Free Irish Melody by Caitlin Ricci Page B

house and we’ve got rules. Namely, no sex. You two got that?”
    Hannah blushed and nodded. Ippy easily agreed to that. He’d barely even started thinking about sex in general.
    Liam’s expression softened a bit. “Good. Now that we have that settled, things will be okay here. Phillip, tomorrow we’ll go by your house to get the things you need. You’ll stay with us as long as you need to. Other than that, things will continue as usual. This is not an excuse to slack off, you two. Phillip still goes to school, Hannah, you still learn about finances from me during the day. There’s still homework, you still have to eat dinner, and your rooms must be kept clean. This is not a two year long party for you both.”
    Hannah was smirking before her dad finished talking. “We get it, dad. And thanks. All of you. C’mon, Ippy, I’ll help you get settled in downstairs.”
    Thank you all. He picked his shorts up between his teeth as he followed Hannah downstairs and into a room that they’d spent plenty of nights in, watching movies and laughing as they joked together.
    He shifted quickly after gently pushing his wolf aside so that he could come forward. There was no pain, only warmth, and then he was getting redressed as Hannah turned her back to him to get down some of the pillows and blankets they kept in the closet.
    I’m dressed, he told her once he was decent, although suddenly freezing standing in just a pair of her shorts.
    She didn’t say anything as she came over and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in for a tight hug.
    You didn’t ask permission, he chided her as he held her close, too.
    Hannah didn’t even start to release him. “Do you mind?”
    Ippy shook his head . No.
    She kissed his cheek and he relaxed in her embrace. Samson was wrong, she wasn’t lucky to have found him. He was lucky to have her as his best friend.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    The next morning Ippy stood in front of his house, his hand tightly clasped in Hannah’s, as Samson knocked on the front door. Liam and Travis were behind them and Ippy felt better knowing that the three of them were there. He didn’t know if they would have been so accepting if they’d known that Hannah had snuck down in the middle of the night and held him for an hour or two. But since Liam was a werewolf maybe he already knew. Nothing had happened and he’d had a whole speech prepared about how all they’d done was hold hands until Hannah had gone back upstairs, just as they were now. But when Liam hadn’t brought it up at a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon Ippy had shrugged it off.
    Now, as he waited for his mom to answer the door, he was glad he’d decided to stay with Hannah instead of going to Samson’s house last night. He knew Samson and Christopher would have been good to him. And they had extra beds so he wouldn’t have had to sleep on the couch like he did the night before. But he felt better knowing that Hannah was in the same house with him, that he could talk to her, even if she couldn’t talk back without coming down because his phone service had been canceled sometime in the night.
    The front door opened and his mom glared right at him before moving aside and letting them in. He stayed next to Hannah, not wanting to leave her side during this as Samson squared off with his mom. He knew that she’d never really liked him, but he still couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity for her as the big man glared down at her. He tried not to think about that as he went upstairs with Travis and Hannah for company. As humans they wouldn’t be much protection against his mom if she decided to shift—that was why Liam and Samson were downstairs with her, but he was glad to have them nearby.
    “There are trash bags up there waiting for you. Use them to get your stuff out of my house. I don’t want anything left of you here. Not after what you did to your father.”
    Without his phone or a pen and paper he couldn’t reply back to his mom