Page 150 of Her Males

Silas approaches on my right.

“It seems we’ve been replaced,” he says.

I shrug. They keep one another entertained, and I’m too happy seeing them freely interact to feel any jealousy over their rejection of my affection. I’m sure Silas is pleased by it, too. He’s been doing his best to remain patient, but I can tell Gray’s been getting on his nerves recently.

Silas likes space.

Charlie’s footsteps slow when she sees the Wrath demons setting up the portal, but I gently nudge her forward with a soft pat on the butt. They know better than to look at her.

It didn’t take long for word to spread of the punishment the men who glared at her at the facility received. It took everything in me not to address it then and there, not wanting to embarrass Charlie, but they won’t be making that mistake again.

She’s their queen, and they’ll do well to treat her as such.

Charlie leads us to the dining room, and we all sit at the table to eat. This normalcy feels nice, and I can tell through the bonds that Charlie and Gray feel the same way. I assume Silas is pleased by it as well.

We eat in comfortable silence, and Gray happily loads up our plates with human breakfast food.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask when Charlie gets up to leave.

Gray snickers while Silas chews and sets down his fork. Charlie turns to me with a wide grin, her head jerking toward the hallway the Wraths are working in. She’s been staring at the doorway this entire meal, the female excited for the portal to be finished.

“Is it almost done?” she whispers, her voice low.

I don’t like that she feels the need to whisper in her own home, and I pretend I can’t hear her until she asks the question at a normal volume.

“They should be wrapping up,” I say, standing and leading her to the broom closet we had converted into the portal.

I’m not exactly pleased with the loss of another closet, and even less so that Gray and Silas voted that the supplies be put in my office this time, but there’s not much to be done about it.

There are dozens of closets throughout the estate, but I’ve collected many things over the years and filled up each one. I don’t want to get rid of anything, either, much to Gray’s and Silas’s annoyance.

Charlie’s pulse races as she watches the Wraths work, my demons meticulous in ensuring everything’s adequately configured before turning to me with a nod and disappearing. I feel Charlie’s excitement grow the second they leave, and I can’t help but smile as I lead her to the portal.

We had the door to the closet removed so she can go in and out directly from the hallway, and we put the portal close to our offices so we can keep an eye on its activity. I don’t want Charlie sneaking off again.

Silas comes over to assist when it becomes clear I don’t know how to turn the portal on. I never use them, so I never bothered to learn.

“I’m going to put in permissions so you can only travel to and from the shifter lands,” Silas says, moving so she can’t see the code he’s using to lock access to the grid.

Charlie frowns and tries to peer around him. “I’m not a child.”

No, but she is carrying mine. I smell her again, humming at the potency of my baby in her. I could sense it the moment the embryo implanted, and it grows stronger each day.

My baby is strong.

“I know, but I’m not risking you accidentally ending up in a dangerous land,” Silas retorts, not missing a beat.

Charlie sucks in her cheeks, preparing to argue, but pauses when the portal begins to vibrate.

It looks like nothing more than an open doorway when off, but it becomes a blue haze when active. It rings as Charlie admires it, the alarm Silas set to go off whenever somebody’s coming through turning on.

Silas steps back just as Gray walks around the corner to see what’s happening.

I shouldn’t be surprised that the shifters have taken it upon themselves to be the first ones to use the portal, and I run a hand down my face at the realization of what I’ve just done. They have no fucking boundaries.

Chev comes barreling through a second later, the man clearly inexperienced with portals as he slams full-speed into the opposite wall.

“You don’t need to run through it, dumbass.” I huff, watching him wince and rub a spot on his head.

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