I barely heard him.Hanna looked up at me with an amused twinkle in her eyes.
“What?” she asked, in a whisper.
I swallowed hard. “I keep seeing it.”
“Seeing what?”
“This.” I touched the blueprint lightly. “This home. With you in it. With me. Together.”
Her breath caught and the air thickened. The bond hummed even louder. Everything felt like a beginning when it came to Hanna.Behind us, the entire clan collectively combusted.
“They’re definitely nesting. I can tell. It’s the pregnancy hormones,” Becca muttered from where she was sitting on her mate’s lap.
“Get them a baby room—just in case,” Rok called, rubbing his palm across his mate’s back and grinning at us.
I dragged a hand down my face. “They’re going to be unbearable.”
Hanna leaned against me, warm and perfect. “Yeah. But I don’t mind.”
And I didn’t either. The Gods help me—I loved this chaos. The clan that I’d never once thought I would have outside of my brothers. The perfect mate that matched every dream I’d ever had plus more.
And I loved her above everything else.For believing in me, for knowing what I needed before I did, and I couldn’t wait for the future that lay in front of us. The one that I’d never dared to dream too hard for, but I wanted more than anything.
Ribbon had definitely grown bigger. Bigger than any mountain toad I’d ever seen, and I wondered if it was related to the magickal ingredients he readily consumed from Hanna’s section of our workshop space.
Everyone said he was the size of a boulder, but that was inaccurate. He was the size of aproblem.
Because the moment Darak tried to spread our blueprint flat again—after the clan wrinkled it, dropped it twice, and used it as a snack tray—Ribbon hopped onto the table and sat on it.
Justsat. A mountain of damp toad flesh on top of thecarefully drawn home layout.Darak let out a heartfelt noise I’d only heard from warriors in battle.
“Savla.Remove your creature.”
I cleared my throat, already knowing what the outcome would be. “Ribbon, off.”
He croaked once. Deep and defiant. A sound that clearly meant‘no.’
Zara clapped her hands. “He’s claiminghishouse now.”
Enka added, “Technically, he’s the real heir in this relationship.”
Ribbon croaked again, louder.
Darak’s eye twitched. “Savla. Get himoff, or I swear on the ancestors—”
I stepped up and tried to push him gently. He didn’t budge an inch. He widened, like a pancake spreading.
“Gods,” I muttered. “He’s increasing surface area.”
Hanna laughed so hard she had to lean into me for balance. The bond hummed warm and syrup-thick, and I nearly forgot we had a growing toad problem.Darak pinched the bridge of his nose.
“That’s it. I can’t do this. I’m sedating the clan for the rest of this process and vetoing all decisions,” he stated, firmly.
“Hey!” Zara protested. “We’re helping!”
“You’rehindering,” Darak corrected. “Actively, consistently and loudly.”
Dristan crossed his arms, smirking. “This is the Everlock building experience. Embrace it.”
