Kaya couldn't stop staring at the three of us, each of her hands resting on Mom and Dad's cheeks with me smushed in the middle. She was beaming at us. "I just can't believe it," she shrugged. "It feels like I only saw you guys yesterday and now you're both grown up with this gorgeous girl. This is so crazy!"
"It's good to see you, Kaya," Mom smiled with soft eyes.
"Welcome back," Dad added. "It's been too long."
"I know, right?" Kaya responded with wide eyes. "I didn't think I'd miss being human, but, ugh, it's so good to see you all up to close and touch your cute little faces."
She stepped away from us and sighed dreamily at the boys. They both stood with their eyes wide in wonderment and awe at Kaya. I wondered how strange this was for them. Since they've phased, things had been getting more and more complicated—complex, even. I was curious if it was too much for them, or if they'd take it in stride. Wyatt smiled nervously, "Hi Kaya."
"Little Wyatt Cameron," Kaya grinned as she hugged him. She looked at Nate whose face was paler than a piece of paper. "And my personal favorite Uley. Don't tell your dad I said that. It's nice to meet you, Nathaniel."
"H-hi," he stuttered. He snapped out of it. "I'm sorry I took my skepticism into the meditation room. I really thought I left it outside," he blurted.
This made Kaya laugh. "Oh, such the worrier warrior just like Levi," she commented with a wink. "Don't worry about it, young wolf, it happens."
"How are you feeling, Kaya? Hungry?" Dad asked as he walked into the kitchen. "We have all your favorites. Fresh raspberries, Oreos, frozen pizza…I can make pancakes?"
"Ooh, and bacon! I miss bacon. There's nothing up there that feels the way bacon tastes; it sucks." She pouted as she gracefully slipped into a chair. "Leah, baby, come over here! I've been waiting so long for us to catch up."
Dad got to work making late night breakfast. It was a weirdly validating victory that she was here. The first time she came, it was the ancestors' doing; they had sent her to Earth so she could help Mom and Dad learn how to be Alphas. She spent so much time with them, guided them, loved them. I mean, she is my name sake. Kaya was probably the only person who has experienced wolfhood in every form. The first female wolf, the first Bond, the first to give up being a wolf to grow old, the first to come back to the world after death. She was a legend.
When I pitched the idea to bring Kaya back, Mom and Dad were hesitant initially. I think it was because they kept her here for so long when she came almost 18 years ago. They didn't want her to get stuck again. But, after talking through it, we all agreed that it would take more than a trip to a spirit place to get the answers we need. Too much had happened, so many things weren't adding up to a hundred.
"Oh my goodness, little wolf, can you please stop fixating?" Kaya fake scolded, looking at me. "We will get to all of your questions in due time, I promise."
"Sorry," I cringed.
She tapped the spot in front of a chair at the kitchen table. "Come over here, all of you," she said to me and the boys. I sat down next to her, Wyatt standing behind me. Nate took the other chair, still speechless and wide eyed.
"How long can you stay?" Mom asked tentatively. The look on her face let me know that she already knew.
Kaya put her hand over my mom's and gave her a sad, knowing smile. "Not as long as I'd like, I'm afraid," she answered. "Only about 24 hours. They say if I keep coming, I could hinder progress."
"What do you mean?" I asked, curious.
She shook her head as she rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner. "It's all very technical and complicated. You'll understand one day. It's kind of like those time travel movies; it could start to mess with…" she waved her hand around aimlessly, "everything. We keep these visits for special circumstances like this."
"Well, we're happy to have you," Wyatt spoke kindly. "We've heard all the stories growing up."
"It's kind of like meeting a superhero," Nate said, although I'm a little unsure whether he realized he'd said it out loud. He'd been a little jealous that Wyatt and I had met Kaya and Ephraim and he hadn't. Nate always wanted to know more about the ancestors, especially Levi. When we found out that Ephraim and Levi Uley were best friends, Nate smirked at me and had said, "See, I knew our friendship was deeper than this lifetime." I remember feeling this swell of love at his words…before punching him in the arm and telling him not to get sappy.
Kaya was staring at Nate with a small smile on her face. "God, you look just like Levi too, that's crazy. It's like looking at his twin," she said as she turned to Mom. "Let me tell you, nothing gets guys more excited than descendants that look like them. It's such an ego trip, my god."
"Ephraim did keep complimenting me when we trained together," Dad jokingly recalled, placing a full plate in front of Kaya.
She lit up in excitement as she picked up a strip of bacon and bit into it. Her eyes rolled back at the flavor. "Oh my god, that's so good!" she said as her head fell back. "I missed you guys a whole bunch, but I really missed food."
She wasted no time at all making herself at home. As if she'd never left. As she ate, she asked us questions about our lives like we were reality tv stars or something. All of our ancestors really just sat up above and watched us live every day. "So give me the low down," she said, sipping her orange juice. "Hadley and Wyatt: together or not together? The people want to know."
I looked up at Wyatt whose face was flushing at the question. "Together," he answered as he met my eye. Smiling, I nodded in agreement.
She gasped gleefully, "You guys need a ship name! Like Kimye."
"They broke up, Kaya," Mom said as she carried Kaya's completely cleaned plate from the table. "Kim and Kanye, not Wyatt and Hadley."
"What?! Didn't they have like 5 ki—ugh, it doesn't matter. Love lives on even when crazy celebrity couples don't," she waved her hand. "I love this for both of you. We can all see how in love you two are. It looks very familiar in the best way."
"Adorable," Nate commented sarcastically as he smirked at us.
"I wouldn't be so smug, Nathaniel," Kaya quipped. "Imprinting will hit you like a Mack truck before you can even understand what happened."
She didn't say it from a place of bitterness. The 'love triangle' between Ephraim, Kaya, and Martha Young wasn't as scandalous as it was written to be. Kaya and Ephraim had a huge blowout while he was trying to understand what had happened and why he couldn't stop thinking about Martha. It left Kaya heartbroken and she would often sit in this very house—unfinished, at the time—and write in her journal for hours. And then, when she phased, and they started spending time together again, they started technically having an affair, but Martha had already decided that she wasn't interested in being tied down to a man.
What no one knew was that Kaya and Martha ended up being incredible friends. Martha came out to the house to see Kaya and they had a heart to heart right within these walls. She said Ephraim tried to deny his feelings for Kaya for so long that it was starting to hurt him even more than denying the imprint. So they became this fully functional co-family. That was, of course, before they tried to bury Kaya's existence as an Alpha because they didn't want it to seem like Ephraim Black was living two lives with two women. They didn't want for the Black family to seem anything less than perfect. Mom and Bebe worked really hard to include her back into the history because she really is a legend.
"So since you're only here for 24 hours, I guess we need to get started," Dad said.
"Mmm…" Kaya mused for a bit. "I mean, you're right…"
"But…?" Mom prompted, bemusing.
"Would it be the worst thing in the world to just spend time with you and watch the Britney Spears documentary? #BritneyisFree," she shrugged.
"Kaya—," Mom sighed.
"No, it's alright, Lee," Dad interrupted, placing his hand on the small of Mom's back.. "I'm going to take the boys home so they can get some rest. We can pick up in the morning?"
"Jacob, you sure?" Mom asked. He nodded before giving her a quick gentle kiss.
"Why don't we all just sleep here tonight?" Wyatt suggested, looking around at everyone before his eyes landed on me.
Dad shook his head, "You know how your mom's voice gets really high pitched when she's upset?" he asked. Wyatt nodded cautiously. "Yeah, let's avoid that. Come on, guys."
Instead of kissing me good night, Wyatt sent me a wave of love as he and Nate were escorted out of the house. Then it was just the three of us. Honestly, I never thought I would see the day when I would get to be in the room with the two strongest women in our history. Kaya beamed at us before asking, "Should we listen to the whole Blackout album before the doc? It's my favorite. What's yours?"
XXXXXXXXX
I had that dream again. The one where I was standing in the middle, Wyatt and Nate on one side and Travis on the other. When I looked down between my feet, the ground was splitting right down the middle. But then I'd wake up and I was still confused whether I was supposed to pick between them or…something else.
And when I woke up, Kaya was flirting around the house without a care in the world. She gave me a very knowing look before smiling brightly at me and saying, "Good morning, little wolf!"
Mama said last night that sometimes it was best to just go along with Kaya's whims. She wanted to do yoga this morning on the back porch so we did. She wanted to get pastries from Emily's bakery because she was jealous at how good it looked from up there so we went. She wanted to meet Grandpa Billy's new girlfriend so we drove over to their little red house.
It's what I always imagined your fun, out-of-town aunt blew in to visit. You know, kind of like you see on tv. I've never had that; I don't know if this will sound weird, but it feels like I never really get a chance to miss people. Everyone's right here. And I love that, I really do. I think it was just nice to have someone new around. Well, new-ish…new, but old…you know what I mean.
And then while we were driving, Kaya very casually said from the passenger seat, "Where's the little house where those outsider cuties live?"
Her energy was always so serene, it was a direct contrast with her calculating brain. Kaya was consistently unsuspecting; there was no way to know when she was doing something because she wanted to or because it was part of her next step.
"They're at the end of the road," I answered from the backseat.
"We should pop in for a visit," she said simply.
Mom glanced over at Kaya and shook her head, a little tickled at the familiarity of Kaya's antics. "What's the play, Kaya?" she asked.
"No play," Kaya shrugged. "I just want to say hi before we go home."
Mom mumbled a small 'alright' before taking a left to ride all the way down the main road. When we pulled up to the house, Kaya grabbed the box of pastries we'd just picked up and bounced happily out of the truck. She straightened her dress before running quick fingers through her hair to make sure everything was in place.
I climbed out, walking behind her next to Mom. When Kaya knocked on the door, I watched her shake out what looked like nerves before it swung open. A cigarette was hanging from Reese's lips as she came into view. Her normally raven hair had been growing longer as evident to how large the bun on top of her head was, showing strawberry blonde roots. There were dark circles under her eyes and her favorite flannel was open, hanging off of her shoulder and exposing her black sports bra under it. "Umm, hi," she said, her voice lifting at the end.
"Hi Reese!" Kaya beamed. Reese's eyebrows flew up in confusion. "Don't worry, you don't know me. I'm Kaya," she held out her hand.
Reese tentatively took it to shake as she stole a glance at me. "Nice to meet you?"
"It's so nice to meet you too!" Kaya said before holding out the pastry box. "We brought you breakfast. Is your brother here?"
Reese still looked lost as she took the box with one hand and removed her cigarette from her mouth with the other. "Trav!" she called in the house.
Travis' footsteps were strong as he came from the back of the house. He finished pulling his t shirt over his chest as he came to stand at the door. Travis met my eye and smiled before greeting me and my mother. Then he happily introduced himself to Kaya. "Hi, I'm Travis," he grinned genuinely.
"I know! It's so nice to finally meet you both in person."
"…In person…?" Travis smile faltered a little as he looked closer at her face. She winked at him, mysteriously.
"Kaya, don't scare them," Mom muttered under her breath.
"Oh, Leah, please, I haven't completely forgotten how to talk to people," Kaya scolded teasingly. "I just wanted to bring you both breakfast and invite you to a little gathering this evening."
Mom and I both whipped our heads to look at Kaya. This was the first we're hearing about a 'gathering.'
"I think I may be able to answer some of those questions you've been holding onto," Kaya continued softly. "No pressure though, of course. I just won't be around long and wanted to extend the invitation while I could."
"What does that me…?" Reese started to ask.
"We'd love to," Travis talked over her.
Kaya bounced on the balls of her feet and clapped her hands, "Amazing! Meet us at the house in the woods at 7 sharp. Bring an open mind and positive energy." Kaya twirled around and headed back to the truck without another word.
I offered them a small smile as the confusion set on their faces. "She means that literally, by the way," I added. "The positive energy thing. She's very serious about keeping the good vibes, you know?"
"No…" Reese shook her head with her eyebrows drawn together.
"Don't worry about it, you guys," Mom chimed in. "I know it's been strange since what happened with Matthew. I'm so sorry about that. But Kaya's here to give us some much needed answers to everything strange that's been happening around here. Does that sound alright?"
Travis and Reese glanced at each other apprehensively, Reese more than Travis. "That sounds fine," he nodded. "Thank you for everything, Leah."
"No problem, guys," Mom half-smiled. "See you tonight."
Mama put an arm around me as we walked back to the truck. I leaned into her as she kissed the top of my head. "Is this what it felt like last time?" I asked her.
"Completely chaotic?" she questioned. I nodded. "Yup."
"Good to know, I guess," I muttered before hopping into the truck behind Kaya. She was quiet in the front seat. It was strange because I trusted her, but I feel like, even with everything I knew about her, I still didn't know anything about her.
XXXXXXXXX
"Dad and the boys are on their way," I told Mom and Kaya as I brought down the supplies she asked for from the meditation room. "Is this everything?"
Kaya checked everything as she hummed to herself. "Yes, thank you so much, little wolf," she smiled at me before turning to Mom. "Leah, honey, can you grab a fresh sage stick for me please?"
"Sure," Mom said before going upstairs. I think she knew that Kaya wanted to speak to me one on one before we started to dive into what was happening. I couldn't help but notice the sly look Mom gave me before she disappeared up the stairs.
"Come sit, little miss," Kaya said from the living room. I didn't even realize she'd left the kitchen. She invited me to sit on the floor in front of her, a hair brush on her hand. I knew she wasn't asking me, she was telling me. But it wasn't intrusive. It was inviting. Like her maternal vibrations made me sit down on the floor and let her brush my hair like I used to do with my mom when I was five.
She was singing an old Quileute lullaby in a really low, gentle voice. Her hands were so soft as she swiped the baby hairs away from my face. She didn't even skip a beat when the brush caught onto some tangles. "I know today has been a lot," she started. "Actually, this whole week has been a lot for you, huh?"
God, had it only been a week? "A bit…" I answered.
"Are you having the nightmares?" Kaya asked.
The image of me standing between Travis and Wyatt and Nate was immediate in my head like the flash on a camera.
"Not that one," Kaya said. "The other one."
I should have known I wouldn't have been able to hide the other bad dream I had been having. They were always back to back. The cracking middle ground…and Matthew. His insane, feral eyes looking up at me. His aggressively strong hands clawing at my legs as I tried to get away. I never mentioned it because it was black and white what it meant. I would deal with it on my own time. In my own way.
"You know…" Kaya said as she started to braid my hair, "you don't have to deal with it by yourself, Hadley."
"I just don't want anyone to worry," I told her.
"You were knocked out and kidnapped, little one. No one expects you to bounce back from it in a day."
I pursed my lips as I tried to force away Matthew's eyes from my head. I hated it. I hated the way it made me feel.
"You're afraid he'll come back to kill you," Kaya stated. Not asked. Stated. I nodded. "Trust me, little one, he will never come within a howl's distance of this place ever again."
"How do you know that for sure?" I asked quietly. "What if he catches me while I'm on patrol? Or when I'm by myself in Forks? While I'm driving?"
She laughed to herself a little bit. "It's really incredible how you're so aware and unaware of your own strength at the same time."
Looking up at her, I said, "I don't know what you mean."
Her brown eyes softened as she slowed her braiding hands. "Hadley bug, do you really think you wouldn't have been able to get out of those chains on your own?"
"I had to regain my energy," I reminded her. "You saw me. I was weak."
"Only in your mentality, little wolf," she tapped her finger to my head. "You could have taken out those chains and the bars and the bunker door without breaking a sweat if you really wanted to. What you did was give yourself a mental block and that's what made you weak."
I grew frustrated at her words and moved from under her hands. "What are you saying to me?"
Kaya slid off of the couch until she was eye to eye with me. "I'm saying you didn't need me or Wyatt or your parents or Travis to help you that night. Your confidence came from knowing you had someone coming to help you. I'm trying to get you to understand that you, Hadley, have enough strength to fight off anyone's strongest soldier. You've done it before."
She took my face in her hands and looked into my eyes. My heart was beating in my chest. I knew what she wanted to show me…I just wasn't sure I wanted to see it. "It's ok," she whispered.
It was overwhelming to see. A 6 year old girl wandering into a clearing, a little too far from her parents. A little too close to the treaty line. The vampire with the blood red eyes and torn button down shirt lurking in the trees. She knew the threat almost immediately and it upset her. She could feel the wolf pacing inside her as he came closer. He told her she was pretty in that menacing, grating voice all vampires had. He asked for her name, where she was from. Who her parents were. She didn't say anything to him; she was just called for her mama. When he lunged at her, she phased in a second, shredding the overalls she had begged to wear earlier that day.
The little girl went for his throat first, pure instinct. She thrashed and clawed and snapped at any and every part of his body as he tried to grab hold of her. She was terrified when she felt him wrap an arm around her body. But she was fierce as she tore away a forearm, an ear, a hand. One knee. The other. When he finally fell onto the forest floor, she snapped wildly at his throat right as her mother broke into the clearing. The little girl phased back as soon as she saw her mom and threw herself in her arms and cried out of fear.
The fierce growl of a wolf came from their other side as the girl's dad came onto the scene to finish off the flailing vampire whose head was barely hanging on. The girl's mother buried the girl's face in her chest, attempting to cover her eyes and ears as her father completed the job.
The girl's tears were just as furious and fearful as mine were as Kaya finished showing me the scene. I'd always remembered it differently. For years, I believed that my father had run him off as he had dozens of others over the years. Then, when I got older, I came to terms that he probably did kill the nomad. But I had no memory of me attacking him that day. How had I misremembered so terribly?
"Because you've been so fiercely protected your whole life," Kaya explained. "They've kept you out of the action for your safety."
"She's right," I heard Dad's voice from the door. Mom and Dad were standing a few feet apart, quietly watching. They came into the living room and sat with us on the floor. Dad reached up and wiped my tears away. "We kept you away for so long for your protection inside and out. We knew that if you kept handling your own attacks, more and more vampires would come for you and we couldn't let that happen."
Mom nodded in agreement. "When we saw you that day, we made the decision that we didn't want to involve you in something so violent. It wears on you, mentally, emotionally. No 17-year-old should have a kill count. We didn't want that for you."
I was reeling. "Am I a monster?" I choked out.
"No, baby," Mom shook her head as she took my hands. "Never that."
"You are the creation of true love and leadership," Kaya said with a smile. "These two went through hell and high water and you are the product of their perseverance."
"We've only loved you more everyday," Dad said. "Your heart, your brain, everything about you, bug."
"Your dad and I don't regret our decision," Mom finished. "We needed to give you a chance to be a kid."
"This isn't meant to scare you, little wolf. It's to open your eyes," Kaya said. "Because we have a lot of ground to cover."
Mama pulled me into a hug as my entire body tensed and I struggled to speak. As shocked as I was to see with my own eyes that I was capable of such violence—such carnage—before I even knew what it meant, I was thanking everything above that my parents made that choice for me. Who would I be if they hadn't? How different would life be? "Thank you…" I whispered as I buried my face in my mother's hair.
"So now," Kaya spoke, "you have the power to really harness your strength before the Volturi come, before you have to be out in the real supernatural world where people know your name. And you've got a great team in those boys." And I think your little idea is incredible, she projected to me privately, Revolutionary even.
When we brought the boys in from outside, I could tell they were worried. Wyatt's face was couldn't even hide the concern nor could he mask how it radiated off of him. "Oh good!" Kaya gasped. "Everyone's here!"
She spread out all of the materials I brought down for her. A metal tray, one of the old texts, a dagger, and a few crystals. She just told me to grab the sky blue one, the purple one, and the brown one. I learned later that it was chalcedony, amethyst, and smoky topaz. They encourage unity, protection, and balance respectively. We all watched as Kaya lit a fresh sage stick and waved it around. She pointed the smoke in all of the dark corners of the room. Kaya dimmed the lights, lit some candles, and stood at the head of the table.
Wyatt came to stand next to me and draped his arm over my shoulder. I leaned into him instinctively. You could never be a monster, he said to me.
"Alright, everyone, deep breath in," Kaya said as she inhaled through her nose. We all followed suit. "And deep breath out…"
"So what's all this for?" Nate said, touching one of the crystals.
"Great question, Nathaniel," she started. "I wanted to be able to give you guys a visual representation of what's going on with Hadley and Wyatt. Eph and I thought it was time for them to see the incident and reflect. They didn't do anything wrong, but just like almost everything else around here, it's just a little complicated.
"So you all know there's two types of Bonds. The blood Bond and the mating Bond. Ephraim and I did a blood Bond; Leah and Jacob did a mating Bond so that they could have the beautiful little babies that they brought into the world. If Eph were here right now, I would be able to show you how our blood is connected. But since I can't…" Kaya reached for Mom and Dad, "do you guys mind?"
Mama held her hand out first as Kaya grabbed the dagger beside her. "Ouch…" Mom whispered as Kaya made a small cut in the center of her palm. She did the same to Dad and we watched as small droplets of blood dropped onto the metal plate. They swirled around each other, keeping close proximity, but never touching.
"As you can see, Leah and Jacob's blood has never touched and never will touch. Their Bond is shown through Leah's mark. An Alpha male claiming his female. If I were to do the same with Hadley and Wyatt's blood," she paused as she reached for both of us. She cut right in the middle of each of our scars and we all watched as the drops hit the metal tray. Just like Mom and Dad's, they swirled around each other before they came together to touch. "See how they're touching, but not mixed? That is the indication that the Bond process has been started…incorrectly."
"So they're not Bonded," Nate concluded.
"They are…" Kaya searched for the word, "connected, not Bonded. Until a Bond is completed, they can continue to enhance each other's magic, but it'll be limited."
"Ok…that doesn't sound so bad," Mom said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It makes sense now, actually, how they've been able to master those advanced tricks."
"And why, when they were fighting, there was a rift in the weather," Kaya explained. "The lightning hitting in the same place only went away when they made up. Hadley is incredibly connected to our grounds and Wyatt is connected to her, so until a Bond is formed, they'll need to be extra careful now that Wyatt is Alpha. Too many unusual things will attract unwanted attention. The circumstances are incredibly sensitive now."
"You keep saying a Bond, not their Bond," Dad pointed out.
"Yes," Kaya smiled softly, mysteriously.
"So, theoretically, they don't have to Bond with each other?" Nate asked cautiously. "They still have a choice."
"Yes," she confirmed. But her eyes lingered on him for a second too long. "Any other questions?"
Wyatt raised his hand like he was in school.
"Wyatt, sweetie, you don't have to raise your hand," Kaya reminded him, laughing.
His arm fell as his face flushed. "Oh right," he chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I'm just wondering…is all of this why we're so close? Is this why we love each other?
I blinked in shock at his question. It was valid; I just had no idea he would ask it. "No, honey," she answered. "That chemistry is so pure, there's no amount of magic that can recreate it."
Wyatt sighed in relief and his body unclenched. I wrapped an arm around his waist and rested my face on his chest. I never had any doubt that what we had was real. But to hear someone actually say it, it made it even more solid. We've put in so much work, so much time. We also wasted so much time. It was worth it. He was worth it.
"Is anyone else hungry? I am starving. We should make some food before our guests get here." And just like that, Kaya was off to the next thing. How did she do that?
XXXXXXXXX
Wyatt was sitting out on the back porch when I found him. His feet were propped up on the railing and his face was grave serious. "Hey," I said as I walked through the door, "I thought I'd find you out here."
He turned to look at me and his face softened a little. He held his arm out. "Sit with me," he said. I sat in his lap before kissing him on the cheek. "How are you feeling after all this?" he asked.
I let out a big sigh. "Overwhelmed," I answered, "but relieved. I feel like I finally don't have 100 questions in my head for the first time in a long time."
Wyatt rested his hand on my thigh. "Really? I feel like I have more questions now than answers…"
My brows drew together in concern. "About…us?"
"No," he answered quickly. "Not about us, baby. Just about this whole Alpha thing."
"Ah," I nodded as I started to run my fingers through his hair.
"I just want to do a good job, Ace," he told me.
"You will."
"What if I don't?" Wyatt pressed.
"Then we work on it," I said simply, shrugging my shoulders. "I won't let you fall on your face, just like you've never let me fall on mine."
He was quiet for a second as he looked out at the stars. "Do you think we should Bond?" he asked suddenly.
I breathed a shocked laugh, "Straight to the point, huh?"
"No, seriously," he said, meeting my eye.
I bit my lip to temper my words. "I think it's a bigger conversation than just a yes or no question."
He sighed, "Ok, I can agree with that."
Just across the way, Reese and Travis were making their way to the house. They both looked apprehensive, but really curious about what they were doing here. "And that's our cue…" I said, standing up. I held out my hand for him to take. I leaned up and gave him a really soft kiss. "I will say this though: you don't have anything to worry about. You're already a great Alpha, I promise. Bonding is just another step to being even greater."
"We'll see, I guess…"
"'I guess?'" I repeated with a smirk. "That doesn't sound very confident. Especially considering I already have a plan in the works."
"What kind of plan?"
"Don't worry about it," I grinned. "Just know it's a goddamn game changer."