Page 44 of Sinful Mates

Just moments ago, I asked Slade, “Isn’t she too young for a bike?”

He gave me a complacent brow aimed at appeasing me. “How old were you when you got on a bike?”

Fuck. He got me on that. “Five.”

“Stop being overprotective.” Slade threw his arm over my neck and drew me to him. “She’s safe with us. Loved and cared for.”

For now. I had a bad feeling that more trouble was headed our way.

Coming back to the moment, I tapped my daughter on the shoulder. “Wear your helmet. Otherwise, no riding.”

“It’s itchy,” Mia grouched, slamming on the glittery pink thing Slade bought her, disregarding the safety straps.

Slade crouched down to secure them with a click of the clip. “Bad luck, kiddo. Your mom’s the boss, and what she says goes.”

My heart sighed at his endorsement.

Mia’s lips twisted and she shifted the helmet from side to side, scratching her head. “It’s not fun wearing this.”

Amusement curled through me, and I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth.Nice try, kid.Already played the fun card at our beach getaway, and Slade shot her down. It seemed my child inherited my cunning.

My mate tightened the safety strap so Mia couldn’t shuffle it. “Falling off your bike and hitting your head hurts.” He lifted his arm to show a long scar on his elbow that I never really noticed before. “This needed five stitches. Do you know what they are?”

Eyes wide, she furiously shook her head.

“Your mom stitched me up when she worked at the hospital.” He demonstrated by hooking his finger. “Sealed up my nasty cut with a big, curved needle and thread to hold my skin together.”

Total lie. Healed him with my magick. But I liked that he kept my secret.

Mia winced. “Ouch.”

Slade patted her on the shoulder. “Big ouch.”

Golden pride swirled in my chest at my mate coming to my rescue. Slowly, we felt like a team again and it left me tingling all over with security. I sent him a loving smile and he struck me with a dimpled wink that got me every time.

“Okay, you’re ready to go.” Slade leaned down, gripping the handlebars. “Get on, sweetheart.”

Alaric nudged in, bumping Slade off to one side, getting a glare for his efforts.

Castor, Zethan, and I shared a smile as the two men wrestled for purchase, guiding Mia along the footpath outside Slade’s home.

My mind kept replaying Castor’s words.I can’t give all of me. I might never be able to.Words that ripped away a piece of my heart, leaving a jagged edge that caught on my lungs every time I breathed. I shouldn’t care about something as insignificant as a mating ritual to bond us, important only to our shifters. He said he was mine. Said he loved me. Showed it in each kiss, every touch, every embrace. Yet I questioned that love when my chest ached like a bomb went off in it. Why did it feel like a part of me was missing? The way it had when Alaric and I were estranged.

Mia’s squeal brought me back to the moment. She threw herself on the seat with a fearlessness that reminded me of me when I first joined the Wolves, and my heart pinched, wishing for that level of boldness and daring I possessed as a teen.

Two guards by her side, Mia wobbled for her first few minutes, gaining confidence with each roll of her tires. Slade let her go and whistled at her. Alaric stuck to her side, holding onto the handlebars while she took off, ever her protector, and damn, my heart shimmered at them both. Both were so good with Mia. Attentive, devoted… her superheroes. Everything I could ask from father figures. Their way of making amends for what went down with the Wolves and Jackals.

My bond hummed with elation as Slade reversed to stand with us.

Zethan nuzzled into my left side. “I love seeing you happy, baby.”

Castor made a sound of agreement, hand settling on my ass, lower than Zethan’s on my back.

Rejection crawled under my skin, and my nerves screamed at him not to touch me. Unworthy mate. Commitment phobia mate. I rubbed at the throb in my breastbone. Shot again, straight through my heart.

The rational side of me, the one from where my healing magick stemmed from, formulated the prognosis. Relationship anxiety and hesitance borne of childhood trauma, replayed in adulthood with the breakdown of his marriage, and ending with the loss of his previous mate. Phobias that pushed me away from fear of making a mistake and losing me.

Try as I might, my irrational side won out, and I couldn’t stop blaming myself. Secrets came between us. Infidelity ended his marriage. Abandonment by his father taught him early that the people he loved didn’t stay. My actions fed the dark beast inside him that believed he wasn’t worthy of love.

---