We finish our breakfast and clean up, leaving the suite as neat as it must have been prior to the guys’ visit. There are a few personal items lying around, and I assume they belong to one of the dudes we killed, but they won’t be needing them now.
“Let’s go. I’d like to knock on the door of their house. I’m hoping having us in their home might keep them a little off-balance.” Hunter opens the door and leads the way outside, and we cross a clearing, heading in the direction they told us they lived before they left last night.
“Good thinking. She might not be so aggressive in her own space,” Gem suggests, and Liam scoffs.
“Or even more aggressive.”
We knock on their door. It doesn’t take long before a bleary-eyed Johan opens the door and does a double take when he sees us.
“Sorry to wake you,” I say, realizing just how early it is, or maybe they are still recovering from the last couple of weeks. “We need to get moving, and I wanted to iron out a few things with you.”
He rubs his eyes but gestures for us to enter. “I apologize. We planned to meet with you this morning, but I guess we were more tired than we realized.”
He shows us into a comfortable but stylish living area and gestures for us to take a seat. “Just give us a moment, and we will be right with you,” he tells us before hurrying to retrieve the rest of his family and get dressed. I can’t stop myself from eyeing his muscular back as he leaves. Nox’s dads are hot, but then so are Hunter’s and Gryffin’s dads. The slow aging of a shifter makes them look like they are only in their late thirties.
“Are you creeping on your mates’ dads?” Brodie laughs as I wince, feeling my cheeks heat.
“Not really, I was just marveling at how good shifter genes are. I wonder how old they are. Hell, Gryff’s moms and dad are in their sixties but barely look old enough to have kids, let alone ones as old as him and the girls,” I point out, scowling at them when they continue to find amusement in my observations.
Before anyone can make another comment, a gray and white streak of fur flies at me from somewhere. “Agh!” I scream, holding my arms up as it launches itself at me, its claws catching me across the back of one hand.
It doesn’t get any farther, because Liam snatches it out of the air and holds it in front of him with two hands. It instantly relaxes and starts purring, so he tucks it under his arm and strokes its head. I glare at them, not hiding my feelings for the insufferable animal.
“Damn, love, that cat really doesn’t like you,” Gem comments with wide eyes.
I glare at Stormheart with loathing. “The feeling is fucking mutual. Stormheart is a fucking menace to society,” I mutter when a clearing throat has us turning our attention to the newcomers in the room.
Nox’s dads look bemused, but Lena narrows her eyes on me much like the stupid animal. “How do you know my son’s cat?”
“Stormheart and I are familiar with one another,” I reply vaguely.
“And it doesn’t like you? Why is that?” Before I can answer her, Santos chuckles.
“Don’t be like that, Lena. You know that cat doesn’t like any female around Nox. It’s just as aggressive toward you.”
She scowls at her mate before reluctantly nodding her head. “Despite me giving him to Nox, he has an aversion to me. Nox must have stopped in some time recently, and when he didn’t find us, he left a note asking us to watch the damn thing for him while he went to Chaos Kingdom for a job interview. Would you care to explain just how you know my son?”
I decide to give her a half-truth, not quite ready to reveal everything. “Nox and I are recent acquaintances. He lives in the same town my grandparents are from, and we ran into each other one day when I was out walking on the beach.”
“How didn’t he notice something was wrong in this village?” Hunter asks, sounding suspicious. I can’t blame him. Even if his parents weren’t here, he should have noticed things weren’t quite right with everything else.
“I’m guessing he dropped by at night. He would have assumed we were asleep, and he knew that everyone would be inside due to the curfew,” Christos replies.
“And he wouldn’t have had to use the pass to get to the kingdom if he shifted and flew, so he wouldn’t have needed to worry about ferals,” Santos reasons.
I guess that all makes sense.
There’s an awkward pause and I guess it probably time to approach the subject of Nox
Lena hasn’t torn her gaze away from me, and I can see her eyeing my new mate mark on my neck. I don’t think there is much this woman misses, and I really don’t want to be an enemy to her.
“Do you recognize this mark?” I ask her, waving a hand at the guys, and Gem lifts his shirt, showing Nox’s parents their bond group mark.
The three males let out noises of surprise, but Lena hisses at me. “You stupid girl. What have you done? Nox doesn’t want anything to do with a bond group.”
“Lena, enough,” Johan snaps. “We have been telling him he’s wrong since day one. His bond group would not reject him, just like ours didn’t reject you or me.” I guess that means Johan is the pegasus in the family.
Tears well in her eyes. “You don’t know that. He’s suffered enough,” she argues, but Gryff shakes his head. Before he can open his mouth and say something, though, Christos gestures to the furniture.
