Page 140 of As The Shifter World Turns

“How was your day?” Ryder asked as I threw my messenger bag in the back seat and climbed into the car.

“Great. I finally told my boss about the baby.”

“How’d he take it?” Ryder said as he eased into traffic.

“Poor guy, you should have seen his face.” Archer had taken paternity leave and then quit so he could be with Elune more and help Micah and Daire in their business. “I could see his mind working furiously calculating how long it would take to find a replacement.”

I left out the bit about the blood draining from his face as he collapsed into his chair. In the time I’d been in the job, I’d grown to love it. And having a nice paycheck every month didn’t hurt.

For the first time in my life, I could sit in a café and have coffee and a piece of cake if I wanted to. Not that I had the time or the energy or the desire for coffee. Cake, I’d say yes to. The first trimester was tiring but I was lucky my morning sickness had improved. There was no way I was quitting after I had the baby.

“What did you tell him?” We’d stopped at a traffic light and he gazed at me, waiting for my answer.

“I said I’d be taking the shortest possible leave because I didn’t have a mate.” Ryder’s expression changed as soon as the words were out of my mouth and I could have kicked myself. Yeah, it was true, but fuck. I could have said it in a different way. “I mean I’m not in a stablerelationship.” That wasn’t any better.

The tension in the car was palpable and we both stared straight ahead. But if we weren’t talking to one another, living in a small apartment wasn’t ideal because other than the bedroom, there wasn’t anywhere to go. The bedroom which belonged to Ryder that I was using.

I could visit Neil when I got home. Archer would be busy with Elune’s bath and bedtime so not the best time to saunter over to his place trying to avoid Ryder.

But I decided it was best to deal with it now before we got to Sunshine Manor.

“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, enjoy your company and I know you’ll be a great dad.”

“But I’m not your mate. That’s what it comes down to.”

There were some days when I wondered if I should give in and say, “Let’s mate.” I loved him and he loved me. We were having a baby. We shared his apartment. He drove me to work and picked me up. We were in one another’s lives. The one thing holding me back was Kellan. Sure he’d apologized but I didn’t trust him. He’d worm his way back into Ryder’s life like he always did.

“Yeah,” I sighed, not knowing how to make things better.

Ryder pulled up in front of Sunshine Manor behind Seb’s car. There was someone in the passenger seat but from behind it was hard to tell who it was because there were boxes in the back seat blocking my view. But my spicy senses were tingling. I’d never seen Seb with anyone else at the manor other than Kellan.

Ryder stiffened. He was probably thinking the same as me. “We can drive around the back to the alley if you want. Or I can drop you at Archer’s.”

“No.” I was definitely not hiding from that asswipe. Sunshine Manor was our home. Our home. And our baby would come back from the hospital to the manor. No way was I letting Kellan scare me from entering the place I lived. “Let’s go.”

We walked past the car. Ryder was between me and the car and I was sure he’d done that deliberately to protect me. I loved him for that. I loved him completely. As much as I didn’t want to peer around him, I did. ItwasKellan. We locked eyes on one another. I nodded and looked away.

Seb staggered out of the building with a box in his hands. “What’s going on?” I asked, figuring he’d respond to me rather than Ryder. “Are you donating things to a charity?”

“Already done that. I’m moving.”

While it was the first I was hearing about him leaving, it wasn’t surprising. Seb’s friendship with Kellan made it difficult for him to fit into our Sunshine Manor family. And now he’d decided to leave. Maybe it was for the best and he’d be happier elsewhere and not giving anyone a black eye.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I told him, wanting to fill the silence as Ryder hadn’t said a word.

“I doubt that, but thanks for saying it anyway. Sunshine Manor is a niceplace and I’m not moving because I haven’t made friends here. I got a job out of state.”

“Okay.” My mind was working furiously thinking of Ryder’s ex in the car. If Seb wasn’t going to be here for Kellan, my stomach clenched thinking he’d be on the phone to Ryder, going to Ryder’s office and turning up at Sunshine Manor like he used to. While I was saying ”Okay” out loud, my mind was in turmoil because me sharing the apartment with Ryder meant any Kellan drama would spill over into my life.

“And Kellan’s coming with me.”

“Thank Gods for that,” Ryder burst out. Seb ignored him and put the box in the trunk and walked back toward the porch.

“He’s made some mistakes but he's not the person you think he is.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that,” Ryder told him.

“We’re not together if that’s what you’re thinking but he needs someone in his life who cares about him and I’ll do my best to be a good dad to the baby.”

---