“I’m looking forward to getting to know everything about you, my mate.” Finn runs his thumb over my cheek reverently, still holding me close. He then brushes it over my bottom lip and gives a shudder that I feel right down to my bones.
When he speaks again, his voice is even deeper and more hoarse than usual. “We’d better be going. Your other mate seemed excited about something. And as much as I’d like to keep you inside and to myself, I know that isn’t right. Although it’s taking all my restraint not to throw you over my shoulder and introduce you to my nest and my mouth to your delicious cunt.”
This last part is practically growled into my ear and then I’m the one shuddering. My panties grow so wet that I’m regretting wearing tight jeans at the risk of the growing wet patch becoming visible.
Finn groans, a sound that’s low and tortured into my ear. “Your scent is going to drive me wild, little mate. I’d better get you outside before I come in my pants like an untried fledgling.”
With that, I practically scurry out of the cave, returning to the sunshine, where Brogan bounds up to me and Finn presses a kiss to my temple in parting.
“I should tidy things up,” he says, turning on his heel to head back into the cave.
“Hold up, man. Look, I’m hoping we can all spend some time together, get to know Echo and she can get to know us,” Brogan says.
“I’d like nothing more,” Finn replies with a little smile that makes my stomach flip over.
“Since we can’t all abandon the garden right now, I was thinking we could have some people over.” Brogan looks suddenly bashful, rubbing the back of his neck like he’s nervous. “It’s my mom’s birthday, so I thought… I know it’s not great timing and we should be out looking for Wren, but I was hoping we could have them all here, invite the whole pack over for a party, a shindig, just for a few hours. What do you think?”
Finn crosses his arms over his broad chest and my mouth goes a little dry. “We’re on high alert and you want to invite an entire pack of people here?”
“A whole pack of shifters. We can hold our own if we need to. We can all protect the garden if we get any more little visits too.”
“And our mate.”
“And Echo too.”
“Fine,” Finn says, only a little grumpily. But Brogan, Brogan looks so dang happy and hopefully that when I smile at him, he scoops me into his arms and spins me around, pressing kisses to my face.
“I can’t wait for my family to meet you, to see how lucky we got.”
And then I’m blushing and nervous, realizing that I’ll be meeting his family today. It’s a lot, but then again, this entire situation is a lot, so I take a deep breath, push down my rising anxiety about meeting the parents and decide to roll with it.
“I’ll need you. I mean, I’ll need your services to pick them up and take them home again, if that’s okay?” Brogan looks nervous again as he asks. But this is what I do, I transport people from world to world. It’s no skin off my nose if there’s two of them or twenty.
“Shall we go now?”
He grins widely. “Anytime you like, babe. My mom’s going to be so excited to meet you.”
And it makes me grin to myself as I realize Brogan is a secret momma’s boy, wanting to make her happy on her birthday.
“Have they ever visited the garden before?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Haven’t been able to. Until you.” He kisses the tip of my nose and I preen. Man, I’m going to get spoiled from all these small displays of affection.
We arrived on Oonos, the shifter island and Brogan’s home a few minutes later. His pack lives in the middle of a lush forest and as soon as my eyes adjust, I can see we’re surrounded by a large group of people. There are maybe thirty, oh no, more like fifty of them, all crowded around chatting happily. When we suddenly appear in front of them, instead of being shocked like you might expect, they let out a little cheer. Clearly, Brogan messaged them to warn them to expect us dropping in like this.
He tugs me forward to meet a tall, imposing woman with dark hair and the same kind eyes as Brogan. She meets my gaze for a moment before nodding and pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.
“Mom, meet Echo, my mate.”
She pulls away and brushes a loose section of my hair back behind my ear. “You are a blessing from fate, my dear,” she says. Normally, I’d be waiting for Jet to make a cutting remark about there being no such thing as a ‘blessing’ from fate and that it’s a fickle bitch, but I just nod, finding myself oddly choked up.
“A blessing to find a true mate when the universe is so very large. And to allow a family to be together when we haven’t had the opportunity in a long, long time. Thank you.”
“H-happy birthday. I’m so happy that you can all spend the day together.” I don’t really know what else to say, but the smile that Brogan shoots me is blinding.
“Right everyone, grab your things and gather together,” she calls out and everyone hushes, doing exactly what she says. I briefly wonder whether she’s some kind of leader here or if it’s just the big momma bear energy she’s got going on that makes everyone rush to do what she tells them.
They’re all clutching coolers and bags full of food and drink and someone’s even holding onto a grill like it’s their favorite child. I sweep my eyes over it all and nod to myself.
