And in the center of all that greenery, sitting atop a massive hill, was a house that couldn’t really be called a house at all.
A villa. A chateau. Hell, let’s just call it what it was—a castle.
“Holy shit,” I muttered as I leaned forward and stared at all that stone and glass and wealth. It's just utterly beautiful.
I was vaguely aware of Caelan’s deep chuckle, and for some weird reason I could sense that he was pleased I was in so much awe over his home, as if he wanted me to like it.
“It’s just a house.”
I looked at him with what I knew were huge, rounded eyes. “That is not just a house.”
His grin was big and infectious, and I couldn’t help but smile in return.
I faced forward again just as he pulled to a stop in front of massive iron gates. And of course there was a depiction of a huge wolf head in the center, the name MCGREGOR right above that.
Caelan had also called his family, gave them a brief rundown of what had happened the last couple of days, why we were coming back, and the help I needed. I felt myself falling for him even more.
Caelan rolled the driver-side window down, and I watched as he keyed in a code on the electronic panel. A second later the double gates opened inward, that wolf head splitting in half as we were allowed entrance.
The interior of the car seemed tense all of a sudden, the air thick, the silence loud. Caelan pulled forward past the massive gates and continued to follow the path, one that widened so now it was big enough for two large vehicles to pass at the same time. Although the land beyond the gates was open, no shadows, no places for people to hide, I still felt like I was watched, still felt as if I were an enemy they’d be on faster than I could blink. I didn’t know how I knew that, but that notion was as real to me as the breaths I was taking.
Before I knew what was happening, Caelan pulled the SUV to a stop in front of the massive home.
I was staring up at the house when the passenger-side door opened, so in my own head that I hadn’t even heard Caelan get out, let alone seen him walk around the car and open my door. He held his hand out to me and helped me from the SUV, and when I shut the door, both front doors of his home opened.
Caelan had his arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me in tightly, and I didn't miss the low sound that left him. That had me lifting my brows and looking over at him in surprise. Seemed even in the face of family, these Otherworld males were territorial as hell.
“Well, well, well,” came a deep voice from the doorway.
“Actually found his way back home,” another male voice said, amusement laced within it.
I glanced at the entrance, but the shadows from the overhang that draped along the stone porch made it almost impossible to see who spoke. Then there was the fact that the sun hadn’t stuck around long, the overcast making its familiar presence known again.
Caelan led me toward the double doors just as two identical versions of him stepped out of the house. I stumbled at the fact that I was looking at two other Caelan’s, but the closer we got, the more I realized even though they were all identical in the obvious sense, there were subtle—although to me very noticeable—differences that made them so different from my Caelan.
My Caelan?
The one on the left had a small birthmark on his right cheek. The man on the right had a fuller bottom lip than his brothers.
“This is Lennox.” Caelan pointed to the brother with the birthmark on his cheek. “And that asshole is Tavish.”
Mr. Full Bottom Lip grinned at me, which instantly had Caelan tensing beside me, a low growl of clear warning surrounding the four of us.
And then the biggest man—male, whatever—I’d ever seen entered the doorway. Although Caelan was huge, well over six-and-a-half feet tall—and that was lowballing it—this new man was even bigger than Caelan.
It was obvious this was their father, seeing as Caelan and clearly the brothers looked just like him.
I glanced at my mate and saw the way he was already watching me. I didn’t miss how a slow smile spread across his face, or the way his chest visibly puffed out as if he was so proud to have me by his side.
Can I be falling for this man already? It sure felt like it. The way he looked at me, how he touched me… how he just wanted to make me happy, far superseded any and all fantasies I could ever envision about finding the “perfect man for me.”