"Lila, as much as I love your tender heart. I'm not sure we have the room."

I tried to smile. I could feel all the screws coming lose in my mind and I wanted to shake my head to put them all into place.

She opened her mouth to argue, but Ben beat her to it.

"That's very kind but I can make other arrangements."

"See," I said.

"Nonsense," Damon added most helpfully, "I saw an air mattress in your linen closet. We can scoot the couch over and make room. You have plenty of space."

I narrowed my eyes. I fought between kindness and stubbornness. My apartment used to be my haven. Now I'm not making the decisions anymore. In the end what would it really hurt? I wasn't losing anything except privacy. Mary's remains ended up in the alley. Safety in numbers? Not to mention the blood on my window.

"Alright. I don't mind if you need it Ben. I can make room but you better not shed all over my place and don't even think about chasing my cat."

Damon's face went blank and you could hear the bugs outside the hideout singing their praises to the evening air.

Ben grinned so wide I'm surprised his cheeks didn't crack. "I promise."

I locked eyes with Lila and her expression appeared wide and horrified.

"What?" I mouthed.

She gave me the look that said my coffee would be late and a bit cold for few days.

"Glad that's settled. How is everyone enjoying the crumble?" She changed the subject.

"It's amazing."

"Delicious."

The conversation turned casual. Talking about the menu for the next week and the special drinks planned. Ben shared  some info about the way they lived in forest and honestly it sounded peaceful.

"We have a whole community. Stores for food and shopping, a movie theater even though we play mostly classics. We did a Studio Ghibli marathon. Proved the most popular surprising most but me. Howl's Moving Castle is a favorite of mine."

"That's one of Kat's too." Lila offered.

My cheeks heated and I played with the bottom of my shirt.

"Is that so?" Ben looked at me and I couldn't read his expression.

"Yeah, but it's not that unique people love it." I offered.

I looked around the table at the faces and noticed Damon looking at me in an odd way too.

"Lots of grown people like the work."

Everyone smiled back. I found my way to Morse.

"You've been pretty quiet Morse. How did you like dinner?"

His voice came out a bit gravelly, "I enjoyed it very much. In all my years, people either seemed to fear me or hate me. I've never been welcomed into home like this. Thank you."

"You are more than welcome. We are glad to have the company." Lila smiled at him.

"It's getting late. It's probably time for us to get cleaned up and rest." Stella cupped Lila's hand in hers.

"I'll help, I should probably get to know my way around a bit more before I start work in the morning." Morse began picking up the plates and headed to the kitchen.

"We can help too." Ben offered.

"No, but thank you. Go get situated and I'll see you in the morning." Lila said firmly.

"I have a few things I need outside. Damon, will you and Kat join me?"

"Sure?" My eyebrows rose and Damon just nodded.

We followed Ben out and to the alley.

"Do you guys want to tell me why there was blood outside Kat's window?"

"We don't know. Haven't really had a chance to investigate it yet. We didn't want to alarm Lila." Damon offered.

"I had my Beta clean it and take samples. I instructed him to leave them with my duffel."

"You just left it outside? What about thieves?" I crossed my arms.

"I have someone watching the area. It was safe enough. Perks to being an Alpha."

Ben unzipped his bag and withdrew the vials handing them to Damon.

"How do people keep getting to my second floor window? I should get some blinds or something. Let's go inside and squeeze into my place. I'm exhausted."

I trudged my way through the Hideout noticing the place spotless, empty, and silent. I turned and locked the door behind us making the men just watch me. The stairs didn't creak that much given all the extra muscle weight they had to endure. Impressive. I unlocked my place and disarmed the enchantment. Luna sat snoozing on the pillow of Damon's freshly made bed. Her head lifted then she went back to sleep.

"Luna is the queen of the world and we just happen to be living in it."

I looked at Ben waiting for him to start terrorizing my cat.

"You know, I love animals."

"Sure." I eyed him suspiciously.

"I'll grab the air mattress if you can slide over the couch." Damon walked to one of the two doors and started rummaging my sheet collection.

I just watched as they worked. The weirdness of having two men in my tiny place made me shiver. I kind of liked it in a way. It felt warmer. Well maybe that could be because they were hot?

Luna meowed at the movement of the couch and took her place on my bed to observe as she cleaned a paw.

"You going to blow this up?" Damon grinned tossing me the air mattress.

"She does have a lot of hot air." Ben added.

"Oh goody. I'll have dad jokes for days. I'm so lucky." I brushed past Damon and dug the pump out of the closet. "This should do the trick."