Ledger fiddled with the throw. “Before I learned about dragons and shifters, I would have reacted badly to what you just said, thinking I had no choice or agency.” He took a breath.
I longed to leap in and tell him he was my world, but I stifled the words.
Ledger patted his chest. “But what I feel in here is real. I love you too.”
I pulled him up and sat him on my lap. “Some humans fall in love at first sight, and that’s how I see being fated to someone. There’s no one pulling the strings and matching us.”
He rested his head on me, and I held him tight, wanting to believe he was mine but fearful of having that love ripped away.
“When does the marking happen?”
“Whenever you want, but more importantly we need to tell the kids about the baby and?—”
“My transition from manny to what stepdad?”
“I think that’s already been accomplished, but we need to make it official.”
He pushed up my shirt, revealing the mark Vince had given me. “This burn is from the kids’ papa.”
I rubbed my hand over the rough skin. “Yes. It will always be there because my being with Vince is part of me.”
He asked how he could burn me. I explained only shifters did the marking, and if he ever wanted to mark me, my dragon would figure out something. But when I marked him, my beast would be gentle. It’d be like running his finger through a match flame.
“Maybe we can come up with some way for me to mark you. But let’s tell the kids about the baby first.”
They tumbled down the stairs after we called them, and we all squished onto the couch.
“Ledger and I have some news.”
“We’re going out for ice cream.” That was Fraser’s suggestion.
“Ledger has a sore tummy,” Skye suggested.
Rory glanced at our clasped hands. “You and Ledger love each other.”
Ledger sent me a look as if to say, “That was easy.”
“How do you feel about that?” I asked, hardly daring to believe the kids didn’t have a problem with it.
“I love Ledger, and I love Daddy.” Skye gave us each a kiss.
Fraser scrambled onto my lap. “Me too.”
Rory grumbled about Fraser elbowing him, and Ledger pulled him close and planted a kiss on his head.
“Are you our dad now?” Rory asked.
“I can be whatever you want. Your dad or a good friend, and you can call me Ledger or something else.”
“Dad,” Rory suggested. “We have a daddy and a papa who isn’t here. You’re our dad.”
The other two agreed, and those words landed and wriggled into a place I’d kept under lock and key for years. This was the moment where Ledger and I became co-parents, which sounded clinical and unemotional. But it was huge. My children accepted him as their father, and that was never a guarantee. My fated mate had given my children nothing but respect and love since he arrived, and they’re returned that ten-fold.
I had a mate I adored, and my children loved him too. And there was a baby on the way. Oh shoot, we hadn’t told the kids about the baby.
“And there’s something else. You’re going to have a new brother or sister.”
“I want a sister,” Skye yelled.
