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“Oh, pastitso, did you save us some?”

Thalia scoffed. “There’s plenty for you and Hunter and seconds for everyone else.”

Neri hopped up and headed toward the kitchen. “Love, you’ll want to try this. Pasta with meat and béchamel sauce.”

Hunter fell into step with her and when Neri opened the fridge, her face hurt from smiling. “I haven’t had this in years. I can’t believe I forgot about pastitso.”

She cut a large piece for both and warmed them in the microwave. When she set Hunter’s plate on the table, she waited to see how he would like it.

“Fuck me, so good.”

Neri chuckled but took a bite of her own warmed food. She closed her eyes and moaned.

It’s like I remember.

They took their plates back to the living room and Neri returned to her seat and smiled when Hunter perched on the arm of the couch and continued to eat. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she smelled Thalia’s cooking. Happy she reunited with her mother, Neri leaned toward Thalia and kissed her on the cheek.

“Thank you, mamá.”

“Anytime, moró”

“Oh, you’re back. Good.”

She blinked away the tears and turned to Liv when she took a seat in front of her on the coffee table. Her eyes sparked with excitement and she bounced her leg up and down as her gaze darted from immortal to immortal, waiting for the rest to gather around them. Whatever Liv found would be one more answer in the mystery of who they were as immortals, but Neri continued to savor the food she remembered from the best part of her childhood.

“Your blood was very informative.”

“How so?” Hunter asked.

Liv danced with the thill of a new finding.

“Well, vampire venom when mixed with the bioweapon they created assimilated while in the syringe. Instead of causing the venom to weaken or being killed off when introduced to the bioweapon, the bioweapon caused stabilization.

“So when the combined solution entered her bloodstream, it recognized and bonded with her shifter cells and they all settled into a symbiosis.”

She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth as her eyes darted around. The immortals were trying to process this information, but they needed more.

“How did you learn it ‘assimilated’ with the vampire venom?”

Liv bit her lip and glanced at Kai. The look that passed between them made no sense to Neri, but after a minute, Kai nodded, she continued.

“When I first developed the antidote, I tested both the bioweapon and the cure on shifter blood. I asked Kai, and he refused. Thomas and Isaac weren’t there, Seth wasn’t a vampire, and I hadn’t met Kane. So I had no way to test the blood of a vampire. Until now,” Liv said.

“Who’s blood did you test?” Hunter asked.

“Every single one of us. Kai, Seth, Aubrey, Thomas, Isaac, Kane, and myself. And I had to create a small amount of the bioweapon, but as you shifters are now immune, there isn’t any threat.”

“Wouldn’t being vaccinated offset any affects you find?”

“I drew our blood as a control. Seth, Aubrey, and Kane hadn’t been…”

Liv glanced up and flinched when Seth smiled at her.

“I’m so sorry about that.”

Seth kissed Liv’s forehead before he stepped back. “We’re fine, Liv, don’t worry about it.”

“What did you find?” Aubrey asked.