Page 79 of Verses and Blooms
He smiled sadly and shook his head. “No, unfortunately not. All the negative clouded anything else. They couldn’t have been too close to me if they let me rot in this place, right? The only family I need is right here,” he promised.
“And apparently, a kid,” I joked, still trying to wrap my mind around that one. We were going to be parents when we got out of here.
Alice had been true to her word and brought in a makeshift library. My first day in there, I found a book on parenting and started reading it. Lilly was pretty much self-sufficient outside of the basics, but I wanted to do right by her and Caspian.
Kane smiled. “I always wanted a big family. We talked about kids a few times, but once the alpha entered the picture, it was off the table.”
“Do you still want kids outside of Lilly?” I asked, curious if anything had changed.
Kane thought it over before nodding. “I don’t think that’s changed. Part of me wants to stay cynical, to save them from ever having to go through what we did. But there are so many beautiful things about life,” he said softly. “So many things I want to experience and share. I feel like our pack will have more patience and compassion than any other pack possibly could. So, maybe kids wouldn’t be a bad thing. We just need some time to be a pack first.”
“I agree,” I mused. “Spending time with just us and Lilly is top priority. We can always talk babies again later.”
I’d finished my salad before I knew it, a pout forming as I scraped the last bite.
Kane took my hand across the table and gave me a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry. That’s just the first round.”
As if on cue, Ares and Caspian swept out with arms full of food. Caspian was in a fitted suit, a bit less fancy than Ares’s. His hair was down, the ash blond bright against the black fabric, which hugged his muscles. Ones he’d been honing with Ledger’s help.
They both lookeddelectable.
“Should I be jealous?” Kane teased when I struggled to tear my eyes away from the sexy alpha duo.
I gave him a sheepish grin. “If it makes you feel better, I checked out your ass on the way here.”
He tilted his head back and laughed, making me crack up, too.
“That does help,” he said when he caught his breath.
“I’m going to be in trouble when we leave and you all have access to real clothes,” I joked. “My brain can’t handle this.”
Then all the ogling shifted to the food as they put down plates of chicken alfredo and fresh bread with herb butter.
“I think I’m in heaven,” I said as I breathed in deep.
“Me, too,” Kane said. Only, he was looking at me.
My stomach flipped and my cheeks burned as I bit back a smile. Those amber eyes were so open I didn’t even need the bond to know how he felt.
“Who knew you were such a flirt?” I teased, keeping the mood light for now.
He picked up a piece of bread and slathered it with butter, passing it to me. I let out a groan at how good it was. Everything I’d tasted tonight had been amazing, but this… this was perfection.
Salty, herby, warm. That might be my new favorite combination. At least until dessert. What respectable omega could turn down gooey warm chocolate?
“It’s going to be a long night if you keep making noises like that,” Kane said, watching as I licked my lips.
He forced himself to look away, taking a bite of his own alfredo.
“Have you painted anything new lately?” I asked, giving him a reprieve with a subject change. He’d struggled to make art after realizing who he was painting. He’d found some inspiration with me and Caspian but not much since.
“You and our pack,” he said with a smile. “My muse looks a little different lately.”
“I’m sure the art teacher’s happy about that,” I joked. The old one was always harping on him to paint something new. Anything other than the mystery woman he couldn’t quite remember.
Now we knew she was his awful ex. I was also glad he stopped painting her.
“Well, I have a new art therapist these days, so she hasn’t seen enough of my work to complain,” he said with a shrug.
