“Thank you, Wyatt.”
As the werewolf trailed after his lovers, Aiden stepped into the doorway, a slightly amused expression on his face.
“Wonderful! The family intervention is complete. If I’d known you were all coming over, I would have had it catered.”
His father chuckled and slipped one arm around his shoulders, directing him into the loft while he closed the door with his free hand. “Since you brought the witch, we thought this would be a good time to talk to him and you about this prophecy.” Aiden leaned his head closer and dipped his voice as if he were planning to share a great secret. “And you would have known about our plans to descend on you if you hadn’t silenced your phone.”
Winter dropped his head back on his father’s arm and groaned while Aiden laughed again. Yeah, he would have known they were coming, but he would have also wasted most of his evening answering the phone calls and texts rather than playing video games with Fox. If he had to choose between the two options, video games with Fox was an easy choice.
“Do I smell pizza?” Ethan asked, standing in the middle of Winter’s living room. He turned and looked at Winter, a confused expression in his face. “Did you make pizza? Do you even know how to use your oven?”
This was going to be such a long night.
“Fox made the pizza. Is this going to be your vampiric power? The ability to smell whenever someone has had food?” Winter sniped.
Ethan glared at Winter, but River was already talking.
“Pizza sounds good. Should we go ahead and order some for delivery?”
“How are you hungry? We just ate before leaving Marcus’s house,” Bel said on a gasp.
River shrugged, giving Bel a sweet smile. “I’m always hungry.”
“There’s more frozen pizza in the freezer if you don’t want to wait for delivery,” offered up a new voice.
Winter cringed inwardly when every eye in the room shot to the staircase. Stepping away from Aiden, Winter turned to see Fox on the stairs, a stiff smile on his face. It looked as if he were debating whether it was too late to retreat to his room and crawl under the bed.
Four Variks was manageable.
Nine was completely overwhelming.
If the missing four had been there as well, Winter doubted whether Fox would have come down the stairs at all. Lola and Ryder were intimidating creatures, but their scariness was usually tempered by Gideon’s sweetness. Jullien was typically Philippe’s brooding shadow whenever they were in the same room together.
Moving to the foot of the stairs, Winter extended his hand to Fox and smiled. He didn’t care what his family thought about this gesture. Fox was already overwhelmed, and the Variks had yet to hit him with questions and their usual insanity.
“It’s okay. They’re going to behave themselves,” Winter murmured.
Fox dragged his eyes to Winter’s face and managed a small smile. “I know you told me about your family, but it just feels like there’s more of them when I can see them.”
“I’m sorry to say it gets worse when we all start talking at once.”
Fox huffed a weak laugh and started to descend the stairs. “Yeah. Mom and me probably couldn’t achieve the same volume.”
It was a good reminder that Fox was already a fish out of water around the Variks. He hadn’t grown up with the big, loud family. It had been just him and his mother for years. And then, he was alone.
At the bottom of the stairs, they turned to face the living room and found everyone closely watching them. Or rather, closely watching Fox as if he were a ticking time bomb. Winter clenched his teeth, wanting to snap at them all. Did they really think Winter would bring back someone who would kill them all?
Shit.
Yes, that was exactly what he’d done.
But things were changing. Spending time with Fox, talking to him, Winter was sure now he had no intention of hurting them. Which meant that either Fox was the wrong witch, or possibly something he couldn’t control was going to hurt the Variks. And maybe the witch as well. Winter’s job was to make sure none of that happened.
His family just needed to spend five minutes with Fox to realize he was truly innocent in this mess.
River was the first to move among them, stepping around the sofa to approach Fox with his hand extended and a smile on his face. “Hi. I’m River Varik. We talked on the phone the other night.”
Fox instantly brightened, shaking River’s hand like he was grasping a lifeline in the middle of a storm. “Hey! Great to meet you in person. Thanks so much for everything you got. It’s perfect.”
“Why has River gotten to speak to your new plaything and not us?” Rafe immediately demanded.
“Maybe because I know he’s not a plaything,” River shot back. “Plus, I know how to shop for clothes.”