That earned him a narrow-eyed glare. “I did at least teach you not to lie. Maybe we weren’t as bad as some, but we sure as hell weren’t good.”
He kept his mouth shut and didn’t respond. When he didn’t make a sound, his father gave a grunt of approval.
“Terrence offered you the job in Cutler.” Now he wasn’t sure if he should say something, but his dad kept talking so he figured he shouldn’t. “That’s your choice. You and Trista have to do what’s best for you. But your mother wants to move back to Grayslake because of the grandcubs.” And what his mother wanted, she got. Dad may have been the Itan once upon a time, but Mom really ruled the den. “And it’d be nice to have everyone here. Give us a chance to fix what we broke.”
Keen leaned closer and lowered his voice. His father had only mentioned the position in Cutler, not the rest of the Southeast Itan’s offer. “He wants me as his Second. Trista as Keeper, Dad.”
His father sat back and blew a long breath through his mouth. “Hot damn.”
Apparently giving birth meant Mia’s ears were back in fully working order. Or she finally had enough energy to yell across the room. “Language!”
Dad grimaced. “Love that gal, but…”
Yeah, but. “We have little ears hanging around. Can’t have your grandcub’s first word have only four letters.”
He grunted and then got serious. “We want you two here, I want to get to know my son for the first time, but we don’t want to hold you back, either. I’ll tell your mother about things. She’ll understand. We can visit y’all and—”
Keen shook his head. “No, we haven’t said anything yet, but we’re going to—”
Of course, that’s when Terrence strolled over and butted into their conversation. “You’ve made a decision, then?” The man raised a single brow. “And based on your sudden frown, I don’t think I’ll like it.”
Keen grimaced, stomach twisting, and his bear growled at him over acting like a pussy. “No, we decided to pass. You’re roaring up the wrong tree with us. I know Mia’s father and Isaac will be disappointed, but we…” He met Trista’s gaze, one that was filled with love, hope, and happiness, and a sense of calm blanketed him. “We want to build a family here.”
“I understand that.” Terrence nodded. “I don’t like it, but understand it. Honestly,” he sighed, “I thought that might be your answer.” The Itan glanced to his right, looking at his own family. “My eldest is a good man. Not meant to take over the Southeast, but good nonetheless. He’s got a mate in Cutler. They’d planned on settling in the compound and working for me, but maybe it’s best for them to take over things there while Parker grows up.” He sighed and looked at Keen’s father with a rueful smile. “I have to let him go sometime, eh, old man?”
His dad gave a disgusted grunt and stood. “I’ll show you old, ya bastard.” Dad shoved at Terrence and then threw his arm around the leader’s shoulders. “There’s a good spot out back. Lemme kick your ass before dinner.”
“Language!” Mia’s voice rang through the room once again and his dad grunted in return.
Trista padded toward Keen, an uneasy smile on her lips, and he held out a hand for her. She rushed across the remaining feet and sunk onto his lap, curling against him like she’d been made for him.
“What did you two talk about?” Her voice was low, small.
“I told him and everything’s fine. He’s going to work out the details with Mia’s dad.” He pressed a kiss to her temple. He couldn’t keep his hands, or his lips, to himself when it came to her. “And his son might take over. He’s disappointed but understands.”
The tension left her with a low sigh, body deflating and molding to his. “So, it’s okay.”
“It’s okay,” he confirmed.
“We can start our life now.”
Keen looked around the room, taking in the sight of family and friends enjoying each other’s company. Yeah, it wouldn’t be the easiest life, there was still a lot of healing to do, but it’d be theirs and that’s what mattered. “Yeah, Tris, we can.”
Just then, Gigi hustled into the living room and raised her voice to be heard above the low din. “Dinner’s ready, y’all.”
As one, everyone moved, rising from chairs and pushing away from walls as they headed toward the doorway. Only Mia’s voice halted them.
“Wait! I got something to say before you all eat. The minute you stuff yourselves, you’ll be heading home, taking a nap, or disappearing to parts unknown.” The small woman pushed through the crowd and finally spun to face them. “So, before you get all comfortable, we have something to settle.” Keen noticed her arms were empty and then he spotted an exasperated Ty nearing Mia. The movement caught the Itana’s attention and she frowned at him. “Do you have the invoices?”
“No.”
The Itana narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“Because we’re not billing them.”
“We are.”
“Nope.”
Mia planted her hands on her hips. “I’m the Itana and I say—”
“I’m not invoicing my family for cursing.”
The Itana straightened her spine. “I started the swear jar months ago.”
“And forgot about it.”
“Hush. The point is I remembered now and I kept track. It’s time to pay the piper.” Mia scanned the room and finally settled on Keen.
Shit.
“Keen, you and Trista owe me
375.50 and that’s only for the last week. I’m giving you a break. It should be triple that, but you get a discount as a mating present. You can make the check out to—”
“Mia,” Ty growled and approached his mate. In one quick move, he had an arm around the woman and eased her from the room. All the while he whispered about the fact that they needed to discuss things in private and naked
.
Chuckles rolled through the room and the space slowly emptied as the crowd followed the Grayslake ruling pair. Before long, it was just him and Trista, still wrapped in each other’s arms with smiles on their faces.
“It’s not too late to escape. If we stick around, we’ll end up owing Mia enough that she could put a lien on the house or claim our first born.” Keen was only half kidding.
“No, this is home. With you, right here, right now, it’s home. And I don’t want to ever leave.”
“So, we won’t.”
Life wouldn’t be easy, it never was, but it was theirs. And it was in Grayslake.
The End
If you enjoyed Roaring Up the Wrong Tree, please be totally awesomesauce and leave a review so others may discover it as well. Long review or short, your opinion will help other readers make future purchasing decisions. So, go forth and rate my level-o-awesome!
By the way… here are a couple of links to help you hunt up the first two books of the Grayslake series:
No Ifs, Ands, or Bears About It:
http://bookbit.ly/noifszon
All Roar and No Bite:
http://bookbit.ly/arnbzon
Ex-dance teacher, former accountant and erstwhile collectible doll salesperson, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Celia Kyle now writes paranormal romances for readers who:
1) Like super hunky heroes (they generally get furry)
2) Dig beautiful women (who have a few more curves than the average lady)
3) Love laughing in (and out of) bed.
It goes without saying that there's always a happily-ever-after for her characters, even if there are a few road bumps along the way.
Today she lives in Central Florida and writes full-time with the support of her loving husband and two finicky cats.
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Published by Summerhouse Publishing. Grayslake, Book 3: Roaring Up the Wrong Tree. ISBN: 9781936950829. Copyright © 2014. Celia Kyle. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
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