Page 9 of Rejected Broken Mate

I knew I was lying to Michael but couldn't tell him the truth. I didn't know how to. I had to see if Miles was mature enough to handle something like this before I could even tell Michael. If Miles wasn’t ready, I wasn’t going to confuse Michael with the truth.

I closed my eyes and softly sighed. I could figure this out. I just needed a little time.

After filling out some extra paper and the nurse giving me a pamphlet for a group, we headed out. Outside, we found Wendy and Ayden standing with Poppy, who now had her arm in a sling. She had an extra pep in her step as she hummed next to Wendy.

Wendy spotted us and smiled. "How is he feeling?"

"He's doing okay," I said. "How is Poppy?"

"In a sling for a week," Wendy said, shaking her head. "It's a good thing the doctor knows she's a witch; otherwise, they would think we are beating our kid."

I started when Ayden cleared his throat.

"Uhmmm….Wendy, sweetie… she's new. She just moved into town."

Wendy looked at Ayden and then back at me. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god! You don't know. Oh, Jesus, I'm so sorry. I thought you knew about everything. Oh my god, you probably thought we were psycho earlier when we said our daughter was jumping off our staircase."

I nervously laughed. "Nope, just some airhead that doesn't know anything about the real world, I guess."

Ayden smiled gently. "It takes time to adjust. If you ever have any questions, we are more than willing to answer them."

I had plenty, but I was too tired to ask anything. I was still trying to understand my son.

"So, I'm going to gather you're a witch," I asked, looking at Wendy.

She nodded. "Yeah, we're hoping the next child will be gifted after their father."

I looked at Ayden, wondering what he shifted into. Was that appropriate to even ask? Probably not.

"They gave me a support group number."

"Oh, here," Wendy dug into her purse. I have a friend, Ashley, who might be of help to you. She has a shifter daughter, so she knows some of the signs for everything."

She scribbled the number down and handed me a little piece of paper. "She also is a shifter herself, so she would be able to answer some questions better than I would."

"Thank you."

"Mom, look," Poppy spoke up, and we all turned to see Poppy standing on top of the vending machine.

"Poppy Lee! You get down this second!" Wendy turned, storming off after her.

Ayden looked at me. "You can always call if you have any questions."

"Seems you have a handful there," I said, placing my hand on top of Michael's head as he leaned against me.

Ayden laughed, "You have no idea. See you tomorrow at work." He turned, hurrying after his wife and daughter.

Chapter 4 - Miles

I held the hose over the firetruck, letting the water soak everything down.

"So, did you watch the game last night?" Lucas asked, standing a few feet away from me. He was unraveling the rest of the hose so I could move around. He tossed the hose onto the ground and looked at me.

"No, I went to bed early," I said, rolling my shoulders. I was tired after moving all the boxes out of Laura's new office. I didn't sleep well again last night and was working on low energy today.

"Was it a good game?" I asked as I started moving down the truck.

"No, we lost."

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