Page 45 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

Before long we were both fast asleep and that’s how Lucy found us.

Her gasp of surprise jolted me awake. She was staring down at us with an odd look on her face.

“Hey, you’re home. Sorry, I guess I fell asleep.” I gave her a sheepish look knowing Vada should have been in bed long before now.

Lucy still didn’t say anything.

“Did you have a good time?”

She shrugged. “It was okay. Everyone was really nice.”

I frowned. “Just okay?”

“It was great hanging out and relaxing. They sure do like their wine.”

My wolf perked up unhappily. “You’ve been drinking?”

“Me? No. I just don’t like it. Never have.” She paused and looked at me weirdly again. “Would it have been a problem if I had?”

“If you had been drinking? No. Of course not. I just don’t like the idea of you drinking and then driving. I know we’re shifters, we actually burn off the alcohol faster than humans and a few beers isn’t really going to impair anything, but during my residency I spent time doing rounds in an ER.” I shuddered remembering the horrible needless suffering I’d witnessed in the name of just a few drinks. “I’ve just seen too much. It’s not worth getting behind the wheel with even a drop of that stuff in your system.”

She glared at me and then smiled. “I agree. And it’s important to me to live that example for her.” She pointed to the sleeping child on my chest.

“I completely agree.”

I leaned down and kissed the top of Vada’s head. I hadn’t really considered such decisions for parenthood. I mean, I encouraged my patients, especially new parents, to think of these kind of things, but they had never directly affected me in the way they were now.

The realities of parenthood were hitting me hard, but how could I not think about it when all I wanted was a life with these two ladies.

Lucy was staring at us again with that look on her face that I couldn’t understand.

“I know I should have put her down already. I’m sorry. She’s just so cuddly.”

Lucy smiled. “No, it’s fine. A little extra love never hurt anyone.”

She looked around the room and I wondered if she expected I would crash and burn flying solo with Vada.

“We survived alright,” I told her as I sat up keeping the child close to my chest.

“I can see that. Everything’s so tidy.”

I shrugged. “Habit. In my line of work, it helps to keep everything in order.”

She bit her lip but I knew my obsessive tendencies had not gone unnoticed around the office either.

“I let her have fun and make a mess,” I defended. “Then we played the clean up game before getting jammies on.”

She snorted. “Jammies? Clean up game?”

I shrugged completely unaffected. Dealing with my youngest patients had always come naturally to me. Or maybe I’d just never fully grown up. My father would definitely agree to that one. My work ethics he never had an issue with. Turning over his practice had gone flawlessly. It was my personal life he'd always taken exception to.

“A grown man shouldn’t play fantasy games all the time,” he’d said on more than one occasion.

My mother didn’t seem to care as much. She encouraged it even, but it drove my dad nuts.

Mom was more of a “When will you give me a grandpup? You know your father and I aren’t getting any younger.”

I looked down at Vada and grinned. Mom was going to love her.

---