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"Thanks, Dev That was just the look I was going for Got up this lanced in thehandsome You need to find us someone to kick the crap out of you and bruise you all over That’ll hed, then popped Dev in the stomach with her hand "Holy cow, I think we ive you a run for your sarcas about Aimee that drew him to her, and it wasn’t just because the blonde waitress was exquisitely gorgeous For that matter, he didn’t think of her like that at all She wassister One who could be really raith people He’d seen her take the heads off anyone as rude to her or any of the wait staff at Sanctuary But when she wasn’t riled, it felt good just to be in her presence

"I have bad news for you," Papa Bear said in a serious tone

Dread rushed through hi in probably around three hundred well-muscled pounds, Papa Bear Peltier was not someone you wanted to upset

"Sir?" Nick asked, scared of the answer

Papa Bear tsked "Quinn unplugged the Galaga machine Your nine-hundred-thousand score was erased"

Nick scrunched his face up "Oh the huroaned in ony

"Papa," Dev teased "Tell hi it because he couldn’t beat your score"

Papa Bear flashed an evil set hurt and leave your successes unguarded, won’t it?"

Nick shook his head, grateful that hat had upset the bear

They all traded jokes with hione, Wren ca that probably sprang from the animal part of him It was as if he respected other creatures’ territory and didn’t want to enter into it unless he planned to kill thee, but the day wasn’t over yet

"How you feel?" Wren asked

"I’ll live"

"Good" Wren pulled the bills out of his pocket that Nick had given him and held the?"

"I appreciate the thought, Gautier, but I don’t need the money"

"Dude," he chided, "you’re a busboy"

"Yeah?" He said that like he didn’t get what Nick was saying

Nick didn’t want hi, but Wren was probably not much older than he was and he didn’t seem to have any ambition to make more money He would assume then that Wren needed every cent he , which wasn’t often, but still … "I know the Peltiers pay well, but…"

Wren’s face twisted into a pained expression before it settled into a wry grin "Nick, I don’t work at Sanctuary for money I don’t have to"

"What? You secretly loaded?" Nick laughed "Or you won the lottery?"

With his head bowed low, Wren sheepishly rubbed his thuarian As in Tigarian Industries, Electronics, and a dozen other corporations that fall under our heading I’aped Oh yeah if that was true, Wren was insane "Why in the world would you work as a busboy if you have all that "

"Then you ain’t shopping in the right stores Sorry, but having been poor ree Because you swim in it, money may not work for you For hfalutin’ names I have to consult a dictionary to pronounce"

Wren snorted "I’ve never been poor, so I can’t argue"

"I’ine working if I had access to your inheritance I just don’t get it"

Wren shrugged nonchalantly "You could if you’d walked in my tracks As my father used to say, everyone loves a self-made man But they passionately resent his spoiled, rich son … even when the son was never spoiled When you have a lot ofa loan, or scheet it themselves Especially if you’ve inherited it Then they feel justified plotting against you After all, you didn’t earn it, so you owe it to theht He’d known his share of people who thought that very thing--kids at school ould tell other students they should pay for their lunch because their parents had more money You’re rich, man You can afford it

His mom had never been that way And she’d hammered her beliefs into hinity so long as you hold your hand out for charity

Wren held the ain "So please, take this back While I deeply appreciate the gesture, I really can’t keep it when I know you need it more than I do"

Nick took it and inclined his head respectfully at the gruff billionaire What had life done to Wren that with all of his wealth, he’d rather live in a roo around a monkey in his apron pocket, than travel the world and enjoy his money?

You really couldn’t look at anyone and tell much about them Where they’d come from or what demons rode their souls with spurs on

And he remembered what Thorn had told him Everyone is in pain No matter where they come from or what you think of them Sorrow spares no one, and scars respect no person He also thought of Grim’s lesson People put up shields in an atteer word could breach those defenses and leave the on the floor

Nick knew for hi than any weapon The body healed and the scars faded, but the internal dae was eternal It echoed anytime you let your defenses fall Even with thefor handouts Whenever he went to Brynna’s house or Kyrian’s, he kept waiting for them to call the police to put the trash out on the street where it belonged

He had no way of knowing if that feeling would ever leave hiut hiot better If anyone had told hio that this would be his life in just a few short months … That his mother would have a job with people, or rather shapeshifters, who treated her like a lady, that he’d be hooked up with one of the prettiest girls in school, and that he’d have an aparthed in their face

Yet that had become his life All of it

Wren hesitated at the door "You know, Nick, you’re a real decent man, and there aren’t et killed There are too many jerks we need to off We can’t afford to lose someone who actually has manners"

"You sound like Caleb"

"Maybe we both have a little demon in us" And with that, Wren left