Something feels different tonight. Archer keeps glancing at Darius. Elias is oddly quiet. Even Silas seems stiffer than usual, his jaw working as he stares at his plate.
I catch Silas’s eye across the table, and he gives me a small smile. Quick, barely there, and I smile back.
“What’s got you smilin’ like that, Blueberry?”
“None of your damn business,” I say, stabbing a Brussels sprout with more force than it deserves. “Just reminiscing about better times. You know, when a pack of overgrown knot-for-brains didn’t surround me.”
Elias leans back, grinning. “Better times, huh? Let me guess. Back in the woods, talking to your rock friends?”
“Leave my friends out of this, you overgrown fur-ball.”
His eyes narrow, fork aimed at me. “You’re lucky I’m a gentlemale, or I’d be putting you over my knee right about now.”
I snort. “Please. You couldn’t catch me if you tried. You’re like a dandelion.”
“Dandelion? Really?” He gestures at himself. “Do I look like a dandelion to you?”
“Yeah,” I say. “All fluffy and soft, and you completely fall apart the second someone breathes on you.”
Archer lets out a bark of laughter so loud it startles me. Then he doubles over, clutching his stomach. “Oh, shit. That was good. Dandelion. Damn, I’m using that one.”
“Thanks for the support, asshole,” Elias mutters, but his face is all smiles.
The corner of my mouth twitches, and then I’m laughing too. A real laugh, the kind that catches you off guard and doesn’t stop when you tell it to.
The others join in. Even Darius’s scowl softens, though he tries to hide it by studying his plate.
I drop my fork and groan. “Goddammit.”
Elias raises an eyebrow. “What now, Blueberry?”
“I just realized I was having fun. With you all.”
He clutches his chest. “Having fun? With us? Careful, sweetheart. Keep that up, and I’ll start thinking you like us.”
I huff. “Don’t push your luck.”
His grin widens. Damn it.
I shovel potatoes into my mouth and try to regain some dignity. Then, because my mouth apparently operates independently from my brain, I hear myself say something I’ve been wondering about for days.
“So. Where are all your parents?”
The table goes quiet. Darius’s knuckles go white around his fork. Elias’s grin vanishes, replaced by something hollow. Silas’s grip on his own fork tightens enough to bend it, a muscle jumping under his scar.
I almost take it back… Almost. But I’m tired of dancing around things nobody wants to talk about.
Archer clears his throat. His grey eyes find mine, steady and hard. “That’s a complicated story, Blue.”
“I’m listening.”
He searches my face for a moment, like he’s deciding how much I can handle. Whatever he sees there makes him nod.
“Alright. It goes like this.” He takes a breath. “My old man was second-in-command to Darius’s father. They ran this pack together. Silas and Elias were from a different pack entirely. Silas’s dad was their alpha. Elias’s father was his second.”
I glance at Silas, hunched over his plate, a muscle jumping under his scar.
“There was a coup,” Archer continues, his voice low and stripped bare. No embellishment. No softening. “Some power-hungry fucks decided they wanted to run things. So they slaughtered the leaders. All of them.”