Mirror Image Seduction (Feline Shifters of Down Under Book 1) (18 page)

Chapter Eighteen

As they pulled up Ryan saw the long hair and smiling face of his mother, standing on the porch waiting for them. He’d rung her last night to let her know what happened and that they had Lacey at their place. She didn’t know they’d mated yet though. When she’d rung this morning to invite them all up to the big house for an early dinner, he’d kept it from her. She’d enjoy the surprise after being so worried about Lacey since last night.

He glanced over at Lacey. “You ready, sweetheart?”

She frowned a little. “Ready for what?”

“Beautiful, look up at the house. See our mother standing there?”

“She looks worried. Why is she wringing her hands like that? Should we go?”

Ryan chuckled as Dylan barked out a laugh. “Baby, she knows about you getting hurt last night. She’s no doubt driven Dad insane all night pacing around worried about you.”

Ryan gently cradled one of her bandaged wrists. “This is what family is all about. They care about you, when you’re hurt, when you’re happy. They want to know. It also means they’re in your face a lot.”

Lacey’s wide eyes filled with tears. “You’ve truly given me everything I’ve ever wanted.”

Dylan scoffed. “You always
wanted
two lovers?”

Lacey’s eyes went even wider, if that was possible. “Well no, I’d never considered that. So I guess the more accurate statement is you both have given me
more
than I’ve ever dreamed of.”

Dylan’s smartass comment did the trick because Lacey was smiling again. Ryan opened his door and laced his fingers with hers as he slid off the bench seat and dragged her to him.

“C’mon, sweetheart. Mum’s going to pop an aneurism if we don’t get you to her soon.”

Ryan grinned broadly as he strolled up to the house, his heart about to burst with happiness. Lacey was cutely trying to stay behind him, but Dylan grabbed her other hand and tugged until she was walking between them. Anticipation of their mother’s reaction to them having completed the mating had him nearly jumping out of his skin.

As they stepped up the first step, he kept his gaze locked on his mum, waiting for the moment she saw the marks on Lacey’s neck. With a raised eyebrow, she looked at Ryan, then over to Dylan. Ryan started laughing. He couldn’t help it. Even with all the shit that went down last night, he’d mated with his beautiful Lacey, and life was good. Better than good.

By the time they stepped over the top step, their mother was frowning at all them.

“What are you two boys so damn happy about? I’ve been worried sick since you told me what happened to our Lacey last night. Come here, dear. I need to give you hug.”

Ryan joined Dylan in releasing her hands so they could gently guide their mate into their mother’s arms. Surely this close she’d see Lacey’s marks without having to be told.

Lacey held her shoulders high and her steps were stiff, but Ryan wasn’t worried. He knew the moment his mother embraced Lacey, she’d relax. Their poor mate hadn’t been raised in a loving home filled with hugs and affection. Ryan didn’t mind making up for that now they had her. He and Dylan would constantly shower her with love in all its forms. He also knew his family would quickly embrace Lacey as one of them.

“Oh, my dear girl. You’re safe now.”

Ryan winced as he realized Lacey was sobbing into his mother’s shirt. Damn, maybe having this family dinner today was too soon after the attack for her. He’d been so focused on wanting to show Lacey she had a whole family now, and of course, he wanted to show all his family that he and Dylan had claimed her.

He hadn’t been making shit up when he’d told Lacey it was rare for the youngest cubs to find mates first. Generally it happened in order from the oldest to the youngest. He mentally shook his head. Yeah, they really were blowing that tradition out of the water. Max had found his mate, too, now, thanks to Lacey, and he was the fourth born. Ryan idly wondered who Max would be sharing his mate with. Because they were twins, everyone had been nearly certain they’d share. But the other brothers could be mixed up any which way … or they could be paired with a lion.

His chest ached in sympathy for his parents. They should have been a triad, but their third was a lion shifter who had rejected sharing his mother with a cheetah. Some days he could see the pain in his mother’s gaze, as though, despite how happy her life had been, she knew something was missing.

Ryan focused on Dylan. Nope, he was perfectly fine with sharing his mate with his twin. In fact, he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

“C’mon, Mum. Let our mate go so we can get inside where the food is. It smells delicious.”

A blush crept over his mother’s cheeks as she released Lacey and started waving her hands at the boys.

“Oh, you charmers. Go on, get inside. Your brothers and father are all waiting for you.”

Lacey turned her face up to Ryan, and as he leaned down to kiss her, he heard his mother’s gasp.
Finally!

Lacey froze mid kiss, and Ryan chuckled, before he pressed a final chaste kiss to her soft lips.

“I believe Mum has just noticed your beautiful new marks, sweetheart.”

He took her hand in his as Dylan gathered her hair in his hand and lowered to kiss over his mark. She shuddered and closed her eyes for a moment.

“I’d forgotten about the bites. How will I explain them to non shifters? Two massive bite marks on either side of my throat is going to be rather hard to miss.”

Dylan laughed, but he couldn’t see the look in their mate’s eyes. She was honestly frightened. With a gentle smile, Ryan ran his free hand over his mark on her. “Only shifters can see them, baby. They weren’t real bites, but magic ones. There’s no scarring in the way you’re thinking. To a full human, your neck looks as beautifully flawless as it did yesterday.”

“Ah, okay. All this shifter stuff is going to take some getting used to.”

Now Ryan did chuckle. What would Lacey do when they had a child who could shift and climb on the roof of the house at the age of three? Now that would be an adjustment for her.

Speaking of babies, they needed to talk to her about that. As much as he’d love to start a family now, they were young and had plenty of time. With Lacey just starting a new job, he couldn’t imagine her wanting to have a baby any time soon. He glanced over at her flat belly. She would look so good rounded out with their cubs. A lump formed in his throat. Would they have twins? Would she want the traditional nine kids?

Dylan shoulder-bumped him.

“Quit eyeing off her belly. We’re not knocking her up yet, so don’t even suggest it. I want her all to ourselves for a while first. I’ve heard that kids will ruin your sex life. I’m not having that happen for at least five years. Maybe longer.”

“Gah, you are such a bloody caveman.”

With a completely unrepentant grin, Dylan led the way into the dining room, grabbing Lacey’s hand on his way to drag her in behind him. Ryan shook his head as Dylan didn’t stop until he’d towed the poor woman over to where three seats had been left empty for them. Predictably, when he stopped, he pulled out her chair and let her sit down. But naturally, he didn’t stop there. He knew his twin, knew the man would want everyone to know they’d mated her.

Sure enough, Dylan gathered her hair and gently pushing her head to the side, he pressed a kiss to the center of his mark.

“Holy shit! You claimed her! Congratulations!”

Max rose and moved to come over to them as he’d spoken, but his father beat him to Lacey and pulled her back out of the chair to give her a big bear hug. Ryan stood back, pride filling him as each one of his brothers came to give their new sister a hug. Letting her know how accepted she was, and that he and Dylan hadn’t lied to her about how welcoming their family would be.

When they all finally got settled back at the table, Max was sitting opposite Ryan.

“So, Dad gave you an early release, Max?”

Ryan had known that their father would never have kept Max on lock down once he learned Max had seen his mate.

“Yep, we spoke first thing this morning, and here I am. Free as a bird.”

Dylan spoke up. “And I guess you’ll be shadowing us when we take Lacey back to her place to pack?”

Max grinned broadly. “Sure will. I need to find Scarlet, and I’m guessing the fastest way to make that happen is with you three.”

“Wait. Why do you need to find Scarlet? Has this got something to do with the way you and her freaked out the other day when you saw each other? No wait. Don’t answer that. First, why am I packing up?”

Ryan tried not to grin but failed. He fake-coughed so he could cover his mouth with his fist. Ryan had warned his twin not to force the moving issue. Of course, like Dylan, Ryan wanted their mate living in their house with them, but he was fine with living in the two houses until they settled on a routine that worked for all of them. So long as they were together, Ryan didn’t mind where they lived. He loved his mate, and if she needed to live with Scarlet a little longer in order to be happy, then he would just move in with her there.

****

Dylan clenched his jaw as he mentally debated how he could answer Lacey without sounding like a caveman. When after a full minute he still couldn’t come up with anything, he decided to just barrel on through. “Beautiful, I assumed that now we’re mated you’d want to live with us.”

Dylan released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding when a smile curved her lips. Maybe he hadn’t fucked it all up on their first day of being mated. She cupped his face in her palm.

“Of course I want to live with you both. But we need to discuss where, you can’t just dictate to me and expect me to fall into line. That’ll never work long term.”

Well, Dylan thought it would work just fine if she simply did what he said all the time. But his mother hadn’t raised him to be a fool, and he wanted Lacey to have her own mind and be brave enough to speak it to him always.

“I’m not sure I can handle living in the city, beautiful. I’m not built for it. Ryan and I need the space out here.”

Lacey silenced anything else with a quick kiss. “How about to start with we spend the nights between the days I have to work in the office at my place in the city and the rest of the time we’ll stay out here? I don’t want to leave Scarlet up in the air with no roommate. Everything with us happened so quickly, she wasn’t expecting me to move out yet.”

“Don’t worry about Scarlet, Lacey. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.”

Lacey’s eyes sparked with something that looked a lot like anger, and Dylan was so glad it wasn’t directed at him. She turned from him to glare at Max.

“Scarlet is my best friend, the only one who cared about me for years. So, you’d better start explaining what the hell is going on. Especially if you want my help.”

Max just gave Lacey a lazy smile, obviously not intimidated in the least at Lacey’s fiery side coming out.

“She’s my mate, Lacey. When I saw her at the zoo the other day my cheetah knew instantly that she was mine. You said before that she acted out of character that day, too, that means she somehow picked up on our connection as well.”

Lacey’s hands snuck out, one toward Ryan and the other seeking his hand. He gladly took her palm in his and lifted it to press a kiss over the healing wound on her inner wrist. He would see that she was always protected in the future. No way would any other asshole get close enough to hurt his mate ever again.

“Um. Do all cheetah shifters end up in ménages?”

“Pretty much. Unless something happens to one of the men and it leaves a couple behind.”

Dylan winced at his father’s strained words. There should have been two fathers in their family, but the stupid lion refused to share with a cheetah. Instead the fool decided to go old school and challenge his father for their mate. Obviously, their dad won. But it was a damn shitty way to start a mating that’s for sure.

“Who else will be Scarlet’s mate? One of you, or someone else?”

“Hopefully another of my sons will be her mate. Most likely Jed or Kane as they are closest in age to Max. But you never know. Perhaps a party for your engagement, assuming you are also going to follow human traditions along with shifter ones, will allow all the boys to test for a connection with your friend?”

Lacey nodded then started giggling. Dylan frowned. What was funny about that?

“Why is having a party funny? I don’t get it.”

“Oh, it’s not the party that’s funny. It’s the fact that when you first told me you wanted to share me I spoke to her about it in vague terms. Asking what she would do if she met someone who wanted an unconventional relationship. And she said love is love and it didn’t matter what form it came in, if you find it, you latch onto it. She also said that she wasn’t sure how far she’d go to keep a man if she found one that was halfway decent. So, I was laughing because I was just thinking about how she’ll react to the whole shifters are real thing along with the fact she’ll have two mates for life. Her reaction is going to be priceless.”

Dylan beamed with happiness. He loved his mate’s slightly offbeat sense of humor. He didn’t think normal chicks would find it amusing that their friend was about to fall down a rabbit hole of new realities, but his Lacey did. His mother came in the room armed with a couple of bottles of champagne at that moment.