Page 56 of Brandt's Rule

“We’ve definitely got a large extended family. All of us live on the same property not far from here. We each live far enough away that we can have an element of privacy, but the entire property is owned by our family,” Janie explained.

“We call it the compound,” Brandt said with a grin.

“We call yours the compound, too,” Janie teased.

“Yours?” Tempest asked, looking at Brandt.

“My generation needed room to expand and have our own places, so I bought some acreage not too far from home and that’s where most of my generation will eventually have homes. I live there now. So do Barron, Hellen, and Christian. You haven’t met him yet. He’s in the city a lot. He’s working on his residency, but when he’s home, he’s at his house out here.”

Tempest nodded. “I’d like to see it some time. It sounds a lot like my home.”

“I’ll take you to see it,” Brandt said, looking deeply into her eyes.

“Tempest is an unusual name. It’s beautiful! Is it a family name?” Janie asked.

“No, ma’am. Just a name my mother felt fit me.” Tempest started smiling and ended up laughing. “She was right. I tend to be a bit stormy. My grandfather always just called me Pest.”

Brandt barked out a laugh. “Pest. I love it.”

“No one but my grandfather gets away with that. Fair warning,” Tempest said smirking at Brandt.

“Surely you wouldn’t mind if I call you Pest from time to time.”

Tempest raised one delicate eyebrow as she stared him down.

“Do not call her Pest. She’s no more a pest than you are,” Janie said, reaching out and pinching Brandt’s forearm.

“Ouch! Okay!” Brandt said, rubbing his arm. “You pinch hard.”

“Had to learn to pinch hard to make sure he and his father knew when I meant business,” Janie said, pleasantly, smiling at Tempest while Brandt rubbed his arm.

Tempest couldn’t help it. The thought of this little human female keeping Brandt and his father — who must obviously be a Bear shifter in line — had her laughing and blinking away tears all at once.

“Oh, dear, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Janie said, reaching out and laying her hand over Tempest’s.

“No, you didn’t. You just reminded me of my grandmother. She’s just like you,” Tempest said meaningfully. “And she keeps my grandfather and my Uncle Boon and even my mother and father in shape when needed. Come to think of it, she’s been the grounding force for most of the original inhabitants of…” Tempest stopped talking, not wanting to give too much away, “my town.”

“Where is your town, I know you said south, but what’s it called?”

“It doesn’t really have a name you’d recognize. It’s not on any map. It’s for people like your husband and Brandt and others like them.”

Janie nodded, understanding fully that it was a town for paranormals. “I get it,” she said nodding. “I’m hoping you’ll be staying here for a while, though,” she said, looking from Tempest to Brandt and back.

Tempest opened her mouth to answer, but wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t know how long she’d be staying before she decided to move on, if she decided to move on. She and Brandt hadn’t even spoken about what was happening, or not happening, between them.

“Close your mouth, don’t blow this,” Bailey whispered in a singsongy kind of way as she reached across Tempest to hand Janie her coffee, and then handed Brandt his.

Brandt smirked and tried to not notice Bailey coaching Tempest. His mother hadn’t noticed a thing as she sampled her coffee.

“Can I get you guys anything else?”

“No, thank you. I think we’re set,” Brandt said.

“You sure? I just made some chocolate croissants. They’re still nice and warm.”

“Ohhh, yes!” Janie said.

“Sold,” Brandt said, looking at the girl with different eyes since she was obviously concerned with Tempest’s happiness.

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