Part 18

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*River's PoV*

We must have repeated the words at least 50 times back and forth, but I still wanted to hear him say it again. He loves me. I love him. I wanted to tell him again. I wanted to hear it again. It was all I ever wanted to hear for the rest of my life.

I heard the front door and looked over to see Austin walking in without my cousin attached to his hip. "Jamie's at Corey's still." He informed me before I even asked. "They won't stop talking, and half of it is in like code or something." he sat down next to me and glanced around, and it only took me a moment to realize what he was doing.

"He's dealing with Adam." I told him. He tensed up for a second and nodded. "What exactly happened?"

I knew it wasn't the best question to be asking, now or ever. But I was curious, and I didn't wanna wait and ask Jinx. Besides, when Jinx came back the last thing I wanted to talk about was pack nonsense. All I wanted to hear out of his mouth was those three beautiful words. I wanted to feel his body against mine. I didn't wanna hear about why Jamie was so upset earlier.

Austin sighed before propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Jamie had shifted during our training, and the little asshole was watching the whole time I guess, and he was waiting for Jamie to shift back because he wanted to see his mark, but Jamie kept himself covered and it pissed him off, so he's saying he was just trying to turn him over, but it looked a lot more like an attack to me."

I nodded softly. The whole situation pissed me off. They had been told the training grounds was off limits, mostly because Austin was still trying to figure shit out and had virtually 0 control over his wolf. They were told Jamie was off limits. Those were the only two rules we had put into place, everything else we didn't care about, and he broke them both in one go.

"Honey, I'm home." We both turned to see Jinx standing in the doorway with a large grin on his face.

"Say it again." I demanded.

"Honey I'm home." It sounded more like a question as he stared at me confused.

"No you dummy the other thing."

He smiled even wider as he joined us on the couch. "I gotta go deal with Adam, I'll be back in a few hours." He said smugly. I glared over at him as if daring him to keep it up. He leaned over and kissed my cheek before bringing his lips about an inch from my ear. "I love you."

"AWWWWE!" Came Austin's voice and we both turned to glare this time and he actually shrank back a little.

"Don't you have a mate to be getting back too?" Jinx asked evenly.

I nodded quickly. "He's probably done talking to Corey by now."

He responded by throwing his hands up in defense and standing up. "I can see when I'm not wanted."

We held our glares until the front door shut and then quickly turned towards each other. "Say it again." He whispered.

"I love you." He shivered slightly before leaning in and kissing me.

"I missed you so much." He told me as he pulled me against him.

I smiled as I nuzzled myself into him. "I missed you more."

He shook his head and was about to start a fight when the door opened again with a loud groan that I would know anywhere. "What's wrong now dad?"

"Anthony has been freaking out all day." He told us and I felt Jinx tensing slightly. "Between the Adam situation, and him never knowing where his son is he's loosing his shit."

I heard Jinx sigh softly. "I should probably go handle that then." He muttered.

I couldn't help the frown that fell to my face as the words sank in. "But you just got here."

He nodded softly. "I just don't want him freaking out." He told me. "He probably wouldn't be if he realized I was just trying to spend time with my mate." My frown deepens as he quickly shook his head before kissing my cheek. "I was just saying baby, I wasn't trying to push." I nodded softly and he once again kissed my cheek.

My dad then sat down at the opposite end of the couch with a bowl of popcorn and turned the TV on. "He told me he was heading off to bed, he said something about dealing with it all in the morning, so you should be good to stay till then if you boys want."

Jinx smiled softly and nodded. "As long as River wants me to."

"As long as you wanna be here." I told him seriously.

He chuckled softly. "Like there's any place I'd rather be." I leaned in and kissed him softly, and then the image of my uncle exploding on everyone back at the Elder's poped into my head. I looked over at my dad who was watching us and I suddenly felt guilty.

"Dad," I started softly. "are you okay with this?" He looked confused for a second so I explained a little further. "I just don't want it turning into another situation like Jamie and uncle Steve."

He outright laughed, I could practically feel the six-pack coming on from across the couch. It felt like he laughed for a solid 10 minutes, and when he finally calmed down he just sat there shaking his head. "Trust me, it'll never be like that. Steve spent the last 16 years taking care of him in ways no one but the two of them could understand. Jamie went from needing him to breathe and not wanting anything to do with a mate, to all about Austin basically over night. You've never needed me like Jamie needed his father. He looked at Jamie like a small ball of anxiety who couldn't live without him. I've always looked at you as an obnoxious, but strong, brat. I'm nothing but happy for you kiddo."

I smirked a little, "Thanks daddy." Jinx's eyes widened before shifting into the most awkward look ever and my dad just rolled his eyes and chuckled lightly.

"That's the first time you've ever used that word towards me, and it better be the last time." With that we both broke into laughing fits while Jinx sat there looking more confused than ever. My dad started shaking his head again. "It was honestly nice hearing him say it again. He's grown up so much in the last few months. All three of you have. Seeing that little burst of childhood, it meant a lot to me, and even more to Steven."

I nodded softly, It was weird looking back, we really had changed a lot. I never really thought about how it affected our parents. My dad seemed more proud of me every day though, so he couldn't think the changing was all that bad. I smiled softly to myself thinking about it all.

"I think we're gonna head upstairs," I said glancing towards Jinx who didn't seem to have a problem with it. "Goodnight dad."

"Goodnight River, goodnight Jinx." He said with a smile.

"Goodnight." Jinx responded before we stood up and headed back to my room.

As soon as the door was shut behind us Jinx wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. "Say it again." He muttered.

"I love you." I whispered with a smile.

"I love you too." His lips quickly found mine and we fell back onto my bed together. He pulled back slightly with our lips just barley bushing he whispered "I'm so happy I found you."

"Me too Jinx, me too."

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