“I broke it because she tried to fucking run me over with it.”
Again, pissed off and proud of her for that move.
Proud.
I said both!
Bafflement cakes Z’s expression. “I’m sorry, what?!”
“And I was shifted!” I stab a pointed finger her direction in frustration. “She tried to run me the fuck over while I was fucking shifted! Shifted!”
“Why would she do that?”
“Why are there all these socks right here?” Dae innocently gestures her light brown hand to the stacked assortment right outside of the car door. “Are you planning to put on a low budget puppet show to distract her from calling the police?”
Increasing irritation convinces me to bite back. “Are you planning on announcing it to everyone over dinner tonight that you’re pregnant?”
Her once bright face instantaneously pales. “How did you know that?”
“You smell like a fucking bakery.” Wedging the end of the vegetable into my mouth occurs between sentences. “And despite how hard Z is trying to mask that fresh bread scent, it’s not working.”
“Why do I smell like fresh bread?!” Dae loudly squeaks.
“Just shit that happens when you’re pregnant with a shifter baby,” I state on a small shrug. “Where do you think the Sleeper phrase ‘bun in the oven’ really came from?”
Shock invades her expression while her mate moves protectively to her side.
“And shouldn’t you know that shit? Isn’t it in your med textbook to be a doctor or bone collector or whatever?”
“No!” She quickly shakes her head. It just says generic nonsense like ‘the body will go through some changes’, not that I’ll smell like I just left a Mrs. Baird's factory. Oh! Oh! I also read something in the same chapter about an egg sometimes appearing rather than a mate carrying it in their stomach – almost like it would for a bird –, but I didn’t really understand it, so I have to go back and read it again because I’m fairly certain that is going to be on my exam next week, which I am so not ready for like I should be.”
“When do you think you’ll be ready to tell us that we’re gonna be uncles?”
“When do you think you’ll be ready to tell us that you’ve found your Fated Mate?” my brother fires in return.
“Fuckme.” Grumbles float through the air while I reach for another shallot from the pile I have stacked near the windshield, “I don’t want a Fated Mate.”
High pitched screams unexpectedly hit our ears collectively sending our stares to where the unidentified female is staring at her wrist. More shrieks along with a slew of cuss words seamlessly stream from her red painted lips as she violently scrubs the area with her other hand.
“And she probably didn’t want that Fated Mate mark,” Dae sassily teases.
I sneer, take a bite of vegetable, and look off into the distance.
Away from where the woman I’m tied to for the rest of existence is screeching like a banshee getting her back blown out.
And I’d know.
I went through a whole phase of banging them when my balls first dropped.
“Socks?” Z chortles, regaining my stare. “You’re nesting with socks?”
“I’m not fucking nesting.”
“Come on, A.D., that’s exactly what you’re doing!”
“No.”
Yes.
Fuck me, do not join this discussion.
“Alright then, why are you hoarding socks? Are we opening up a Footlocker? I mean you do have enough shoes for that to be possible but-”
“I just wanted her tiny toes to be safe! They’re popping out of those holey horrors she’s calling shoes, and I don’t want anything to happen to them or her for that fucking matter!”
“Why?” His grin grows smug, and I immediately chuck my snack at him. He effortlessly dodges as he asks, “Why don’t you want anything to happen to this ‘random’ Sleeper you kidnapped?”
Matenapped.
We’re not correcting him again!
Mate.
Yeah, yeah, I fucking heard you, and I know that’s why I fucking need her in my eyesight, but I don’t want to know that shit! And I don’t want that shit to be true! And-
Mate.
I reach for another shallot to shush my ancient side.
“Hi!” My brother’s mate exclaims on a friendly wave split seconds after the woman has stopped screaming. “I’m Dae.”
The female maintains her handle on the spray yet cautiously retorts, “I’m Ana.”
Hearing her name swells my heart.
Causes it to wildly bang against my chest.
Damn near break my ribcage.
What a perfect fit for a perfect creature.
I wonder if that’s short for something the way my own is.
I wonder if we have more in common than our clipped names and displeased temperaments.
Yes.
You don’t know that for sure.
Yes.
Shoving down my annoyance with Gold is easily done courtesy of Dae saying my name, “That thing sitting on the hood of your car is A.D.”
“Auran,” I unexpectedly correct as my eyes meet Ana’s. “But my family and friends and colleagues and bartenders all call me A.D. Only my mom – when she was alive – called me Auran, but even then, it was only when I was in deep shit.”
Her grin takes me completely off guard. “Same! Everyone has always called me Ana except my mom – when she was alive – who would call me by my first name when I was in deep shit, which was often. I spent way more fucking time in trouble than out of it.” She doesn’t wait for me to ask the obvious in spite of the fact I’m willing and ready. “Anais.”
“For Dragons Sake, how is that even more perfect than Ana?”
She blushes at the comment, and I thoughtlessly do the same.
What is the matter with me?!
I know how to think before I speak.
Mate.
Are we just…blaming her for everything now?
“Well, Ana,” Dae sweetly states, “me and my mate, Zilveren aka Z,” she points to him, “are going to head inside for dinner so that A.D. can explain some things to you alone, but if you have any questions about what he says – and fair warning, it’s all gonna sound really weird – just know that I’ve been in your exact shoes and am happy to help you in the adjustment anyway you might need.” She pulls her lips together during a small pause. “Okay, probably not your exact shoes, but pretty similar.”