Chapter 21

“Hot cocoa, anyone?” I called out as I set a mug in front of Fox.

“Me,” Enzo bellowed from down the hall, and I smiled. Fox’s eyes were wide as saucers while staring at the whipped cream topping the sweet drink.

Seeing the kid so carefree was nice. They’d chilled out around me except for Griffin, but that was a personality thing. Considering they were all animal Unnaturals and benefited from eating, I prepared another two mugs even though the other two boys hadn’t spoken up. They also hadn’t separated from each other for a moment.

“Where did Blanchet take you from?”

“None of your business,” Griffin barked, sounding much older than he should at his age.

My eyebrows winged up at the tone. Why was he so on edge? I’d tried the same vein of conversation multiple times, but it yielded the same results. So far, we understood the environment they’d been kept in wasn’t the best, but that was it.

“There were cages,” Fox said between slurps.

Likely some warehouse. Instead of saying anything, I topped the rest of the drinks with whipping cream. Going a bit overboard on the last one, the cream toppled over like an avalanche and slid down on my glove.

“Shit,” I hissed, rubbing it clean. The empty pinky flap of the glove flopped over. I cleared my throat and balanced two pale ceramic mugs.

“Those are for you two,” I said, tipping my chin at the other drinks. Before Griffin or Bear said anything, I left the kitchen and followed the pale lights hung up in the hallway. The color gradually shifted to green and red as I strode toward the foyer. Taking a right, opposite the staircase, I entered the living room where most of the decorations had been set up.

Enzo crouched near the fireplace and stoked the flames to life with his fire wielding ability. Smoke still plumed from his nose.

I handed a mug to Beckett where he sat on the floor, slumped against the end of the couch. His eyes softened, and his attention fastened to it like the drink would scurry away. It had been a while since I’d made cocoa, the holiday season before my cancer discovery, in fact. Elliot sprawled behind him; one leg tossed over the back and his head resting on the armrest.

Enzo plucked his from my fingertips before I could even hand it to him. With his other hand, he captured my wrist and tugged me down between his legs. His chest cradled my back, and I leaned against him. Enzo cupped the back of my head, petting my temple with his thumb. I settled against him and sighed as the heat from the flames flared across the left side of my body.

At the other end of the couch, Tanner rested one ankle on his knee while he flicked his pointer finger over his phone. His eyes moved while reading the screen. He didn’t enjoy food, nor had any benefit from it like beast Unnaturals—same as me. I’d sipped the drink earlier, but it no longer held the taste I used to crave.

I kicked my foot out and nudged my toe against Tanner’s loafer. “What’re you doing?”

“Checking a delivery status. Your gift should be here soon.”

Gift? “What gift?” I pursed my lips. It wasn’t Christmas yet. “Unless you want to celebrate Christmas now because you think we might all die.”

Tanner blinked and tore his attention away from his phone.

“No, Maya, I just wanted to buy you something.”

“Oh,” I muttered. I went a bit morbid there. “But I didn’t get you guys anything.”

“You don’t need to get me anything, Maya.” Tanner’s tone insinuated it was obvious.

I huffed.

Enzo’s palm trailed down my neck and squeezed my shoulder. “You can gift me a blow job.” The whispered words tickled my ear, and I swatted him back with a snort.

“I bet you’d like that.” Next year I’d be ready with gifts, but I wasn’t saying no to a present. “What’d you get me?”

“That would defeat the purpose of it being a surprise.”

I scowled.

Tanner’s blond eyebrow, a few shades darker than his hair, raised.

“ Please tell me what you got me,” I tried again.

“No.”

I narrowed my eyes and bounced them over to Beckett who avoided my gaze.

“A cell phone,” Enzo whispered in my ear. A grin curled the corner of my lips.

Tanner sighed and shook his head. “Of course, you’re the one to spoil plans.”

Enzo’s chest vibrated with a silent laugh.

My last phone had been utterly destroyed, but the perk of the brand was that all my information was saved to the cloud.

I nuzzled into Enzo’s chest and focused on the glittering lights of the tree. Silence fell over all of us, broken only by the crackle of the fire. If I survived, this holiday season would be without Rita. Not only had I lost mom, but now Rita too . . . and that felt shitty.

“What are you thinking?” Enzo’s words brushed against my ear.

“My mom, Rita, and I used to celebrate Christmas Eve. We’d stay up all night—” My words trailed off as memories ambushed me of the fucked up, twisted family I’d been born into.

Enzo huddled me tight to his torso, arm banding around my chest. He lifted his hand and a rectangular box rested in his palm. Golden glittering wrapping reflected the colors from flickering Christmas lights.

I blinked at it, and it took me about three seconds before I tore into the paper. Impulse control really wasn’t my thing.

A cream box wrapped in plastic. The newest version of the phone. Enzo reached over with his talon extended from his nail bed and scratched the plastic open.

“You said deliver, but it was already here.” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

“You didn’t think we’d just get you one thing,” Tanner drawled.

So, Enzo hadn’t spoiled what Tanner talked about earlier.

“Thank you guys, I love it!” I grinned.

The screen blinked to life, and I input my email and password.

It took a moment for my information to download and populate. Meanwhile, my four guys stayed quiet. Their stares weighed on my shoulders. The air felt heavy since I stepped into the living room . . . no it’d been like that for a while—like I was waiting for some shoe to drop.

“Have you guys heard anything about Osmodus’s whereabouts?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

“No.” Enzo squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll tell you if anything comes up.”

“Lucian said the same thing when I asked him earlier, you guys aren’t hiding anything are you?” The accusation spilled from my lips and with it, immediate guilt. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Stressing about it will get you nowhere Maya,” Beckett said.

“Easier said than done.” I fixed my attention on the little circle rotating in the middle of the screen.

Tanner tapped a finger on his thigh, bringing my attention to him. “Didn’t you mention you wanted me to teach you how to drive?”

That came out of left field; I’d asked so long ago.

Tanner climbed to his feet. I could tell they wanted to distract me, but I’d take it.

“Yes,” I exclaimed. “Actually, I asked if I could drive your pristine, white Tesla, but you got all sensitive about it.” I set my phone on the couch and trailed after his long-legged stride.

“I have to see this,” Enzo said as his noticeably heavier steps echoed behind me. I plucked the keys off the hook.

“Lucian, I’m borrowing your car!” I took his silence as assent and grinned evilly, flouncing down the front steps. The luxury SUV was parked in front of the house, and I crunched over the pebbled path to climb into the front seat.

Driving couldn’t be that hard, right? I mean, it should be pretty straightforward. I slid the key into the slot. It took me two tries to get the clue that I had to keep the key at the furthest position for several seconds for the engine to turn on, but I managed.

Tanner snatched my hand from the steering wheel.

“Be careful,” he ordered, the words slicing through the hum of the engine.

“Can’t die so easily, remember?”

His stillness melted away. “Right.” He sighed and sat back.

Enzo slipped into the back and placed his elbows on the shoulder of my seat. His firewood scent swirled with Tanner’s minty eucalyptus. Their scents cradled me like a warm hug. I smiled sappily.

Tanner launched into an explanation of the mirrors and the importance of using them. Then he went into depth about the buttons. Not going to lie, I spaced out about midway through him talking about the wipers.

Elliot sprawled on the bench outside of the house with the kids perched near him. Beckett rested in his wolf form, the sun glinting off his brown pelt.

“Put it in drive and finish going around the roundabout of the drive.”

Now we were into the good part. I pulled the lever to move the little light to the drive selection, but it didn’t budge. I frowned.

“Are you stepping on the brake?”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat and ignored the heat searing my face as I pressed on the brake and shifted into drive.

“Press lightly on the?—”

The vehicle jolted forward, spitting pebbles behind us. I slammed on the brake so hard Enzo’s mass smashed into my seat. I managed to catch myself before my face hit the steering wheel.

“Oops.”

I ignored Tanner’s side-eye and waited for his next directive with a sheepish smile. Enzo scooted back. Tugging his seat belt, he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘immortal my ass’.

The next fifteen minutes settled into a lot of the same: me pressing on the gas and Tanner shouting. Honestly, I’d never seen him so irate and on edge. Kind of funny, but I attempted to hide my laugh by rolling my lips into my mouth.

In my defense, the dirt road surrounding Lucian’s house wasn’t the best place to learn how to drive. I thought I was doing the best I could under such poor conditions.

A pothole appeared a few feet away, too close to swerve away from without ramming into a tree. Okay, it didn’t appear out of nowhere; I hadn’t been paying proper attention.

I squinted my eyes, preparing myself for the jolt.

“Brake, brake!” Enzo barked.

“I’m braking!”

I brought my toe down, and we came to the same jarring stop, but it was a little less intense than the last. I called that an accomplishment.

Tanner broke the silence. “Brake gentler,” he said, deadpan.

“I can’t with you,” I exclaimed and threw my hands up.

Tanner captured the wheel as I shoved the door open and hopped out of the vehicle. Enough lessons for the day because I would punch Tanner if we kept at it.

“It’s not in park!” Tanner shouted as the vehicle rolled forward.

Enzo’s laugh boomed.

I whirled to catch the latch of the door, but it had already rolled away. I had a glimpse of Tanner tossing his tall body across the seat as the door thumped shut. I winced, shuffling my feet. Wet suction slurped, and the ground dipped underfoot. When I moved, I sank another inch.

“Son of a bitch.” I pushed to my tip toes, balancing so I wouldn’t fall into the mud puddle at the side of the road. Another lesson learned.

I took a deep breath, shaking my foot. A single splat flew from the caked shoe. I trudged through the rest of the mud to the pebbled drive. Everyone was still outside near the front steps watching me.

“She sucks at driving,” Griffin muttered.

“ Shh ,” Fox warned.

I didn’t bother looking at the kids and tried to ignore Elliot’s choked laugh.

Kicking off my shoes on the porch steps, I threw the front door open and slammed it shut behind me. Hopefully, Elliot got the clue that he’d pissed me off.

I raced up the stairs but quickly came to a stop.

My bedroom door was ajar. I thought I’d closed it this morning but considering all the guys had taken up residence in the room with me, a cracked door wasn’t too odd. I shook off the hesitation and went inside. My room showed evidence of my mates with how neat it had become?—

“Maya.”

I froze at the familiar voice, my throat clogging with a knot the size of the ocean.

Slowly, I turned, and my eyes settled on Rita.