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“You’re also welcome to visit us,” Barb said. “We have plenty of horses we can draw blood from if, uh, you need to eat.”

Mila burst out laughing at Gio’s expression of distaste.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said.

“We have access to pigs and cows if you prefer that blood,” Barb continued, undaunted. “Or we can get the family together and ask for donations. They don’t need to know why, they’ve helped us before when we’ve done blood drives.”

That was such a Barb comment that it delighted Mila. This was the mom she knew, jumping in with both feet and taking charge of a situation.

“That’s all in the future,” Gio said.

“Yes, you’re right,” James said. “We have plenty of time to build you a safe room. We can board up Mila’s old room and move a bigger bed in there.”

“Oh, the sun!” Barb said. “I hadn’t thought of that. We can’t simply put boards on the windows, we need to pull the whole window out and rebuild that wall. We should also put together an evacuation plan if there’s a fire during the day. We could get Wendy to build a light-proof box.”

“Mom!” Mila said with a laugh. “Ease back or you might scare the guys!”

Reaching out, she pulled her parents into a hug. It felt good to know they were aware of everything and still loved her.

That they respected her.

That they valued her.

“You’re not dumb,” Barb whispered, hugging her tightly. “I regret every mean comment I made because I was frustrated and lashing out at you.”

“Someone has been reading psychology books,” Mila teased.

“Both of us have,” James admitted. “At first, it was to understand why you would throw away your life.”

“When we were in the hospital, we started talking about all we’d read,” Barb continued. “And now we see all the things we should’ve done differently. Things we’ll do differently from now on.”

Mila was so happy she wanted to cry. They stood in a hugging huddle until Gio cleared his throat. “If you don’t leave soon, you’ll miss your flight.”

They all pulled away with wet eyes and sniffing.

“We’ll talk on the phone,” Barb said.

“And make plans to come back,” James said.

It took a lot of goodbyes and a few more hugs, but James and Barb finally got back to the car service patiently waiting for them. Mila stayed in the house, watching from the open door. She didn’t want to be out of touching distance from Gio and there was still a bit of sun over the horizon.

She waved as they drove away, her parents looking out the back window, their expressions both sad and excited. It made her think of kids being sent away to boarding school.

In a way, she had been a parent to them. Now she got to be their daughter.

“I never thought that would happen,” Mila whispered as Carter closed the door.

“Are you happy though?” Carter asked, turning to face her. Gio wrapped his arms around her from behind. She grabbed Carter by the waist of his pants and pulled him close.

There was only one answer to give. “Ecstatic!”

Chapter 31

Gio

By the time the three of them were all back in the bedroom, the sun had fully set and Gio felt strong.

He’d consumed a bag of blood while Carter and Mila had a light snack even though he hadn't been hungry. He wanted to be at full strength before exchanging souls with Mila. He didn’t tell her, but he was a little nervous. It was one thing to share souls with Carter, a powerful alpha wolf shifter, but Mila was a delicate human.