Archer rolled his eyes, but Kody was the one who replied. "Steele guessed Leon would give you three female options; Arch and I thought he would throw one dude in just for variety."
I snickered a laugh, already pleased with the options Leon had chosen. "Well, he got a good read on what I wanted, that's for sure." I hit forward on the email and sent the files over to my new legal team, asking them to start drafting an offer of employment to the woman Leon had marked as his favorite.
That done, I tucked my phone away to enjoy the drive to our mystery vacation spot with my guys.
"So, when do you guys wanna tell me where we're going?"
The three of them all grinned, Kody catching my eyes in the mirror.
"Wait and see, babe," he told me. "Otherwise it's not a surprise."
I huffed and reached out to turn the stereo on. With music filling the car, I settled into my seat, and Archer's hand rested on my knee while he drove. It was all kinds of blissful, and I decided that maybe I didn't mind surprises so much after all.
Half a day of driving later, we pulled into a driveway lined by gorgeous old oak trees. I shot Archer a curious look, sitting up a bit straighter in my seat. He wasn't giving away shit, though. Neither were the guys in the back, but they were carefully watching me for my reactions.
The driveway wound down the side of a hill, then opened up at the bottom to reveal a stunning wooden house. Or more of a lodge than a house. It was enormous but breathtakingly beautiful, with multiple peaked roofs and an abundance of windows.
"This is gorgeous," I murmured, trying to take it all in as Archer parked next to several other cars. "Is it a hotel?"
Kody snickered, and Archer shook his head.
"No." Archer unbuckled his belt and climbed out of the car. He came around and opened my door before I got to it, then offered me his hand to step out. "It's a house." He paused then, and the other guys joined us there as we looked up at the majestic mountain lodge.
"Our house," Steele added, and my jaw dropped.
"What?" The question was more of a shriek than a word, but they got the idea.
Kody's arm wrapped around my waist, and I leaned into his side without taking my eyes off the house. "Remember, you told us about your perfect house? The one you wanted to move to when our lives were less dangerous, somewhere to get away from the violence and prying eyes of Shadow Grove?"
"Y-yeah?" I was totally dumbstruck. They’d bought us a house? Like... for all of us?
Steele took a few strides forward, opened one of the huge wooden doors, and turned to grin at me. "We've been searching for the perfect one ever since that conversation," he told me, proud as fuck. "The owners of this one took a little convincing, but about two weeks after Dave, they agreed to sell. Welcome home, Hellcat."
"If you hate it, we can keep looking," Archer added in a low voice. "We just wanted to surprise you."
I shook my head in stunned disbelief. "You definitely managed that." I finally tore my eyes from the house to look at each of my guys in wonder. "It's perfect," I told them with heartfelt honestly. I didn't even need to look inside to see if it ticked my boxes. It was perfect because they’d chosen it.
"Well, that's not all," Kody announced with a wide smile. "Come on; we have another surprise for you."
They urged me into the foyer, then hurried me through the expansive, open-plan kitchen without giving me a chance to look around properly. It didn't take long to figure out what they were so excited about, though.
The gorgeous, sunny family room opened out on the other side of the house to reveal an enormous, sparkling mountain lake.
"Holy shit," I gasped, my jaw dropping as I took in the scenery. The lake was surrounded by rolling hills and tall peaks, and not a single other house was in view. It was like our own private slice of paradise.
They’d really nailed it. Every single detail.
"And it snows here in winter," Archer whispered in my ear as I stood there, totally dumbfounded. "That lake will ice over, and the road in will become totally snowed over. We could be trapped up here for months with no contact to the outside world, if we wanted."
A shiver of excitement rippled through me, and I let out a small moan.
"It's fucking perfect," I whispered. "You guys are blowing my damn mind right now."
Movement down near the water grabbed my attention, and I squinted against the sun glare on the water. "Is that—"
"Surprise." Kody laughed. "Come on." He linked his fingers through mine and pulled me out of the house. A short staircase from the balcony took us down to a sloped lawn dotted with lovely shade trees, and at the water's edge a gazebo held a barbeque and some comfortable outdoor lounges.
Along with our friends. Everyone I cared about seemed to have been invited, including Bree with her huge belly and Dallas with his fresh Timberwolf ink.
Happy tears stung my eyes as I hugged her tight, and she just laughed back.
"You look so freaking good," I said, letting her go again.
She just beamed and shrugged, her hand rubbing her belly. "Yeah well, I have you guys to thank for that. Dallas has had a whole lot more time to spend with me now that he's out of the Wraiths."
My old friend met my eyes over his fiancée's head, and we exchanged a private smile. When we'd approached Zed about getting Dallas out of the Wraiths, he'd needed proof of loyalty. Dallas had delivered that and more, spending weeks hacking the Wraiths’ accounts and uncovering paper trails to show they'd been stealing from the Reapers.
Then, after so many Wraiths had been complicit in the attack on me, Dallas had taken matters into his own hands and killed Charon in his sleep. After that, he’d needed the Timberwolves protection more than ever, and Hades had provided it.
None of us had even known he'd done it until Cass had called for a meeting with Archer to discuss the change of leadership in the Wraiths. Skate—stupid name—had stepped up into Charon's role and been given stern warnings not to step out of line or he’d meet the same fate as his predecessor.
With a knowing wink to Dallas, I moved on to greet everyone else that had turned up. Constance hugged me like I was her own granddaughter and gave her nod of approval that I was still wearing the D'Ath family ring. Ana was with her, and they looked happier than ever.
Steinwick, Anna, and James were working the barbeque together, and the sight of our stuffy butler in pineapple-printed board shorts and an apron that had cartoon tits on it was enough to kill me laughing.
"Whatever you're cooking, it smells incredible," I told the three of them with a wide grin.
James wrinkled his nose at me in response. "It's a barbecue, MK. Don't tell me you've never had a barbecue before."
My cheeks flushed as I searched my memory. But... nope. It hadn't really been Samuel Danvers style.
"Sorry I'm late!" a familiar voice called out from the side of the house, and a bubbly redhead came bounding toward us. "MK, your house is to die for! I'm totally spending weekends here."
I grinned hard as my new friend crashed into me with a tight, way-too-friendly hug. I'd gotten used to it, though.
"Seph! Please tell me you have permission to be here." I freaking loved the girl, but I also didn't want to take the fall for her teenage-rebellion bullshit.