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AYO

I stand on the front lawn and stare up at the eighteenth century manor that was my home for the majority of my life. “Maybe I should sell it.”

“Are you kidding ?” Jet screeches.

“This place is epic, ” Kit says.

“Can we explore?” Skye asks, bouncing almost as much as Jet is. To be fair, he stayed outdoors when we infiltrated the place and the other two didn’t get to see the full house.

“Go for it,” I say.

Skye, Jet, and Kit take off immediately, barrelling in through the open front doors. Cal and Raj follow at a more normal pace.

Ethan takes my hand as we head in after them. “It’s an impressive building.”

That statement tells me absolutely nothing about how he feels about the whole situation. I know Ethan is all about the modern—his flat, the office, his SUV all attest to that—and this building is the exact opposite.

After we bonded a few days ago, we had a long conversation about not keeping secrets from one another and talked through the implications of such a large inheritance.

The majority of the money is tied up in investments, which is how it was able to grow so huge with no one to spend it over the last decade, but there’s enough accessible cash to renovate the manor if I want to.

I’m just not sure, though. This old building has seen so much death and betrayal. And Ethan, unhelpful mate that he is, is leaving it up to me to decide. He seems to be trying not to influence me one way or the other.

I lead Ethan to the coven leader’s office, because if there’s one room in this house that will bring up every possible emotion, it’s that one. I let the door swing open and stand in the doorway, Ethan a silent support behind me.

It’s dustier than I remember. The desk and chairs are still there, my name still carved into the desk leg. The piles of books on the floor and magic-infused jewellery in the cabinet remain as well.

I’ve rebuilt the ward on the estate to keep out everyone except my pack, and there’s no ward on this room now that Nyoka’s magic has been bound, so I force myself to step forward and retrieve the keys from the top left hand drawer of the desk.

I walk to the cabinet and unlock it, reaching up to press my palm against my focus.

My moonstone pulses back, ready to get to work.

Ethan leans against the doorframe, hands in his pockets, watching me. “Why the jar in the fridge? When we left the keys behind that night.”

I snort as I watch the blue of my magic dissolve the spells on each ring and pendant, one by one.

Since the jewellery allows the magic to be separated from the mage who created it, they’re all still active.

“Nyoka sleepwalks. His wallet, phone, stylus, and keys would often turn up in random places in the kitchen. The fridge was a favourite.”

I used to think it was funny. Nothing about my cousin is funny anymore.

There’s a pained yell from somewhere upstairs. Shit.

Ethan and I take off running. Of course, my mate is much faster than I am and by the time I reach my old apartment, everyone else has already gathered and is staring up at where Jet is pinned to the living room ceiling by both magic and an arrow through his forearm.

“What in the actual fuck are you doing up there?” Ethan growls.

“It’s not my fault!” Jet protests.

“It never is,” Raj mutters.

I put my hands on my hips. “Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything that smells of magic?”

“Sorry, Alpha-mate,” Jet whines. “Can you get me down? Please?”

We all stare up at the twelve-foot ceiling. If I remove the magic first, he’ll be left hanging by the arrow in his arm.

Skye looks at Ethan, who gives him a sharp nod. Skye strips off his T-shirt. “You owe me for this.”

“I’ll buy you as many vodka and Irn-Brus as you want tonight,” Jet promises.

This evening is my birthday party. We’ve hired out a club for the night and invited all of my friends from across the city. If they could get along long enough to mount a rescue operation when I went missing, they can handle not starting a fight for one night.

“Does Club Apex even sell Irn-Bru?” Skye asks as he unfastens his jeans and shoves them down.

It’s a Scottish drink not as readily available in England, so it’s a fair question.

“Then name your price,” Jet says.

“First dibs,” Skye states.

“On what?”

“Everything.”

Ethan rolls his eyes, Cal’s lips twitch, and Raj doesn’t bother to hide his smirk. Kit is less restrained, laughing out loud.

Jet scrunches up his face, then sags into the ceiling. “Fine,” he whines.

As soon as Skye is naked, Cal offers his hand at around knee height. In an impressive move, Skye puts one foot on Cal’s hand and, right as Cal launches him into the air, shifts into his eagle form.

It’s definitely not the first time they’ve done that. Skye reaches the ceiling easily and manages to grip the shaft of the arrow in his beak, flapping to maintain his height. It takes a few tugs before the arrow comes free, sending Skye tumbling backwards as Jet grimaces at the pain.

Ethan catches Skye and lowers him to the ground, where he shifts and redresses.

“What did you touch?” Ethan asks Jet.

“Can I get down now?” Jet begs. There’s blood pooling on his arm, but the magic pinning him to the ceiling prevents it from dripping. His advanced shifter healing will already be repairing the damaged flesh.

Ethan folds his arms.

I turn and scan the room for likely suspects. My magic latches on to a portrait of Fraser’s father where my mum’s favourite painting used to hang. It covers a safe, but it definitely didn’t used to have any sort of arrow-level protections.

“This?” I check with Jet.

Jet pouts. “I was checking for secret safes or passageways or something.”

We never did tell him about the secret grimoire room in the library, but he’s clearly on the right track regardless.

I destroy the protection spells, stumbling when Cal shoves me out of the way of another arrow as it shoots out of the wall. Cal catches it in his hand as Ethan steadies me before wrapping his arms around me tightly from behind, his heart thumping rapidly against my back.

“Holy shit,” Kit murmurs.

“Are you okay?” Raj asks, scenting me.

“Fine.” I nod. “This is new. We’re going have to check the entire manor, regardless of what I do with the place.”

“Not alone,” Ethan grumbles.

“I have an idea about that,” Cal says.

“Ayo? Bestest alpha-mate in the whole world?” Jet calls from the ceiling.

“About the manor?” Skye asks.

Cal gives a sharp nod. “If Ayo wants to hear it.”

“Ayo? Anyone?” Jet tries again.

“Of course,” I say to Cal.

Cal glances briefly at Ethan before focusing on me. “A pack house. Somewhere for us all to live. Together.”

There’s absolute silence for a heartbeat before everyone starts talking at once. Raj starts talking logistics, Kit starts planning parties, Skye wants an attic bedroom so he can fly straight out of the window and, from the ceiling, Jet starts chattering about pack runs on the estate.

Ethan turns me in his arms and cups my cheek. “What do you think, sweet thing?”

I bite my lower lip. Do I want to turn this place into a pack house? Live here with my crazy new family? Fill the place with love and laughter again?

I swallow around the lump in my throat. “Mum and Dad would have loved that.”

The others grow quiet. Ethan scents me and brushes away a stray tear that slipped out without my permission. “Is that a yes?”

I take a deep breath. “It’s a yes.”

Before I know it, I’m in the middle of a giant group hug. Even Cal gets in on the action.

Then, from above us… “Somebody let me dooooooowwwwwnnn! Ayyyyo!”

THE END