Page 122 of Hearts of Stone

Only to find out I had visitors waiting for me.

“Jade…!”

Mum came rushing towards me from the kitchen the moment I opened the front door and, as my eyes went wide, Harry appeared behind her with Dad.

“Jade, your parents arrived so I—”

“You haven’t called me. You haven’t replied to any of my messages.” Mum swatted me on the arm and I just stared at her, then at Harry, my eyes going wider still because the sun was almost setting. “We were worried, darling. We had to get the address for this place from the Google Maps.” She leaned in, looking around her nervously. “Are you sure this is all yours?”

“Ah, yeah,” I said. “So, you’re staying here?” I ushered them back into the kitchen and saw the kettle had already been put on. Typical Mum. She’d ignored the fancy-pants coffee machine and had found a canister of instant coffee instead.

“Well, love, we wanted to make sure you’re OK,” Dad said, shooting me a meaningful look, right before he pushed a folded-up newspaper my way. “We heard about what happened with Trevor from his parents and then…”

I scanned the article and then smiled. Apparently Mr Fancy Pants lawyer had got involved in some shonky deals with the…Dorian Group? I wasn’t familiar with them, but apparently when one member had been caught out using stand-over tactics to guarantee a sale, he’d squealed on the others. Trevor had been the one drawing up contracts and moving funds around like a crazy person, trying to cover their tracks and now they had all been arrested. If convicted, he’d probably end up in some kind of cushy jail for white collar crims, but still… He could kiss that hard-won law degree goodbye once he had a criminal conviction.

“So what’s been going on?”

When Dad asked the question, I knew there was so much more to my answer than I could comfortably divulge, but right as I was about to open my mouth, I heard a thump on the roof. Dad frowned, looking up, then got to his feet. Mr DIY, he’d be diagnosing the issue in his head as he scaled the stairs, but as I started to babble out something, anything, to direct his attention away from the roof, the sound of footsteps thumping down the stairs drowned me out.

“Now, where is our mate…?” Seneca said, right before the four of them froze in front of my father.

“Oh!” Mum said, hand going to her mouth. Her eyes slid down, getting a very big eyeful of one significant way that gargoyles differed from human men. “Oh my!”

Graven frowned and Carrick’s lips twisted into a smile. And while Wulfstan looked around for sources of danger, Seneca tiptoed over to the side of the corridor and affected a pose resembling an ancient Greek statue.

“Seriously…?” I shook my head. “Guys, these are my parents. Mum, Dad, these are the gargoyles of the house. They’re my…” I couldn’t bring myself to pretend otherwise, not with the exhaustion of the other night still weighing me down. Everything we had could be snatched away at any point, so I forged on. “They’re my fated mates.”

“Fated. Mates?” Dad said.

“They’re soul bound to me, are unfailingly loyal, will never sleep with their secretaries and…” I smiled slowly, getting a lump in my throat. “They keep me safe.”

“And love you.” Carrick stepped forward and pulled me into his arms so I was facing my parents. “We will always love you, Jade.”

I traced my hand up his arm, marvelling at the veins that shifted under his skin, lying over all that taut muscle. I felt the slightly roughed stone texture of his skin and then smiled.

“And they love me,” I confirmed, “just like I love them.”

“Well, then,” Dad said, in his usual gruff ‘meet the parents’ voice. “You’re a damn sight better than that bastard, Trevor, that’s for sure. Wouldn’t find blokes like this sponging off you while they get a fancy degree, only to rip off honest people.” His eyes slid down though. “Could do with more pants though. Do you fellas fancy a beer?”

“A drink with the man that fathered the most beautiful woman in the world?” Wulfstan said with a smile. “I couldn’t think of anything better, though I do see where Jade gets her looks from.” He shot Mum a look that had her blushing.

And so, just like every other Australian woman who brought her boyfriend(s) home to meet the parentals, the occasion was marked by several beers around the kitchen table as Dad quizzed them on their intentions.

“So we’re all your fated mates, then?”

Mum had passed out asleep on the couch and Dad was having a very intense conversation with Wulfstan about the differences between freshwater vs saltwater salmon fishing. It helped that Dad had always wanted to visit Scotland and Wulfstan was happy to regale him with details of the rivers there.

Carrick pulled me into the corner of the kitchen, his mouth brushing across the tip of my ear.

“So you’ve decided to acknowledge that you are mine then?”

“Did I even have a choice?” I asked, looking up and seeing his eyes burn like black fire as he smirked down at me.

“None whatsoever.”

“So what’re you going to do about it?” I asked, glancing at the rest of the kitchen, wondering if anyone could hear us whispering.

“The only thing I can.” His low growl was all the warning I got as he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder, carrying me out of the room.

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