Page 31 of Finn's Solace

"Come on out, Pads. Time for bed," I said, and he gave a woof before jumping onto my bed again. Shaking my head, I shut the closet door and turned off the lights before joining Padfoot in my bed, where he'd of course claimed most of the space for himself.

My phone buzzed before I'd fully settled in, and I picked it up, smiling when I saw it was a text from Levi.

The first was a photo of Greta curled up on a pillow, with the top half of Levi's head in the frame. The second was a text.

Levi: Sweet dreams, Finn.

I decided to send a picture as well, but since I'd already turned off the lights and was too lazy to get back up, I used the flash on my phone, which meant Pads and I were both squinty-eyed in the photo. I sent it anyway, and wished him a good night.

Levi: Oh, I am definitely going to have some very good dreams now :P

I snorted, then put the phone away without replying. We both had work tomorrow, and I'd prefer it if Levi didn't walk into an active construction site half-awake and unfocused.

That night, I had the best sleep I'd had in ages, and my dreams were full of stars and kisses and the random wet-nosed puppy kisses.

The week after, though? That was another story. Levi and I tried to squeeze in as much time as we could to talk, but there was only so much we could do around work and other responsibilities.

Then it was Thursday, and Penny arrived like a whirlwind like usual. Rhiannon—a clan member who was a warlock—had made her a portal so she could come straight from the campus to the packland. Then she'd gotten a lift home from Rebba—Rhiannon's mate.

Hugs were exchanged, and then Penny spent a few minutes petting Padfoot and Neya and apologizing for being gone so long while Dad puttered around the kitchen making her some snacks.

"How's it going with Mr. Not-Dead?" Penny asked as Padfoot tried his best to push his head under her jacket and cuddle as close to her as physically possible.

I rolled my eyes at the nickname, then joined her on the floor since it didn't look like she planned to move anytime soon.

"Good. It's been good," I said, and she eyed me for a long moment before smiling widely. Looking at us, no one could doubt we were siblings. We had the same pale skin and green eyes, though her hair was longer than mine and a much purer shade of red. Her hair was a different style every time she came home. This time, it was in tight curls that framed her face and reminded me of the princess inBrave.

"Yeah? I'm glad to hear that. You know I'm gonna want to meet him while I'm here, right?"

I sighed, but nodded, because I knew she would track him down even if I said no. Better to introduce them myself so I'd be there to keep her under control.

"Can we invite Levi over for lunch tomorrow?" Dad asked as he came into the room with a tray laden with far too much food for a midday snack. It was a good thing we supes had fast metabolisms.

"Uh..." Meeting my sister was one thing, but meeting my parents too? Would that be too much for Levi?

Then again, living in a town this small, he was bound to run into them at some point, so wouldn't it be better to do it this way? At least here he could escape if it got to be too much.

"I'll have to check if he's free tomorrow," I hedged, and Dad shrugged. Even my basilisk side had started getting antsy after not seeing Levi forso long, but I wasn't sure if inviting him to lunch with my family would be a good idea.

"If he's not, we can do Saturday instead."

"Or Sunday," Penny added with a wink, and I scowled at her. She'd been home for what, ten minutes? And already she was a pain in my ass. Why had I been excited to see her again anyway?

"Aww, look at you. You look like an angry hamster," Penny teased as she threw her arms around my chest and dragged me to the floor as she hugged me. Damn, it was good to have her home.

Levi

Finn: Penny's home for the weekend, and she wants to meet you. Would you like to come to mine for lunch tomorrow?

I'd been staring at Finn's message in my notification window for the past five minutes and silently freaking out. I hadn't opened it yet because then he would know I'd seen the message and thenhewould start freaking out the longer I waited to reply.

It wasn't like I didn't want to see Penny. That wasn't the problem. She'd been what, nine, the last time I saw her? She'd be twenty-three now, a whole new person, and I wanted to get to know her, especially because I knew how much his siblings meant to Finn.

After meeting up with Amelia for lunch on Monday, I wanted to see all of the others, but especially Finn's siblings.

I was certain the only reason Finn had survived everything he'd been put through was because of his siblings. They were his world, which meant that if I was going to be a good mate to him, his siblings needed to be a big part of my world too.

No, the problem was the 'lunch at his home' part, because it implied Penny wouldn't be the only one there. Finn's dads would be too.

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