But she’d had experience waiting out Callum in battle. It was Leah and I who were the newbies. Neither of us liked this much and neither of us bothered to expend the effort not to show that.

Therefore, I wasn’t totally losing it. I was close to totally losing it.

“It’s not like they can die from secondhand smoke,” Jabber went on.

“I believe,” Jian-Li began, “even if we don’t share your habit, at this juncture, we can all appreciate your need, Jabber. However, voicing your objections will not change their policy at this time, seeing as they’re all rather busy with something else.”

Jabber glared at Jian-Li.

“I could actually use a cigarette and I’ve never smoked,” Leah muttered to me, but her eyes were on the door.

I had, though only while acting out against my mother, but I knew having a smoke now wouldn’t help.

Only our men walking through the door would help.

“I’m thinking we need tequila shots,” I muttered back.

She looked to me. “Lucien isn’t a big fan of secondhand drinking, that being feeding from me after I’ve become inebriated.” She shook her head. “Actually, that isn’t true. If I drink champagne or vodka, he quite likes that. Tequila…” She trailed off and made a face before carrying on. “When this is all over, we’re celebrating and I want him to enjoy that to its fullest. So no tequila for me, even if we did have it.”

I was with her.

I was also interested in what she’d said about drinking.

So I asked, “Really? He doesn’t like it when you drink?”

She shook her head.

My eyes wandered to the door as I mumbled, “I wonder how Abel feels about it.”

“Everyone is different,” Leah noted, and I hoped she was right because Abel and I hadn’t tried drunk sex. I figured drunk sex with Abel would absolutely rock, and therefore, that was something we’d be rectifying immediately.

Namely, when he showed, healthy and intact, in the door I was staring at.

“Have you seen a golem?” I asked the door.

“No,” Leah answered.

“Abel said they’re large and hard to kill,” I said softly.

“Lucien told me the same thing.”

We went silent, both staring at the door. We stayed silent for a while and our silence was only broken when Jian-Li moved from the couch where she was sitting with Sonia and Regan to the couch kitty-corner to where I was sitting with Leah.

She perched on the arm of the sofa next to me and patted my shoulder.

“It will all be well.”

I looked up at her. She was seemingly cool and collected too, and she had three boys up there doing whatever they were doing, only one of them immortal.

“Yes, it will,” I agreed, lifting my hand to her leg and patting her back.