Chapter 1
Boris
So...stalking.It's not wrong if it's for a good cause, right?
No, no, hear me out.I don't mean in a creepy way.I don't intend to hurt him or anything.Never.Not his kid either.Though...I've never considered becoming a father, and now I'll have to.
Have you seen babies?I don't think I have the right skills.I can't stand crying of any kind, and babies?Eek.Nope.Not for me.And they puke.Who wants to be near someone who throws up on you regularly?
Not me.
Luckily, the kid is a little older and should be out of the puking age.Maybe.Humans are strange, though.
I suck at guessing age, but I think the kid is five.Six?Hell, maybe he's nine.I don't know.
I can do it.I'm pretty good with kids that age, whatever his age is.
He's in school, which should mean he's out of the puking stage, right?
It doesn't matter.He is here, and my investigations--Google--tell me he lives at the same address and has the same last name as the love of my life.
So his son.
Simon.Simon Towne.He's the love of my life.He's forty-two.Gorgeous eyes that change color depending on what he's wearing and how the light falls.He's about my height, maybe a little shorter, but no more than an inch, and he's not as bulky as I am.It's my shifter genes.
He's mine.
He doesn't know it yet, and Zahrah, my best and worst friend, says I can't tell him.She claims it would be super weird if I went up to him and told him, which brings us back to the stalking.
I mean, stalking in a charming way.
I can be charming.
Stalking, like how I know he shops on Tuesdays, after work, before he picks up the spawn, and therefore I also shop on Tuesdays, when he's finished work, before he's picked up his spawn.
And how first I had to find out where he lived and then threaten the previous owner of my house to sell it to me.
It was up for sale already!
I wasn't forcing him out of his home, but the bastard wanted to sell it to the respectable--his words--couple who'd gone into a bidding war with me.I outbid them, and yet the fucker wanted to accept their offer instead of mine.
I made him change his mind.
Two months ago, I moved in across the street from Simon and his brat.I've been waiting for an ex to show up and pick the kid up for a weekend, so I can make a move, but so far it hasn't happened.No grandparents either.Or friends who have swooped in to give Simon a night off.
There hasn't been a single person who's come knocking on Simon's door.At first, I believed it was a good thing, but then Zahrah informed me I was being a jealous asshole.
For the record, I don't think what I was feeling was jealousy, rather relief over not having to fight anyone for his attention.But Zahrah jabbered on about how hard it was to be a parent, and how Simon was doing it all on his own without anyone there to share the burden with.
It made me realize I've been a shitty mate.It stings.For two months, I've watched him, but I haven't once considered taking the kid to give him a few hours to himself.
Not once.
It makes me wonder if the fates are wrong.We shifters only get one true mate, someone who complements us, someone perfect for us.And the universe gave me one with a kid.Like...I don't hate kids, but there weren't any in my life plan.
He is my mate, though.
I know it in my soul, in my bones.
