Page 22 of Griffen's Mate

He slipped out of the house and ran to his parents. He hated using it, but with all the tight, new security he knew that he didn’t have a choice, so his wolf reluctantly went through the doggy door.

“Damn, I don’t have my phone,” Eve grumbled. Growling at his pest of a sister, he shifted to his human form. “Ew, gross. I don’t want to see your naked arse.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were still in hiding.”

Eve had been in the shit with Kane, Rane, and Logan, his brother-in-law. She wasn’t Griffen’s favorite person at the moment either. Eve had put the women in danger. It may have brought him Hope, but if they hadn’t gotten the women back and the demons had taken them off-world, it could have all turned out very differently.

Eve shrugged. “The air force suggested I take some time off.” She rolled her eyes. “Mum dragged my arse here. I was at my place far away from you lot.” She shivered.

Concentrating on his link through his omega abilities, he could feel real fear from his sister, but it wasn’t directed at their family. Raising his brow, he walked by her, grabbed the tracksuit pants his parents kept by the back and front doors, and stepped into them, doing up the drawstrings before facing Eve.

“What’s up? And don’t give me any bullshit, I’m the omega.”

She avoided his eyes and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m just under a lot of stress. You know, work and shit.”

Shaking his head, he glared at her. “Bullshit. Fuck, Eve, what has you scared? You are as tough as nails and have balls bigger than mine.”

She huffed and turned around so he couldn’t see her face, but she was being stupid, because he could feel her raging emotions: annoyance, anger, and fear. “I don’t want a mate. I see what happens when women find their mate. They turn into backseat fighters. They stay and bake the babies and look after the children. I want to be in the fight. I don’t want to be sidelined.”

Holy shit, Eve had found her mate, but she obviously hadn’t mated him. “Who is he, Eve?”

She spun on him with an angry glare and snapped, “None of your fucking business.” She stomped away, and Griffen knew that she wouldn’t tell him and no one would figure out who it was until Eve was ready.

Griffen made his way to the kitchen and found his mum with his two adopted sisters, Grace and Sophie.

“Griffen,” Sophie screeched. She wrapped her little arms around his legs and squeezed with all her might. “I missed you. Where’d yous been?”

Easing down to his knees, he picked Sophie up and hugged her. “Hey sweetie, what are you making?”

“Isa been cooking cupcakes?” She leaned down and picked up something from the bench top. “Here, trys this.” She shoved the cupcake toward his mouth and he opened it just in time, but still got covered in frosting.

He swallowed the chocolate cupcake and licked his lips to get some of the frosting off. “Thanks, sweetie. Those are so yummy.”

She nodded her head frantically. Griffen reached for another one, and this time ate without getting covered in frosting.

“Do you want real food, or are you going to eat this batch of cupcakes?” His mother didn’t even turn from helping Grace frost the cupcakes.

“Yeah, what you got?” Griffen went to the fridge as he said this. Opening it, he saw it was stocked full with containers of food.

“Why ask if you’re going to look and see anyway?” She sighed loudly, but he didn’t turn from the fridge.

Sophie reached for the container marked lasagna and the one marked salad. Griffen put the one with salad back. “Mummy said that even though yous big, strong wolfly yous still haves to eats greens. Healthy stuff.” She grabbed the salad and gave him her best glare, but it was just the cutest thing he’d ever seen.

He shut the fridge door and gently put Sophie down. He placed the containers on the counter and got out plates, knives, forks, and the microwave lid so there wouldn’t be any spatters.

His mother finally turned as he put everything down and opened the containers. “Oh, son, what on earth happened?” She came to him and cupped his face. “When was the last time you ate?” He kissed his mum’s hands and she wiped frosting off him, patted his cheek, and put her hand on her hip.

“Hope went into heat, and it was way more intense than I could have imagined.”

Her gaze widened and her mouth opened and shut for a moment. Then she looked him up and down and turned back and made sure he had a lot of lasagna and a small salad on the plate before putting the lid over it and shoving it in the microwave. “I’ll feed you up, son. You’ll be back to your old self in no time.” She darted her gaze to Grace and Sophie and mumbled just low enough for him to hear, “Does this mean I could have a grandbaby more unique than what I’m going to have?”

Griffen had no idea if he and Hope could have children, but he had a feeling that if they could she would be pregnant now. He nodded and his mother smiled. He knew that would be the last that she asked about it, and if Hope was pregnant, she would be the best grandma ever.

He wanted Hope to be happy. He’d love children of his own, but if for any reason he and Hope couldn’t have them, he’d be happy with just being the best uncle ever. And there were other ways they could be parents. There were always children needing good homes.

The microwave dinged and his mother got out his food. “Go sit. I’ll bring it to you.”

He went and sat at the table, and his mother sat the plate down and Grace placed the knife and fork down too.

“Eat. You can have some more of the cupcakes if you eat everything on your plate.”

Griffen wasn’t going to argue with his mother. He gobbled up her food and basked in her love.

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