Raphael was right. The wolves didn’t trust us, and I didn’t blame them. Helping them once wouldn’t erase all the animosity they felt toward us. But they hadn’t bothered us. Yet.
From the way they watched us and kept us separate, if we stepped even a little out of line, they’d be all over us before we could breathe a word of protection. Raphael stepped closer to me, and it seemed like we were on the same page as usual. With our seven witches and one semi-fey against hundreds of werewolves…
It was only when Cosette stepped into the room, her head held high, that the rest of us felt confident enough to enter. I wasn’t sure how she did it—maybe it was the fey in her—but she always commanded a calm, confident presence even in the most tense situations.
She nudged my shoulder. “Want to split an omelet?”
“Sure. Should I go with you?” The werewolf guys weren’t shy and a few of them were eyeing Cosette like a different kind of meal.
“I’m not worried about a few wolves.” She gave an enigmatic smile as she flipped her dark blonde curls. “If anything, they should probably be afraid of me.” She strutted off to the omelet station like there wasn’t an army of Weres ready to pounce on us at the slightest inclination. The one thing I knew for certain was that fey didn’t lie. So the wolves probably should be afraid of her.
That thought instilled a little more confidence in me as I started off toward the fruit station. As long as Cosette had our backs, we should be okay.
Raphael grabbed my arm, stopping me before I got very far. He was still following Cosette with his eyes. “Shouldn’t we all stick together?”
As much as I agreed with the safety in numbers defense, I didn’t want to show the wolves any weakness. Cosette had set the tone, and now we just needed to maintain it. “I’m grabbing some fruit. Why don’t you get some food, too and then we’ll find a table? Teresa is bound to be here soon and—”
“I’m here!” she said from the doorway. Her long hair hung in loose waves down her back. I’d swear her skin glowed, and her body… I’d kill for that. She liked to say that it was because she was a wolf, but she’d liked running long before she got bitten. I was curvy. I’d never get rid of my hips, even if I starved myself. And why go through life being hungry all the time? Life was too short to care that much. Still, every time I saw her, I felt a little twinge of jealousy. Seeing Dastien hovering behind her only compounded the feeling.
I pushed away all those green-tinged emotions, and focused on my brother. “See.” I shoved Raphael in the direction of the food. “Go get your breakfast.”
The one thing that St. Ailbe’s did amazingly well was food. From the hot and cold stations to the short order cooks, there was enough here to feed the entire state of Texas, and all of it was delicious. Still, I was always surprised that with as much food as they put out, none of it seemed to go to waste.
These wolves can definitely eat.
Shane and Elsa stuck close as they navigated the food lines, but he kept looking around, probably searching for Adrian. I wasn’t sure what was going on with them, but Adrian was the only wolf who actively sought us out. He had a little bit of brujo blood and said he wanted to learn more about his magic lineage, but the way he and Shane kept exchanging looks…
If my gut was right, I was sensing definite chemistry between the two of them.
“You sleep okay?” Teresa said as she came up to me. She wore a T-shirt that was brightly printed with cover art for a band I didn’t recognize.
“Sure.”
She sniffed. “That was a lie.”
“Good job,” Dastien said.
I grinned up at him. His dark brown hair curled around his ears. His smile showed off two way-too-sexy dimples. Not to mention that he was tall enough, big enough to make any girl feel taken care of. Add to that his bright amber aura, and he was too much. In the category of completely drool-worthy. Plus, he treated my cousin well. There was nothing better than a man who wanted to coddle his lady, yet gave her all the power in the relationship. It was infinitely more sexy than the guy I was supposed to be with.
I allowed myself another split second to envy what my cousin had before moving on to admiring it.
“Don’t be condescending,” Teresa said.
“Tessa. I’m honestly telling you that was good. You’re using your nose.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t all nose.”
I had no idea what they were talking about. Trying to follow along their conversation was extremely difficult at times. It was like I was missing pieces of it.