She scoffed a laugh. "Of course, I do. This time. Anyway, not even big, bad Hades could argue my safety when I said I was spending the weekend with you and your harem." She shot me a wink then sighed. "I mean, I did have to accept a ride from Daddy Cass to get here, though."
I almost choked on my tongue. "You did not just call him that," I said in a strangled voice as the tattoo-covered, scowling biker came stalking across the grass carrying Seph's overnight bag.
She just shrugged like she didn't see the big deal. "Maybe he should stop acting like my dad then. Oh, Bree's here! Hey, girl!" She bounded over to my bestie like an overly energetic puppy. Seph was fast becoming one of my favorite people in the whole world.
"Kid," Cass greeted me with a grunt, nodding his head to my guys as well. "Sorry to crash the party. Little shit crashed her car into a ditch last weekend, and Hades wouldn't let her drive up alone."
My brows rose, and my lips curved in a mocking smile. "So you offered? That's awfully nice of you, Grumpy. You're not even a Timberwolf; surely someone else could have done the job."
He just glared at me. "Shut up." He shifted his scowl to Archer. "Where's the booze? I'm not suffering this sober."
Archer looked like he was biting back a laugh, but clapped Cass on the shoulder and walked with him back into the house.
Kody and Steele walked with me over to the long wooden jetty that protruded out into the lake, and the three of us sat on the end of it with our feet dangling in the water.
"This is amazing, you guys know that?"
Steele's arm was around my waist, and Kody's hand rested on my knee, both radiating pride for their surprise well done.
"Well, we kinda figured this was a birthday gift to all of us," Kody told me, "seeing as none of us celebrated properly this year."
"Best birthday ever," I said with a groan of emotion. "What's that out there?" I pointed farther out into the lake where there seemed to be a platform of some sort.
Steele kissed my shoulder and his lips curved in a smile. "Just a diving platform," he said, with an edge of mischief. "We'll show you later."
Excitement buzzed through me at his tone, and I nodded. "Alright, I'll play along. So far you guys are pretty much killing it with this surprise thing."
"Score." Kody reached out a hand to Steele, who slapped it with a high five. Fucking boys.
Leaning my head on Kody's shoulder, with Steele's strong arm around me, I could barely even handle how stupidly happy they'd made me. Everything we'd gone through almost seemed worth it to have such overwhelming happiness.
Archer joined us a few minutes later, lifting me into his lap as he squeezed his ass between his friends, then he kissed me until I was panting.
"Come on, Princess. Food's ready."
"I'm not hungry," I replied, licking my lips and darting my eyes between the three of them. "Not for food."
Kody let out a groan and scrubbed a hand over his face. Steele just threw his head back and laughed. Archer met my eyes with burning heat in his gaze.
"We've got guests, Kate. Play along, and we promise it'll be worth it."
I wanted to protest, but he was right. All our family was here, for us. It'd probably be bad form to sneak off to fuck while they were waiting to eat. And I badly didn't want Constance calling us out for bad manners.
"Fine," I grumbled, letting Steele help me out of Archer's lap and up to my feet. "But I'm holding you to that promise, D'Ath."
He smirked. "I'm counting on it, Wittenberg."
I snorted and rolled my eyes. Part of my legal proceedings had been to drop the Danvers name, and it'd felt too weird to take D'Ath without Jones or Steele. So I'd taken my mother's maiden name.
I was now Madison Kate Wittenberg, and it felt right.
43
The afternoon passed in a blur of laughter, conversation, food, and cocktails. Our little crew stayed outdoors, partying until well into the evening, but Bree was the first to call it a night, yawning heavily.
She and Dallas left to drive back to Shadow Grove, where they'd recently moved into their own place together. Anna and Steinwick left not long after them, citing old age.
I gave them a suspicious look as they left together, and Kody snickered a laugh.
"They're totally fucking," he whispered in my ear.
"You think?" I hissed back at him. "Steinwick must be, like, twenty years older than her."
He just shrugged. "So what? Age is just a number, and they clearly click."
I nodded, agreeing on that statement.
"I think we might turn in as well," Connie told us with a smile. "We'll see you kids at breakfast." She and Ana made their way up to the house, hand in hand, and I watched them lovingly. The fact that they were no longer hiding their relationship from Archer made my whole heart happy.
The guys and I stayed out on the gazebo drinking and chatting with Seph, Cass, and James for a while longer, then when it got late, Steele offered to show everyone their rooms. I was itching to see the rest of the house, so I jumped at the chance to come along for the tour.
Steele took his time with it too. And there was a lot of house to cover. After he delivered our guests to their rooms, he laced our fingers together and showed me the rest of the house. Namely, my bedroom.
"Wait, how's this going to work?" I asked, standing in the middle of my gorgeous master suite. "We have our own rooms?" He'd pointed out their bedrooms along the hallway before we reached mine.
He just shrugged. "It can work however you want it to, Hellcat. There are no rules. I sort of figure we'll all pretty much live in here, anyway."
I nodded, agreeing. "Yeah, I mean, it's plenty big enough to share."
He laughed. "Even if it wasn't, it's where you are. But we figured it's good to have spare rooms to store all our crap and also for nights when you need your own space."
"Oh, yeah." I blinked several times, looking around the room again.
"Is that... okay?" Steele sounded hesitant. "If you don't—"
"No!" I cut him off before he could misinterpret my silence. "No, fuck this is all... Max, this is beyond perfect. It's just fucking hitting me, you know? This is our house. All of ours. Not Archer's house that we all happen to live in. It just feels really real."
His arms looped around my waist, and his lips pressed against my hair, kissing the faint scar from where his bullet had grazed me. "Are you okay with real, Hellcat?"
My breath rushed out in a long exhale. "God yes," I whispered. "I've never been so okay with anything in my life."
I physically felt the tension slide from his limbs, and he hugged me tighter. "Thank fuck for that. 'Cause we're never letting you go, Hellcat. You're it for all of us, forever."
Words couldn't encompass how much I agreed with that sentiment, so I let my actions speak for themselves. I kissed him with my whole heart, my hands clasping his face and my body curving into his as he kissed me back.
Before I could take it any further, though, he took a reluctant step away and gave me a predatory stare. "Too damn tempting, Hellcat," he murmured. "But we've already been gone for long enough. Kody and Arch will be getting impatient waiting for me to bring you back."