“Seriously. You don’t have to believe me, of course.” She shrugged. “And I kind of can’t believe that I’m standing outside this massive house of yours talking about breastmilk, but I could just sense—”

I tipped my head to the side. “What could you sense, love?”

“He’s hungry and you’re sad. Plus…” She waved a hand at me. “I just know something isn’t right.” She cleared her throat. “Do you have any pain there?”

I shook my head. “No.”

A hum escaped her. “I’ll watch over you, make sure you don’t get an infection or anything.”

That had my eyes flaring wide, but it was my turn to clear my throat too. “Okay. Thank you, Lara.”

Her grin appeared, and it was swift and sharp. “Well, that kind of broke the ice, didn’t it?”

“Talking about tits will do that to you, I guess,” I said wryly, but I beamed at her because she was right.

Eli had warned me that it might be awkward, that the first few moments of our being back together would be difficult.

But they weren’t.

She’d never have tried to help if they were.

I knew what she was like. She never shoved her opinions onto other people, because she couldn’t deal with their anger, and I didn’t blame her, not after I’d seen what one of our father’s rages could do to her—it could incapacitate her.

For Lara’s sake, I hoped she’d grown stronger mental barriers, but I wasn’t even sure if that was possible. I knew I was trying to craft them with the guys, in an effort to keep some distance between us all so that they could have their private thoughts and I could have mine, only it wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed.

It wasn’t like I could just go to Home Depot and pick up some dry wall, now was it?

I heaved a sigh at that, especially when Austin murmured, “Wouldn’t life be simpler if everything was at Home Depot?”

“You’re not supposed to be listening,” I chided, but there was no heat to my rebuke as I turned around to shoot him a grin. When he grinned back, I’d admit to being floored. To being positively hurled to the ground as I stared at him and just felt the heat of our connection.

Sometimes, that happened. Sometimes, especially after I’d been emotional, I was reminded that I belonged to three powerful men, men who included me in that power, who thought I was stronger than even they were. While it boggled my mind, it was beyond delicious to know they saw me as their version of Wonder Woman.

Okay, I didn’t have her ass or those perky tits anymore, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I turned to Lara, who was eying up my three mates with a wary eye. She was judging them, not just on what they looked like, I knew, but on what they were feeling. I was used to this too, and it stunned me how easy it was to fall back into the regular rhythm of life with her.

I always talked so that she could have a moment to assimilate the lay of the land. So she could figure out what her first words would be.

Wanting to introduce her, I reached for her then jumped when she released a hiss and a pained, “Ouch.”

“What is it?” I asked, worried.

“That hyena got a few licks in.” She pulled a face. “It’s okay. The scratches are still sore as hell. The infection only just worked its way out of my system.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I peered at her aura, trying to see if I could sense the injury, but I saw nothing.

She wafted a hand. “Don’t be silly. I know you didn’t.” Her smile turned less dubious, a little brighter as she turned to my mates, and I knew that was a prompt.

So, taking it, I declared, “Guys, this is Lara.”

“Figured as much,” Austin said dryly. “Seeing as she’s the only chick who got out of the SUV.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “You’re such a smart ass.”

“My ass is many things, and smart is definitely one of them.” I knew if we’d been alone, he’d have tapped his butt, and I grinned at the thought of him doing that in front of the strangers who were from a foreign pack.

I must have sent the imagery across, because all three mates were coughing as they hid their own amusement, but I twisted around, saw the others standing there, a tad awkwardly, and I knew why.

I’d forgotten about Berry!

And she was so close to them that it was beyond awkward.

Her haunches were high, her eyes narrowed, and she was staring at them like they were a threat.

More importantly, with her head at the same level as their dicks, it was no wonder they were all standing in a way that shielded said penises with their hands.

The sight had my lips twitching, and I clicked my tongue. “Berry. Stop it. They came to help us.”

“Smell different.”

“They’re from a different place.”

She heaved a sigh. “Too many people. Not good.” Another sniff. “Can scent hyena. Why?”

“Lara was attacked by one,” I explained, ignoring her answering huff.

I knew she was only huffing and puffing because she hated change, but when I whistled under my breath, her two pups, the ones Ethan had saved, came scampering out of the house and darted around her.

I was surprised to see that they were growing at a rate that was definitely not what Wikipedia had advised. But when I thought about how unnatural they were, I guessed it wasn’t that unusual. They were still smaller, not as mature, even though they were a year old at this point and shouldn’t be pups anymore—yet pups was exactly what they were. I liked seeing them together, mostly because it made her chill the fuck out.

The second they were dancing circles around her, she yipped at them to back off, which, of course, they ignored.

As the three of them grew more entangled in play, I eyed the men and said, “I’d move aside now if I were you, before she remembers you’re here.”

One guy blinked, then muttered, “Never seen a natural that big before, ma’am.”

“We breed them big in the boondocks,” Eli called out, striding forward to curve an arm around me. He hauled me into his side, then held out a hand.

The men eyed it warily, but I understood why—alphas didn’t shake hands with just anyone. But these weren’t just anyone. They’d helped bring my sister home and through several packs who weren’t their own.

That was dangerous, according to my mates, so they deserved a reward.

I cleared my throat and murmured, “I just wanted to thank you for helping Lara.”

“It was our pleasure.” The one in the middle was the enforcer, but I sensed beta-type personalities in the other two as well, just not as strong as the middle one. “But we’ll be off now, Alpha,” he declared after warily taking Eli’s hand and shaking it.

Once.

“You must stay the night,” I argued. “You’ve traveled a long time. You must need the rest.”

But they all shook their heads and eyed Berry up like she was a box of TNT.

I couldn’t blame them, not when I’d seen her tear into my brother, Cyrilo, and rip his throat out.

My lips quirked at the thought, because that bastard was the one who’d killed my son, my high school sweetheart-husband, and who had torn my throat out and made me a shifter. Of course, I had a lot to be thankful for, but that wasn’t to say that I had to be happy about how it had all come about, did I?