He was every bit as protective of Astrid as he was with Cassie. So much so that he’d risked my irritation by bringing her to the Academy when we weren’t technically speaking to each other. Astrid shook her head.
“When he started speaking to me again, I was so happy I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise it.”
And now I was back to being annoyed. It was no wonder his ego was so massive. If everybody stepped on eggshells around him, he would think he could do whatever he wanted. The jackass.
Astrid cleared her throat. “If you believe he had different intentions with me,” she said, “can you perhaps believe he didn’t mean to hurt you?”
One of these days I was going to make good on my threat and throw something at someone’s head. “It’s different,” I bit out.
Astrid nodded. “Yes, I know. But at the time he made his promise, the circumstances were very strained. He was young. He’d just lost his entire family.”
I hated when someone pulled out the murdered family card. I’d never win that argument. So instead, I pretended I was tired and they left me in peace.
It was impossible to get any peace in this place. After five minutes trying to drown out the high-pitched laughter of the shifter kids, I gave up.
Downstairs was a disaster. Nanna was there with a few other shifters who were in charge of looking after the children. Odette was in the corner of the room cooing over Danielle Thompson who was suspending a fireball in the air.
“There’s a four-year-old playing with fire,” I commented.
Sophie nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Funnily enough, Dani has an easier time at daycare then she does at home.”
“Oh, you mean she’s not that happy with two older brothers who control her every movement?”
She grinned at me. Max was overprotective to a fault, but Charles was still young enough not to be pumped full of lion shifter hormones. Even he turned into a snarling ball of fur where his baby sister was concerned. I wasn’t surprised that she was thriving with Odette who was as gentle as a hummingbird.
“This doesn’t seem legal,” I said, eyeing two bear cubs who were “playing” by wrestling all over the floor. They transitioned between human and bear shape and they were doing a darn good job of destroying the carpet. “Basil must be loving this.”
“Last I heard, he’s thinking of moving.”
Nanna came into the room holding a crown of herbs in her hands. Three cubs followed behind her each holding a crown of their own. One of them was Edward. When he saw me, his chubby little face lit up.
“Less!” Faster than a speeding bullet he was in front of me, offering up the crown he’d been holding. I tried to keep my focus on the upper part of his naked little body. How he didn’t catch his death of a cold was beyond me. Then I remembered what he was. Some people had all the luck.
I crouched down in front of him so he could place the crown on my head. The scent of rosemary, sage and chamomile had my eyes misting up. I grabbed him in a hug. When I stood Nanna was smiling at me. “It’s been a long time, big girl,” she said.
When I was little, we used to make herbal crowns all the time. She’d shown me how to run my thumb along the branches of the woodier herbs to make them pliant so they could be shaped. I’d wear the crown twenty-four seven until it turned crusty. Then we’d crush them up to use in our cooking.
“Some things you never forget,” I told her. Edward kissed my cheek. For a second, I was hit with a wave of such tenderness that I almost teared up again.
“So you don’t have an actual issue with having cubs,” I heard Shayla say. I looked towards the doorway where she now stood with Jacqueline.
“Why would I have an issue with cubs?” I asked. This particular cub had his head rested on my collarbone. He was humming something to himself. The first time I’d met him, he’d been chasing a rabbit on all fours in his human form. When he’d caught it, he pinched its tail and then allowed it to run off. I couldn’t imagine a day when his leopard half would become so dominant, rabbits were the last thing he would think about.
Shayla gave me a knowing smile that I pointedly ignored.
“Down, please,” Edward said. I let him go and he bolted to catch up to his friends. For most of the day I managed to avoid all conversation about Kai. Dinner was an exercise in trying to avoid conversational landmines. Basil was all too happy to chat about anything else. As far as he was concerned, Kai was a non-issue. But that was well-established before all of this had happened.
It was evening when Nanna finally cornered me. She led me into Basil’s study. I stifled a laugh at the crayon drawing on the wall. “I take it Basil hasn’t seen this.”
Nanna rubbed her forehead. “It’s the first time I’ve seen it too. I swear we locked this door.” She probably had. Locks were just...well...child’s play for supernaturals.
“Next time get Basil to lock it,” I suggested.
“He’s been threatening to move.”
“Can you blame him?”
She guffawed. “I suppose not. He didn’t really sign up for this.” She sat down heavily on his old - I mean, vintage - leather couch and patted the seat beside her. By the time I’d settled myself, she’d pulled out a manila folder from the bookshelf behind us. I didn’t need to guess what it was. I’d seen that folder at least a dozen times inside the office of the Child Services officer who was in charge of me.
Nanna flipped it open. Her hands shook as she turned the pages. I
