She smoothed her hand down my back, warmth leeching from her palm through the thin cloth.
“I’ve worried he would never settle down,” she murmured against my ear. “We’re so happy to have you join our family.”
A soft swell rose in my chest. She pulled back, and all I could do was blink at her.
Mate’s mother was . . . pleasant.
“Now let’s get you fed.” She tsked, stepping back and sweeping her eyes down my form. “You’re skin and bones.” When she hooked her arm into mine, I had no choice but to follow.
I gawked back at Griffin, but he shrugged, a small smile playing on his mouth. She forced me to sit at the dining chair, and Griffin sat beside me. He stretched his arm over the smooth, cold surface. His mother opened drawers and small doors, moving around quickly as she collected things until she had a pot on the stove simmering with water.
Tali shuffled into the kitchen. She’d stayed in the guest bedroom because it was too late for her to drive after Griffin had explained everything. Then she stayed another night because she’d gone shopping for me while Mate and I stayed on the couch, finishing a show. It wasn’t awful.
Tali yawned and leaned a hip on the kitchen table. “Did you guys see the mountain lion massacre all over the news?”
I knew what she was talking about because Griffin had showed me the footage the police had.
“It wasn’t a mountain lion.” I sniffed, offended. I’d slaughtered those attackers that tried to harm Mate. When I opened my mouth to elaborate on how I’d saved Griffin, he gripped my jaw and turned my attention to him. “What?—”
Griffin kissed me, cutting off my words and wrecking my thoughts. He raked his teeth across my lips.
“Don’t,” he murmured, the word so soft from his silky voice.
“Griffin,” his mother chastised. “Let the girl speak.”
He pressed my hand on my thigh. I clamped my mouth shut, receiving the message. He wanted me silent about what happened. Settling my hand over his, I squeezed.
“I was going to say mountain lions are frightening.” I hummed, nodding seriously.
The silence settled with his parent frowning.
“They def are!” Tali chirped, and she skillfully distracted the conversation. While his family—our family—talked, Griffin’s hand cupped the back of my neck and leaned over to kiss my temple.
“Good, kitten.”
Chapter 13
Griffin
Leaninginto the back cushion of the couch, I caressed the hair closer to her temple as she lay curled on my lap like a cat with her cheek against my chest.
The softness she brought forward in my chest only grew. Mom and Tali liked her, even with all her . . . oddities. I bit back the humor. I found her childlike wonder fucking cute. Sol absorbed everything like a sponge, and questions were always spilling out of her.
She loved everything media related, so I’d purchased her everything she could possibly need, and subscribed to plenty of applications. All she had to do was look, and I purchased her what she wanted.
Now I knew why I’d hoarded my money; it had always been meant for her.
She rubbed her cheek against my chest, a purr echoing in her throat. Soft emotion bubbled over, making it difficult to breathe. Sol was fucking sweet.
And she fucked like a goddess.
Her ass on my cock wasn’t helping my control either.
“Did you have a family?” This was my question of the day. Each one I had with her, I asked her one thing about her life.
“Progenitors leave us behind once a cub is able to protect itself,” she explained against my neck, nuzzling my throat. Sol didn’t seem bothered by it; she stated it as a fact.
“So there’s no family?”
