Abel turned his head, not knowing why the mood in the room shifted so quickly. Also not having heard anything since he’d been listening to Sonia talk about Calder’s (enforced by Callum) reluctant but adventurous search for his mate.

“Then I’ll make you take it back.” Hook, at the head of the table, Delilah to one side, Aurora to his other, with Abel next to Delilah, shot out of his chair.

He then leaped over the table, arms extended, and as he did it, he took plates and platters filled with food, as well as much of the tablecloth, with him.

He hit Moose, who was sitting beside Yuri, the vampire next to Aurora, and Moose’s chair fell back.

They started grappling immediately on the floor, rolling around, grunting, and cursing.

Delilah leaned forward in her chair toward a wide-eyed Aurora and said, “Don’t worry. This happens a lot.”

She was speaking truth.

It was Thanksgiving at the Johnson compound and it was far from surprising that all hell broke loose.

Ursula, who had been sitting down the table between Moose and Jabber, leaped to the seat of her chair and shouted, “That’s it, my darling. Show him how it is!”

Abel looked down to the foot of the table to see Jian-Li watching the biker wrestling match with amusement settled firm on her features.

“Bummer, man, the hoisin sauce is all over the floor and I needed some,” Xun muttered.

Aurora started giggling.

Delilah burst out laughing.

Sonia and Leah grinned at each other.

Lucien raised a brow to Callum, who just shrugged.

Chen asked for the eggrolls, which were one of the only things left on the table.

Barb handed them to him.

Cain held Teona in his lap, where he’d pulled her five minutes ago, and he shoved the last of his pancake filled with crispy shredded duck in his mouth as his mate craned her neck to watch the action.

Wei took a sip from his beer bottle, doing it eyes to the floor behind him where the men were fighting, his lips grinning.

And Abel sat back in his chair, staring at one of what he’d discovered was his mate’s myriad brands of wild, and he did it with a smile, feeling free.

The wrestling match turned out to be a draw.

And then the table was cleared and Jian-Li and Delilah served four types of pie.

* * * * *

Abel lay on his back in their bed, eyes to the ceiling, his woman curled close, her finger moving in a whisper of touch, drawing patterns on his chest.

“Everyone leaves tomorrow,” Delilah said quietly.

“Yeah,” Abel replied.

“We’ll be back together for Yuri and Aurora’s Claiming Ceremony in December,” she told him something he knew.

“Yeah,” Abel repeated.

“That’ll be fun,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” Abel agreed yet again.