“Thank you so much for having us.” Anya leaned in to press a kiss to Nanna’s cheek. “You must come to the restaurant and let us cook for you next time.”
“Us too?” Sally looked at the two of them expectantly. “That was ten times better than anything they provide in the dining hall.”
“You said something about single male tiger shifters?” Gladys added.
“You don’t want to waste your time on those idiots,” Gran said with a wave of her hand. “But there are some very nice leopard shifters that come to the restaurant sometimes…”
I’m not sure if this is a universal thing, but saying goodbye seemed to happen in stages. We got to the front door, then out the front door, then closer to the car, when Tor’s dad stepped in.
“Come on, darling. Let’s leave the nice people to it. Especially after we… inserted ourselves into their family dinner.” He shot me an apologetic look. “Lovely to see you again, Harper. Glad to see everyone is safe and…” His eyes lingered on the bite marks on my neck. “Settled.”
The trouble was, Tor’s family was the social lubricant, keeping the machine rolling, because as soon as they left, it stuttered to a stop. Mum stared at me, pain obvious in her eyes, and that wasn’t what I wanted. But she made me choose, between her pain and mine, when I wanted neither.
“I’ll grab your things,” Peter said, giving Mum’s shoulders a squeeze before nodding to us and going back inside.
“I’m going to put the dishes away,” Gladys said, poking Sally in the shoulder.
“What? No, I want to see how this goes down,” she said, waving her friend away.
“I reshuffled the cards to make sure I win next hand,” Nanna said drily.
“What? Oh, you…” Sally turned on her heel and then marched away.
Which just left us.
Mum was on one side of the front path, me and my mates on the other, while Nanna stood in front of the door. My grandmother looked expectantly at Mum and I watched her suck a breath in, letting it out slowly.
“I’m sorry?—”
“What?” I had steeled myself for a whole lot of things, but Mum cut my legs out from under me with that.
“I’m sorry, Harper.” She shot me a meaningful look, obviously expecting me to shut up and let her talk. “I admit I was… concerned about the direction your life was taking.”
“Concerned.”
My jaw muscles spasmed as I bit that off.
“Yes, concerned. As you so bluntly stated, I made some mistakes.” So, so many mistakes, I thought, but I held my tongue. “And I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to try and make sure you didn’t repeat them.”
But that was the thing. The insanity I grew up in what was had me doing the same dumb things. My grandfather’s treatment of Nanna. Mum’s dirtbag boyfriend parade. Each thing created a wound inside all of us, forcing us to shy away from anyone who might treat us well, because change felt weird, wrong. A hand took mine, clasping it tight, and I looked up to see Kieran staring down at me.
But not now, right?he said, making clear he’d heard my thoughts.
No more, I agreed.Time to break the cycle.
“But…” Mum scanned the lot of us and finally I saw the tension leach out of her. “After meeting your lovely family, Tor, after finding out how the whole fated mate thing works, I think it’s clear that you won’t.”
Her eyelids fluttered, making me think she got dust in them or something, only for her to dab some tears away with a handkerchief.
“Mum…”
I stepped closer but she waved me away.
“I just want you to be happy, Harper and if this is what happy looks like.” She glanced over my shoulder. “Then I’m happy too.”
She went stiff when I surged forward, wrapping my arms around her. It felt like we were always stuck in this loop of pulling and pushing the other away, so her hands went up, fluttering through the air, before hugging me back.
“I want to meet Kieran’s parents too,” she said in a choked off voice. “Though I think we can skip introductions to any remaining family members Mack might have.”
