CHAPTER 16

ANTON

I’d held my breath as Hannah drank down the tea. Selfishly, I wished it would work straight away, but I knew that patience was the key.

Patience was not something I’d ever been known for, but I was certainly learning about it now. I’d learned a lot about myself since I’d met Hannah. Most important, there was nothing that I wouldn’t do for her. Even without being fully mated, the protective possessiveness I felt had only got stronger the longer we went without mating. The need to sink my teeth into her and mark her as mine grew stronger every day, but I also knew I wouldn’t stop there.

We’d only be spending a little over a week here, and by then, Cassie said she hoped the tea would start working, which meant we’d be home again and that filled me with happiness.

I wanted to wait until we were home before we fully mated. Somehow it felt right that we complete our mating in our home, in our bed, where I knew I could let my guard down.

This week couldn’t be over quick enough. I was regretting saying we’d spend a night on a houseboat this weekend. It was only a night, though, and the next day, we’d be leaving for home.

My animal stirred impatiently in me; he’d been patient until now, and I was grateful that we were so in tune with each other, ‘Soon,’ I assured him. ‘Soon.’

With a huff, he turned around and went back to sleep, giving me relief for the next few hours.

In the end we only spent a couple of hours away from the house before Miah said he’d be happy to go home. None of them wanted to see the dam wall and hydros without Hannah and Cassie, so we went home.

Not that either Luca or I minded that it meant we got to spend more time with our mates and neither of us would turn that down.

We’d found them around the pool laughing and joking. I was pleased to see that Hannah was comfortable enough in their company to be in shorts and a T-shirt.

It was a welcome sight, and what was even better was that both Hannah and Cassie had their heads thrown back in laughter at whatever story Lottie was telling them, her hands and arms waving as she explained. Kyle was looking amused at his mate’s storytelling.

Catching the tail end of Lottie’s story as we walked out, I groaned in dismay. “I can’t believe you told them that,” I grumbled playfully at Lottie, tugging on her ponytail as I walked past her to get to Hannah.

Scooping her up from the lounger, I sat down and settled her across my lap; she grinned at me, amusement making her eyes sparkle. It was Cassie that asked the question, “Did you really try and do it, though?”

Luca snorted as he nudged Cassie aside, settling in next to her, “Yes, the idiot did,” he laughed. “I’d never seen our dad so mad before; I thought he was going to kill us.”

Miah, Gus, Drake, and Sam were looking confused, so Lottie went on to explain the idiotic things I’d done when I was a young pup.

“When we were growing up, the boys, for some reason, were really impressed by rodeos. Anyway,” Lottie suddenly started to laugh at the memory, Luca and I joined her. I mean, how could we not? We knew what was to come.

“Anyway,” Lottie continued wiping tears of amusement from her cheeks, “these two were probably around nine or ten,” she waved her hands at the two of us, shaking her head. “They decided that riding a normal bull was too easy, so they decided that they were going to ride a buffalo. A wild buffalo,” she threw up her hands in disgust. Hannah snorted a laugh at Lottie’s dramatics, her entire body shaking with mirth. Looking across at Cassie and Luca, she wasn’t doing much better.

“So,” Lottie continues, “there we all are, because heaven forbid we let them be stupid by themselves. Nope, they dragged us all along. Dex and Renee were trying their best to stop the two of them. Anyhow, we kind of knew where there was a herd because the park borders the Russo ranch,” she explains. “So off we went until we found them.

“After much stalking and chasing, think running of the bulls but with more space and less people,” Lottie shares.

“Anyway, these two finally managed to separate one of the younger bulls from the herd, deciding that he’d do. Well, the bull was having none of it and was chasing everyone that came near it. By now, the rest of the herd was getting angsty. Dex was worried that they would stampede, so he moved the rest of us away. Luca had given up by this time.

“Anton,” Lottie snorts out another laugh, setting the rest of us off even those who have no idea what was going to happen. “Anyway, Anton, on the other hand, was determined to ride that bull, so with one last attempt, he ran up to it, grabbed it by its horn and threw himself over its back. I think he stayed on all of about two seconds before he was on the ground. The bull, having had enough by then, went to charge Anton, who’s lying on the ground, eyes wide, the wind knocked out of him. We’re all screaming, when Luca, out of nowhere, runs at the buffalo hitting it in its side and taking its attention off Anton.

“Next thing we know there’s Luca like this,” Lottie stands up hands fisted at her side, head bent as if she’s about to charge. “And he says,” she starts laughing uncontrollably, collapsing against Kyle, who’s grinning wide at his hysterically laughing mate.

“What did you say?” Miah asks Luca curiously.

Luca starts to reply but Lottie buts in, “He said,” Lottie snorts out another laugh wiping at her eyes as she tries to control herself clearing her throat she tries again, “He said, ‘Go ahead motherfucker, make my day.’”

Laughter rolls out from everyone.

“You can tell what our parents enjoyed watching,” I gasp with laughter.

Wiping laughter from his eyes, Gus asks Luca, “Well, did he? Make your day?”

Luca’s shakes his head, a wide grin on his face at the memory, “Nah, Anton was up by then and between him and the rest they chased off the bull and then our parents were suddenly there. Apparently, one of the staff had seen what we were doing and had told my dad. I don’t think I sat down for a week, even with shifter healing. I’d never seen my dad so mad.”

“To be fair,” Lottie interrupted. “I think that had more to do with Anton’s broken arm than anything. Plus, you could have been killed. God, we were so stupid as kids. As an adult, I get why they were all so mad, but at the time I thought they’d gone off the deep end with our punishments,” Lottie smiles towards us.

“Good times,” I chuckle. “But would not recommend.”

“Definitely not,” Hannah agrees, still laughing.

“On the plus side,” Kyle states, “our kids haven’t got a chance of doing shit like that. Some of the stories Lottie tells me have me wondering how the hell you guys made it to adulthood, shifters or not.”

“They did more stupid stuff like that?” Cassie queries with a look at Lottie.

“Oh, Cass, did they ever,” Lottie grins, settling down into a more comfortable position, “Let me fill you in on the offspring of the four families. Don’t let the fact that we are all now responsible adults make you think we were in any way sensible. Let’s start with our esteemed Alpha Dex and the time he thought he’d be able to change mid-air after jumping from the tallest tree he could find and still land on his feet.”

Luca and I laughed long and hard at that memory, and of course, Lottie was only too happy to share it along with many other embarrassing stories, but we got our own back.

You didn’t live in each other’s pockets growing up like we did and not know a lot of embarrassing stories about each other.

The afternoon turned into evening. We made short work of the food they’d prepared while we were out.

I watched in amusement as Hannah gulped down another dose of tea, grimacing at the taste.

It was such a good night and reminded me of how much I loved my friends and what we’d all gone through that only brought us closer together.