Page 43 of Finding Embers and Stars (Twin Flames Duet #1)
Chapter forty-three
G iven the excitement yesterday, we all crashed early. Once again, we chose a puppy pile in the TV room. None of us wanted to be out of reach of our mates so soon after the bond snapped into place.
I’m one of the first ones up. Life on the water starts at dawn, so it's a habit now. When I walk into the kitchen, Milo is already there. Even though he doesn’t drink it, he has a pot of coffee going and the electric kettle of hot water for his tea and Piper’s hot chocolate.
I can tell there is something on his mind, but he doesn’t say anything until everyone makes it to the kitchen. Sage is the last to join us, stumbling into the room, looking adorably sleepy.
Piper made it down shortly after I did and immediately jumped in to help Wyatt make breakfast. I’ve been banned from touching the stove, so I snag Sage around the waist and pull her into my lap.
She snuggles into my chest, and I think she’s gone back to sleep until Piper walks over with a cup of coffee and the smell has Sage sitting up straight and gulping down the steaming drink.
I don’t know how she does it.
Blowing on my cup one more time, I take a tentative sip. Yup, still way too fucking hot.
Wyatt lays out the platters of bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes on the table, then takes a seat pulling Piper into his lap.
If I hadn’t been watching her, I wouldn’t have noticed the way she froze in his arms, hovering over his lap. Luckily, Wyatt picked up on her unease and wrapped an arm around her, gently but firmly guiding her to sit down.
It’s going to take work from all of us to help the girls move past their trauma responses.
Piper finally gives in, relaxing into his chest as he hands her a cup of hot chocolate. The blush on her face is adorable and I’m reminded again of how lucky we are. We were blessed with two wonderful mates. Twice the love, the beauty, and from what I’ve seen of these two, twice the shenanigans.
I wouldn’t give it up for all the stars in the sky.
I drop a kiss behind Sage’s ear and scoop up a fork full of eggs, offering her the bite.
She stares at the fork and then over her shoulder at me, not upset but baffled. Has no one ever offered to feed her before?
Slowly she leans in, her lips closing around the tines of the fork and as she pulls back her tongue peeks out to swipe at a crumb on her lip.
My cock twitches, clearly on board with anything Sage wants to lick. The wicked gleam in her eyes tells me she knows exactly what she’s doing to me.
“Now that everyone is here, it’s family meeting time.” Milo’s rude interruption has me shifting my focus to him instead of Sage for a moment.
“What’s so important it needs a meeting?”
He grins at me. “Focus, Walker. You can flirt with our mate later. The girls put me in touch with my uncle yesterday. I found out he’d left instructions that I was to be given a letter when I turned sixteen. It should have explained what I was and why he had to leave me. Obviously, it was never given to me. Along with that letter was supposed to come information about my trust fund. Ben and the butterfly dragons have been contributing to it for years. I logged in this morning, and there is nearly five hundred million dollars in it.”
There is dead silence around the room as everyone tries to process the idea of that many zeros. It took the five of us working full time for years before we could afford our place.
That Milo now has millions at his disposal is mind-boggling.
Mav finally breaks the silence with a whispered, “Fuck me.”
Sage snorts. “We told you guys we had fairy god dragons.”
Milo looks over at Liam. “Sam said you can call him when you’re ready, so you can discuss what to do with the money.”
“Hold on now.” Liam looks startled and a little worried. “That’s your money. I have no issues helping you handle it, but it’s yours to make the decisions on.”
Milo casually grabs a pancake from the stack and frisbees it at Liam’s face. More laughter breaks out and once it dies down, Milo gets serious. “We’ve been brothers since the day we met. This is our money. The seven of us. I already asked Sam to get everyone added to the account, including the girls.”
Milo’s gaze shifts to them. “I know you have your own money and don’t need this, but as your mates, we want to make sure you have everything you need and have access to every part of our lives.”
Piper reaches across the table and squeezes Milo’s hand, but her eyes are on Sage. They are having one of those weird conversations where they don’t speak but say everything. I wonder how long it will take before they remember they can now speak mind to mind and don’t have to rely on the intense—if not slightly creepy—eye contact.
Sage nods and Piper explains. “We already took steps to have you all added to our accounts. We don’t care if you want to keep things separate or combine it all. It’s whatever will make you guys most comfortable. Sam knows to keep our business stuff separate, but other than that we can set it up however you think is best. The car insurance has been updated for all the vehicles and there are new credit cards in each of your names upstairs.”
Once again, we’re stunned into silence. Sage seems to take our quiet as a bad sign and she quickly jumps in to reassure us. “That doesn’t mean you need to give us access to your money. That isn’t why we added you to our stuff. We’ve had seven years to wrap our minds around having five mates, and we planned accordingly. We’ve always known we would be sharing our lives with you guys. We understand that you've been busting your asses to get this far, and we don’t want to take anything away from that. Piper and I know what it’s like to struggle. We just got really lucky when we landed at the shelter. On top of that, you guys have only had ten days to get used to the idea, so we don’t want to rush anything.”
Kind and caring to the end, but I can see the tension in both of our mates as they wait for our answer. Opening my bond to the guys, I’m careful to keep the girls blocked. “Mav, I think you need to take this one. You had the most concerns about money, and they need to hear from you directly what you want to do. If you’re willing to combine accounts or not.”
Mav gives a subtle nod, clearing his throat. “I know I was a dick about the money. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an idiot alpha who sometimes thinks that beating on my chest and growling is the way to get what I want. I’ve always felt that we should provide for our mate. Having two fated mates is just as much of a happy surprise as finding out our mates are unbelievably badass. The more I’ve thought about the situation, the more I’ve come to realize it’s pretty amazing that money isn’t part of the equation for us. It’s one more thing that proves that you are with us for us, and not to be supported.”
Piper’s eyes are glistening, and Sage has a death grip on my arm, but their smiles say everything we need to hear. My stubborn brother got things right, after all.
The ring of the doorbell breaks up the family meeting and the way Sage jumps off my lap and runs down the hall cackling has us intrigued. This can’t be a good sign.
Piper is only a beat behind her, leaving the rest of us to follow along like the lost puppies we are.
“I need big strong men to come help us, please!” The shout is followed by matching giggles, and I can’t help but wonder what kind of trouble our mates have gotten into now.
Shirts, a heat press, a sublimation printer, and other things I couldn’t even identify. Not to mention twelve cases of their books.
I didn’t realize what went into sending out signed paperbacks and the swag that goes with them. When Liam and I ordered our signed copies from the girl’s website, I was thrilled with the bonus stickers and pens we got along with the books.
Now I can see the whole process from the other side.
Nine trips later, we have all the boxes moved to the third floor and the girls already have things set up to start making shirts. The guys and I are sitting around the room, cold beers in hand as we watch them giggle over the shirt design they are making.
Apparently, one of the guys that works at the shelter is a jackalope shifter and his animal side has a habit of telling anyone that will listen how magnificent he is. So as a prank, they are printing him a shirt with a fluffy tailed bunny butt outline that says ‘Magnificent Bunny’ on it.
As they are making shirts, the girls explain that they always send a care package to their family at the shelter. Signed copies of all their books are the one thing they were asked for when the people at the shelter helped them get started.
Now it’s turned into an excuse to make fancy care packages whenever they have a new book release.
Looking around the room, I see the same look of adoration on my brother’s faces that I know is on mine. I love watching them.
In a non-creepy stalker sort of way. Usually.
The way Piper and Sage relax around each other while staying completely in tune with one another is amazing.
Another loud cackle breaks through my musings, and Piper grins at me as she rounds the table. Not that I’m going to complain. Her new position puts her lush ass directly in my line of sight.
The way they both keep peeking over at me tells me they are up to something, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what.
The one thing I do know is that I’m excited to find out.