Page 107 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Maybe I could watch her in the living room and you two can nap.” Somehow Neil’s words felt bigger than their literal meaning, like me taking him up on the offer mattered. So I did.

“Thanks. I’ll even buy you Thai for dinner,” I promised as I gathered up our trash.

“I was going to hold out for pasta, but given I like you…” He rolled his eyes. “Thanks for today.”

“No. Thank you. I needed to give Archer a bit of quiet time and I needed that bologna more than I realized. Sooooo good. I don’t care if it’s made with all the leftover bits. It’s delicious.”

“If you say so.”

39

MOVING OUT

Archer

“I can’t believe our little girl is three months old.” I peered at our daughter sleeping in her crib as Micah stood beside me, an arm over my shoulder.

Beautiful, my wolf said.

“And now we begin a new chapter,” my mate noted.

This was our last morning in Sunshine Manor. The apartment was bare except for our bed, a lamp, Elune’s crib and a box of our daughter’s diapers and other essentials. But there were boxes on the landing and we’d had new furniture delivered to the new place.

Micah had negotiated the sale of the house in the street behind Sunshine Manor. It wasn’t identical to the manor as it had a basement apartment which my parents would move into next week. But it had a roof. Daire insisted—as did Ryder, Ivor and Neil—that Friday night’s on the manor roof would continue. And Micah, Elune, Patch and I were expected to be there.

I was still on paternity leave so wasn’t juggling a young baby, a job and moving house. My boss had decided to continue using one of my colleagues until I returned so Ivor was still working for Ryder. But I’d been considering not going back to work full time, though I hadn’t said anything to my boss as yet.

“It doesn’t seem real. You have a beast, we’re mated, and we have a daughter.” Patch whined. “And a furry son.” I picked him up.

Elune stirred and opened her eyes. They were the most brilliant blue and first thing in the morning when the sun peeked in through the window, her skin dazzled, reminding me of Micah’s when he shifted.

“Knock, knock.”

“It’s open,” Micah said as I picked up our daughter and changed her diaper. “I’ll close the bedroom door to give you privacy and we’ll make a start with the boxes.”

Settling myself on the bed, I fed our daughter as she stared up at me, her one hand gripping my shirt. And despite the grunts, groans and complaints of, “What have you got in here?” from outside, my daughter suckled, content to study me while the world went on around her.

And when she’d finished, I got her dressed. She could have a bath later in our new home.

Micah was such a sweetheart. He wouldn’t let me do any of the moving and had made sure our friends were on hand to help. As a thank you, we were having them over for dinner tonight on our roof. A take-out dinner. No way were we cooking and we hadn’t bought a barbecue yet.

Toby raced in and Patch greeted him with yelps and licks. “I’m going to miss you,” he said as he cuddled my dog.

“We’ll be less than a five-minute walk away and you can see Patch whenever you want. Don’t forget you’re taking him to the park twice a week.”

“Can Patch have a sleepover some time?” The boy held my pup close.

“I think that can be arranged. We’ll be here every Friday night so he could stay with you then. What do you think?” And then I added, “As long as your dad says it’s okay.” I didn’t want to have a problem with Martin by promising something when he hadn’t been consulted.

“Dad! Dad! Can Patch have a sleepover on Friday nights?” Toby shouted down the stairs.

“I… I guess,” Martin yelled as he panted. “But we can talk about it later.”

“Yay, dad said yes.” Toby ran back in and told the dog.

“Archer, you ready?” Micah asked as he and Ryder walked in, smelling of sweat.

“Yes. Toby, you're responsible for Patch, remember.” He took the leash and attached it to my dog’s collar. “Let’s go.”

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