I hadn’t understood it at the time, but Eva had done exactly that—used the bond to control me. I knew what that felt like—heavy, the weighted feeling exhaustion sometimes brought on. And everything felt far away, like you were riding along in your own body but not in control.

I hadn’t felt that around Lou. Not once. I was sure of it. Not only was she not Eva, but I wasn’t a kid anymore. I was stronger, and I had more fight in me now.

But Lou would need convincing.

“Don’t worry about us.” I grinned at Lou and if possible, she blushed harder. “We’ll figure something out.”

Chapter Fifteen

Lou

It was a good thing I was used to living with people, or Declan’s closeness would have posed more of a problem. As it was, we’d come home from dinner and watched another episode of Mated by Fate with Trick and Van. Declan sat right next to me, the line of his body flush with mine. I could feel the heat of him. It was distracting. Really distracting. And he was just sitting by me.

For his part, Declan seemed perfectly comfortable. As the show progressed, he’d flopped further against me. Trick, apparently, had liked this idea, so he’d flopped against Declan. By the end of the movie both men were cuddled and half-asleep—Trick appeared fully asleep—and had me pushed against the side of the couch.

“It’s like you’re the last domino and you didn’t fall,” Van said, snuggling under her throw blanket. Her ferrets were curled up in her lap.

“They’re kind of cute,” I said, reaching over Declan to pat Trick’s head. “When they’re not talking or doing anything.”

“Less chance that they’ll irritate you,” Van said. “Can you even breathe?”

“Yes,” I said, shifting a little. “But my leg is asleep. I think Declan eats bricks when we’re not looking.”

“I’m still awake, you know. I can hear every word,” Declan said, his voice rough with sleep.

Van scoffed. “You think we wouldn’t say any of this to your face?”

“Fair enough,” Declan murmured. He blinked lazily at me. “I work early in the morning, so I need to go to bed. I can carry Trick to his room. Can you transfer Dammit?”

The baby phoenix, like Declan and me, was supposed to spend time with his master. I slipped out from under the human pile and put on the special gloves sitting next to Dammit’s cage in the living room. The sleepy bird chirped as I scooped him up. When I looked over, Declan had gathered up Trick in a similar fashion, my friend still dead to the world in the shifter’s arms.

“Look at him, all tuckered out,” Declan said. “He’s clearly been up to no good.”

Van got up and folded her blanket, laying it on the back of the couch. “A pack of weirdos woke us up in the middle of the night, screaming bloody murder from the bathroom. I hear he was up all night helping them.”