“We go back up to Teal’s room and sleep for real this time. Seriously. My sleep schedule is all over the place. I was raised nocturnal. I can handle the sun. Sometimes I even love what little sun London gets but I need sleep.”
“What about Preston and Mori?” Crilus asked.
“We can’t do anything until morning unless someone shows up looking for a fight. I mean, we could hunt her down, but I bet Mori wants to do that.”
“Oh, definitely,” Crilus nodded.
“I’m going to carry you to bed and this time you’re going to stay in bed.”
“If you say so,” he laughed.
The melody wrapped around me like a warm blanket, and I couldn’t help myself. I cupped his dimple chin and pressed my lips to his. Crilus’s mouth gave easily. His lips parted to let in my tongue and for the first time since meeting him the universe was right side up.
Chapter Seventeen
Mori
I woke up still in wolf form lying next to Preston. My brother rested on his side, stroking the fur on my back. His other hand rested on his belly. Sometime during the night he’d taken off his shirt to reveal a barely there baby bump. Bear cubs take nine months to bake after all.
“I’m glad you’re in wolf form. You can listen while I talk for a change. Be my brother. Not some Postcard Man or whatever you are now.”
If I could’ve spoken human language, I would’ve made sure he knew I wasn’t a Postcard Man. Instead, I listened as he laid out his story of his weekend hookup and his crazy mother. I couldn’t lie. I was just as mad at the hookup. Who couldn’t see how great my brother was? Who wouldn’t want to be in his life and raise children with him? I’d like to see the jerk do better than Preston.
“His true-mate would be better for him than Preston,”my wolf reminded me.
Still, I listened while Preston laid out his weekend adventure of hooking up with a guy from the Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory. He was the son of a witch who wasn’t done sewing his wild oats. Preston didn’t want to give me his name but since he said his mother’s (Sharon Claudis) I’d find out who he was sooner or later.
“She’s rabid over the fact I won’t give her the baby. This is my baby. My little bear cub. It’s like her son didn’t want kids because he knew she was crazy like this.”
I shifted back to my human form and bit the inside of my cheek so that I didn’t speak too soon. Downstairs thedoorbell rang but Creon answered it, letting Teddy in. Their murmuring voices told me that the kitchen was back in working order because Creon had managed to make breakfast. At least, I thought it was Creon. Hoped it was him. Crilus and Pierce needed to get down to business. I wasn’t sure that Floria had earned the privilege of being their child but if he’d agreed to it between lives, who was I to judge him?
“I wish you’d have told me about it all,” I sighed, rolling onto my back and staring up at the ceiling. “I thought we told each other everything.”
“No one tells anyone everything, Mori,” Preston sighed back at me. “It wasn’t like I could hide the fact I was pregnant forever. I just needed some time to figure things out. Like how to make Sharon go the fuck away.”
“Well, she’s crossed a line now. You know that, right?”
“It’s not like she’s killed anyone.”
“Yet,” I added.
“You’re really going to off this woman for blowing up windows?” Preston sat up. “Hell, that sort of talk makes me think it’s time to call our parents and I hate to be that guy.”
“Preston, you get how serious this is, right? What do you think will happen when the baby comes? Do you want to spend the rest of your life stressed out about how that crazy woman might try to snatch your kid? I don’t want you to live your life looking over your shoulder. The fact that you don’t see how this is a huge problem is a problem.”
“It is a problem. I just don’t know that killing someone every time a problem happens is the way to go,” Preston frowned.
“So, what? We want her to go to jail?”
“I want her to just cut it out,” Preston shrugged, swinging his legs off the bed. “I gotta go pee. I’ll call Venal again today. He can come get her or something.”
Preston might hate me forever but unless Venal could convince me that Mummy-Dearest would never be a problem for my family again the rusty spoon technique was all that was left.
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt his feelings,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts.
Pushing aside Preston’s feelings for the moment, I climbed out of bed and went downstairs to meet up with Teddy. It’d taken him longer than I expected but I’d have trouble leaving Zinnia behind on short notice too if she were my daughter.
“Don’t forget your birth control shot then. We have too much work to do to be popping out babies yet,”my wolf chuckled.
