Page 150 of The Dragon's Mate

“Yes. Neither Roland nor I could stand thethought of him going to a group home when we have so much space here. It’sjust our Becky at home now and it’s been nice having more than one teenageragain,” Mara said.

Bren laughed. “You might be the only personI know who is actively looking for more teenagers. Are you sure you know whatyou’re getting into?”

Mara grinned at him. “We have sixchildren, Detective, and four of them were hormonal teenage boys at the sametime. It was complete and utter chaos, and I miss that chaos tremendously.”

Bren laughed again. “Well, thank youagain. I know Corey is grateful to you.”

“He is a sweet boy,” Mara said.

The front door slammed, and heavy footstepstrod down the hallway. Bishop poked his head into the kitchen. He was holdingLila in his arms and the baby squealed with excitement when she saw Mara. “Thatsmells good, Mara. Any chance there’s enough for – Matthews, hey.”

“Hey,” Bren said as Bishop crossed the roomto kiss Mara’s cheek.

“There’s plenty of soup, Button,” Mara saidas Lila squealed again and reached for the elegant wolf shifter. “Hi, sweet Lila.Come here, my darling girl.”

She took Lila and kissed her cheek. Lila growledhappily, and Mara laughed. “Oh, you are the sweetest thing.”

“Thank you again for watching her,” Bishopsaid as the boys joined them in the kitchen again. Tyler and Corey set thetable, moving around the kitchen as comfortably as if they’d lived there for weeks,not a day.

“It’s never a problem. You know I love myLila girl.” Mara laughed again when Lila chewed and licked at her cheek. “Isee she’s still in her chewing phase.”

“Yes,” Bishop said. “Ava will be by afterher shift to pick her up. Around four, she said.”

“Perfect,” Mara said.

Bishop sat down beside Bren, studying him silently.“How’d it go with the clan last night?”

“Fine,” Bren said.

“No problem with the other,” Bishop glancedat Tyler and Corey, “clan members?”

“He wants to know if any of the dragonstried to set you on fire for dating Kaida,” Tyler said with a snicker.

“Everyone was very welcoming,” Bren said. “Infact, I was about to call your office, see if there was someone available tosneak me back to the clan.”

“Why sneak in?” Tyler said. “Everyone knowsyou and Kaida are a thing. Who cares?”

Bren supposed Tyler had a point, but thedragons were already being inundated with reporters. If they saw him, it wouldonly make it worse. “True, but we’re still going to keep a low profile for now.”

Tyler glanced at Corey. “Corey says weshould do the same thing. I don’t want to hide anymore though.”

“It’s not hiding,” Corey said.

“He’s right,” Bren replied. “Keeping a lowprofile is not the same as hiding a relationship.”

“I guess.” Tyler was standing near Mara andhe reached out and touched the top of Lila’s foot.

Bren was feeling as dejected as Tyler looked.He masked it with a smile. “It’ll get better, Ty. It’s only until the pressfinds a new story to fixate on. They’ll lose interest in us, I promise.”

Tyler continued to stare at Lila. “Willthey? Dad’s in the news, like, all the time and everyone knows how much hehates shifters. What if they never get tired of following us?”

“They will,” Bren said with a confidence hedidn’t feel.

Mara leaned forward and kissed Tyler’sforehead. “Your brother is right, sweetheart. They’ll move on, they always do.”

God, Bren hoped the wolf shifter wasright. He couldn’t stand the idea of his brother always needing to hide who heloved. It wasn’t fair to him.

Or you.

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