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“This is just your first course,” I told Bastian as I carried the bags of deli meat and containers of tuna and chicken salad over to the couch.

Micah backed out of the way to let me move closer to Bastian. I handed Bastian a bag of sliced roast beef and set everything else on the coffee table in front of him, then pulled the lid off the chicken salad and stuck the spoon into the mushy chicken mixture before setting the container down.

Bastian tore open the thin plastic bag and shoved an entire piece of roast beef into his mouth, barely chewing, before he swallowed and wolfed down another.

“Should I cook the steak?”

Bastian shook his head. “Not necessary,” he said before polishing off the last slice of roast beef. He ripped open the sliced turkey breast next.

“Okay,” I said, stepping back to stand beside Micah. “Well, it’s thawing in the sink.”

Bastian nodded. “Thanks,” he said between slices of turkey.

“So, vampires eat food?” Micah asked, his voice lowered.

“He’s not a vampire,” I told him, crossing my arms as I shifted my attention to the front door. It was shut, and I figured Gavin was speaking with the other two vampires, Thane and Ash, likely filling them in on Bastian’s new, official role as one of my consorts.

“Oh,” Micah said. “Oh. He wasyourfood.”

My cheeks heated for about the thousandth time.

“So, he’s human?”

I shook my head. “He’s a shifter.”

“Wait, what?” Micah grabbed my arm, dragging my attention back to him. “I thought shifters were the enemy.” He looked incredulous. “Didn’t they kill, like, yourentirefamily?”

“They did, but Bastian’s different,” I explained. “He’s a defector, and he’s another of my, um,guards—like Gavin.”

Micah studied the shifter who was currently inhaling slices of Black Forest ham, tilting his head to the side like he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at.

The door opened, and Gavin strode in, Thane and Ash flanking him, the larger men looking like day and night personified. Though their expressions remained guarded, their dark stares in Bastian’s direction confirmed my suspicion that Gavin had filled them in on the newest member of my harem.

“As soon as the shifter’s ready, we’ll head out,” Gavin said, heading into the kitchen.

He peered down into the sink, then looked at Bastian. He found a large metal mixing bowl under the counter, then pulled the package of steaks out of the water and ripped open the plastic, plunking the mostly frozen steaks into the bowl.

“This will go faster if you shift,” Gavin said, adding the ground beef to the bowl. He carried the bowl into the living room and set it on the floor, feeding Bastian like he was a dog. “Go on, then.” Gavin crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Bastian, still sitting on the couch. “Shift.”

“Gavin,” I said, my voice laced with warning. “Knock it off.”

He looked at me, his haughty sneer gone, suggesting this wasn’t about tormenting Bastian. “He’s one of usnow,” Gavin said. “We need to know what we’re working with.”

“It’s fine, Soph,” Bastian said. “He’s right, anyway. They need to know what I can do. Otherwise, we won’t know how to work together to protect you.”

Bastian rounded the end of the coffee table and approached Gavin and the bowl of raw meat he had set on the floor, pulling off his T-shirt and tossing it onto a chairback, revealing the mesmerizing tattoos that covered his upper body.

“Uh, okay.” Micah turned to me as Bastian pushed his sweatpants down.

I glanced at Micah, flashing him the most awkward smile ever, like this was all perfectly normal, and returned my attention to the now completely naked shifter standing in the middle of the living room.

The air around Bastian shimmered, distorted by waves of magic, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a massive black panther.

“Holy shit,” Micah exclaimed, stumbling back a couple of steps and sinking into the armchair he had occupied earlier.

Bastian padded closer to the bowl Gavin had set on the floor and started tearing into the frozen meat with his three-inch fangs. In less than a minute, the bowl was empty, and Bastian sat on his haunches to clean his maw with paws nearly the size of my face. How had this giant jungle cat ever fit into my car?

“What other forms do you have?” Gavin asked matter-of-factly.