Page 61 of Forever Mine

Married? What was he talking about? Shifters didn't care about things like that. Marriage was just a legal bond for tax purposes. Mating was far stronger than the so-called bonds of marriage.

“Why would we get married?” I asked him. It didn't make any sense to me.

“You don't want to marry Mommy?”

“I don't really see the point,” I told him, noticing a second too late that Maddie was trying to shut me up, and I had clearly said something wrong.

Oscar looked at me with big tears in his eyes. “I thought you said we were going to live together. I thought you were going to marry Mommy and be my daddy and we'd be a real family.”

He jumped up and ran from the room as Maddie moved to follow.

“Hold up,” I said as she was reaching for the door to go after him. “What the hell just happened?” I honestly had no idea why the kid was upset. And what was that nonsense about being a real family. We were already a real family, or at least well on our way in that direction.

“Liam,” she started, biting her lower lip as she gathered her thoughts. “I understand what you were saying. I do, but you have to understand where he's coming from. He doesn't know the ways of the shifters. He's only ever lived in the human world, where people fall in love, and get married and start a family and live happily ever after. Marriage to him is the commitment of family. He doesn't know anything about bonding. So, you pretty much just told him that you want to live with us, but not commit to us.”

“Maddie, that's bullshit, you know that. I'm already committed to you. Both of you.”

She walked over and wrapped her arms around me and planted a kiss on my bare chest. “I know that, but he doesn't. We just uprooted him from the only family and the only home he's ever known. It's not going to be easy on him. He has this image in his mind based on what he does know, and you kind of just shattered it.”

I sighed and stared at the ceiling. If this was parenting, I really sucked at it.

“I need to go talk to him,” she told me and I just nodded silently, wondering how I was going to fix this, while hoping Maddie was just able to clear it up and explain to him that as a mated pair we were already a family. Once we completed the bond, that was it. There was no divorce in the shifter community. We mated for life, stronger than any marriage the humans could even fathom.

I wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened. One minute life seemed pretty damn perfect. The next, I’m being blindsided by a now-upset kid. Marriage? It wasn’t something I had ever even thought of. Shifters didn’t marry. I didn’t even see the point. I got what Maddie said, but Oscar was just going to have to learn our ways, and I knew he would in time.

I tried to shake it off, and went to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. Patrick was coming over this afternoon so we could update Kyle and Cole Anderson on the Verndari. I could already tell it was going to be another long day.

To my surprise, the morning went by faster than I expected. When I’d gotten downstairs to breakfast, Mom and Lily had informed me Maddie had taken my car and gone out with Oscar. I knew they’d been through a lot and needed some time together, and clearly they needed to talk about this morning.

“You’re okay with that?” Lily had asked me hesitantly.

I was a wolf, and wolves tended to be territorial. I didn’t like people messing with my stuff, and if it had been anyone but Maddie, I would have freaked out over someone taking my vehicle. Somehow, it really didn’t bother me. She was mate, so what was mine was hers. It surprised me too, but that’s how I felt. Simple as that.

By lunchtime they still hadn't returned, but Kyle and Patrick showed up with Cole in tow, so we took the sandwiches Mom had fixed and headed for Kyle's office.

“How are you holding up?” Kyle asked. I wasn't sure what he meant and must have looked confused because he continued. “Kels told me about MC. That can't be easy on you.”

“Not sure what you mean,” I said honestly.

“Elise and Lily filled her in on the details. He knows everything,” Patrick said.

My mind was all over the place. “What are you talking about?”

“Everything that happened to her? A kid? Your lifelong crush back from the dead? Dude, it's a lot to take in. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I've got my mate. We have a great kid. I couldn't be better.”

“Then why do you look a million miles away?” Kyle challenged.

“Oh, it's nothing,” I sighed, still fixated on what Oscar had said that morning. “Really, I'm fine. The kid said something this morning that I can't stop thinking about, is all.”

“Well, come on,” Cole said. “We can tell by your face that we aren't going to get anywhere today until you spill it, so just get it over with already. No offense, but I really don't want to spend any more of my day off than absolutely necessary with you mutts.”

I let out of deep breath. “Fine, it's nothing really. He was just asking if I was going to marry his mom and then got upset when I said no, that shifters didn't marry. I didn't mean to upset him and Maddie explained how he only really knows the human world and will take some time to adjust and learn our ways. He still made me feel like crap for it. So what do you think? Should I ask Maddie to marry me?”

Kyle looked at me like I had two heads. “He'll come around. Seriously, that's what you're worried about?”

“Yeah, I don't really see the point,” Patrick said. “You'll be mated soon, I assume, and then it doesn't really matter either way.”

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