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Lyra took the baby automatically, cradling the little girl in her arms and soothing her. Then she heated some water.
“We just have to keep things low-key until I figure out how to fix this.” Timber groaned the words, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“I thought that there was no way to fix this,” Lyra said as she placed one of Marigold’s full bottles in the warm water.
Marigold was still fussing but calmed down once the bottle was warm enough and Lyra fed her.
“I don’t know if there is a way,” Timber said, sitting heavily on the couch. “We will just have to keep things secret. Maybe there are a few other bear shifters who are going through the same thing.”
“Sure,” Lyra said, her voice nonchalant as she burped Marigold. Then she left Timber silently because she had to bathe Marigold and get her into clean clothes.
You might as well complete your duties as the nanny if you’re going to pretend that is all you are,she thought to herself.
After dressing Marigold and brushing through her unruly mop of hair, Lyra returned to the living room where Timber had fallen asleep on the couch.
“Don’t let it bother you,” Lyra told herself as she put Marigold in the baby carrier and started straightening up the place.
But she was asking the impossible of herself.
How could she not let it bother her when this was the man and child she loved more than herself?
How could she not let it bother her when she had no one to talk to about it?
FIFTEEN
TIMBER
Patrolling the forest with Jarrod and Pauley, Timber walked among them, but he wasn’t mentally present.
His mind was elsewhere, still stewing over the meeting with the council. He was livid that they had denied him so quickly without even giving it a thought. He had hoped they would’ve at least been open-minded.
"Oy," Jarrod broke the silence, poking him with a stick. "You're grouchy today."
Pauley snorted, shaking his head. "Good call on poking the man. The irony isn't lost."
He swatted the stick away, rolling his eyes as he did. He sighed, frustrated. "I'm not grouchy. I'm just irritated."
"Isn't that just a fancy word for grouchy?" Jarrod asked, stepping over a rock.
He sighed heavily, and both of them looked at him with their brows raised. "I went to see the council about dating humans. They refused the idea quicker than I could get the words out."
"Ahh," Pauley said, nodding his head. "We heard you went to a meeting, not entirely sure what it was about."
"Guessing it didn't go well?" Jarrod asked, grabbing another stick.
He turned to him, pointing a finger. "Poke me again, and I'll ram that stick so far up your ass, you'll taste it."
Pauley laughed, choking on his voice. "I'll take that as it went very bad."
He grumbled. "Clearly. I just don't understand what the issue is. It isn't like there is any scientific evidence that dating humans makes us weaker. They went on about wanting to keep the bloodline pure."
"There is the possibility of your child never being a shifter," Pauley piped up. Jarrod dropped the stick he'd picked up.
"There is a possibility. That doesn't mean it will happen."
He wondered if maybe that was better sometimes. Humans didn't have stupid rules they had to follow. They could do what they wanted. The thought of a human child didn't disappoint him.
Jarrod shrugged, taking a few steps ahead of them. He stretched as he walked. "Well, I don't think the idea is crazy. Humans and shifters can get along, so why not allow them to mate? What's the harm? It's our lives, after all."
