I stood in the door of the restaurant watching Sonia and Leah leave, waving and then putting my hand to my ear with pinkie and thumb out, shouting, “Right! Call me! We’ll sort these boys out!”

“You got it,” Leah called back, waving behind her.

“Thanks for the delicious food, Mrs. Jin,” Sonia yelled, folding into the back of a shiny, flash, black SUV at which a big brawny guy (their driver!—total class) was waiting at the door.

“My pleasure!” Jian-Li yelled back as she stood beside me.

She’d joined us not long after Sonia, Leah, and I bonded over being werewolf/vampire bitches and the meal descended into a girls’ lunch at the Chinese restaurant.

Most of the guys drifted out, my dad and his boys going first. They didn’t do bitch shit.

Chen, Wei, and Xun weren’t far behind.

Abel had to stay because I was sitting on him.

As soon as the driver dude closed the door on Sonia, Abel yanked both Jian-Li and me in and slammed the front door.

I turned to him to see him opening his mouth to speak, but Jian-Li beat him to the punch.

“What did I say?”

He shut his mouth and scowled at her.

“I am no fool, Abel,” she declared.

“Okay,” I butted in, moving in between them and looking at Jian-Li. “Totally get your need for a nanny-nanny-foo-foo, Jian-Li, but all’s well that ends well, right?”

She smiled a bit at my “nanny-nanny-foo-foo” comment and then agreed, “Right, Lilah.”

I turned and looked up at a still-scowling Abel. “So, I’ll chat with Leah and Sonia, we’ll set up a meet with their men, find out officially what’s going on, and move on from there. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he grunted.

I took a step to the side and pressed the air down with both hands. “Now everyone can relax. At least about the supernaturals at The Biltmore. Am I right?”

“You are, Lilah,” Jian-Li replied.

Abel just jerked up his chin.

“I have a kitchen to supervise preparing for the dinner hour,” Jian-Li murmured. “You two enjoy the rest of your afternoon.”

“Will do,” I assured her.

She grinned at me, moved to Abel, and even still annoyed, that didn’t mean he didn’t bend low so she could touch her cheek to his.

She bustled off.

I moved to stand in front of my man.

“Aren’t you relieved?” I asked, taking in his continued displeasure.

“I’ll be relieved when I have no threats against the ones I hold in my heart, not that one of them has turned out not to be a threat in the first place.”

I understood that.

And it was sweet.

I got close and put my hands on his chest.

“Let’s celebrate even small successes, yeah?”

His face got soft as he slid his hands from my waist to my back. “And how would you like to celebrate, bao bei?”