentinel, arms crossed over his broad chest, face arranged in what I’d come to think of as his business expression, all sharp angles and unreadable thoughts.
“We’re connected.” Koa adjusted one final setting before leaning back. “Just waiting for—”
The largest monitor flickered, then filled with a man’s face.
My breath caught, not because I recognized him, but because he was so intimidating.
He had skin like polished walnut, a sharp jawline softened by a neatly trimmed beard, and eyes that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
His black hair was long and wild around his face, and his expression made my skin prickle with instinctive wariness.
“Gentlemen.” The wolf shifter, Foster Collins, had a smooth, rich voice. He nodded as his eyes swiveled to me. “And lady.”
I may have never seen him before, but something about him sent cold fingers dancing down my spine.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that he was surrounded by rogues at my old home, where I’d suffered for so long.
Or perhaps it was simply the predatory alertness in his nearly black eyes, so different from the warmth in Koa’s.
“Foster.” Casimir nodded curtly. “What do you have?”