by R. E. Butler
“I guess she’s a little psychic, then.”
“Yeah. At least I don’t have to start teaching right away, so I can take time to get to know them.”
“We’d love to video chat with you all. Maybe tonight after dinner?”
“Sure. Thanks for letting me make my own choices. You didn’t give me a hard time about moving to Ashland.”
“We’d never want to stand in the way of your happiness.”
“I know. I gotta go – Treasure’s trying to talk the guys into leaving so she and I can catch up, but they’re insisting they’re not going anywhere.”
“Treasure’s a wonderful best friend. I’m so glad you two found each other.”
“Me too. Talk to you later.”
“Love you, honey.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
“That sounds good,” Ben said as Hope walked back into the room.
“What does?” Hope asked.
“Us taking off,” Owen said.
“Oh. I thought you might stay,” Hope said, chewing her bottom lip.
The three shared a quiet look, and then Owen said, “No, sweetness. You’ve had a long day and Treasure’s been looking forward to you being here for ages. You’re utterly tempting, so please don’t take this as us not wanting to spend time with you.”
She appreciated that they were willing to give her some space, even though she would have been happy to spend more time with them. “When can I see you again?”
“How about breakfast at the boarding house?” Ben asked, hooking a finger through her belt loop.
“I’d love that.”
“Hey, we’ve got the rest of our lives, right?” Nathan said, giving her a warm smile.
“Absolutely.”
Ben gave her hand a squeeze. “You should rest and enjoy your time with Treasure.”
“Okay,” she said.
Treasure left them alone, and Hope stepped into their embrace, all three putting their hands on hers and drawing her close. Her cat was doing cartwheels in her head. After a few stolen kisses, they trooped down to the kitchen.
“We’re going to head home,” Nathan said, kissing Lisa on the cheek.
“You can stay for dinner,” Lisa offered. “We set your places.”
“Treasure will bring Hope by in the morning. We want her to relax after her long drive,” Owen told her.
“I’ll walk you out,” Hope said.
On the porch, she stood in their embrace once more, enjoying how it felt to be surrounded by them. “I really don’t want you to go.”
Owen cupped her face and kissed her tenderly. “We’ve got all the time in the world. We don’t want to go either, but you should rest up from your drive and then we’ll enjoy getting to know each other tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
She kissed each one in turn, her cat purring and rolling around in her mind. She waved as they left, and then walked into the house. Her cat made a mournful sound, urging her to shift and go running after them, but she shushed the creature and shook her head with a smile.
We’ll see them tomorrow. The time will fly, she promised.
As she sat next to Treasure, she said, “It’s something, isn’t it?”
“That we’re going to be related by marriage? It sure is. We’ll be cousins for real.”
“And sisters and besties,” Hope said. “I can’t believe after all this time that my mates were actually here and I had no clue. Next time you get a prophetic feeling about me, feel free to give me a heads-up.”
“I’m not making any promises,” Treasure said.
After dinner, she and Treasure offered to clean the kitchen while Lisa and Rhett hustled off to the family room to watch their favorite antiques show. When the kitchen was clean, Treasure and Hope walked to the farmhouse for a tour, and Hope texted her mom that she wanted to push the video chat off to another night so she could relax after her trip.
“It’s awesome,” Hope said after the tour. She handed Treasure a large gift bag. “It’s a combination bridal shower and housewarming gift.”
Treasure unpacked the bag, finding a soft blanket for the couch, dragon-shaped salt and pepper shakers, an ivory chemise, and a rose-scented candle with dried flowers, glitter, and crystals on the surface. She held up the chemise, which had a low-cut back and was simple but sexy.
“I love it. Thank you!” She hugged Hope. “You’re the best. The boys will love this especially.”
“I wish I could have gotten here in time for the shower. From all the photos, it looks like you had a great time and got lots of good things.”
Treasure shook out the blanket and then folded it over the couch. “We’re pretty much ready to move into the house after our ceremony. We got nearly everything we needed from the pride. There are a few small things we still want to pick up, but aside from stocking the fridge, we’ll be ready to stay in the house for a week and not do anything but enjoy each other.”
Hope nodded. “I guess I should think about where I’m going to live.”
“Rhett and Lisa said you could stay as long as you wanted.”
“I know, but you’re only going to be there two more weeks. I’m not sure I want to live in the boarding house, but I would like to be close to my mates.”
“In my dream, I saw you in a house that didn’t look familiar. Maybe when you talk to your mates, they’ll have an idea of a place to live. Are you thinking it would be kind of hard for four of you to share one bedroom in the boarding house?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “But I have the next two weeks to figure things out. Once you’re out of the house, I don’t think I’ll want to stay here. But enough about me. I seem to recall you had an idea about the mountain lion females’ curse. You were being cagey, though.”
Treasure gestured to the couch, and the two sat down. “I think I know how to contact the goddess who cursed your people.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I think so, anyway. You and I talked a while ago about what you found in the school library.”
Hope had found some books about gods and goddesses, but after talking to the librarian, she’d learned that while this realm had the deities’ history, the curses cast by them, as well as their antidotes, were known only to the fae realm.
“I’m pretty certain that my father had a spell-casting book related to the gods and goddesses, which we can use to contact the goddess and ask her to lift the curse.”
Hope narrowed her eyes. “How certain?”
“Like eighty-five percent.”
“I’d feel better if you were a hundred percent sure. But didn’t you say it was too dangerous for you to go to the fae realm because you’re a hybrid?”
Because Treasure was a dragonfae, her parents had kept her secluded all her life. But somehow their secret had been discovered, and her parents died protecting her from the fairies who’d come after her. She was transported to her aunt’s home through a portal from the fae realm to this one, and the fairies found her there, too. If it hadn’t been for a mountain lion female named Jilly, her twin black panther mates, and their uncle, who had known Treasure’s Aunt Georgette for a long time, they wouldn’t have been there to save Treasure’s life. Unfortunately, her aunt had died in the battle. Treasure was adopted by Rhett and Lisa. And now, years later, she was two weeks away from being mated and married to Brian and Kevin Fallon, who happened to be cousins to Hope’s new mates.
Life was sure strange sometimes.
“I can do a protection spell for us, so we can get into the realm, and my parents’ home, undetected,” Treasure said.
“Is the house still there? What if someone bought it?”
She laughed. “There isn’t a housing market in the fae realm. The house belongs to the family line. If there are no family members left, the house is abandoned. Plus, our home was outside of the city, so no one bothered us. It would still be there, just empty. I can open a portal in the backyard of the house, and we can make sure it’s safe before we enter
the realm. Then we can go to the library and copy what we need.”
“We can’t take the books with us?”
“Nope. Books related to curses have to remain in the fae realm.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Crazy realm rules?”
“I have a feeling that this is dangerous for you, but you’re not going to take no for an answer.”
“You’re right. Come with me and help. I swear I’ll be able to keep us both safe. But we have to keep it a secret. From everyone, including both of our mates.”
“Sure,” Hope said with a snort. “Starting off a mating with a secret is a perfectly good way to get the ball rolling toward a lifetime of happiness.”
“You can tell them after we get back. I can’t cast a spell big enough for all of us to go and keep us hidden. Just you and me.”
“All right. When?”
“Tomorrow night. After Rhett and Lisa go to bed, we’ll sneak out.”
“Swear we’ll both be safe?”
“I swear.”
“Okay.”
She said goodnight to her bestie, took a quick shower, and climbed into bed. Before she fell asleep, she sent a goodnight text to her mom, and one to each of her new mates. Everyone replied instantly, which made her smile. She turned off the little lamp on the nightstand and drifted swiftly off to sleep, thoughts of what the dawn would bring on her mind.
Chapter Two
Owen had a difficult time driving away from Rhett’s house. His cat was yowling demands to return to their beautiful mate and never leave her side, but he’d seen the conflict in Hope’s eyes and hadn’t wanted her to feel like she had to choose between her best friend and them. In a dozen hours she’d be with them, and that was enough to soothe his cat. At least some.
Ben blew out a breath. “It’s the craziest thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “Who’d have guessed that a trip to Rhett’s to talk about lawnmower repair would end with us finding our truemate.”
“We’re damn lucky,” Owen said.
“I wish we could take tomorrow off,” Ben said. “I’d love to spend the whole day with her.”
The brothers owned a landscaping company in Ashland called ONB Landscape Design. Summers were always busy, and aside from the weekly lawn mowing they did for clients, they were also in the middle of a large backyard remodel that included a patio and an outdoor kitchen with a wood-burning pizza oven.
“Maybe she’ll want to hang out with us while we’re working,” Nathan said.
“I just want to make sure we’re not overwhelming her,” Owen said. “She knows we’re her mates, but I’m guessing she didn’t expect to have three of them. That would take getting used to, even for someone who expected to have a polyamorous mating.”
His brothers made noises of agreement. In the past, they’d dated both humans and shifters, but the moment the topic of a multiple mating was brought up, the females always hit the road. He’d hoped that whoever their truemate was would be happy to be adored by three males who would do anything for her.
Hope was gorgeous: long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a sweet smile that gave her dimples. She was nearly a foot shorter than him, and he was the tallest of his brothers. His cat was ready to claim her, and he could admit that he’d never been so wholly attracted to a female in his entire life. He’d wanted to lock the bedroom door and explore every inch of her, then claim her as theirs forever.
“I think you’re right,” Ben said. “She wanted us to stay, but it was clear that she felt torn about spending time with Treasure. Morning can’t come fast enough, though.”
“We should take her out on a date tomorrow,” Nathan said.
“Good idea,” Owen said. “Where?”
“What about Milan’s?” Ben said.
Milan’s was a family-style Italian restaurant about a half hour from Ashland. Their parents – Grant, Aaron, and Samantha – had taken them there for a celebratory dinner when they’d landed their first client.
“That sounds perfect,” Nathan said. “I’ll make a reservation for seven.”
Owen smiled as he pulled to a stop in front of the boarding house they called home. He and Nathan were the planners; they liked things orderly, not spontaneous. Unlike Ben, who would most likely just hop in the truck and drive until he saw something interesting.
Inside the house, they found their parents watching TV in the large family room and shared the news of finding Hope.
“That’s wonderful!” Sam said, rising to her feet and hugging and kissing all of them. She’d come into their lives when they were quite young, and had mated their father, Aaron, and their Uncle Grant. Although she was technically their stepmom and Grant was their stepdad, the pride didn’t believe in using the word ‘step,’ so they were simply Mom and Dad. And Dad.
“Congratulations,” Aaron said, hugging them. Grant joined them and expressed his happiness.
“Hope is such a sweetheart,” Sam said. “I’m surprised she didn’t come home with you.”
Nathan explained that they hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her the first night in town. “We’re planning a date at Milan’s tomorrow.”
“Oooh, fancy,” Aaron said. “I’m sure she’ll adore it.”
“She’s coming over for breakfast, too,” Owen said.
“Do you know what she likes?” Sam asked. “I can make something special.”
“No clue,” Nathan said.
“Then I’ll make a variety of things, so she has lots to choose from.”
“We’ll help,” Ben offered.
“Then be in the kitchen at six.”
They said goodnight to their parents and headed up to the third floor, where they shared one of the biggest rooms on the floor. Each of them had a twin bed, and they shared a large dresser and walk-in closet between them. The bathroom across the hall was also used by their cousins. The boarding house was home to the majority of the pride. Only Rhett and Lisa, Callie and her family, and Cris and her family lived away from the boarding house. Once Treasure and her mates were married, the guys would move into the house they’d built on Rhett and Lisa’s farm.
He settled in bed and opened an app to watch a TV show for a bit, grabbing his wireless earbuds from the nightstand. “Should we ask Hope to move in here with us?”
“I’d like to,” Ben said. “But we’re trying not to rush into things.”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “I think we should offer her the option, but let’s face it – the room isn’t really big enough for the three of us, let alone adding her. Not to mention the bathroom situation.”
Owen hummed. “What if after breakfast tomorrow we go for a walk in the woods and we talk about mating, marriage, and living arrangements. I think we should let her lead how we progress physically in our relationship. We know she’s ours; that’s enough for now.”
“Agreed,” Ben said.
“Can you believe it? We finally found her,” Nathan said.
“I feel like I’m dreaming, but I’m so glad we’re not,” Ben said.
Owen agreed a hundred percent.
* * *
By the time Hope texted to say she was on the way, Owen and his brothers had helped Sam and Tristan, one of the males in the house, to create an amazing breakfast full of everything they could think to add to the table. All of their favorites were there: his tropical fruit salad with fresh mangoes, Nathan’s raspberry cream cheese muffins, and Ben’s spinach quiche. Sam and Tristan had been in charge of breakfast for the pride for years, and they were always willing to make requests for special occasions or cravings.
Owen’s stomach was in knots, and he knew he wouldn’t feel right until he saw her again. He hadn’t slept well, either; his thoughts kept drifting time and again to her.
Thanks to his shifter genes, his excellent hearing alerted him to the sound of several vehicles pulling into the drive. He and his brothers headed to the front door and stood in the doorway, watching as Hope got out of Rhett a
nd Lisa’s truck, followed by Treasure and her mates getting out of their vehicle.
“Good morning,” Owen said, striding off the porch and smiling at his aunt and uncle as he hugged Hope. He settled his face in the crux of her neck and inhaled her sweet scent.
She giggled softly and hugged him back. “Hi, Owen.”
“Missed you,” he said, leaning away and giving her a light kiss. “Did you sleep well?”
He stepped aside so his brothers could greet her.
“Not really.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “I missed you guys.”
He wanted to ask her to move into their room immediately so that none of them would ever suffer nights full of longing, but he stifled the urge and led her into the house. She said hello to everyone, and he was happy to see so many members of the pride there to welcome her to town.
His uncle James, who was the unofficial leader of the pride, pulled him and his brothers aside while Hope was talking to Sam and several of the females. “I understand congratulations are in order.”
“We talked to her for a while last night,” Nathan said, “but we didn’t want to overwhelm her.”
James smiled. “John and I took our time with Rue, too. There’s nothing wrong with taking things slow. You’re all young, which means there’s plenty of time.”
Owen nodded.
They joined Hope and said hi to the females. “I saw the patio you guys are doing,” Callie said. “It’s gorgeous.”
“We could do that for you,” Ben said.
“That would make a really nice surprise for a certain wife and mother,” she said with a grin, raising her voice so her mates – Ethan and Eryx – would hear.
“What now?” Ethan asked, joining them.
“Getting our patio redone like the one the boys are doing.”
“Ours could definitely use some sprucing up,” Ethan said.
“Anytime,” Owen promised.
Sam and Tristan called everyone to the large kitchen table. Another table was set up in the enclosed patio off the kitchen, and the younger kids filled their plates and traipsed off into the family room to watch cartoons. Owen pulled out Hope’s chair and pushed her in gently, then took a seat next to her. Nathan sat on her other side, with Ben next to him.