Winter snorted. “Bullshit, why would he tell you he was hungry then?”
“Exactly. He got grumpy and yelled that he isn’t waiting more than ten minutes for everyone, and then he slammed his room door like a spoiled princess. You ready?”
“Is Beast going?” Winter asked carefully. She was really working up to asking about Logan.
“He’s already in the truck looking like he wants to kill everyone.”
Winter giggled, then cleared her throat and tried for aloof. “So Logan’s going, too?”
Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You two are ridiculous. You know he is a psychopath, right?”
“But he’s my psychopath,” Winter whispered through a grin as she folded the last shirt.
Emma pointed to her eyes and then to Winter’s lips. “Nice try, I read that.”
“I’m hungry for pancakes,” Winter said, sidling Emma’s gently kicking legs and grabbing her purse off the chair.
“Nice subject change,” the honey-haired wood sprite said as she followed her out the door. “Are you looking for a job yet?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Winter said, making sure Emma could see her lips. “I wanted to wait until I have a better instinct on how the dragons feel about me. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, you know? You?”
“Yeah, I put my application in at a coffee shop this morning. If this is going to take months, I can’t afford the motel for that long. It adds up.”
Logan and Dustin were arguing in the front seat of Logan’s truck. Beast had evacuated it completely and was sitting in the bed, head leaned back on the side like he was sleeping.
Logan’s angry voice drifted through the closed window. “I swear to God, Dustin, if you touch that radio dial again, I’m gonna gut you.”
When Dustin leaned forward to poke the dial, Logan grabbed his finger. Dustin grinned and made a fart sound, and Logan roared in his face. This was how the day was going to go. Winter could just see it.
When Emma threw open the back door, Dustin yelled, “Bacon!” like it would make them hurry faster.
Winter put on her sunglasses so he wouldn’t see her infinite number of eye-rolls today.
The reek of dominance made it crystal clear why Beast had evacuated, and immediately after buckling her seatbelt, Emma opened her window plus the back sliding window.
“Morning, Beast,” Winter said cheerfully.
“No to all of your morning-person bullshit,” he said blandly, not even bothering to open his eyes.
Winter shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and murmured, “He loves me.”
“I love nothing,” Beast said.
Dustin was fiddling around with the radio again, Logan was snarling like he was on the verge of a shift, and Emma was hanging her head out the window as though she—a dull-sensed little human—could feel all the monster-crap happening in the truck.
They would make the worst crew in the whole world. Winter’s smile took over her whole face until her cheeks hurt.
“Stop smiling like that,” Dustin said, looking eked out. “It’s weird. And is that a hickey? Shit Logan, sex is supposed to put you in a good mood!”
Logan gritted out, “I’m not listening to techno all the way to the restaurant. It makes me feel crazy.”
“Newsflash, asshole,” Dustin said, slamming his back against the seat and crossing his arms. “You are crazy.”
“I like your smile,” Logan said, his eyes on Winter in the rearview mirror. He wasn’t even close to grinning, his eyes were the color of a bug zapper, and his voice was terrifying, but she still got butterflies.
“I like your smile, too.”
“Bacon!” Dustin yelled, way too loud. They all hunched their shoulders at the sound except Emma, who looked to be fighting back an amused grin.
Their phones all dinged with different tones, all seconds apart.
Dustin struggled his phone out of his pocket first. “Want me to read it?”
“Depends. Can you read?” Emma asked.
Winter pulled her phone out and read along as Dustin narrated. “D-Team, we got a visit from the police early this morning about a disturbance at the horse stables, complete with security footage of you idiots fighting.”
“Oh, shit,” Logan muttered.
“Because of this, all the shifters in the Smoky Mountains have been formally banned from the stables for a minimum of one year, and thus we cannot conduct your next interview as we’d planned. Please make your way to my mountains at your earliest convenience. That means now, D-Team. Kane.”
“I like when Rowan texts us better,” Winter murmured. “She’s nicer.”
“What is there to be nice about?” Beast growled from the back of the truck. “We left the arena splattered with blood.”
“No, you and Logan did,” Dustin pointed out. “I bled zero percent.”
“Are we getting cut?” Emma asked, her green eyes round as dinner plates.
“Probably,” Beast said, louder than before. One look back at the bed, and he was red-faced, which made the gold in his eyes look even more terrifying. Fantastic.
“I seriously can’t believe I threw in with you bunch of psychos,” Dustin said. His eyes were glowing two different colors, and he smelled like fur. “I was in! I had all the cards, and now I’m going to get cut from the crew because of you guys!” He jammed a finger at Beast. “You suck.” He jammed his finger at Emma. “And you suck, too.” He pointed his middle finger at Winter. “And you suck the most—ack,” he croaked as Logan tightened his fist around Dustin’s throat.