The little cub stared up at the dragon shifter in fascination, hiccuping as her tears dried, her face no longer resembling an angry tomato.
Emrie looked proud of her mate, but also a little sad, and I knew she was taking Alanna’s crying personally, because she had such a tender heart.
“I’m sorry, Emrie. I think she just misses Piper.”
Emrie nodded, wiping her eyes.
Seeing the need for a distraction, I turned back to the shopping bags and started pulling things out, taking the tags off everything as I went. “A bottle warmer with a dozen bottles. Good. Those will help. We don’t have enough. Let’s see…”
As I kept pulling things out, it started to feel a little like a Mary Poppins bag, with absolutely no end in sight.
“There are a good many nappies,” Roarke said, pausing his singing. “I have more in the SUV ready to bring in later. Emrie insisted we buy them in all different sizes, and in great quantities.”
Mathan grunted. “Kids need nappies, Roarke. You’ll be changing diapers soon, so you and your dragon better get used to it. Many, many diapers.”
Roarke shot him a look. “And I will be proud to change my child’s nappies. I may have to beg my mate to curb her spending a little, though. She’ll beggar us before our children are born otherwise.”
Emrie snorted. “It would take a lot more than diapers to beggar us.” Her mate gave her a look warm enough to singe eyebrows for that remark, and Emrie blushed as she turned to Mathan to ask him a question.
Meanwhile, I kept pulling things from the bags without really seeing them, my thoughts turning inward. I had always imagined that once I found my mate, I would be on cloud nine. That my bear and I would finally be at peace, and the loneliness would be gone.
But now that I’d found her, I felt more alone than ever.
Shaking that depressing thought away, I set my jaw, dragged in a deep breath, then realized I was holding a tiny bathing suit.
“A swimsuit?” She was only four months old. What did she need a swimsuit for?
Emrie blushed, shrugging. “I didn’t know how long she would be here,” she said quietly. “It made sense that if she’s still here in the summer, she’d need swimwear, so I got the suit a little big for her. It’ll give her room to grow into it.”
My bear and I went completely still. Even the sweetest, most gentle member of my Clan didn’t know if my mate was going to stay with me or not. The thought felt like a blade sliding between my ribs.
My bear growled in pain at the thought of losing our mate, but I somehow managed not to show it. I had a Clan that needed me, and a baby who was relying on me to keep her safe. Whether Piper stayed or not, there were responsibilities I couldn’t shirk.
I smiled gently at Emrie as she came to stand beside me. “Okay. Walk me through all of this.”
Two hours later,they left for home. Roarke had sung her to sleep, then tucked her into the baby carrier. I kept her close to me while Mathan and I tried to put together the baby furniture Roarke and Emrie had brought us. Alanna had a crib in the room she shared with Piper, but I would mostly be taking care of her here in the main part of the Lodge, so we were trying to get everything set up tonight. After a few hours of putting baby furniture together, I was ready to throw something, and I was not normally prone to bouts of temper tantrums.
“Why will this piece not. go. in!” Mathan growled, trying to force the pole in his hands into the opposite slot.
“Are you following the directions?” I asked, stifling a yawn, then hiding a grin when he scowled at me. I could see from here that he hadn’t even glanced at them. Why was this a thing guys did? We always thought we could manage without diagrams or instructions, but inevitably came crawling back to them after many frustrating hours ignoring their existence.
He grunted. “Don’t need them.”
I shook my head, then looked down at what I was doing. I frowned, suddenly confused. Wasn’t this piece supposed to go in the seat? When I finally realized I’d put it together backwards, I groaned. How was that even possible?
Mathan snickered. “Are you using the instructions, Alpha?”
I grimaced. It had looked simple enough on the front of the box, and I thought I wouldn’t need them. “No,” I growled, taking everything apart that I’d done over the last twenty minutes.
“Maybe you should.”
Growling, I looked across the room of scattered boxes, parts, and trash at him. We were both grumpy and exhausted, and both of us looked like we’d been in a brawl with a T-rex. After a tense minute, we started laughing.
“Nice shiner,” Mathan said once he caught his breath.
I winced, gently touching the bruising around my eye and along my left cheek. “It hasn’t healed already?” I’d tried to force a spring-loaded piece into place, and it had snapped loose and caught me in the face.
“Nope.” He popped the p, just to be annoying.
