Page 119 of Cold Curses

I’d have sworn on my lifetime coffee card that the table groaned under the weight of the pizza.

“Careful,” one of the waiters said. “It’s hot. Enjoy!”

And they left us staring goggle-eyed at the sheer enormity of the thing. For a moment, there was only silence.

“I assume this is Alexei’s order,” I said, and glanced around. “Did you order some for us, too?”

Since he’d already taken a slice and was chewing near boiling cheese and toppings, a grin was his only response.

We had no room for plates, so we ate rectangular slices right off the pan.

“I hear you enjoy demon eating,” I told Swift, eager to change the subject.

“I plead the Fifth,” he said.

“No demons were actually ingested,” Connor said. “They’d taste like dirty soap and sour pickles.”

“Old milk and gasoline,” Alexei said.

Swift shook his head. “Sauerkraut and charcoal.”

“You guys have quite the palate,” Lulu said, stirring her drink with a straw. “Paranormal gourmands.”

“I think that would be my parents,” I said.

“Truth,” Connor said.

“So, not so much demon eating,” I corrected myself, and eyed Swift speculatively. “Did you learn what you came here to learn?”

“It’s been educational,” he said after a moment. “But I’m not the decision-maker.”

“And what decision would that be?” Connor asked.

Swift lifted his gaze to Connor, and they stared at each other for a moment. “Who to support as Apex.”

Alexei sighed. “Not the Western’s business.”

Swift lifted his shoulder. “Like I said, I’m not in charge.”

But he was the nephew of the current Apex, who had no children, if I remembered my Pack information correctly. That put him in the running for the position. That said, I didn’t sense around him the type of power Connor now shone with. Maybe he hadn’t yet come into his own.

“If you want to be,” Connor said, leveling his gaze at Swift, “you’ll need to learn when not to say shit like that.”

Swift frowned. “You’ve been accommodating and honest. I’m just trying to do the same. I’m not in charge of the Western, and do I think this trip is insulting to the NAC? Maybe. But we share a long border, and it’s not unreasonable he wants reassurance.”

“You have it,” I said. “You’ve seen him, and you know who he is.”

Swift nodded, but his eyes told a different story. And he didn’t look thrilled about that tale.

* * *

We ate and chatted, but I could feel Connor’s gaze on me; he was checking my emotional temperature. When the pizza was demolished—shifters could do some damage to a meat-covered pie—and we separated to go to our respective vehicles, Connor pulled me aside.

“Do you want to hit me, yell at me, or feel extremely honored to be my fiancée?”

There was enough sheepishness in his voice that I didn’t slug him. But it was close.

“I’ve experienced a lot of unrequested boundary violations this week,” I said. “Not from you, but from monster and fairies and demon magic and a river monster. I guess I’m feeling a little vulnerable.”