Page 10 of The Russos

It wasn’t long before the music called to me. Tilting my head, I whispered softly to Hannah, “Dance with me.”

Hannah bit her lip and her eyes widened slightly as she looked down at the gyrating crowd, but she nodded her agreement. Standing, I pulled her up and descended the stairs, pulling her gently along behind me through the crowd until we were at the far end of the dancefloor where it wasn’t as crowded. Turning, I pulled her into my arms to hold her close so that she could rest her head against me in her favourite position, tucked just under my chin.

“You doing okay, baby girl?”

Hannah nodded before answering, “Yeah, honey, I’m doing just fine.”

Pressing a kiss to her forehead, “Good, let me know when you’ve had enough, and we’ll head back to the hotel.”

“Will do,” she hummed at me, her chest rattling with a slight purr and my animal rumbled back.

I smiled; her tiger was slowly coming back, or I hoped she was.

CHAPTER 9

LUCA

Standing at the glass enclosure in the VIP lounge, I looked down at the crowd. My eyes settled on Anton and Hannah as they danced. They were totally absorbed in each other. This was as it should be, and I hated the feeling of jealousy that had crept up on me over the weeks since we’d found her. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Hannah because I did, and I was happy for them, but for so long, it had just been me and Anton against the world. Now that whole world had shifted, and I was wondering where my place was now.

“Talk to me, Luca,” Renee said, coming to stand next to me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, not knowing where to start. But I should have known my friend would have been able to read me. We’d known each other a long time, so it wasn’t a surprise when she started the conversation for me. “Anton looks so happy now that he’s found Hannah.”

I nodded and my eyes caught hers in the glass, “He is,” I answered.

She let out a soft hum of agreement and settled her head on my shoulder, “But you don’t know where you fit in now?”

I let out a chuff of laughter, “Are you sure you’re not psychic?”

Renee lifted her head and grinned at me, “No, I’m not psychic, but I’ve known you all my life. I KNOW you, Luca, and this will be hard for you. Until you find your mate, you’ll feel like a third wheel. You and Anton have always been close, closer than most siblings. Plus, I know the feeling. When Lottie and Kyle mated, I felt like I’d lost a limb, especially when the twins left not long after. We went from four adult women constantly in each other’s pockets on the farm to suddenly just me.”

I don’t think any of us had thought about how Lottie’s mating had affected Ren. I felt like an arsehole. My head snapped around to look at her, but she stopped me with a finger on my lips, “I’m fine, Luca. I keep myself busy on the farm, help here when I’m needed and as soon as all the babies are here it will be chaos for a while, so I’ll be even busier. But we weren’t talking about me, we were talking about you. What can we do to make this easier on you?”

Relaxing slightly at her chiding, I shrugged, “There’s nothing you can do, Ren. I’m a big boy, I’ll get over it and hopefully my mate won’t take her time finding me or me finding her.”

My attention was drawn back to the glass in front of me and I caught the eyes of Miah, who was watching us, his brow drawn into a frown.

‘Interesting,’I thought. Going on instinct, I pressed a kiss to Renee’s temple, something I’d done a hundred times before, so she’d not think anything of it, but Miah wouldn’t know that. I wanted to see the reaction I got from him. The frown on his face deepened and his eyes narrowed on mine when he caught me watching him. Oh, yeah, the human wasn’t happy with me. My curiosity satisfied, I tried to gauge what Renee thought about relationships. As far as I knew, she’d never really been interested in anything long term.

“What about you?” I queried.

Tilting her head on my shoulder, Renee looked at me with puzzled eyes. “What do you mean? What about me?”

“Are you interested in anyone, or are you waiting for your mate?”

Renee gave a small laugh and shook her head, “Nope, I’m not looking for a relationship. I decided long ago I wasn’t going to get involved with anyone. Not with my family’s history. Instead, I’ll be the spinster aunt, happy to spoil all the nieces and nephews you guys are going to give me.”

My heart sank at her words. Her family’s history wasn’t good, but to completely dismiss the idea of ever having a mate, no, I couldn’t fathom it. Renee was one of the most mothering women I knew; she’d been both mum and sister to the twins, who were ten years younger than her.

I tightened my arm around her shoulders, clearing my throat before replying huskily, “That makes me sad, Ren. You deserve to have someone love you.”

Renee shrugged a little, she lifted her head off my shoulder and looked at me with sad eyes, “Most males want offspring, Luca, and with my family history that is not something that I can give them.”

“Ren, your history doesn’t mean you can’t have children. Look at Lottie.”

“It’s a lottery, though, Luca, and I’m not willing to put myself through the agony. I’ve made sure that I’ll never have to,” Renee said softly.

“Oh, Ren,” my heart breaking for her, I wrapped her tight in my arms in a hug. My jealousy forgotten as I was reminded that there were worse things in this world than not having your mate.It was in our nature to want to have young and for Renee to have made the decision to never have any would have been hard for her.

I loosened my grip when she pushed against my chest. Wiping her fingers under her eyes, she sniffed, pulled her shoulders back and lifted her head. Inhaling a deep breath, she asked, “How do I look?”

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