I nearly choked on a bite of pancake. “Kenji says you hate Fig! Is that true?”
Maverick glared at Kenji before smiling at me. “Of course not. Pigs are best kept outside, but if you love the creature, then I love him too.”
We all ignored Zane’s snort of amusement.
Kenji huffed. “I’ve changed my mind. The bear’s gone down in my estimation.”
The front door opened, and my merman and storm mage walked in, Kai’s long hair still damp from the pool. He smiled when he saw my guilty expression.
“It’s okay. I knew you were, um, busy.” The lilac blush coloring his cheeks told me he’d sensed exactly what I’d been doing less than thirty minutes ago.
“Happy birthday, Raven,” Alaric said, placing a small, gift-wrapped box on the table. Kai blushed harder and added a second gift, this one in a cute woven bag.
Not to be outdone, my other mates placed their own gifts there too.
“Wow…” I scrambled for something appropriate to say. Adam had never made much of a fuss about my birthday. I never knew why, exactly, but Willow had once told me it was because my mom died around my birthday, so after that, it was a difficult time for him.
Willow had always baked me a cake, at least when I was younger.
Despite her betrayal, I still missed her. But I refused to let sad memories spoil my day.
“You guys shouldn’t have.” Tears filled my eyes, and I hastily brushed them away. I felt truly blessed to have such perfect mates.
“Of course we should have,” Maverick said with a soft smile, lifting me from my chair and placing me on his knee as he sat down on the bench. “Now open your gifts.”
I began with Zane’s, as I knew he lacked the patience of my other mates.
“Wow,” I said again, while thinking I must invest in a thesaurus. “Um, what do I do with these, exactly?” His box contained two small knives, the handles encrusted with gems. They were lovely, but I wasn’t entirely sure why I needed any pretty knives.
“You kill things with them!” Zane grinned. “I’ll teach you how to throw them later. We can build some targets in the yard outside.”
“Thank you. They’re lovely.” Kenji scoffed loudly in my head but pretended to groom his fur when Zane threw him a venomous look.
Kai brightened when I opened his gift bag to discover a pretty necklace with pearls and pink shells threaded onto a delicate gold chain.
“I made it myself,” he whispered when I pulled him close for a kiss.
“Thank you. I love it!”
Rasmus had gifted me a pair of ruby earrings to match my necklace, which I now displayed proudly for the world to see. “I’m going to need a bodyguard to protect me while wearing these,” I joked.
“If anyone dares steal my mate’s jewelry, they’ll regret it,” he growled. “It’s imbued with protective magic.” Kenji’s eyes brightened, probably relishing the challenge of thieving spell-protected jewelry.
“As if I would steal my witch’s valuables,”Kenji grumbled when he spotted my glare.
“And yet you steal my food daily.”
Maverick squeezed me as I unwrapped his gift. “I thought it would be useful,” he said, sounding all bashful when I sighed with delight at the first edition encyclopedia of rare herbs, written by a famous earth witch called Fenella Thistledown.
“Oh my goddess, where did you find a copy? I’ve been after this for years!”
“I reached out to a witch friend who trades in rare books.”
“Thank you. I love it.” I planted a kiss on his lips while trying not to cry.
Alaric shuffled on the spot. His was the last gift on the table.
“It’s only a small gift. I didn’t know it was your birthday until last night.” He raked his fingers through his hair and pulled a face. “Sorry it’s not anything amazing.”
