Page 28 of Avaritia

I sighed somewhat wistfully at the reminder of Selene’s pregnancy. Growing up alone, bouncing around from house to house, and never feeling like I had a family of my own, I’d always dreamed of having children one day. As many as I could handle. I’d been fully prepared to drive a minibus full of car seats and fish-shaped cracker crumbs.

Sebastian had been mostly on board for that too—well, he’d wanted four kids, tops—but after we broke up, I’d put that dream on an indefinite hold, hoping motherhood was still a possibility someday but not staking my entire future on it.

And now I was permanently, for life, mated.

What if Theon didn’t want kids? This was why you were meant to talk to your human lover before you sank your teeth into them. I glared at Theon across the table, hoping I was conveying that with my eyes. He didn’t notice.

“How is Selene doing?” I asked.

“Tired, mostly.” Ophelia was also smiling dreamily. In contrast, the only time Astrid showed any kind of fear was when the subject of babies came up. “But progressing nicely according to the Shade healers. Obviously, there’s an element of the unknown here so she’s being monitored pretty closely.”

Astrid shuddered, and the captain shot his mate an indulgent grin that she didn’t see.

“How go your experiments, Theon?” Damen asked loudly, smirking over the rim of his goblet. “Any success yet?”

Experiments? Was that what his work was?

Had I packed that book on electricity? Maybe my dream wasn’t dead yet.

“Plenty,” Theon replied coolly.

“Oh? Anything you’d like to show us?” Damen was needling, and I couldn’t tell if it was affectionate younger sibling ribbing or something more sinister. The Damen I knew—and I didn’t, not really—wasn’t malicious.

“You?” Theon asked. “No.”

I snorted into my goblet, drawing the attention of the entire table. “What? He’s funny.”

Not intentionally, but it still counted.

“You’re just so adorable!” Xanthia squealed. “Such a perfectly complementary pair.”

Theon and I probably did seem very in sync as we exchanged disbelieving looks across the table. Look at us, having couple-y reactions. Weren’t we just the cutest little power source and power sucker to ever be?

Allerick cleared his throat. “The two of you seem to be getting along well?” he asked uncomfortably, looking at me.

“Very well.” I shot him a beaming smile before turning my attention to Theon. “Isn’t that right, pookie? You’re already so fond of me.”

Theon stared at me, shifting awkwardly in his seat, and there was a split second of silence before Orabelle cackled. “Oh, I like you. You’re fun.”

“That’s an impressive feat. She sure as shit doesn’t like me,” Astrid mumbled under her breath.

Allerick looked like he couldn’t decide whether he needed to be worried or not, and I kicked Theon lightly under the table, tilting my head at his brother. It wasn’t just fun and games now. We were actually mated, and if I got dragged to the palace because he wasn’t convincingly not an asshole to me, we might actually suffer. I didn’t know that for sure, but the way the bond directed me to him like Theon was my true north made me think it’d be a real bitch to live with if he wasn’t around.

“I am not giving Verity up,” Theon said to Allerick, in a voice that dared him to disagree.

Don’t be weird, I instructed my pheromones firmly, sensing them getting ready to break into a happy dance.

“No one asked you to,” Allerick replied, leaning back in his chair and watching Theon closely. Theon stared right back, but it wasn’t with the quiet contemplation Allerick was studying him with.

The look in Theon’s eyes reminded me a lot of Pepper, a border collie who used to come into Furocious with her owner and tried to herd whatever other animals were in the store with her fierce collie stare. When faced with beasts triple their size, collies didn’t back down, they went to work, and that was exactly how Theon seemed to react to pressure.

It was in stark contrast to Allerick—who had the calm protectiveness and stranger-danger instincts of a bullmastiff—or Damen, who had big husky energy.

I glanced at Soren, whose attention alternated between the table and our surroundings, never looking quite at rest. German shepherd, for sure.

“You okay?” Ophelia asked, nudging me gently with her shoulder.

I blinked at her. “Sure. Just thinking about dogs.”

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