This was a problem I could resolve. I walked over and took her burdens, then Mira’s as well.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I hissed at Tor. We were bringing up the rear as Agnes brought his family into house.
“That we could all be one big happy family?” he replied weakly.
“By forcing everyone together at short notice?” Kieran added, having taken the bags of stuff from Anya. “How the hell is that gonna work?”
We were about to find out.
Chapter 48
Harper
So this was a disaster.
I mean, what did I expect? I thought Nanna was just inviting us over and the toughest questions we’d have to answer were what we had planned for the future. Instead we did the usual Quinn thing and stuffed all that resentment, that anger down, because right now we had visitors.
And that turned out to be a blessing.
“This curry is incredible,” Nanna told Tor’s gran. “I’m usually terrible with spicy food. Gives me reflux. But this is very mild, yet so much flavour.”
“This lamb…” Gran replied, waving her fork in the air, then making a happy little humming sound. “So tender.”
“I get it straight from the farm,” Nanna informed her. “I lived on the land most of my life and know who’s got the good meat stock.”
“We must get your supplier’s name,” Gran said. “My Anya is always complaining about how tough the meat is.”
“I’d be happy to. Bruce, that’s the lad that runs the farm, he’d be happy for the business.”
“So this doesn’t seem to be going too badly,” Tor muttered under his breath, shooting me a wary look. “I mean, no one’s killing each other.”
“Yet,” I replied, plastering a smile on my face.
“So all of you are tigers?” Mum asked Anya. “Even the girls?”
“Female shifters are rarer,” Anya explained, “but no amongst tigers.”
“So…” I tensed at Mum’s hesitant question, preparing to interject if needed. “Will Harper become a tiger?”
“No!” Anya laughed at that, then forced herself to calm down when she noticed Mum’s expression. “You are born a shifter. You don’t become one.”
“So you’re not gonna bite me under a full moon?” I asked Tor. “Turn me into a weretiger?”
“That last part? Nope. No can do, babe.” His arm snuck around my waist. “But biting you?” He leaned over, making a show of snapping his jaws, something Mum noticed, going pale in response. “That’s not off the table.”
His playful mood, that spicy scent that seemed to deepen as he leaned over to press a kiss to my shoulder, I couldn’t enjoy any of it under my mother’s steely gaze. I stood up abruptly, then tried to cover that with a smile.
“So, who wants dessert?” I asked. “Nanna’s award-winning apple pie is to die for and I’m pretty sure Anya brought some of her amazing halwa.”
Nanna looked at Gran, who quickly explained what that was.
“A desert made from carrots, coconut milk and sugar, with just a little cardamon.”
“Sounds very exotic,” Nanna said, getting to her feet and trying to gather people’s plates. Each one of my guys jumped totheir feet, taking over stacking and scraping the plates. “I’ll help Harper dish up the apple pie.”
I took people’s orders and listened dutifully to Anya’s instructions on how to serve the deserts she had brought, before disappearing into the kitchen.
“Well…” Nanna nodded to the guys as they put the plates down beside the sink. Kieran shot me a long look, making clear he’d stay if I needed it. I shook my head slightly. “Lunch turned out to be a far bigger affair than I intended. Next time, perhaps your tiger can let me know, so I buy enough lamb?”
