Chapter 453: Chapter 453

Chapter 453

Lanie I almost didn’t recognize the woman rushing across the room to hurtle herself against me. My scream rose, joining hers, turning to a squeal at the last second as my best friend Mindy hugged me so hard she squeezed the breath out of my lungs. Laughing, crying a little, I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back as hard as I could.

“Lanie! Goddess, you look so good! I mean, you always looked good, but you look…” Mindy held me at arms’ length, then hugged me again. “You look like a Luna.”

Her words tickled my earlobes. “I am the Luna.”

Mindy’s laughter had an edge of tears as she pulled away again. “I was going to say you looked older, but I thought that might come out wrong.”

“I am also older,” I said. “You look good, too.”

We both hugged each other again, dancing in place. I’d put the thoughts of my bestie entirely out of my head for so long, incapable of giving myself permission to miss her. Now that came flooding back into me with the force of slamming into a brick wall. I wanted to cry, laugh, scream, jump up and down, run around the room…I settled for hugging her hard one more time and then stepping back to take another good, long look at her.

“I’m home,” I said.

Mindy’s eyes welled with tears. “It’s been a long time, bestie. Don’t you dare ever go off like that again.”

“I hope I never have to.” I knew better than to make a promise that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep.

The High Council had been soundly and permanently defeated, but I’d seen way too much out there in the big world beyond Constantine to ever think there was no possibility that something else might happen. I pushed those thoughts away for now, though. Whatever might happen in the future, for right now, we were all safe and sound.

“I’m starving,” Mindy stated. “I’m going to get myself one of those buns and some coffee and probably a whole plate of other goodies… The buffets here are amazing, please tell me you’re not making any changes to the way they do breakfast here!”

“That’s the second time this morning already that someone’s asked me if I’m going to make any changes to the way things have been running.” I followed her to the buffet so we could both load up our plates. “Why is everyone assuming that?”

Mindy looked over her shoulder at me as she piled her plate with cheesy scrambled eggs. “Well, Gabriela had her ways of managing the mansion, and when you all were gone, the mansion chatelaine took over. Now that you’re back, as Luna, you get to decide how things work. Oh, Goddess, they’ve got blueberry muffins today.”

“I promise to keep the muffins,” I said with a laugh as I watched my friend add an enormous muffin to her plate.

Mindy gave me a serious look. “I’m so glad you’re back, and not just because you said that.”

We both laughed and carried our plates to the table and took our seats. She dove into her food at once. I’d never seen Mindy eat like that, but before I could ask if she might have a special reason for her hunger, I heard heavy footsteps thundering toward us.

My three mates barreled into the room, Xander in the lead with Mason hot on his heels and Zane bringing up the rear. When they saw me and Mindy at the table, our forks paused halfway to our mouths in surprise, Xander let out a grunt.

“Damn it, Lanie. You scared the shit out of us with that scream!”

Mindy blinked, looking at the three men. They were all familiar to me, but I tried to see them through her eyes. They’d all aged, too, of course, but they’d also gotten—”

“By the Moon,” Mindy breathed. “They’re huge!”

I laughed, watching my mates relax when they saw I wasn’t in danger. They had all gotten bigger.

Thicker in the arms and chests, legs like tree-trunks. My heart thudded with a sudden, fierce influx of love. It burned inside me hot enough to flood my entire body with heat.

Mindy turned to me with wide eyes. “And they’re all three mated with you. How do you…I mean…”

She coughed into her fist as her blush deepened. Mindy and I had shared most every detail of our lives when we were younger, so I could practically see the wheels spinning in her head now. I didn’t need her to finish her sentence, but she leaned closer to whisper to me anyway.

“Fit,” she finished. “How in the world do you all fit!”

“Very nicely,” I promised her in a low voice laced with laughter.

I watched her gaze go beyond the three giant men stalking into the dining room. She looked surprised then confused, then surprised again. She turned to me.

“Who is that?”