Zara couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never met a more ridiculous, though amazing, group of women. Her laughter brought everyone’s attention back to her. Great.
“You know,” Bethany said from beside her as she wiggled her now painted toes and smiled at them, “I came to Jen, Jacque, and Sally when I was dealing with some stuff with Drake. It helped.”
“Totally helped,” Jacque agreed.
“Just look at that stomach,” Sally added.
“One class with us and you’ll be prego in no time.” Jen smiled.
Zara’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “Ahh, I’m not, I mean, that’s not what…” She pointed at Bethany’s huge abdomen. “No. Just no.”
The room erupted into laughter. “You should see the look on your face.” Elle grabbed her own stomach. “You look like someone just told you Wadim is pregnant with a draheim baby.”
“Did not need that mental image.” Peri sighed, shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink, which Zara could tell from the glass was not hot chocolate or eggnog. “I’m going to have to do a lot of scrubbing to get rid of it.”
“Just picture your mate naked, in a tutu, with a tiara on his head,” Rachel offered.
Zara’s head, along with everyone else’s, turned to the healer who was leaning against the mantle by the fireplace.
Rachel shrugged. “When I’m angry at Gavril, it totally makes him growl when I picture that and let him see it through the bond. Also, it gets rid of any unwanted images in my brain because I’m too busy laughing at my mate’s horrified face.”
“Diabolical.” Jen lifted her cup to the healer in a toast. “You win the awesome, wicked mate award.”
“When did that become a thing?” Sally asked.
“Just now. Didn’t you hear me?” Jen’s eyebrows rose.
Sally shook her head. “Put more cookies in your mouth, please.”
There was more laughter, but Jen ignored it and turned back to Zara. “Don’t listen to them. Tell us what’s got you and history boy snarling at one another.”
Zara took a sip of her drink and then shut down the bond a little tighter. She could feel Wadim’s irritation. When she’d told him she was going to the girls’ night, he’d growled and said he was going on a run. He had pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was breathing hard, but then he’d taken off like his butt was on fire.
“I told Wadim I was ready to complete the bond,” she finally said.
Everyone perked up, and they all suddenly leaned toward her. Zara sank further into the couch.
“Jacque, get the book,” Jen said without taking her eyes off Zara.
“We don’t need the damn book,” Jacque snapped.
“We totally need the book,” Jen retorted.
“I vote book.” Bethany raised her hand.
“You’re pregnant, which means you’re thinking with your hormones and dead brain cells. If there was a vote, which there isn’t, you would not get a vote.” Jacque’s eyes shifted to Bethany and then back to Zara.
“Why does pregnancy make your hormones so out of whack?” Bethany sighed. “I’m as big as a whale, and yet I want to jump on my mate’s bone.”
Sally groaned as she closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s jump my mate’s bones, Bethany, not jump on his bone.”
“Speak for yourself,” Bethany replied.
“Yet, another mental image I never wanted. Ever. Could have lived without that one for the rest of my long existence.” Peri huffed.
“Agreed,” Elle said.
“Okay, moving on. Sorry, Bethy, but you had your turn. We educated you. You seduced your man and got his bone. Now, it’s Zara’s turn, and she’s chomping at the bit for—”
“If you say history boy’s bone, I’m going to dump my wine on you,” Peri warned.
“I didn’t have to say it,” Jen replied. “You said it for me, Peri Fairy.”
Peri tipped her glass back and drained it. “I totally did. I need more to drink.”
“Maybe everyone should put their drinks down so we can be a little more clear-headed for Zara,” Crina suggested.
“Good plan, Stan,” Jacque agreed, and everyone sat their mugs and glasses down. “Okay, so you told Wadim that you were ready to proceed with your bond. You’ve still got to do the Blood Rites, correct?”
Zara nodded.
“And you still need to consummate the mating,” Jacque added.
Jen laughed suddenly. “Consummate. That word totally has a new meaning now that we’re werewolves with mates. It sounds like consume mate. Like we’re eating our mates. Only we’re chicks, so it would actually be the other way a—”
“Someone shove a cookie in her word hole. Quickly, please,” Jacque said.
Elle snapped her fingers, and suddenly an Oreo protruded from Jen’s mouth. Everyone froze as they looked from Jen to Elle.
“Why the hell have you two not been doing that all these years?” Sally asked Peri and Elle.
“No one asked us to,” Elle said.
“I don’t think that’s something that needs to be asked. It’s pretty freaking obvious this girl doesn’t need a working mouth,” Sally said.
“Pretty sure Decebel would be a bit angry with us if we caused her mouth to stop working,” Peri murmured.
“Bloody hell.” Jacque sighed. “It’s like I’m surrounded by drunk, eighteen-year-old dudes who’ve gotten stuck on the sex merry-go-round jokes.”
“And if we shoved a cookie in Jen’s mouth every time she said something inappropriate, she’d be three hundred pounds by next week.”
Jen swallowed hard. “Something else Dec probably wouldn’t appreciate. Keep your cookies to yourselves.”
“I haven’t mentioned a word about sex,” Rachel called out.
“No, you just put the image of Gavril in a tutu and tiara in our minds,” Sally said dryly. “Thank you, wise healer, for that.”
“All right, moving on,” Crina said, obviously trying to keep everyone focused. Zara couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never had friends like this. She’d never experienced the kind of comradery these women shared. Zara would be forever grateful to the Great Luna that the Romania pack had found her in the vampire coven and gotten her out.
“What did Wadim say?” Crina asked. “You guys haven’t exactly seemed kosher, so I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”
“He said he doesn’t think I’m ready.” Zara glanced down at her nearly empty mug of hot chocolate, though she didn’t even remember drinking it. Jen took it from her hands and replaced it with a full one.
“Don’t you love it when they do that? As if they know what you are and are not ready for?” Jen said.
“It’s very helpful,” Sally said, shaking her head at the same time.
“I, for one, love it,” Crina bit out. After a brief pause, she added, “No. I do not love it. No one loves it. In fact, it’s freaking annoying.”
“And your response was?” Peri asked, a freshly filled glass in her hand.