Page 41 of Their Princess

I nodded. “Most of my life Ezio would go with me places and keep me safe. He’s very strong, though, a bit older now.”

Trey opened the door for us and I took Elrith’s hand after stepping out.

“Is crashing your shopping trips the only way I’ll get to see you four?” Ezio asked as he walked up to us.

“You know where we live,” Trey reminded him.

“It’s good to see you,” I said and hugged him.

He squeezed me tight and pushed me back to give me a stern glare. “Can you not follow in the footsteps of your mom and Jolie by endangering yourself for the world? My heart isn’t as young as it once was and when I saw what was happening, I nearly had a heart attack.”

“Don’t worry, that’s my one and only sacrificial moment.” I held my hand with three fingers up. “Promise.”

Especially since I didn’t have the power to do it again, not that he needed to know that bit of information.

Kayden picked up Elrith and held him with Elrith’s legs wrapped around his stomach. “Pop, meet our imp, Elrith. Elrith, this is Grandpa Ezio,” Kayden introduced.

“Imp?” Ezio whispered, but quickly smiled and took a step closer to them. “Hello, Elrith. You’ve got very nice horns.”

Elrith preened. “They’re pretty large for my age. Even the king praised them.”

Putting my hand over my mouth, I hid my smile and snicker. He was so cute.

“Shall we go shopping? I hear you need some clothes and necessities,” Ezio said and turned to head inside.

“What does he shift into?” Elrith whispered to Kayden.

“A wolf,” I answered. “He can also take a warrior shift, like my dad.”

“Well, similar,” Ezio said. “Caleb’s always been a bit … special.”

“As expected of the only purebred hybrid,” I said with a shrug.

“Right,” Ezio said with a nod.

“Does it hurt you to shift?” he asked.

Ezio shook his head. “No. What about you, imp? Does shifting hurt you?”

Elrith shook his head. “The shadow protects me.”

Ezio raised his brows. “That’s good to hear.” He looked at me. “Shadow seems to run in the family.”

We stepped into the mall and were immediately bombarded by media.

Elrith gasped as the cameras flashed their bright lights and the reporters began shouting questions, and ducked his head into Kayden’s chest.

Trey stepped forward and shouted, “That’s enough!”

The reporters silenced and stopped taking pictures.

“You should be calling for an official request for interview, not bombarding them this way,” Ezio growled as he had stepped up as well. “You’re frightening my grandchild and I won’t have that!” His alpha aura exploded outwards, knocking the reporters who weren’t human back two steps.

“Deep breath,” Mason whispered as he set a hand on my lower back.

I looked over at him and obeyed, quickly realizing that I had shifted into warrior form at the gasp from Elrith. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and relaxed, shifting back to human. “Whoops.”

“Mama,” Elrith whined.

---