Page 44 of Bearly Hanging On

The restaurant was a whole lot more low-key than the one I went to last night, but it looked ten times cooler. Brightly coloured murals covered the outside, with tall ceramic pots filled with different coloured geraniums. People sat in booths on the veranda or walked in and out of the swinging wooden doors, servers toting plates of amazing smelling food. One gorgeous lady turned and stopped to stare when we approached before handing a platter to another server.

“Torren?” She rushed forward, placing her hands on his cheeks, then tugging him down for a hug. The woman was tiny but crazy strong. “What are you doing here?” She pulled away and then looked up at me. I knew exactly where he got those green eyes from, because hers were identical as she smiled up at me. “And who is this?”

“Mum.” Oh no. Oh freaking no. I shot Tor a dark look. “This is my mate, Harper.”

Chapter 18

Tor

“You brought me to meet your mother…!” Harper hissed.

No, no, I did not.

“Mum, I thought you had that thing on tonight,” I said, shooting her a meaningful look, but my mother was not to be dissuaded.

“A pipe burst in the community hall,” she replied, but her focus had shifted to Harper. “But now I see this is the work of the gods. Torren…” Mum sighed as she stared up at Harper. “She’s beautiful.” That earned me a sidelong look from my mother. “Too beautiful for the likes of you.” Finally, she held her hand out. “I’m Anya, by the way. If you wait for that son of mine to make introductions, it’ll never happen.”

“Harper,” my mate replied, taking her hand. “Lovely to meet you, Anya.”

“Come inside!” Mum started for the door, gesturing for us to follow. “We’ve got the big table set up in the courtyard.”

My heart sank.

“We don’t have to go inside.” I stepped between the restaurant and Harper. “I thought my family were out at a function. We can go somewhere else.” I blinked, realising what awaited us. The big table was the one used for large events. That meant every damn tiger shifter in the city was here. “Actually, we should go.”

“Torren!” Mum’s tone was sharp and full of command. “Stop dithering around outside. Your aunties and uncles would love to meet your mate.”

“You’re really freaking out.” Harper’s smile was both reassuring and terrifying in turns. “What’s gonna happen if we go inside, Tor?”

“You’re going to get mobbed by an ambush of tiger shifters,” I said.

“That’s what they call a group of tiger shifters?” she asked. “An ambush?”

“It’ll be an ambush alright.” I blinked, able to see the ghosts of family events past flittering before my eyes. “There’ll be embarrassing stories.” It was like tigers had a photographic memory, recording every stupid thing I’d ever done for posterity. “I’m sure photos will come out at some point.”

“Of you as a little tiger kitten?” Her eyebrows shot up right before she dodged around me, heading towards the door. “Oh, this I gotta see.”

Mack was gonna kick my arse. He’d been clear that we needed to put the work in and woo Harper, and I thought I had it covered. Growing up in the apartment above the restaurant, me and my sisters worked in the kitchen or on the floor after school. It meant I knew every dish, every drink on the menu, making me think I could be that confident guy, ordering for Harper.

Instead, we walked into this.

“Torren!”

What felt like hundreds of familiar faces looked up as we walked into the courtyard, but it was actually about thirty.

“You all know this one,” Mum said with a flap of her hand. “But this is Harper. She’s someone very special to my boy.”

“It’s not too late.” I turned Harper around to face me. “We haven’t sat down yet. If we get out now, I can have us at a nearby McDonalds’ car park, scarfing down Big Macs in minutes.”

“And where would be the fun in that?” she said, before stepping up to the table. “Hi, everyone.”

This was it, the moment when hope died. No woman could survive the tender mercies of my family.

“I’m Mira,” my eldest sister said, gesturing to the chair next to her. “Tor’s sister. So how did the two of you meet?”

All I wanted was some good food and conversation with my mate. I hadn’t had much of a chance to chat with her the first night we met, and the second… I shifted in my seat, remembering how that went. Pretty sure there’d be no repeats, because this was the moment Harper found out how much of an idiot I was.

“So why wasTor on the roof of the restaurant in the first place?” Harper asked, mid anecdote.

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