Page 11 of My Pleasure

Keran stirred in his arms. “That doesn’t sound bad.”

“I’ll make you both a deal. If you don’t want to stay with my parents after meeting them, we’ll all go to the Nu estate. How about that?” he asked.

Keran turned to look at his sister and Nicol nodded.

“Deal,” Keran said.

Hunter couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride for this child. “Keran, have you ever thought about becoming a warrior?”

“Hunter!” Kiera exclaimed.

“What? He is displaying every trait we look for. Strength, bravery, and honor. He’d make a great warrior,” he exclaimed.

“It’s too dangerous. He can work at the Academy.”

“No!” Keran practically shouted. “I’ll never work there.”

When his mate leaned forward to ask questions, Hunter shook his head. She glared at him, but he kept her gaze. Finally, she relaxed a bit. “We have plenty of time to figure it out,” she said.

Keran rested his face on Hunter’s neck. “Never,” he whispered.

Hunter patted the boy’s back the best he could with his hands full, letting him know he was heard.

Before he knew it, they were walking up the familiar path to his parents’ house. He opened the door and couldn’t help himself. “Ma! Brought you visitors!”

There was a moment of silence before he could hear the quick patter of his mother running towards them. She turned the corner and when she saw who he was holding, he witnessed his mother falling in love.

“Oh!” she crooned and immediately scooped Keran out of his arms, before picking up Nicol to balance on her other hip. “They look hungry. Honestly, Hunter, you could have fed them,” she fussed.

Both kids looked shocked at the attention, but were leaning into his Ma’s warmth.

“Ma, why would I take them anywhere else to eat, when I know you’ve been cooking?” He put all the bags down by the door then pulled his mate close to him, wrapping arm around her waist.

“Kiera isn’t it?” his mother asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied.

“Pffft! None of that ‘ma’am’ stuff, you can call me Ma, like Hunter does,” she said, smiling at them both.

Kiera nodded, then wiped her eyes. “It’s been a while since I’ve called anyone, Ma,” she said.

His mother walked over and somehow managed to give his mate a hug, despite having an armful of children. “All three of you come with me. It’s a bit late for the muffins I packed. The soup went on over an hour ago, that won’t be ready ‘til supper, but we’ll see what I can whip together.”

She turned and carried both kids toward the kitchen.

Kiera continued to wipe her eyes. “I tried you know, but I’ve never been able to give them that, a motherly love.”

“You’re their sister, that makes sense.”

“I feel like I’ve failed them at every turn.”

“They’re good kids, you must have done something right.”

She looked up at him, vulnerability in her eyes. “Really?”

“I don’t think they got their best traits from your uncle,” he said, making a face.

She laughed. “I’ll concede that.”