He laughs, but it’s halfhearted. “Well, it’s promising that you picked up on that. Had a bit of a surprise when I got home.”
“Oh?”
He lowers his voice. “My parents decided to drop in for a visit.”
“Wow. I didn’t even realize y’all were that close.”
“Yeah, neither did I. It looks like they might be here a while too. They’re trying to buy a place together.”
“Wait. Together? I thought they split when we were kids.”
“Uh huh. This is new. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s going to stick. But is that unfair of me?” There’s a rustle, and he grunts like he’s getting comfortable. “I just can’t see them workingtogether any better than they did the first time. They still argue all the time.”
I take a shortcut past the co-op book shop toward my dorm building. “You know them better than I do, but you know it’s normal for couples to fight sometimes. You’re just weird because you never fight me back.”
“I don’t have to. I’ll just pin you down and tickle you, bunny.” He drops the childhood nickname, and somehow it hits different than it did when Riley used to tease me like that as a kid. I chew my lip around a grin. “Just try it.”
He goes quiet, but I get a glimpse of an image through the bond where he’s pinning me down to do something else entirely, and suddenly I’m walking even faster. “No fair.”
He just laughs.
“So does this mean I don’t get to see you this weekend?”
“Are you kidding? There is nothing on this Earth that could stop me from seeing you this weekend. They’ll just have to put up with hearing when I make you scream.”
Oh god, he’s killing me. I’m feeling a little breathless when I reach my dorm. “Is that a promise?”
“Mmmhmm.”
I burst into my room, find Kate absent, and shut the door with a sigh of relief. It takes me half a moment to dump my things and remove my shoes. I push my hand into my panties and let out a little moan, phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder. “I bet you can’t guess what I’m doing right now...”
Turns out he doesn’t have to. I’m getting pretty good at this whole mate bond thing, if I do say so myself.
Bas picks me up at the bus terminal as the sun is going down. When I see him I drop my bag and run and jump into his arms, and he lifts me as easily as if I weigh nothing. I turn my face into his neck and just breathe in his honey-and-bourbon scent for a moment, sighing at how right it feels. “I missed you.”
He groans. “Missed you doesn’t even cover it, bunny. My parents are here, and I just know they’re going to be awkward. So I’m sorry.”
He sets me down, and I have only a moment to gather my wits before a tall woman with short gray hair leans in for a hug. “Vera? It’s so nice to meet you. Or I suppose to see you again. I think I must have known you when you were very small. You’re Tilly and Jamie’s girl, right?”
“That’s right.” I can’t say Bastien’s mother looks terribly familiar, but then we never saw much of his parents as kids. She smells familiar, though. Something of Bastien’s warm scent is in hers too, and of course she smells of magic, since she’s a shifter as well.
“Vera, this is my father, Hunter.” The way he says the word father sounds stiff, just like his posture.
Bastien’s father is standing a little back from us, looking at something on his phone with a frown. When he looks up, he doesn’t smile. “An omega, Sebastien?”
His words are so cold, all three of us recoil a little.
Bastien’s hand tightens on my waist. “My fated mate.”
He grunts. “Let’s get home. I have some phone calls to make.”
That’s it? That’s his reaction to meeting me? All Bastien’s hostility toward them makes sense now. I shake my head following them to Bas’s truck. His mom tries to offer me the front seat, but I insist she takes it, which leaves me sitting in the back with his dad. The whole trip from the bus station, he doesn’t look up from his screen.
I make awkward conversation with Bas and his mom and try to ignore Hunter. I want to keep an open mind. They’re family now after all, but I have to admit he’s not making a great first impression.
As soon as we get back to the house, Hunter disappears into the guest room on his phone call and Bas starts making dinner. I opt to help, cutting the vegetables while he prepares the meat for the grill.
The sound of muffled arguing makes us both pause to look at each other. When it cuts off a moment later with a growl and very distinctive squeak of mattress springs, Bastien’s face loses all its color. “Oh gods, are they…?”
