by R. E. Butler
“I’m Hope,” she said, “I’m…”
“Ours,” Nathan said.
Treasure let out a woohoo from the porch, and Hope glanced at her.
“Told you coming here was the right decision,” Treasure said. “I’m psycho.”
Owen snorted good-naturedly. “Psychic.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Are you from here?” Hope asked, turning her attention back to the males.
“We live at the boarding house,” Ben said. “We’ve heard so much about you, but we never seemed to be in town when you were here.”
“If I’d known you were mine, I would have made sure our paths crossed,” she said.
“Fate doesn’t work like that,” Treasure reminded them. “You can’t force it. It just happens when it happens.”
“Fate’s a wonderful thing,” Owen said. “Even if it did take forever to get here.”
Hope looked at Treasure. “Did you dream about the four of us?”
“No, just you.” She thought about the dream, and how she’d seen Hope living in a house that wasn’t the boarding house or Rhett and Lisa’s. Treasure didn’t always understand her dreams, but she had gotten a sense of contentment from the one featuring Hope, and believed she was going to live somewhere in Ashland.
Hope looked at the males for a moment and then said, “I just got here. I need to unpack my car and spend time with Treasure. But I want to be with you, too.”
Nathan nodded. “We’ll help you get your things. We can all spend time together.”
“I promise not to monopoly all your time,” Treasure said.
Hope frowned and then grinned. “Monopolize.”
“Same thing,” Treasure said.
The quartet went to Hope’s car. Treasure turned to Lisa, who was smiling.
“All these years of Hope coming to Ashland with Honor, Jax, and Holden, and she never once met those three?”
“No, they always seemed to be out of town for one reason or another.”
Lisa hummed and held the door open for them. Treasure followed the group upstairs to the spare bedroom.
When her things were in the bedroom, Hope looked between Treasure and the males and wrung her hands.
Treasure smiled in understanding and gave her a quick hug. “I’ll be downstairs helping with dinner. We’ve got plenty of time to catch up.”
“Thanks, bestie,” Hope said.
Treasure nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. She joined Lisa in the kitchen and offered to help. Given the task to make a salad, she gathered the ingredients from the fridge and set them on the counter.
“Did you know they were meant to be mates?” Lisa asked.
“I had a feeling.”
“Does Hope know about your feeling?”
Treasure tore lettuce into small pieces and dropped them into a colorful bowl. “My father always said that having prophetic dreams comes with responsibility. If you tell people too much of what you see of the future, you can alter the outcome. It’s a pair of ducks.”
“Paradox.”
“Right, right. Anyway, I didn’t want to push Hope in any particular direction, so I just kept quiet. I knew that if she was really meant to live here she’d come, and I’m glad she did. I wouldn’t want to have the ceremony without her by my side.”
When dinner was ready, Treasure joined the quartet in the bedroom. Hope stepped from the room to call her Mom and share the good news, and Treasure asked the males if they’d be willing to leave for the night so she could spend time with Hope.
“You want us to walk after we just met our mate?” Nathan asked incredulously.
“She’s my best friend.”
“She’s our mate,” Ben said.
“Just for the night. Please?”
Owen put his hands up. “I think it’s a good idea for us to head home.”
“What?” Nathan asked.
“She just got here. We don’t want to overwhelm her.”
“How about I bring her to the boarding house for breakfast,” Treasure offered.
“That sounds good,” Ben said.
“What does?” Hope asked as she came back into the room.
“Us taking off and you coming to the house for breakfast,” Owen said.
“Oh. I thought you might stay,” Hope said, chewing her bottom lip.
“We would, sweetheart, but you just got here,” Ben said, giving her hand a squeeze. “You should rest and enjoy your time with Treasure.”
“Okay,” she said.
Treasure headed down to the kitchen, and the quarter followed a few minutes later.
“We’re going to head home,” Nathan said when they walked into the kitchen.
“You can stay for dinner,” Lisa said. “We set your places.”
“Treasure will bring Hope by in the morning. We want her to relax after her long drive,” Owen said.
Hope walked the males out and returned a few moments later, cheeks pink and eyes dancing.
As she sat next to Treasure, she said, “It’s something, isn’t it?”
“That we’re going to be related by marriage? It sure is. We’ll be cousins for real.”
“And sisters and besties,” Hope said. “I can’t believe after all this time that my mates were actually here and I had no clue. Next time you get a prophetic feeling about me, feel free to give me a heads-up.”
“I’m not making any promises,” Treasure said.
After dinner, she and Hope offered to clean the kitchen, and Lisa and Rhett hustled off to the family room to watch their favorite show about antiques. When the kitchen was clean, Treasure and Hope walked to the farmhouse for a tour.
“It’s awesome,” Hope said. She handed Treasure a large gift bag she’d brought. “It’s a combination bridal shower and housewarming gift.”
Treasure unpacked the bag, finding a soft blanket for the couch, dragon-shaped salt and pepper shakers, an ivory chemise, and a rose-scented candle with dried flowers, glitter, and crystals on the surface. She held up the chemise, which had a low-cut back and was simple but sexy.
“I love it. Thank you!” She hugged Hope. “You’re the best. The boys will love this especially.”
“I wish I could have gotten here in time for the shower. From all the photos, it looks like you had a great time and got lots of good things.”
She shook out the blanket and then folded it, laying it over the couch. “We’re pretty much ready to move into the house after our ceremony. We got nearly everything we needed from the pride. There are a few small things we still want to pick up, but aside from stocking the fridge, we’ll be ready to stay in the house for a week and not do anything but enjoy each other.”
Hope nodded. “I guess I should think about where I’m going to live.”
“Rhett and Lisa said you could stay as long as you wanted.”
“I know, but you’re only going to be there two more weeks. I’m not sure I want to live in the boarding house, but I would like to be close to my mates.”
“In my dream, I saw you in a house that didn’t look familiar. Maybe when you talk to your mates, they’ll have an idea of a place to live. Are you thinking it would be kind of hard for four of you to share one bedroom in the boarding house?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “But I have the next two weeks to figure things out. Once you’re out of the house, I don’t think I’ll want to stay here. But enough about me. I seem to recall you had an idea about the mountain lion females’ curse. You were being cagey, though.”
Treasure gestured to the couch and the two sat down. She tucked her legs under her and faced her best friend. “I might know how to contact the goddess who cursed your people.”
Hope’s eyes went wide. “You do?”
“Yeah. I think so, anyway. You and I talked a while ago about what you found in the school library.”
Hope had found some books about gods and goddesses, but after talking to the librarian, she’d learned that
while this realm had the deities’ history, the curses levied by them, as well as their antidotes, were known only to the fae realm.
“I’m pretty certain that my father had a spell-casting book related to the gods and goddesses that we can use to contact the goddess and ask her to lift the curse.”
Hope narrowed her eyes. “How certain?”
“Like eighty-five percent.”
“I’d feel better if you were a hundred percent sure. But didn’t you say it was too dangerous for you to go to the fae realm because you’re a hybrid?”
Treasure didn’t need a reminder that her parents and aunt had died protecting her. “I can do a protection spell for us, so we can get into the realm, and my parents’ home, undetected.”
“Is the house still there? What if someone bought it?”
She laughed. “There isn’t a housing market in the fae realm. The house belongs to the family line. If there are no family members left, the house is abandoned. Plus our home was outside of the city, so no one bothered us. It would still be there, just empty. I can open a portal in the backyard of the house, and we can make sure it’s safe before we enter the realm. Then we can go to the library and copy what we need.”
“We can’t take the books with us?”
“Nope. Curse knowledge has to remain in the fae realm.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Crazy realm rules?”
“I have a feeling that this is dangerous for you, but you’re not going to take no for an answer.”
“You’re right. Come with me and help. I swear I’ll be able to keep us both safe. But we have to keep it a secret. From everyone, including our mates.”
“Sure,” Hope said with a snort. “Starting off a mating with a secret is a perfectly good way to get the ball rolling toward a lifetime of happiness.”
“You can tell them after we get back. I can’t cast a spell big enough for all of us to go and keep us hidden. Just you and me.”
“All right. When?”
“Tomorrow night. After Rhett and Lisa go to bed, we’ll sneak out.”
“Swear we’ll both be safe?”
“I swear.”
“Okay.”
Treasure knew it was the right thing for them to do. She wanted to tell her mates, but she knew they’d insist on going with her or stop her by telling Rhett and Lisa. They took her safety very seriously, and they’d flip out if they knew she planned to go to the realm where she’d been hunted by her mother’s people. But she was certain she could sneak herself and Hope into the realm and back without anyone being the wiser.
She was eighty-eight percent positive.
Chapter Four
Brian Fallon rolled his neck and checked his watch. The moon was a sliver in the dark sky and didn’t offer much illumination, but he didn’t need any light to tell him about his surroundings. His cat was highly attuned to the world around him. He’d trained as a youngster to excel at tracking, utilizing his enhanced senses to guide him. As an EMT, that training came in very handy, and more than once in his job he’d used those senses to help someone in need.
Now, though, as the sky was lit by distant stars and the tree he was standing under rustled in the summer breeze, he was using his senses for an entirely different reason – to wait for his mate.
They were a mated trio, which meant that they did almost everything together. He had no problem sharing the stunning Treasure with his brother, but they’d both agreed that when there were times they wanted to be with her alone, the other wouldn’t object or try to horn in on that private time. It wasn’t that they were competing for her affections, but they wanted her to know that she was precious to them individually.
Even though Brian was a year younger than Kevin, he’d taken on the leadership role in their trio. Kevin was more of a caretaker, ensuring that Treasure was happy, while Brian was most concerned for her safety.
In fact, she was the reason he’d gone into EMT training. Many pride members assumed it was because of his cousin, Ethan, who’d been a sheriff’s deputy and EMT in their former hometown of King and was an EMT in Ashland. While Ethan was an excellent role model, Kevin had chosen the profession because he wanted to be able to deal with anything that came their way. Being an EMT gave him the ability to handle stressful situations with a cool head and administer first aid.
He’d known he wanted to become an EMT from the time he was seventeen. He and Treasure had been walking downtown; they’d been about to cross the street when a car tore around the curb, unaware of them. In his haste to pull her to safety, Kevin had pulled Treasure off-balance and she’d tumbled to the sidewalk, twisting her ankle. He’d run to the doctor’s office with her in his arms, panicked that he’d caused her injury.
It was only a mild sprain, but the blood from the cuts on her hands and knees had made him vow to be able to handle any crisis. He liked to think that if a similar situation happened again, between his training and the calm predator within, he would be able to keep her safe, not only from the vehicle but also from his own strength.
His cat let out a purr of acknowledgement when he scented Treasure in the night air, moments before she emerged from the cornfield into the clearing around their tree. She wore a tank top and shorts – her favorite sleepwear – and sandals. Her beautiful blonde hair was pulled into a braid, and the sweet scent of her, like blooming roses and warm vanilla, made his cat purr. They embraced and she sank against him with a happy sigh, a soft dragon trill in her throat.
This was their time alone, when it was just the two of them and the dark night, with only the stars and moon as witness. He tipped her chin and kissed her, pulling her with him as he stepped close to the tree and leaned against it. She twisted her hands in the bottom of his shirt and gave it a tug, her thumbs running up his sides as she drew it up.
He swiped his tongue along her lips and she opened them, her tongue sliding against his in a slow dance. He tilted her head, deepening the kiss. She made an impatient sound in her throat, and he smiled as he nibbled her bottom lip with a satisfied growl.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“I’m so glad we could meet tonight. I missed you.”
She pulled the backpack from her shoulder and opened it. Reaching in, he brought out the padded beach blanket she always brought with her to their moonlit meetings. The first time they’d met like this, he’d brought a regular blanket, and had gotten stabbed in the back by a branch on the ground. The padded blanket kept them both comfortable.
Placing the thick blanket on the ground, he toed off his shoes and stepped onto it, holding her hand to steady her as she removed her sandals. When her sandals hit the ground, he dropped to his knees and lifted her tank top to expose her belly.
She grasped the shirt and held it just under her breasts, smiling down at him when he met her gaze. Her skin was warm and soft, and he kissed her navel before hooking his fingers in her shorts and panties and pulling them down her legs. She stepped free and tugged the shirt over her head. He took a moment to just drink his fill of his beautiful sweetheart. Sexy as hell and highlighted with the pale moonlight, she was a goddess deserving of worship.
“Bri,” she murmured. “You’re wearing way too many clothes right now.”
“Let’s fix that.”
He tugged off his shirt and dropped it behind him, then stood and shucked his jeans and underwear. He was always ready for her, his cock shamelessly hard every time she crossed his mind.
Sliding his hands to her hips, he pulled her close, trapping his erection between them as he gazed down at her. She was shorter than him, petite and lushly curved, a delicious softness against his hard muscles. Her nipples were taut, and his mouth watered as the sweet scent of her arousal spiked in the air.
“I love when you look at me like that,” she said, sinking her hands into his hair and tugging him down for a kiss.
He sucked on her tongue, his hands slipping around to her back to draw her even closer. She hooked a leg over his hip,
and he pushed his hand under her, his fingers grazing the folds of her sex. With a moan she pressed closer to him, and he smiled inwardly, easing from the kiss and lifting her into his arms. He laid her on the blanket, straightening his arms and looking down at her.
Her hair was spread around her like a silky waterfall, her eyes practically glowing with happiness.
She whispered his name and dug her nails into his arms.
He brushed his lips over hers and then kissed down her jaw to her throat, nipping gently at her pulse before making his way down to her breasts. She groaned when he took one nipple into his mouth, sucking on the tight bud and laving it with his tongue. He used his fingers to play with the other before switching, fingers and lips working in tandem to drive her wild.
Then he kissed down the center of her body, pausing to circle her navel with his tongue before delving between her thighs where her sweet scent called to him. Her hands sank into his hair and she fisted the strands, guiding him as he pushed her thighs apart and inhaled with a gruff purr.
He slid his hands under her butt and lifted her to his mouth, lapping at her heat and delving into her with his tongue. They’d been together long enough that he knew exactly how to drive her wild and make her come, but as he flicked his tongue over her clit, he decided that he’d go a different route tonight.
He lowered her to the blanket and gave her cheeks a squeeze before scooting back.
“On your knees, sweetheart.”
Her brows rose, but she smiled, turning over and rising to her hands and knees. Her toes curled in anticipation. He nudged her legs further apart and spread her open, playing with her, plunging two fingers into her and swiping the digits along her walls before gliding them around her clit. She lowered her upper body to the ground, cradling her head on her arms and relaxing in his hold.
He pressed his fingers into her, rubbing and searching, until she let out a soft moan. Rising to his knees, he slid his hand up her spine and curled it over her shoulder, pulling her up and entering her at the same time.
She let out a gasp, her arm coming around his neck to hold herself against him. Flexing his hips, he pumped into her, dropping his lips to her neck and sucking a possessive mark onto her skin. He slid his hand to her pussy, strumming her clit as he felt her walls contract around him.
