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“It was Beau that said the things that upset Lewis. I was there to support both of them.”

“It was your comment to begin with,” Lukan said. “Let the omegas stay home if they wish. Let the alphas stay home if they wish. Do not say anything about an alpha staying home to take care of the children is a negative thing. There is not a single one of us who would say such a thing to Master Edison’s One, Wallace. Same goes for Master Ambrosius’s beloved, Emmerich. They are both powerful alphas, yet they do the majority of the child raising. Why? Because it is what they desired to do. There is nothing wrong with it either way.”

Evan dropped his head onto the desk. The office was getting quite full with the arrival of more of the fae enforcers, and I was more than ready to be away from the crowd at the moment. “Excuse me,” I said. As soon as I was in the hallway away from the others, I peeked in on Lewis. He was still very much asleep, and although I knew he’d been excited about going back to work this morning, there had been a part of him that he’d tried to push down. The part that really didn’t want to go into the bakery.

“A word, Vaughn?”

I turned at the sound of Chief Daegal’s voice. “Of course, Chief.” I’d done nothing wrong, so I knew I wasn’t in trouble for anything. At least, as far as I knew.

“There is no issue. It is simply that I was reminded this morning by Mael that I have not extended the invitation to you and your mate, Lewis, to come to a clan dinner. We have them every Sunday at four. This Sunday will be the second ever, as it is something entirely new that Mael has decided he needs to start.” Chief Daegal smiled. I understood that expression now. I had a mate of my own, and that was most definitely a smile while thinking lovingly about his mate.

What did one say to the created gargoyle when he’d just invited you to his home for a meal? “That sounds nice. I’ll be sure to mention it to Lewis and see if he is up for it this Sunday and let you know,” I told him.

“Is he doing well? How are things going with his pregnancy? Mael is excited that our gargoyle family is growing. Even if your child is fae, he considers all part of the gargoyle clan.”

I chuckled. “He’s doing okay. He has some pregnancy sickness, but it is easily kept under control with the tea. He is tired a lot still, but he has said he’s starting to feel his energy return, so there is hope that he’s moving out of that initial tiredness stage.” I loved cuddling with him, and when he fell asleep in my arms on the couch, that was one of the highlights of my evenings. If he was suddenly going to become incredibly active, I would miss those moments.

“All part of it. Mael has had gargoyle pregnancies that kept him in bed for the entirety of it. Others, he’s carried without any sort of issue at all. It truly is chance as to how each one affects them.”

I nodded. “Understandable. I do appreciate the offer, Chief. I’ll be sure to let you know tomorrow at the latest. Lewis had a bit of a rough morning and is home resting now, but I’ll discuss it with him as soon as he wakes up.”

“Very good.” Chief Daegal turned to leave but quickly looked back at me. “You should go home and be with your mate,” he told me. “The council isn’t doing much of anything for the next week, and your team is not the first to be headed out on assignment.”

“Chief?”

“Go home, Vaughn. Spend the next week with your mate and return after the New Year. There truly isn’t anything happening here before then, and if there was, it would most likely be the hellhounds that are sent out, as there are a good number of them that remain unmated. Family is important, and the council understands that. Go be with your new, pregnant mate, and please wish him well from me and Mael.”

I smiled. “I’ll do that. Thank you, Chief.” I nodded at Chief Daegal before he turned and carried on down the hallway. I certainly wasn’t going to say no to spending more time with my mate. I backtracked down the hallway toward my shared office and poked my head into the doorway. I found only Frederick and Leo, which was a bit of a surprise.

“Where did Evan go?”

“He and Lukan left with Felix. They were going to go have a discussion about things.”

I nodded slowly and moved to stand in the doorway. “Sounds…not fun. Anyway, I just had a chat with Chief Daegal, and he’s sent me home to spend the next week with Lewis, as the council isn’t doing much until after the New Year anyway.”

Frederick sighed. “That makes sense. It would be nice to know whose team is going out in January.”

“According to the chief, it’s not ours. The hellhounds are on deck for any sort of emergency anything, so I’m going to do what he said and go spend the next week with Lewis.”

Leo grinned. “That sounds nice.”

Frederick nodded. “It is. You should go find your mate, and then you would know as well.”

Leo shook his head. “Yeah, I’m good. I really do not need any sort of drama that seems to circle around females.”

“Maybe you’ll get a male mate, and then you will have an entirely new type of drama,” Frederick said as he stood. “If that is the case and that’s what Chief Daegal said to you, I’m going to do the same. I’d love to spend some time with Dominic and Enrico. We’re trying to decide when we’d like the next one, and I’m thinking that my One has decided that will be sooner rather than later.”

I grinned. I understood that. It seemed as if it would be nicer to have them closer together rather than further apart. Wilder and I weren’t terribly far apart in age, but it was enough that we weren’t close. Of course, part of that was simply my brother’s personality.

“Well, to that, I will say enjoy your day and whatever time off you take. I’ll see both of you after the New Year.”

I left the office, excited to go home and spend more time with my mate. I knew it would take several more months before my beast calmed even a little about being away from him, but I was strong enough to control the situation, and he wasn’t going to be an issue. He was going to have to learn to accept that this wasn’t three hundred years ago, and Lewis had a life outside of us. Things weren’t how they used to be, and he couldn’t hide away with Lewis to keep him safe from everything. We both had work, and Treasure Ridge was perfectly safe for Lewis to be out and about on his own.

I waited at the front desk to check out for the day, and when I moved up to the counter, I tried my best to remember which demon it was that was there checking us in and out. There were only three, but they didn’t spend a lot of time socializing. “Hi,” I said when it was my turn.

He stared at me for what felt like forever before holding out his hand. “Badge?”

I handed it over, and he scanned it. “Enforcer Stanton, have a good day.” He handed the badge back and then looked to my right. I glanced that way and found Reinhold not too far away. He nodded, and I did the same before moving on. I stepped out of the way and started toward the main entrance.