Page 154 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Does she want to run?”

“She’s agreeing with my beast that he needs to.” I said that with absolute certainty.

“Oh, they’re ganging up on you.” My mate’s eyes danced. “You know what you have to do?”

Without saying another word, I turned the stroller around and we headed home. Archer ran on ahead and brought the car back to meet us. After loading the stroller in the trunk and getting Elune in her car seat, Archer drove us to Daire’s parents’ place. We were lucky they rarely used the estate as this had become the Sunshine Manor family’s favorite place to shift. And when we reached the lake, Archer put our daughter on his shoulders while I stripped off my clothes.

“Watch your father, Elune,” he told her. She babbled and kicked her legs as I let my beast take hold of me.

Run.That was my unicorn.

Run. Run. Run.That was my daughter’s beast talking to mine.

And my unicorn took off through the woods.

62

A WHOLE LOT OF CHANGES…FOR THE GOOD…PROBABLY

Ryder

“This was a great idea,” Ivor said, his mouth full of burger.

We decided to celebrate our mating with a fancy dinner out. Baby had other plans, demanding a greasy cheeseburger and cheese fries with a side of fried cheese curds. Basically, our babe was all about the cheese—you know, the smartest baby ever.

“I agree.” I grabbed one of the cheese fries and dipped it in the sauce for some extra cheesy goodness. “This is way better than someplace where we need a tie.”

“Agreed, but I didn’t mean that. I meant mating you.” He picked up his napkin and leaned across the table, dabbing my lips with it.

“Thanks.” It was such a sweet gesture.

“I need to tell you something and maybe eat lots of cheese fries so your mouth is full and you can’t respond until I’m done?” Had he not just told me he was glad we were mated, I’d have been unable to agree to his request, my nerves would’ve run too high.

“Okay.” I took a bite of fry.

“When Trey came to Sunshine Manor to look at the apartment, I was jealous. Not like a little jealous either. My eyes were full on green death rays.”

It was all I could do not to respond. Had I seen his jealousy? Yeah, but I attributed it to Kellan overflow. Did I like it? Heck no, but also he was my mate and I sort of thought that was going to help self adjust the whole thing over time.

“And… please don’t think poorly of me. I know I should probably be able to just brush it aside, but I can’t. I booked an appointment with a counselor,” he said, the last word spoken so low I could barely hear him.

I reached across the table and took his hand. “I’m so proud of you, mate. Thank you for asking for help when you needed it and thank you for trusting me with the information.” I watched as relief filled his face. “That’s a brave thing you did on both accounts.”

“I want to be the omega you deserve, Ryder. I love you.”

“And I love you with all that I have.” I took my hand away and pointed to his burger. “Feed our baby. I have a surprise for you after dinner.”

He picked up the burger. “Will you tell me now?”

“Nope. But I will tell you Trey thought it was going to be too weird living in the same building as his boss.”

“Does it make me a shitty person for being pleased at that?”

“Nope. It makes you human—ish.” We were in a place with humans, so I had to be as not in your face with the whole shifter thing. “Now eat. We have places to go.”

One place, exactly and it was next door. I saw it on our way in and I had to go check it out. It was a baby boutique and from the looks of their window display it was absolutely adorable.

We finished eating and paid our check.

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