Adrianna doesn't have to power to see into Marcus' emotional state, but she does have the soul of a mother. A grandmother. She strokes her thumb along his knuckles, as she would tenderly over old scars. Remembered pain, and valuable lessons.

"Fair enough," she says, and releases him. "You make yourselves comfortable, I'll get the lemonade."

A few minutes later has them seated in the deep, soft leather of the couch, heavy and squishy and nearly impossible to get up from, with Adrianna curled up against the arm of it.

"Jude's told me a little bit about how things are where you came from," she says, and her eyes are steady, but full. "And I can't pretend I know everything, but it sounds like there are some similarities with shifter history. Ask what you like; we don't have many secrets."