Maybe some chocolate sauce on your fist would help?
Ah, nope. Chocolate isn’t good for you at this age. It says you shouldn’t be on anything other than formula or breast milk for about six months. You have a few months yet.
There, these pajamas are warmer. I don’t want you to catch a chill. You don’t have fur.
A few minutes of quiet, then a whisper.
Maybe if I lay back in the recliner, it would make you sleepy.
He sighed after a few minutes. There were lots of baby noises on the monitor, like Alanna was trying to communicate back tohim. I didn’t know what expression was on my face, but it was probably something soft.
He was so good with her. Really, he was so good with everyone. He was a good alpha, one who didn’t seem to feel the need to posture, even among other paranormals and alphas who were also strong.
And this right now… this wasn’t him trying to win me over. This was just who he was.
The stronger the storm gets, the more awake you get. Yes, that’s a very nice frog toy, but I don’t really want to put it in my mouth.
Alanna babbled at him, and I grinned, closing my eyes.
Okay, let’s see if low lighting helps.
I could hear a chair rocking gently, and the sound of Riggs humming, then softly singing. He had a really nice singing voice, but he was butchering the song.
Well, it’s three o’clock in the mornin’. Goodnight, sweetheart. Well, it’s time to go. Goodnight, sweetheart, goodnight.
I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to hold back the sudden surge of emotion. I was tryingsohard to keep my distance, but he just kept slipping under my guard. I was laughing at the adorableness, but also crying. He touched something inside of me. Something deep.
The baby sounds quieted, then everything went silent. After a few moments, I could hear them both breathing steadily, asleep.
It took me a long time to fall back asleep. And when I did, it was to the sound of their breathing.
When I woke again, the baby monitor was still cradled to my chest.
Later,I was in the gym while Alanna played in a pack ’n play, determined to pretend last night hadn’t affected me as much as it had. I lay on a decline bench doing sit-ups upside down, then switched positions and did leg pull-ins.
I wasn’t the only person in the gym. The Lodge’s gym was easily as big as one in the city, but at least six times cleaner.
“Aren’t you adorable!” a spring fae said to Alanna, tickling her under the chin. The air smelled green with plant life whenever she was near, and I loved it. She was mated to a quiet bear on the opposite side of the gym, who was cranking out seven-hundred-pound deadlifts, pausing, then cranking out ten more. I knew lifting heavy weights wasn’t a huge issue for bear shifters—we were among the strongest shifters—but seven hundred was up there, more on par with a dragon’s level of strength. Idly, I wondered how much Riggs could lift.
After saying goodbye to Alanna, the spring fae smiled at me, gave her mate a quick kiss, and left, probably heading for a shower. It was afternoon, and nearly time for Alanna to go down for her first nap.
I was just wiping down the decline bench when my bones suddenly sang like a Stradivarius violin. I turned, already knowing who had walked in.
Riggs.
He nodded at me politely, kissed Alanna’s downy head, then headed for a treadmill.
Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on your point of view—the treadmill faced away from me. Immediately, he cranked the incline as high as it would go and started jogging. After a minute, he broke into a run.
Through the rest of the workout, my eyes kept drifting back to him, even though I tried my best to ignore him, and ignore the pull of him. He was like a black hole, and I was just cruising along in a little dinky spaceship that didn’t stand a chance against his gravity. It wasn’t just that he was an alpha and exuded power. I was honest enough with myself to admit it was also because he was my mate. He was compelling on many different levels to me… and he was insanely attractive.
I was doing fine, though, until the pull-up machine.
At the top of a rep, I glanced over and saw him rip his shirt over his head and toss it onto the arm of the treadmill. My arms immediately went numb, and I fell, smacking my chin and mouth on the bar before hitting the mats below with a wheeze.
I lay there for a second, the breath knocked out of me, before Riggs’ face suddenly hovered over mine, his expression etched in concern. I was giving him points for not laughing at me, but I was incredibly embarrassed.
“Are you okay?” he asked, holding out a hand to help me up.
