Kick Back - Susi Hawke Page 0,14

as soon as we get back to my family's estate. It won't take me long, but it’s important that we take the time. Knowing what we might be heading into will be beneficial before we rush off."

His brothers and Darius got involved and the four of them discussed it while I gave in to the tears that had been building. I was filled with a strange mixture of relieved happiness and a strong dose of nerves. What if Tony wasn't okay after all these years? What if trauma had left him a mere shell of the sweet, peaceful brother I had known? God, what if his soul had been tattered and completely shredded from whatever he'd lived through over the past thirty-three years?

Dear calmly released my hand and unbuckled his seat belt. Before I understood his intention, he climbed on my lap and wrapped his arms around my neck. He held me tight, hugging and soothing me with his touch and scent. I knew two things as I hugged my mate right back. One, he clearly planned to accept our bond. And two, this was a man I could truly count on. Now I just needed to find my brother.

Dear God, please let him be okay.

4

Dearil

Oddly enough, once we got back to my family estate and Nathaniel was able to finally check with his contact—something he'd been afraid to do while on the island—it turned out that the next stop on the railroad was actually in Slovenia. When I heard that, I stared at Nathaniel in shock.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I'm not sure I know what to do with a coincidence like that." I wasn't lying, either. Seriously. What were the chances?

My brother Dan wandered into the library where I'd brought Nathaniel to make his call. Naturally, he walked in just in time to overhear. "Why is this a coincidence?"

I glared at the big oaf. "I'm sorry, were we talking to you? I'll tell you the same thing you told me when I was a kid. This is an A B conversation so you can C your way out."

Dan snorted and ignored me, turning back to Nathaniel. "My brother's just afraid that I came in here to threaten you because he knows Gibby and Nash couldn't wait to tell me that you're Dear's true mate. While most older brothers would probably warn you that they'd kill you if you hurt him, I won't bother. Mostly because my brother can handle himself but I also know it's impossible to see one’s own true mate suffer. So, instead I thought I'd come and introduce myself and offer you a shoulder to cry on when Dear gets snarky or takes all the closet space."

Nathaniel forgot all about his mission for a moment as he sighed happily and shot me a moon-eyed smile. "I'm not worried, I'm sure Dear will make plenty of room for my clothes in his closet. As for getting snarky, I'm sure any attitude he gets will be adorable."

Even I had to laugh at that. "I'll remind you that you said that the first time I tick you off. As for closet space? No promises. Sorry not sorry but I'm already borrowing the closet from the spare room for my overflow. It takes a lot of work to look this good."

Way to go, Dearil. Let Nathaniel see just how conceited you are before you even get a chance to claim him.

Nathaniel just kept smiling, though. "It seems to me like the real problem is that you need a larger closet. Wherever we end up living, we should look into that. Should we decide to make this our home base, would making your spare room into one big closet be a possibility?"

And just like that, I knew that I was going to love this man.

Dan groaned, shaking his head as if defeated. "All right, Nate. I give up, you're too far gone for any help I can offer. And since this place has more spare rooms than taken ones, how about I give our contractor a call and see about knocking out the wall between Dear's room and the spare one next door that he's talking about?"

I nodded, happy to see things going my way for a change. "Good plan, Dan. Even if we don't end up making this our home base and eventually settle somewhere else, it's probably going to be a while. I might as well have a proper closet after all these years. The only question