Page 10 of Misbehaving With Minotaurs (Haven Ever After #8)

He takes a step closer. “Strong? Manly? Horribly charming and impossibly attractive?”

Easy laughter tumbles from my throat. “I was going to say impervious to things like heat, yes, but I suppose you’re most of those other characteristics as well.”

He laughs and turns, heading for the back hallway the dining room’s off of. “Let me give you a view of my back to make sure you’ve nailed down the attractive part.”

He stalks toward the dining room, and, truly, I do stare at his huge figure. He’s stacked with thick muscle, his shirt tight and pants tighter. In the hallway, he has to duck partially sideways to get his horns through the arched doorway into the dining room.

I glance up at the Annabelle. “We need to do something about that, darling girl. If he stays and comes for dinner on occasion, I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable.”

I imagine if Manorin chooses Ever, I’ll see him with regularity. He’d want to hang out with the only friend he already knows.

I assume.

Following with the bottles of wine, I join my neighbors and the Hectors at a dinner table already overflowing with charcuterie and snacks.

Morgan groans happily. “You love to overfeed us, Catherine, and I am honestly here for it.”

Thea snort-laughs. “You can work off the calories when you get home. What’s Abe up to tonight? Wouldn’t surprise me if you left him tied up somewhere.”

The triplets laugh together as Manorin watches them, a twinkle in his eye. “You wouldn’t be talking about Abemet Zeniphon, would you? Used to be a damn good skyball player?”

Morgan smiles. “That’s him! He was the Keeper here for a very long time, and he played on the skyball team. Now he’s my full-time stay-at-home mate. I forced him into retirement to serve me.”

Manorin barks out a laugh as Morgan waggles both auburn brows at him. “Somehow I can’t imagine Abemet retired.”

Wren grabs a grape and pops it into her mouth, chewing slowly as Thea pinches Morgan’s side playfully. “That’s ‘cause he’s a full-time daddy.”

Morgan blushes, and I can’t resist the urge to see what Manorin thinks of the triplets’ incredibly straightforward manner.

“Not a bad way to go,” he muses, glancing at Iggy, who’s mercifully sitting on Miriam’s shoulder, whispering something in her ear.

“He’s been talking about jobs, actually,” Morgan muses. Her typical smile grows wicked. “Actually, I’m trying to convince him to oust his mother so he can run the monster world. I think he’s coming around to the idea.”

There’s silence for a moment before Lou looks at her niece and pops a bite of pasta in her mouth. “Why don’t you do it, Mor? You’d be kickass, and you’re already so drawn to serve with your black magic. You could heal, but at scale, maybe…”

Morgan’s eyes roll up as she seems to consider it.

Manorin looks between the girls with a playful smirk. “Am I now party to a revolution? That’s delicious.”

Morgan snorts. “Well, errr, you might be. You don’t happen to have a close personal friendship with Evenia, do you?”

He chuckles. “I suspect the concept of friendship is foreign to her, so, no, but she is my boss.”

Morgan pales, if that’s even possible. “Oh, well, perhaps don’t say anything to her. We’re all talk at family dinner anyhow, right?”

Lou shrugs as blue flames dance in her eyes, her battle magic rising at the idea of an altercation with Evenia. “Oh, I dunno. I’m the only blue witch in the haven system. I could always run her out of the office at HQ, and you could simply take over.”

“Yessss, queen!” Thea shouts, depositing a ladleful of pasta onto her triplets’ plates. “Revolution away, girl. We are here for it.”

Manorin places a hand over his heart, which draws my eyes to his chest. “And I promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Cath knows me well; I can keep a secret.” Crimson eyes flick to mine as he takes a sip of wine. “I’m good at secrets, right?”

I clear my throat as I nod. I can’t trust myself to say anything else about what an excellent secret-keeper Manorin used to be back in the day.

Two hours and six bottles of wine later, the triplets cackle as he delivers the punchline to a joke. Iggy’s asleep against Miriam’s chest, and my heart is so full.

This is what I love about Ever. This friendship, having my dearest Annabelle filled to the brim with laughter. Family dinner with monsters who are in no way related to me, yet my family all the same.

But what about love? a little voice whispers in my head. What about romantic partnership?

My mind drifts to Vikand, but I can’t honestly see him at this sort of thing. I’ve invited him to these weekly dinners a few times, and he’s always declined, saying it wasn’t really his thing.

I’m starting to think nothing is his thing outside of his books.

“Manorin, how’d you let Catherine get away?”

Morgan’s question jolts me out of my errant thoughts, and I set my wine glass down. Oh gods oh gods, how did that topic come up? I dart a look at Alo, but he raises both hands quickly in a denial of guilt.

Manorin’s expression goes serious as he looks at Morgan.

“I didn’t. She moved here to help develop Ever, and I remained at Hearth HQ, eventually taking over the skyball program.

” He sits back in his chair and rolls his shoulders, smiling softly at me.

“We just sort of fell apart, if I’m honest.” He glances at Morgan again. “It was a long time ago.”

I look around the table, but it’s Wren I land on. She sips her wine quietly, looking at me with a thoughtful expression. Of the Hector triplets, she’s the most brutally observant. She won’t pepper me with questions later like Thea or Morgan would, but she sees everything.

“Hundreds and hundreds of years,” I confirm. “Lifetimes, seems like.”

The table falls silent until Alo clears his throat, gesturing at Iggy, whose head flops back against Miriam’s upper arm. “We should get outta here and get Ig to bed.” Dark eyes flash to me. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner, as always, Cath. This is the highlight of our week.”

I look under the table where Minnie nurses all three hellhound pups. “Shall I bring them to you when they wake?”

Miriam laughs. “Oh no. As soon as we take Ig out of here, Minnie will follow, and the puppies will too. They’re at a compliant age, it seems, but I’m sure that’ll come to an end inconveniently soon.”

The moment Alo and Miriam stand, Minnie grumbles and shifts onto all four legs. When she falls back down with a yip, looking at her back end, we all drop to the floor to peer at her.

Morgan crawls under the table and places a careful hand on Minnie’s belly, closing her eyes.

After a brief moment, she looks at Manorin.

“Any chance you can carry her next door and lay her in her bed? Her stomach’s bothering her, but I think I can heal it.

I’d just rather she be in her comfy spot first.”

Manorin stands and grabs the table, pushing it to the side to expose Minnie and the pups.

The hellhound licks her lips, tail wagging softly as Manorin approaches her, speaking in low tones. When he scoops her up into his big arms, my heart nearly melts. He talks quietly to the big hellhound, who whines as he begins walking toward the hall.

“I’ll grab the puppies.” Morgan reaches down and picks them up, cradling them to her chest.

As they leave, Wren starts grabbing plates from the table, headed for the kitchen.

Thea and I do the same, but the moment Manorin and the rest are out the back door, she turns to me, grabbing my arm.

“Catherine! You let a dude like that get away? Tell me you’re not gonna let him get away again.”

I look between the Hectors, but even Wren nods. “He’s totally into you, Catherine. Strike while the iron’s hot, ya know?” She sets the empty pasta crock down with a wink.

I sigh. “I’m…it’s not the right time, girls. I just went out with Vikand yesterday!”

Wren smiles at me. “One date does not a relationship make. You could just…have fun. With two dudes.” She points at Lou. “It worked out for her.”

Lou giggles and pumps her hands in the air. “Double the dick is better, for sure!”

Oh, I know. I’ve done that plenty of times in my life.

Not with Nor though. No. One of him is plenty of dick to handle.

Oh fuck, now I’m thinking about his cock, and I really need to not .

“It wouldn’t be right,” I reiterate, more to myself than anything.

Annabelle clatters all the dishes on the countertop, slamming the oven door open and closed in rapid succession, causing the triplets to jump.

She doesn’t agree with me.