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“I mean, it depends on the kid.”
“So I take it you’re not in a rush to have any of your own?”
His mouth curved. “Keenan insists that it would be better for the world if I never breed.”
Larkin shook her head. “Some would say the same about his mate, so . . . ”
“What about you? Do you want your own brood?”
“Maybe not a brood. One or two would be enough for me.” She paused as they both crossed to the nearby bench and sat. “Why haven’t you joined Jolene’s lair?”
His head twitched. “That came out of nowhere.”
She shrugged. “I’ve always wondered why you didn’t. I know she offered for you and your clan to join. How come you said no?” It would have made sense for them to snap up Jolene’s offer. The demon world could be brutal, and strays were easy targets.
He twisted his mouth. “I’m not the type of person who’d do well at answering to others.”
Yeah, she could see that. “Do you have any family?”
He blinked. “Family?”
“Yeah. You know. Parents. Siblings. Extended relatives.”
Leaning slightly away from her as if to better study her face, he offered her a wary look. “What’s with the questions?”
Ah, always so cautious. “What’s with the evasiveness?”
“You’re no more open than I am. You rarely answer my questions.”
That much was true. “Okay, ask me something.”
He slowly sank back onto the bench and then draped his arm over the back of it, his hand brushing against her shoulder. “All right. I heard that you, Knox, and the other three sentinels grew up in a children’s home for demonic orphans. Is that true?” By the look on his face, he didn’t expect her to answer.
But she did. “It is. It’s how we all met and formed a family of sorts.”
“How did you end up an orphan?” Again, he didn’t seem to be expecting a response.
Again, she gave him one. Because although she didn’t like revisiting this time in her life, she needed to make an effort to be open with Teague if she truly meant to keep him. “I was a stray once, like you. So was my mom, Belle. I don’t properly remember the attack on our lair—I was only a toddler back then—but it decimated most of our numbers. The survivors sought a place in other lairs. Except for my mom. She didn’t want to.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure. She never said.” Larkin pulled in a steadying breath through her nose. “Anyway, one day—I was four, I think—she took me to the local forest so we could pick berries like we sometimes did.”
Pausing, Larkin swallowed as she remembered how her mother would always sing and dance and laugh like a wood nymph. “On the way home, she said she needed to stop off somewhere to speak to a friend. She took me to this huge building and told me to wait in the reception-type area while she spoke to the person in charge. She kissed my forehead, gave me a trembly smile, disappeared down the hall . . . and I never saw her again.”
Teague’s brows snapped together. “The building she took you to was the orphanage?”
“Yes.” Her chest tightening painfully, Larkin let out a shaky exhale. “I didn’t realize she’d left at first. She didn’t say goodbye. Just went on her way like she was dropping me off at daycare.” That was when her demon’s issues had come into play.
Teague’s face went rock hard. “She left you? Just like that?”
“Just like that.” She swallowed. “When the Ramsbrook staff told me that she wanted me to live there now, I didn’t believe them. I was sure she’d never abandon me. But I was wrong.”
Threads of red-hot anger crisscrossing in his belly, Teague softly cursed. “You had no clue she meant to leave you there?”
“No.” Clasping her hands tightly in her lap, his harpy sucked in her lips. “I never saw it coming. It wasn’t as if Belle was a neglectful mom or anything. She told me every day that she loved me, and I believed her. But I don’t know how you can abandon someone you love like that.”
Angling his body toward her, Teague rested a hand on her nape. “What about your other relatives? Your father? Grandparents? She couldn’t have at least put you in the care of a family member?”
“I never met my dad—I was the product of a one-night stand, and he had no interest in me. I learned that much from eavesdropping. As for my other relatives . . . they died during the attack on my lair, I barely remember them. Belle and I only had each other. Until we didn’t.”
The way her voice broke on the latter word made his stomach hurt. Furious on her behalf, he slid closer to her. “Did the staff at the orphanage explain why she took you there?”
