Page 30 of Sinful Mates

The fact that Castor complimented her made the warm glow in me burn hotter. Of all my mates, he seemed the most reluctant to father Mia. I hoped he slowly came around to the idea, because I didn’t need another wedge between my mates beyond the secret kept from him.

“Thank you.” She took the cup and sipped. “No vegetables please, Slade!”

Slade grunted and smiled, his throat resounding with a pleased note at our new, happy family. I let them have their little moment. Him to assert himself with rules. Mia to push back as the fussy child. We were staying in his house, so it was his rules, and we had to abide by them.

The reluctance on the bond suggested he didn’t want to overstep after the disaster of Mia’s rescue and vote against me. I appreciated that he gave me space to parent without laying down too many rules, just house rules. At some stage though, probably when we told Mia she was staying for good, he would have to set more rules as her stepfather. For now, I let it be, content to enjoy our reprieve.

Mia picked out the roast pumpkin from the salad with her fingers.

A habit I jumped on. “No fingers at this dinner table.” I held her fork out for her. “Use your fork, please.”

She sighed and took it.

The bond rumbled with pleasure, my men happy with their lunch and our getaway so far.

“Don’t you like pumpkin?” Zethan picked his out too. A solidarity pick, rather than an actual dislike of the vegetable. At least the bond suggested that.

Mia bunched the pumpkin on the side of her plate. “I don’t like anything orange.”

Slade raised a brow. “You had orange juice at breakfast.”

“I like that,” Mia replied, and smirks went around the table.

“But that’s orange,” he pointed out the obvious.

"It tastes good." Kid logic for you.

Danny’s kids were the same.

Fuck.

Thinking about my brother, about depriving my niece and nephew of a father, made my food thicken and scratch my throat. Sips of water failed to dislodge the gluey, sharp mass.

“You okay, sugar?” Slade set a hand on my thigh and squeezed.

“Fine.” I smiled it away, skipping the topic in front of my daughter.

“Have you tried carrot juice?” health nut Alaric asked.

Mia stuck out her tongue. “Nooo!”

“I’ll make you some. You’ll love it with pineapple and apple.”

Good idea. Whenever I stayed over with him, he made me fresh juice along with tea. He made green smoothies every morning and kept himself fit and healthy.

None of my other mates were as health conscious. Slade said he was here for a good time, not a long time, and ate mainly meat, sandwiches, and crap at the club on top of his smoking and drinking. Zethan was a typical man, eating his staple meat and vegetables. Castor, to my surprise, ate whatever he wanted as long as it was hard to pronounce and belonged to another culture. Considering the knowledge brimming in his mind, I would have thought he took a little more pride in his diet.

Meanwhile, old Nurse A here, ate a relatively clean diet where she could. Maybe I ought to take a leaf out of my men’s books. Enjoy life to the fullest. With the way we lived, we might not be here forever. But the thought of leaving Mia alone made my heart ache and I vowed to look after myself and every one of my mates. We needed all the strength we could get with our unknown foe, their identity close to being uncovered. Just like the next phase of the war.

CHAPTER11

Aaliyah

Four stares burnedlike the lick of fire. Caresses darker than a moonlit night drifted down my body, setting flames to every curve. Heat dropped in my core as contentment melted to desire. Reclined on Slade and Alaric’s laps, my heartbeat catapulted off its tracks.

“How about we retire to the boudoir?” Slade’s long, languid strokes on my thighs liquefied every nerve.

Hot, eager energy rushed through my blood. Tempting, but not yet.

---