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"Bunny Muncher, it's been too long!"
Valeria, who had been flipping through a shopping catalog, paused as Jared sauntered over from their side of the treaty line.
"You saw me, like, two days ago," she pointed out, laughing a little.
"Yes, but according to Sam's inner monologue, that's basically two year — oof!"
Jared was cut off as Sam came out of the trees and hit him on the back of his head while glaring at him. Then Sam cleared his throat a bit awkwardly before smiling at Valeria, who returned it.
"Valeria," he greeted simply.
"Hi, Sam," she said almost shyly. He always made her feel shy, whether others were around or not. "You guys on patrol or are you just stopping by?"
"No patrol," Jared told her. "Like always, Sam just wants to see you."
She would've blushed if she could've, but Valeria tried not to focus on the teasing comment. "Oh, does that mean you don't want to see me, Jared? Guess that means you don't want any of the cookies I brought just in case I ran into any of you."
Jared's smirk immediately dropped, and Sam got one of his own. "W - what kind of cookies are we talking about? Chocolate chip? Peanut butter?"
Valeria sighed and looked back down at her magazine. "I mean, who knows. They could even be white chocolate macadamia nut — your favorite — but I guess we'll never know."
"You're cruel, Bunny Muncher," he said, shaking his head. "I always knew you had a dark side."
"Ah yes, the cookie-withholding side and not the bloodsucking monster side."
Valeria looked up as another shifter joined them, having been the one to make a sarcastic comment. Right away, Valeria knew who it was because she was a girl — the only girl in the pack. Her hair was cut short and was dressed simply in a sports bra and a pair of athletic shorts.
"Watch it, Leah," Sam said, narrowing his eyes at her. He wouldn't stand for her being mean to his girl, especially not to her face.
"My bad," she said, putting her hands up in defense — though clearly, she didn't care about Sam's order. Then she turned to Valeria and simply lifted her chin lightly in a greeting. "You make good apple muffins."
"Thanks. Glad you enjoyed them," Valeria said, smiling. "Seth never said his sister was so pretty. It's nice to meet you, Leah."
Leah tilted her head slightly as she studied Valeria. With her blunt, sometimes rude personality and the fact that none of her pack members were the compliment-giving type, she wasn't used to people telling her she was pretty — more often than not, she was told smiling more would make her prettier.
From the side, Jared scoffed. "How come you never told me I was pretty when we first met?"
"Your mouth was full of chicken and you were spitting it all over the place," Valeria reminded him, chuckling. "Talking with your mouth full isn't something pretty people do."
