If the fight for our baby had been anti-climactic, the days that followed were downright blissful. Kade seemed to have a hundred different reasons that we didn’t need to rush back home, why it wasn’t really an inconvenience for us to hang out in Texas for a bit.
I asked about his work and he shrugged, told me that he’d agreed to teach a self-defense class for the ODI students. When I’d started to pack up my books to return them to Mr. Keir, Kade had shaken his head and told me to hang on to them. After all, he’d pointed out, if we had to stay for him to teach his class, there was no reason for me to drop out of the programs so soon, was there?
How was I supposed to answer that? I mean, we’d already discussed the lack of logic in educating an Omega who’d started breeding, but, if it was going to make Kade happy, I’d stick with it for now. Especially because I’d really enjoyed the little bit I’d gotten to do.
I enrolled Bella in the childcare program and got myself ready for the first week of classroom learning. I’d been in my seat in the front row for a whopping thirty minutes when the cell phone Kade had bought me buzzed.
Hurrying to shush it before it disturbed the class or annoyed the teacher, I swiped the screen. My heart melted when it revealed a picture of my baby girl, still dressed in the cute little puppy-covered jumper I’d put her in that morning and stretched out on my husband’s sexy as fuck chest.
Hanging with Daddy today. I love you!The caption under the picture turned my already melty heart to mush. The next day it was a picture of baby Bella trying to hold her own bottle while her daddy sneakily supported it from the underside and the caption read,look what I can do!
Day after day, the pattern continued, I dropped Bella off for the day, and almost immediately, Kade picked her up and sent me an adorable picture of them together.
“Why am I even bothering to drop her off?” I asked Friday night.
Kade gave a terrible impression of a wide-eyed innocent look. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” he said. “It seems like it would be more efficient to just let me take her in the morning instead of dropping her off just for me to pick her up.”
“That wasn’t my point,” I groused.
“No?” Kade seemed surprised.
I shook my head and laughed, but Kade’s expression had turned serious. “Is there a reason you don’t want me to take care of Bella, Jem?”
“What? No!” I gasped, aghast. “I just don’t want to waste your time on shit I should be doing.” I cleared my throat. “You’re already doing so much for me and, well, this isn’t really Alpha’s work,” I mumbled, gesturing to where he was changing the baby’s diaper on a pad on the floor.
Kade rolled his eyes. “I am fully capable of taking care of one tiny shifter for a few hours a day, thank you very much.”
“I know that,” I agreed immediately. “You’re great at it.”
“Good,” Kade stood up, handing me our little one while he went to toss the dirty diaper and wash his hands. “In that case, there’s no more need to take her to the child center unless I have to work. Speaking of which, Chuck has asked me to do an extraction in a couple of weeks, so we’re definitely staying longer.”
Um, so I guess the decision was made, I just wasn’t quite clear on how.
I picked up the few pieces of mail that had started migrating toward our temporary house, pulling out one with the official Council of Packs seal. “This looks important.”
Kade smiled and took it from me. Tearing it open, he scanned the page and gave me a deeply satisfied grin. “The Council has certified our marriage,” he announced, kissing me and then Bella.
“That’s wonderful!” I kissed him back, bouncing Bella on my hip. “Isn’t that amazing, baby girl?”
I watched Kade tuck the paper back into the envelope. “Kade?”
“Hmm?”
“You never told me what that prick said to you in the arena.”
“True.”
I waited but it didn’t seem that there was anything else forthcoming, so I scowled at him. “Spill!”
Kade drew in a breath. “I’m honestly not sure that it’s going to make you feel any better,” he hedged.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Fine.” He walked over to take my hand. “I asked him why he would risk being turned into a grease spot when he couldn’t be sure he was the sire.” I didn’t react, so Kade continued. “He told me he is one hundred percent sure it was him.”
“But..that doesn’t make sense.”
“Actually, it does. He’s been involved with Serena for quite a while, but it seems that your mother won’t approve the match.”
