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Babette’s clicking nails made her look over to see the twine still tied to her collar. Leaning over, she untied it and tugged it free. Babette did a couple of dancing turns before jumping onto the couch and forcing herself between them.

“Snuggle with Babette,” Mila said, getting up. “I’m going to make a pot of coffee and put breakfast together.”

Carter looked interested. “Could you make those pancakes you talked about yesterday?”

“Of course,” she agreed, pulling a throw off the back of the couch and tucking it around him and Babette.

“And eat with me?” he added.

She smiled. “I’ll bring everything in here like I did for breakfast and lunch yesterday.”

“Good,” he said, his head falling back and his body relaxing. “Breakfast and cuddles. Best day ever.”

“You’re such a puppy,” she whispered, giving him a quick kiss on the top of his head. Having a puppy-like boyfriend wasn’t a bad thing.

Chapter 17

Gio

The next week passed in a blur. When Mila wasn’t baking, she needed to go grocery shopping or she was cleaning. Thankfully, Carter’s healing meant he was back to full strength within a few days and more than happy to take her shopping whenever she needed ingredients.

Except for being lured out of the kitchen with kisses and groping, she was solely focused on baking. Carter was concerned at first, but Gio was sure this was a consequence of being denied the comforting and familiar task since she moved to San Diego.

As he sat sipping blood at the kitchen island, disguised in a mug as coffee, he couldn’t help but notice the pure contentment glowing on the outside edge of Mila’s bright aura.

“Can you try this for me?” she asked, holding out a cookie. Gio accepted the cookie and nibbled an edge, then made an appreciative sound.

“It’s very good,” he complimented her, even though it tasted like ash in his mouth. Revealing the hidden magical world to a human was a delicate process, and Gio was determined to begentle with Mila. He and Carter had already discussed it and decided they would wait until she was comfortable and less guarded around them before telling her about all the things she didn’t know.

As terrified as he was to tell her the truth, he looked forward to the day he could stop accepting her food.

“Do you think it needs more vanilla?” she asked.

“Uh,” Gio tried to think of an acceptable answer. To his relief, Carter came in and took the stool next to him. “Here, eat this.”

He shoved the cookie into Carter’s mouth, probably with a little more speed than necessary. The shifter was startled but took the sweet treat and groaned.

“That’s good, are there more?”

Mila focused on him. “Do you think it needs more vanilla?”

“I don’t know, but I know that I need more cookies!” Carter answered with a grin. “You promised me all the cookies I could eat after I took you to that industrial grocery store. I’ve never seen five-gallon buckets of lard before. I think I'm scarred for life.”

Mila rolled her eyes. “They were sealed and shelf stable. It’s not like they were open and rotting or something.”

“Still scarred,” Carter insisted, dipping his head and looking up at her with his puppy-dog eyes. “I need cookies to heal my mental trauma.”

Mila laughed and put half a dozen cookies on a plate and handed them over. “I wish all trauma could be healed with cookies.”

Her tone was much too wistful for his liking. She still wasn’t opening up about her life before them. She wouldn’t even confess to living in her van. He knew it was shame, not duplicity that was making her unwilling to talk. Still, it hurt him that she didn’t trust them yet.

“Human,” Carter whispered so softly only he could hear. Mila had moved to a different counter and started measuring ingredients for another batch. “She feels a pull to us but can’t feel the ties yet. It’s going to take time. She doesn't understand yet.”

Carter could probably feel his hurt through their bond.

“I know,” Gio whispered back. “But it’s hard. And I don't want to eat any more food. My belly hurts.”

“At least you didn’t need to be babied for days after meeting her,” Carter said with a rueful sigh. “I’ll probably forever be stuck in her head as the guy that could barely walk. Some alpha wolf I am.”