Rufus had rushed to greet another pair of firefighters, obviously his own mom and dad. He hugged them both in silence, eyes shining.
“Whoa, Rufus, slow down,” Rufus’s dad said, his mouth crooking. He was stocky and muscular, with the same tawny hair and golden eyes as his son. “You don’t have to tell us everything that happened at camp all at once.”
Rufus seized his mom’s hand. He tugged at her, pointing at Honey.
“Okay, okay,” the tall blonde woman laughed. She let Rufus pull her over. “Hi, you must be Honey. I’m Edith, Rufus’s mom. He’s told us a lot about you in his letters home.”
Honey shook the woman’s hand, feeling the strength in that firm, confident grip. “Good things, I hope.”
“Of course. Though we would have known you had to be a special person anyway.” Edith’s open, beaming smile widened. “Buck! Oh Buck, we’re all so happy for you!”
“Congratulations,” Rufus’s dad said, coming over to join them. He shot Honey a sidelong glance. “At least to you, Buck. I think we should be offering you our condolences, Honey.”
“Ha ha,” Buck said flatly. “Honey, this comedian is Rory, squad leader. How he managed to swing that over his far more sensible and brilliant mate Edith here, I have no idea. Things have clearly gone downhill since I retired.”
Rory grinned at his old leader. “I blame the new management.”
“Yeah, you sure we can’t persuade you to un-retire, Buck?” called Finley’s dad. “The new Superintendent is a real ball-breaker.”
“I’d have to find your balls first, Joe.” A short, curvy woman jumped down from the driver’s seat of the truck, sauntering over. “Hey, Buck.”
“Blaise,” he replied. “These motherloving shifters giving you any trouble?”
“Eh, I can keep ‘em in line.” Blaise gave him a light, affectionate punch on the shoulder. “I learned from the best, after all. I need to go find my mate, but first, you want to introduce me to yours?”
Buck put his arm around Honey’s waist, drawing her against his side. “This is Honey. Honey, the Thunder Mountain Hotshots, A-Squad. Otherwise known as the motherloving shifters who dragged me into more crap than you would possibly believe. I held out as long as I could, but they broke me in the end.”
“Aw,” said Finley’s dad, the man Blaise had called Joe. “We love you too, chief.”
“It’s so wonderful to meet you all,” Honey said, smiling round at the squad. “Maybe we can—Conleth?!”
“Ah, no,” said the man who’d just made her jaw drop open in shock. He gave her a wry smile, totally unlike any she was used to seeing on that face. “Though I understand the confusion. I’m Callum.”
“This is my dad,” Beth said, gazing up at Callum as though he’d hung the moon and stars. “Uncle Conleth’s... well, my uncle. They’re brothers.”
Honey shook the firefighter’s hand, still fighting a sense of unreality. He really wasexactlylike Conleth, apart from the uniform, and his easy, relaxed stance. “Identical twins?”
Callum’s mouth quirked. “Triplets, actually.”
“Pray you never meet the third one,” Buck muttered to Honey.
“I’m sure Connor will be delighted to hear that you remember him so fondly,” Conleth said, strolling up. “Hello, brother mine. Good God, you smell vile. I love you, but let’s skip the affectionate embraces, shall we?”
“Sorry.” Edith tugged at the neck of her soot-streaked t-shirt. “We had to come straight from the fire to get here in time.”
Conleth wrinkled his nose. “Yes, I could tell that all the way from the office.”
Rory looked Conleth up and down, his mouth crooking in that little smile. “Still wearing the suit, I see.”
“Of course I’m still wearing the suit.” Conleth glared at Joe, as though this was somehow all his fault. “Four years, Joe.Four years.”
The towering firefighter shrugged. “Sorry, bro. My visions don’t come date-stamped.”
“What’s this?” Honey asked, looking between the two men.
“My dad sees the future sometimes,” Finley said, as though this was perfectly normal. “Before the camp was even built, he saw that Conleth would meet his mate here one day.”
“In a suit,” Blaise added, grinning. “Have you seriously been wearing that thing every day, Conleth?”
