Page 109 of As The Shifter World Turns

“I’d like that,” Daire said.

It was a sweet moment between two friends.

Ivor

“Say bye to your dads.” Neil held Elune and waved her hand as Micah and Archer stood in the doorway blowing kisses.

“Maybe we should get take out,” Archer said as he took a step toward his daughter.

“She’ll be fine, love,” Micah assured his mate. “We’ll only be gone an hour.”

“Okay.” Archer relented and allowed Micah to guide him out to the car.

“Wanna take a bet on how long it is before he texts us?” I asked Neil.

The phone beeped. “Too late,” my friend said.

Elune rubbed her eyes and according to the long list of instructions Archer had sent us before he left, that was because she was sleepy. We each gave her a kiss and Neil put her in the crib.

I poured us each a glass of wine and we curled up on Archer and Micah’s new couch. Archer’s parents were arriving tomorrow and while there were still some boxes to be unpacked, they’d done a lot in the last week.

“I’ve got news.”

Neil took a sip of wine and I was sure he’d guessed whatever I was going to say was to do with Ryder. “Good or bad?”

“Good but I don’t know what to do.”

Neil’s eyes opened wide and he was grinning. “Ivor, you’re pregnant?”

“No.” Ever since Elune was born, Neil had been talking and thinking ‘babies’. “No.” I needed to get my own life together first before looking after another one. “Ryder’s asked me to move in with him.”

That shocked Neil into silence. He hadn’t been expecting that. He’d probably been preparing himself for more of Ryder’s and my back and forth.

“Wait.” He gulped another mouthful of wine. “That’s huge, Ivor. I’m so happy for you.” He gave me a hug. “It’s been a long rocky road for the two of you.”

“Not so fast. I d-don’t know if I should accept?”

“Why not?” He took one look at my face. “If you’re worried about you know who, then you should say no because that means you don’t think Ryder’s ready.”

I chewed a nail. “Is that what it is?” Maybe Neil was right. “I don’t trust Kellan to stay out of our lives. It’s not Ryder, it's his ex.”

“Again, a reason to say no.”

Ryder and I had gone slowly over the past few months. We worked together with no dating and no sex. Then we dated. The next step was sex and we did that a lot.

“If you have any doubts, keep your relationship the same as it is now.” He sighed. “Or end it,” he whispered.

“No to ending it.” I nibbled my nail some more. Some days I wondered if my breaking up with Ryder would rid my life of a lot of stress. I loved him but being with him was hard work.

“Okay, I have a question. Why aren’t you mated? Why does Ryder want to live with you but not make you his mate?”

I didn’t say anything, knowing the answer but Neil gave me a look. It might not have worked on Daire but I crumbled. “Because he’s not ready to commit?”

“Mmmm. For whatever reason, he’s not there yet.”

“But Micah and Archer were basically living together before they mated,” I reminded him.

“True, but they didn’t have the ghost of Kellan coming between them.”

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