As I asked the question, Finley returned with my coffee and Slade’s tea. The dragon had remained back near the entrance, giving me time to bond with the Jacksons.
Finley handed me my sweet, milky heaven with a kiss on my cheek, and I thanked him before taking my first, perfect sip.
“Anytime, darlin’,” Finley murmured, the nickname still sending shivers through me.
Slade continued to silently observe us as he drank his tea, and Finley sat to finish off his cup of sadness, all green and healthy. There was nothing unattractive about my mates, but that drink was a tick in the negative column.
“So… Rocket?” I repeated, looking at the mostly blond family.
Julien snorted. “Kellan was such a shit of a kid,” he said, before shaking his head when his son toddled over to us.
Lachlan held out his hands for Kellan and chanted, “Ke, ke, ke.”
My ovaries nearly exploded when Kellan leaned down andscooped up the little cutie, cuddling him against his chest. “Your son doesn’t think so,” he fired back at his brother.
Okay…Kellan with a baby was too fucking hot for me to handle.
When Golden flashed me a smirk, I realized my emotions had slipped through the bond. “It suits you,” I whispered near his ear, and his eyes got all shiny.
One day, Shortcake, he mentally said, his wolf nosing against mine.
The thought of having kids with my pack was enough to send terror and joy through me. It was a secret wish for the future, that I hoped we’d get a chance to fulfil.
“He was definitely spoiled, and Mom’s favorite,” Tyson continued, relaxing back into the couch as he reminisced. “He got away with everything, and we were the ones who got our asses kicked.”
Danielle gasped as she shook her head. “I don’t recall any of you ever getting a beating, even when you deserved it. Your daddy has too gentle a soul.”
Conrad snorted before he coughed to cover it up. This was the alpha who’d trained my mega-skilled, weapon’s expert of a mate. Yeah, I wasn’t sure there was muchgentlein his soul for anyone other than Danielle. The way he looked at her was exactly how my pack looked at me.
Like there was no other shifter in the world.
Julien eyed his mother with scrunched brows but didn’t call her out. “Anyways, one day when he was about five, Kellan was out in the back yard. He climbed this huge oak tree, and no matter how many times I told him to get down, he ignored me and kept climbing higher. When he reached the top, I taunted him and asked how he planned on getting down.”
“You told me it was much harder to climb down than up,” Kellan said with a laugh, rubbing a hand over his face. “I told you that you were wrong, and I was a rocket that would land at your feet.”
“And land you did,” Tyson added with a snort. “You plummeted out of the damn branch headfirst and almost gave us a heart attack.”
“But you caught me,” Kellan said, bestowing his brilliant smile on his big brother. “Stopped me from breaking my neck, before you then proceeded to kick me in the ass, screaming…”
“You spoiled little shit,” Julien burst out. “And we called you Rocket ever since, to remind you of the first stupid decision you made.”
“But not the last,” Kellan conceded with a sheepish grin, reminding me of how he’d driven around the racetrack like a shifter with a death wish.
On my other side, Danielle moved forward, shaking her head. “He has a free spirit, and I wasn’t about to tarnish his light by trying to cover him in bubble wrap.”
“You were the exact parent Kellan needed to grow into our Golden Boy,” Slade noted, his voice soft. “We are grateful for his light too.”
Kellan’s smirk grew. “Okay, then. We have our squishy Care Bear, and our fluffy little drago?—”
Slade’s growl reminded the room he was a deadly killing machine, and Kellan took the warning seriously by immediately shutting up.
“Yep, still stupid,” Julien noted with a shake of his head.
“Still Rocket,” Tyson added to the sound of laughter.
I was fairly sure even thefluffy little dragonjoined in.
CHAPTER 15
