Page 10 of Sinful Mates

“No, it’s not. It gives you big muscles like mine.” Slade flashed his massive biceps and Mia’s eyes widened.

She tried to get her hands around one, barely getting a few inches before giving up and squeezing his muscles as if testing their strength. “I’ll eat it if I get superhero big like you!”

“Good girl.” Slade patted her head as he brought himself back to a standing position.

“Mooom, I want pizza!” Mia’s cute little voice kicked up on the zs. And so it began.

Dammit. I was too tired to fight right now. And, heck, I could do with some melted cheese and garlic tomato sauce. “Fine, order it. No sweets, though.”

In the future, she wouldn’t be getting her way. I didn’t let Slade push me around and the same went with her. Setting boundaries early with kids was paramount. In the hospital, they always pushed their luck. More Jello. Sneaking out of bed and running amok. TV past bedtime. Tantrums galore. Not happening here, sister.

Slade side-eyed me for giving in and undoing all the hard work he established to support me.

Zethan excused himself to order the five different pizza combinations we threw at him, probably giving himself a reason to put distance between him and Slade.

Meanwhile, Slade showed Mia around. “This is my place. You’ll be staying with us for a while.” Down the hall, he showed her his three spare bedrooms. “This is mine and Mom’s room, but you can pick from the other three. Which one do you want?”

Mine and Slade’s room. The declaration solidified the commitment to me and my daughter. In that moment, I knew he would give me whatever we desired if we asked it of him, including removing the sun from the sky.

“That one!” Mia pointed to the room on the left.

“Good choice.” He picked her up and hugged her to his chest, making her squeal as he carried her into the room she chose. “Best room in the house. It overlooks the pool and garden. Actually… can we swap?”

She giggled and held on to him, enjoying the attention, a relief that she wasn’t asking more questions about her parents. “It’s mine. You can’t have it.”

Zethan stayed out of the room, and probably for the best. It was too small to accommodate the four of us. Tension hung so heavy in the house between the two Alphas and warring best friends that I worried if they were stuck in the same room that it would be like throwing gas on a fire.

“Oh, yeah?” Slade’s muscles flexed as he lifted her up by the waist and twisted her, then tipped her upside down. “Wanna wrestle me for it?”

She squealed and kicked. “No fair. You’re bigger than me!”

He dropped her gently to the bed and flashed his muscles again. Any chance to show off his ginormous, delicious bear of a body. “Eat your vegetables and you’ll grow muscles like this and kick my butt.”

“Vegetables are gross.” She squealed when he tickled her.

Exactly. She’d fit in perfectly here, since predator Slade ate mostly meat.

“Well, I guess I’ll be kicking your butt at wrestling then.” Those two laughed as they pretended to battle, throwing fake punches in the air between them.

Amusement weaved through my ribcage that they got along so well. I couldn’t have asked for more.

I left them to it, pulling tags from her clothes and folding them away in the closet. We had to get her a dresser and a desk if she was going to stay here. Toys as well.

Shit… it was crazy how easily I slipped into mother mode. How easily I was lulled into a sense of happy family. How easily I was fooled into believing this was real.

Nothing about this was perfect. I dragged my daughter into this war. Caused her parents to die. Committed fraud with her identification documents to get her back. One day the police would come for me like they would Zethan. Where would Mia be then? I crushed those thoughts, not wanting to dredge them up when the thought of losing her all over again nearly destroyed me.

How Mia fit in with my relationships with my men was yet to be worked out. A part of the equation I couldn’t factor in yet. Zethan backed me one hundred percent, and I held no doubts there. But he knew the background behind our story.

Slade was pissed and shocked when he found out Mia existed, the secret I hid from him bound to create friction and more mistrust between us. Dread sat heavy in my stomach at what he would think of me for abandoning my daughter. The other two were dismayed and suspicious of what else I hid from them. Maybe I deserved the club’s betrayal. To lose my mates. Karma and all that shit.

Clucky Slade expressed his desire for children when he proposed to me. The topic of children never came up with Castor or Alaric, but it would soon. Decisions had to be made on how to navigate these new waters. Whether they wanted the burden of being Mia’s stepfathers. It wasn’t fair for me to throw this on their laps and expect them to accept the situation. To ask for their forgiveness or trust.

Fucking Danny left me with no other choice. The horrors that came through the ER. Children abused by parents, guardians, friends, and family members, an alarming number from the foster and state care systems. Broken bones, bruises, internal bleeding, sexual abuse, and other distressing damage I didn’t care to think about. Mia got lucky with her deceased parents, having a loving home, but as an older child, it might be difficult to rehome or adopt her. With all the terror inflicted on my patients, there was no way in hell I would abandon my daughter to shark-infested waters.

Danger surrounded the club like armies closing in on us, and Mia might not be safe with me either. The cops threatened to shut the club down and arrest my men. This bastard avatar hiding in the shadows. Others possibly waiting in the wings in the future. Chances I would take to keep her safe with me. At least with my men and me, the backing of our gods and powers, she would have a stronger likelihood of pulling through all this.

Exhaustion held me captive, leaving me detached and indifferent to the matter, putting it aside to deal with later. When all the shit calmed down. When my mind wasn’t weighed down by everything. When I could rely on the wise counsel of Castor and support of Zethan.

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