Page 174 of The Rust in Her Hair

Mack's mouth finally tips into a little smile, and the worry down our bond eases back a notch, and I count that as a win.

Feeling a little bratty, I touch the edge of Mack’s mating bite with two fingers, and a soft drift of emotion slips through the bond.

His eyes go wide, before narrowing at my face, and that sexy teasing grin takes hold.

I stop, but the sensation doesn't.

My body fills with a low, settled kind of warmth, like embers rather than flame, with something steadier underneath it. My Mack.

"You are trouble," he whispers as he presses his forehead to mine.

"You like trouble," I remind him, smiling wide.

"We’re here." Nico turns the truck between two stone pillars and up a long, pale drive. My parents’ big house rises at the end of it, and all of us go quiet at once.

Nico parks the truck, lays his arm over the seat, and turns to face me. "I'll say it one more time, Lyra." His dark eyes hold mine. "This is a terrible idea."

"It might be." I don't look away. "But I'm done running from these people. I've spent my whole life running. I'm not going to spend the rest of it looking over my shoulder for my own mother to jump out of the shadows." I reach up and squeeze his shoulder. "I just need a little bit of closure."

Nico nods once, then we all climb out into the sun.

Mack shuts his door behind me, then he leans back against the truck with his arms crossed. "Mind if I stay here?" He looks at me. "I don’t want to be rude, but I’d rather shit in my hands and clap then step foot in that fucking place ever again."

"Of course you can wait out here." I smile at his ridiculous turn of phrase. "In fact," I glance at Nico and Adrian, "all of you can⁠—"

"No," Nico and Adrian say at the same time.

"You aren’t going into that house alone," Nico says firmly, letting me know there will be no discussing it.

"I’ll keep you company." Owen moves next to Mack, bumping his shoulder against the alpha’s. "Someone will need to have the getaway car ready to speed out of here."

Mack smiles and wraps an arm around Owen’s shoulders.

"Actually." I point past the corner of the house, where a long bed of roses runs the length of the east wall, heavy and red and open in the light. "There's a beautiful garden around that side. It's one of the few things in this place I loved."

Mack pushes off the truck and holds his hand out to Owen. "Come on, beta. Let's go look at some flowers while the grown folks fight." Owen takes it, and the two of them wander off toward the roses.

Turning toward my parents’ home, I take a deep breath and smooth the front of my pretty blue dress down with both hands. Then I hook a finger in my collar and tug it up on one side and the other, making sure all three mating bites on my throat stay hidden. Adrian and Mack’s bites are still a little raw, but Nico's has scarred over quite nicely.

Walking up to the house, Nico takes my right hand and Adrian takes my left.

Nico raps his knuckles against the heavy door and it swings open. Thomas stands there in his black coat, older than I remember, and his careful expression falls open when he sees me.

"How nice to see you, Ms. Lyra," he says with a soft smile. Thomas has worked in this house since before I presented. He used to slip me cookies when my mother wasn't looking.

“It’s good to see you too, Thomas.” I smile.

“I didn’t know you would be bringing company.” The beta glances at Nico then Adrian, clearly flustered, before finally recovering. “Madam Van Houten was expecting only you, miss."

"Lyra asked us to come," Nico says, with all his alpha power pouring into his voice.

I want to tell him that he doesn’t have to talk to Thomas like that, but there’s not much of a point. We’re never coming back here, anyway.

"I'm not comfortable being in my father's house without my mate," I tell Thomas gently, because none of this is his fault. "Adrian stays with me. And Nico stays with Adrian."

Thomas hesitates. His eyes move over the two big men on either side of me, and his mouth thins. I can see he doesn't like it, that some part of him is already bracing for what my mother will say. But he's known me since I was small, and whatever he reads in my face now, he gives way to it.

"Of course, miss." He steps back and draws the door wide. "Please. Come in."