Free Wolves of Haven: Lone by Danae Ayusso Page B

fearless. Balls as hairless as a new born baby,
but they’re bald balls of steel.”
    Ulrik glared from between his legs
since Rafe and Faelan had them locked behind his head at the
ankles. “They’re not bald. Get these assholes off of me, and I’ll
show you… I’m Ulrik,” he greeted with a smile before swinging at
his big brothers again.
    Akia gave a small wave. “I figured
as much. Fae, Rafe, stop dicking around and let him up so we can
eat. I’ve been up for hours and am ready to crash.”
    “Aw, do we have to?” they
complained in unison before letting the young man up.
    The family gathered around the
large dining room table and waited for Varg and Beowulf to join
them. Akia sat between Connell and Faelan, just as she had done
when she lived there, and eyed the platters filling the center of
the table; stack of rare steaks, barbecued ribs, glazed pork chops,
grilled vegetables, and baskets of fresh rolls and slices of bread
with mounds of sweet cream butter and jars of honey ready to be
spread on them.
    When Akia’s stomach growled, Faelan
chuckled and grabbed one of the baskets of rolls and handed it to
her. “Eat, your growling is going to scare the kid.”
    “Shut up,” she complained before
shoving an entire roll in her mouth.
    Faelan sighed. “If only I could
find a man that can do that with something meatier than soda
bread,” he said.
    Akia gave him a look. “Really?” she
mumbled with her mouth full.
    He simply smiled wide.
    Beowulf joined them, taking a
moment to kiss Akia on the top of the head in passing, before
taking his seat at the head of the table. “Where is Varg?” he
asked.
    “Patrolling the perimeter,” Rafe
said. “He’ll eat later, alone.”
    Thank god, Akia silently huffed; dealing with Varg was the
very last thing she wanted to do that evening.
    Beowulf nodded. “Very well, let’s
eat.”
    Like starving animals, most of
those seated around the table stood and hastily started loading
their plates, piling them high with food.
    Louvel chuckled, leaning back with
a glass of wine in hand, watching his nephews and niece silently
fight over the food. “It has been much too long since we have had
dinner theater,” he commented.
    Seff shook his head, not amused in
the least, and flipped the newspaper in his hands over and
continued reading the world news section.
    “Believe it or not, I missed this,”
Beowulf said then applauded when Akia stabbed Connell in the hand
with a fork when he tried to steal her pork chop. “Connie, you will
never learn. What is that, three hundred times you’ve been stabbed
by your baby sister?”
    Connell continued to growl as he
rubbed his hand, glaring at his sister.
    Akia smiled as she ripped a big
bite off of the pork chop in her hand then chewed with her mouth
open just to spite him.
    Louvel roared with laughter. “Just
like the first time we had dinner as a family. Only this time she
is holding her own and is heavily armed.”
    Seff growled under his breath.
“Don’t encourage them. It will not end well with the Inspector when
he discovers that they pulled one over on him.”
    “What do you mean?” Ulrik asked
before shoving an overly large bite of steak in his mouth. “What
did they do?” he asked with his mouth full.
    Faelan threw a roll at him and it
bounced off of the young man’s forehead. “Manners!” he scolded,
talking with his mouth full before smiling.
    Beowulf shook his head. “Tonight
there will be no talk of the Stray. This is the first time that we
have been a family in over a decade, thus we will enjoy it.
Daughter, this is your new little brother, Ulrik. Louvel has taken
him under his wing and pulled him back from the darkness and
shadows of his past, creating the,” he paused and cocked an eyebrow
when he saw that the blue haired young man had barbeque sauce
dripping down his chin and a rib in each hand, “picture of class
and refinement that you see in front of you today.”
    The young man smiled wide as