Leilani’s eyes went wide, but Niya only continued to stare, then blurted, “Who?”
“Remington, the six-month-old human? We’re adopting him as well.”
Leilani said, “You’re getting a baby, too?”
“Yes,” I said. “You two and Remi. As soon as all the paperwork is set, we’ll be back here to take all three of you home.”
Leilani was frowning slightly, but Niya smiled. “I’m gonna have a baby brother?”
Seb chuckled. “Yes, sweetie, you are.”
Niya bounced on her toes and giggled, so I ruffled her hair, then checked the time. We needed to head out before they kicked us out for their dinner rush.
I sighed, and Seb frowned but nodded in understanding as I said, “We have to get going, girls. We’ll be back as soon as we can, okay?”
Leilani nodded, her gaze going to the floor, and Niya let out the most dramatic sigh I’d ever heard—I had to hold in a laugh, because we were probably in trouble with that one—and said, “Guess we gotta go eat dinner.” It was crazy we’d been here so long it was almost dinnertime.
Seb held back a smile and said, “Guess you do. We’ll see you soon, okay? And if… if you two need something before we come to pick you up, tell Mrs. Hunley to call us, okay? We’ll come right over if you need anything.”
My chest warmed toward my viramore again, but I nodded to the girls. “He’s right. I’ll tell Mrs. Hunley myself that you two can call us anytime you want, okay?”
They both nodded, Niya grinning at us.
Saying goodbye was kind of horrible, but knowing we’d be back to bring them home next time helped ease the ache and the protective instincts I had toward the girls and Remi. I gave them each a hug and a kiss on the temple, and Seb did the same before we reluctantly walked out.
Seb was moving slowly, so I said, “After we talk to Mrs. Hunley, let’s go figure out everything we need to buy for the three of them. We can redo their rooms and buy clothes—Mrs. Hunley should know their sizes—and get them art supplies and everything else you found out they liked.”
He nodded and wiped his eye. “I don’t want to leave any of them here.”
“I know, but we don’t have a choice right now.”
He nodded and let me lead him out of the room, down the hall, and straight to Mrs. Hunley’s office.
I knocked on her open door, and when she looked at me, I said, “We’re heading out, but we wanted to know if you have their clothes sizes?”
“Oh, yes, of course.” She shuffled some papers around, then opened her laptop, and a minute later, she was passing me a piece of paper with their sizes written down.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” She chewed her inner lip nervously, so I waited a minute for her to say what she needed to say. “Have you heard anything about the Brinnswick Union pulling our funding?”
My eyes widened. “No, I haven’t. What the hell? Why would they do that?”
She shrugged, looking helpless. “I’m not sure, but I’ve heard it from more than one person in some of our outreach programs.”
I ran a hand over my face, then made eye contact with her. “I’ll see what I can find out. Don’t worry about it, I’m not going to let that happen.” Not if I had any say in it.
She gave me a nod of thanks, and Seb and I headed out.
Seb added in my head, They better not pull the funding or I’ll kick their asses.
That made me grin. My viramore was kind and sweet and seemed like he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he was fierce as hell when he was fighting enemies or sticking up for his family. If those fucking representative assholes on the Union board wanted to pull funds, they were going to have to deal with my viramore and me. I didn’t think that was something they’d want to deal with.
Seb nudged me. You can’t just blast them, even if they deserve it. Assholes.
No, but threatening them should be enough.
Seb snorted his amusement.
I said, “Let’s not think about that right now; we just adopted three kids. We. Adopted. Three. Children.”
He smiled. “I know.”
I pecked his lips and led him out the front doors. Once we were in the car, Seb’s Bonded dragon Zammerra pulled herself to Seb and popped up right on his lap. She was in her small form, so she looked like a baby dragon even though she was over four years old. Her purple and black scales sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the windshield, and her knowing eyes were wiser than her age. Seb Bonded with her after his experiences with the elder ogre before the Berserker War had truly started, so the young dragon had seen a lot in her short lifetime. Being a Bonded, she was able to use her Bond with Sebastian to pull herself to him, no matter where or how far he was from her, and Seb could do the same. She could also change her form and size, although she typically stuck to her small size so she could curl around Seb’s neck or sit on his lap.
My Bonded was a manticore that preferred being in the form of a black cat or kitten. She also loved curling up on Seb’s lap, although both the dragon and cat loved hanging all over me as well… sometimes. Zammerra and Seraphina were the best of friends now, although there were times when Sera behaved as if Zamm was her baby. I suppose that was natural since Zamm had been a baby when Seb had found her.
“You alright, baby?” I asked Seb.
He sighed. “Yeah.”
I leaned over the console to kiss his cheek, but Seb turned to me so I kissed his lips instead. Since I was at an awkward angle, and we were still in front of the orphanage, I only lingered against his lips for a few seconds. Once I settled in my seat, I put the car in drive and said, “Aspen has all the baby stuff that didn’t get ruined in the… that night.” Seb knew I meant the night my parents and half of our coven were slaughtered. I didn’t talk about it, and I didn’t want to think about it. I’d told Seb everything I remembered about that night long ago, so I didn’t need to rehash it for him.
“Do you want to buy stuff? Or should we make things at home?” he asked without missing a beat—knowing what I needed, as always.
I sighed. “We probably need to buy things. We can have a crib and beds and dressers and stuff made with the trees, I think, but there are other things we might need for a baby. Plus, diapers and all that. Let’s go to a store and see if the people there can help us figure out what the hell we need. We’re going to end up buying the whole damn store, but whatever.”
When I glanced at him, he smiled softly. “Okay.”
The happiness I felt coming from him made my anxiety over this new venture ease. He was excited about bringing these kids into our home—our kids. He didn’t feel as if I was pressuring him, he truly wanted this as badly as I did.
Reaching over with one hand while steering with the other, I squeezed his thigh. He settled his hand over mine, and I grinned.
By the time we got home, we’d basically burned a hole in my pocket by buying absolutely everything you could imagine for a baby, a four-year-old, and an eleven-year-old, and we were both exhausted. Luckily for us, one of my older kids—my nineteen-year-old Tio—was cooking up a huge dinner.
All of my adult-aged children still lived on coven land, but in their own houses instead of with me. But Seb and I lived in “the big house” where the kids were in and out, and everyone met for dinner whenever they could. There were so many people in my coven now that whoever was cooking made enough food to feed an army, but even when there were leftovers, they got eaten within a day or two. The family was always welcome inside our home, even if they only came to forage for food in the fridge. That was their favorite pastime, apparently. Especially when Tio was the one that cooked—our resident chef.