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“Always,” I croaked out. I sounded terrible, but for some reason, my scratchy voice only made her eyes softer. “He deserves everything I have to give. Both of them do.”
“So things are going well with Peter? That’s good. He was such a sweet boy before… I always thought pairing him up with those friends of his was a mistake.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought of Darren and Brett. “I’m glad he has you. If anyone needed a mate, it’s Peter, but the local girls were put off by…” She winced when she realised where this was going. “Well, you know.”
God, did everyone talk about his bloody dick? It was extraordinary, but surely people saw there was more to the man than the inches between his legs.
“Yeah, I do, but he’s an amazing guy. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was the perfect first mate for me. He was patient, sweet, attentive, loving…” I took a deep breath, feeling a huge pressure in my chest, but it was one I longed to keep. “He’s my rock, and I want to be that for him.”
It was the clearing of his throat that alerted us to the fact that Pete was up. He just stood in the doorway, face still creased from sleep, but it was still there. Bleary eyed or not, he loved me.
And I loved him.
I’d been skittish about using the words, afraid I was jumping in and making yet another dumb mistake, but I knew this wasn’t it. It couldn’t be. And even if it was, I had something else now. Inside me, I could feel the long lean form of my Tirian stretching as she regarded Peter’s beast.
I walked over to him and placed my head on his chest, and his arms went around me automatically.
“I love you,” I said when I tipped my head back to look at him.
“I love you too, with everything I’ve got,” he replied, his voice sending delicious thrills through me.
“Mum, someone’s cooking breakfast,” a querulous little voice came from the bedroom. “Are they making pancakes?”
We broke apart enough to let Kade in when he staggered out, and I was surprised to see him flop against us, wrapping his arms around both our waists.
“I am.”
Kade’s head popped up and around us to peer at Renee.
It was interesting, she either had good instincts, or someone had been talking to her. She hunched down to his level and waved.
“Hi, I’m Renee. I’m Aidan’s mum. I’ll be your grandma, if you want?”
“Grandma? Like Grandma and Grandpa back at h—” He stopped himself. “Back there. They used to see the bruises Dad left on Mum and didn’t do anything about it. They’d give me lollies and try to distract me when I wanted to talk about it. I liked the lollies, but I didn’t like that.”
I didn’t know Renee at all, but right then, I liked her. She straightened up, frowning, the friendly look lost for a second, then replaced by one that was almost fierce.
“That doesn’t happen here.”
“That’s what everyo
ne says. I haven’t seen anyone’s mum with bruises but…” He shook his head. “Aidan has you, but who’s gonna look after Mum?”
“Everyone does here, honey. I know that's hard to accept. You’ve seen stuff and experienced stuff that no kid should, but that’s OK. We’ll just have to keep proving to you that we’ll look after your mum too. Now, did you want to help me make pancakes? Aidan said you really like them, especially with chocolate chips, and he thinks my pancakes are the best ever.”
“Even better than Sylvie in the kitchens?” Kade asked suspiciously.
“Only one way to find out,” she said, holding out a hand.
He nodded and pulled free of us, then followed her into the kitchen and washed his hands.
I watched them work, sitting on the couch in Peter’s arms with a growing sense of unreality. I’d had friends twittering on about imposter’s syndrome on social media as war was waging at home, something I’d discarded quickly. Cute cat videos were about all I was up for at the time, something, anything to make me feel better, if even for a second. But now, that feeling of achieving something through pure luck and circumstances rather than hard work unsettled me.
I was living my dream, but I was terrified of waking up.
No hard work? What was all that nattering about with the alpha if not hard work? my Tirian asked. And all those many, many mental exercises?
Sometimes, my beast sounded like a cranky old lady, which made me snort. She saw all my human foibles and rolled her eyes.
Monkey brains are chaotic and needlessly busy, she replied. Why must today’s bounty be measured by its longevity? I vetted the two of them for you to meet that need.
