Page 56 of Sweetheart

“Probably not,” River agreed. “He’s kind of a big deal in the fae realm.”

Anton snorted.

“Okay,” Mason said. There was a story there.

“Shawn and I met and Ansley and Trevor met through us. We were next,” Sam said. “Shawn was the wolf and Trevor is the black panther. We’re both human too.”

Mason nodded. So many humans in the family. That helped him feel more at ease.

“Then we get to the weird ones,” Lawson said with a grin.

“Be nice.” Bryce shoved Lawson.

“I am!” Lawson exclaimed. He winked at Mason.

Mason took a bite of his pizza. He was riveted by the stories.

“Seb is River’s twin, and he was visiting Nate, Craig, and Bo in the hell realm where they live part-time, and that’s where he met Ash, who’s a Reaper.”

“The hell realm,” Mason said. “That was mentioned before.”

“There are many realms,” Bryce said. “Our family is unusual in that we’re made up by many different species of paranormal.”

“Okay so Seb lives in the hell realm now? That’s why he’s not here?”

“Yes. Ash is always very busy so he’s probably working and Seb loves being in his home. He doesn’t really like to…people.”

“What’s a Reaper?”

“Ash guides souls once they pass. Good and bad—it doesn’t matter to him. He’s there to make sure they don’t get lost. Sometimes Seb goes with him but mostly Seb stays in the Hell realm where he’s most comfortable.

“Understandable,” Mason said. He nibbled on the rest of his pizza.

“Although you’ll probably spend a lot of time in the Hell realm as well. Levi helps train the demons and Tristan is ademon so maybe your brother will live there,” Lawson said. “Or they can choose to live here. We can put them up in a suite.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.” Not that Mason thought that his twin would have any issues being in the Hell realm. Jason did like adventure. “I hope that hell has good insurance. My brother can be a bit of a menace.”

“He’ll fit in just fine,” Lawson assured him.

“And last but most certainly not least is Adam and Mal,” Bryce said. “Adam is awesome. He’s a dryad and so much fun to play with. He’s mated to Mal, who is the master of punishment.”

“I don’t know what that is either,” Mason confessed. He’d only thought about shifters and maybe a vampire or something. Dragons, fae, hell—wow, just wow.

“Basically he’s the demon in charge of hell,” Lawson explained. “He makes sure that the souls that did bad have a really bad afterlife. Adam collects demons and makes them all family so he’s a bit busy right now as well.”

“And now you!” Bryce cheered. “You are going to be mated to our gargoyle and your brother to a demon!”

“I am!” Mason grinned. “So how about the single members of the family?”

“We’ve almost all found our mates,” Lawson said. “The only single ones are Logan and Gavin.”

“I thought.” Mason could feel himself frowning. “I thought mates are rare. Like really rare.”

“They were,” Bryce said. “More are being found but we don’t know why. Seb’s on a mission to find out though.”

“You don’t know why?” Mason questioned. That didn’t sound right. “About the curse?”

“Curse?” Lawson sat up quickly. “What curse?”

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