“Stop yelling at him,” Vander growled, rushing to his mate’s side. “It’s okay, pup. It was an accident.”
“I’m sorry!”
Kol sent another glare Remi’s way. “Don’t worry about it. Remi breaks shit all the time.”
“What have I broken?”
“My sanity.”
Things only continued to spiral from there. Remi yelled at Kol. Vander yelled at Remi. Fritz started crying.
And Ruger silently prayed to be struck by lightning. He dropped his head, unable to even look at Luka for fear of what he might see in his expression.
“I am so sorry.”
Technically, he really had started it. In his defense, he had only been trying to diffuse the tension and lighten the mood. He never expected for things to go sideways so fast.
Then Luka started to laugh.
It was quiet at first, a little shaky from disuse, but it quickly grew in strength and volume. A snort, a chuckle, until he finallytossed his head back and laughed right from his belly, the deep baritone ringing throughout the kitchen.
Ruger snapped his head up, stunned into inaction for a full minute before he started to laugh as well. Remi followed next, then Kol joined in, and soon, they were all falling against each other, guffawing like a bunch of idiots.
“Sorry about that. Everyone was really nervous about meeting you, and I think it boiled over a little.” Striding up to them, Remi wiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye as he shoved his other hand toward Luka. “Welcome to the family.”
“Family?”Luka asked through their bond.
He couldn’t have pried the smile from his face if he’d tried.“Of course. They’re your family as much as mine.”
Sobering, Luka accepted Remi’s hand, gripping it much less rigidly than he had with Kol. “I accept.”
“I, uh…” After a brief struggle, Remi simply shrugged. “Cool.”
“Cool,” Luka repeated, though he clearly had no understanding of what it meant.
“So, are we running or not?” Vander asked, his gaze going toward the patio door. “It’s a good night for it.”
Ruger winced. They had agreed to give it one hour, and as much as he wanted to join them, he wouldn’t break that promise for anything in the world. Even Kol and Fritz would be staying behind, it wouldn’t be fair to leave Luka with a couple of strangers in an unfamiliar place.
“Go on,taavi.I will wait.”
Gods, it was so tempting. On the other hand, maybe he didn’t have to choose.
“You could come with us.”He might not be able to keep up with a pair of cheetahs and a wolf on foot, but he could fly.“When’s the last time you really stretched your wings?”
“Would you like that?”
“Yes,”he admitted.“Come play with me in the moonlight.”
Luka brushed his knuckles along the curve of Ruger’s jaw and smiled.“Okay.”
After the other males said goodbye to their mates, they all gathered on the back deck and stripped out of their clothes, leaving them in untidy piles on the ground. Luka undressed to his boxer briefs, but stopped there, and while he likely did it for practical purposes, Ruger couldn’t help but feel a measure of relief.
As a shifter, he didn’t have hangups about things like modesty, but he also didn’t relish the idea of the entire town seeing his mate’s dick.
“Whoa,” Remi said when Luka unfurled his leathery wings. “Badass.”
“It’s a compliment,”he translated.“It means he thinks your wings are impressive.”
