AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“For what?” Rhaider asked.
“You just met each other. You don’t want time to…” Ree looked at Duke helplessly, like she couldn’t think of the right words.
Demi thought it was sweet. “They’re staying with me. We’ll have the weekend afternoons to ourselves, plus weeknights when I’m not grading papers. When we’re ready to take time off, we’ll let you guys know, but I’d love to hear them play again tonight.”
Rafe nodded, and so did Rhaider. “We’re fine with starting tonight,” Rhaider said.
Everyone stood and shook hands. Demi and Ree hugged, then Duke and Ree left. Titus had paperwork for the band to sign, so Demi sat and waited for them to go over everything. By the time they were finished, she was starving and ready for lunch.
“Sure you don’t want to call your folks first and make plans for a visit?” Rafe asked as he opened the car door for her.
Her heart jumped into her throat and she froze, feeling like a proverbial deer in headlights.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. “I’m not trying to push you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Well, what about your mom?”
Rhaider tapped the hood of the car. “We were going to ask if you’d like to video call with her after lunch.”
“I’d love that,” Demi said.
Rafe looked at Maverick and Rebel. “Do you guys want to join us for lunch?”
“Sure,” Maverick said.
“The B&B’s breakfast buffet was awesome. They also serve lunch too. We could eat there.”
“Sounds good,” Rhaider said.
Rhaider sat in the backseat with her, squishing up against her so she got in plenty of snuggling time while Rafe drove to the B&B, which was owned by a mated lion couple. The B&B was open to shifters of any sort, humans, and other supernatural creatures.
“I never thought about you guys not making a ton of money with the band gigs,” she said as Rafe parked next to their big van.
“It can be pretty lean,” Rhaider said as he got out of the back seat and groaned as he stretched to his full height. “We all had savings to carry us, but when we were in places where the weather was nice, we’d camp out instead of spending money on a hotel. Sometimes we slept in the van if we couldn’t find a place to stay that was cheap enough and the weather sucked. The B&B is nice, though. If the gig hadn’t worked out at Tails, there are a few other bars around looking for bands so we were planning to stick around for a little while.”
“You don’t mind being here?” she asked.
“As opposed to?” Rafe asked as he took her hand. “Since we’re exiled from our clan, we can’t go back there.”
“I know, but we could go somewhere on our own and start our own group.”
“We’re happy to be here, sweets,” Rhaider said. “We’ve traveled the country looking for our heart-match. We always hoped we’d be able to settle in with our heart-match’s people, whoever or whatever they were. If we weren’t welcome in the pride because we’re bears, then we would have taken you with us and made a group of our own. A clan-pride.”
“Cride,” Rafe said. “Plan. Ha!”
Demi giggled and went onto her toes and kissed first Rafe and then Rhaider. “I’m so glad you came to Kedrick. And I’m doubly glad you’re staying.”
“Us too,” Rhaider said.
They walked into the B&B and hooked a right to the dining room, finding a table that would seat all of them. “After lunch we’ll call our mom,” Rafe said.
Her heart still thudded a bit at the thought of talking to her parents. While they had said they supported her in her desire to find her heart-match, she wasn’t just bringing one male home to meet them. She was bringing two.
She hadn’t even fully wrapped her head around that yet.
And they hadn’t done more than kiss.
Granted, the kisses had been spectacular. And she’d never felt safer and more cared for her in life than she did falling asleep with their arms around her.
