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Answering all the questions took a while, but I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.
Chapter Five
Nacho
“You don’t have a tree up yet?” Those were the first words out of my cousin Ivan’s mouth when he came in the door with his twin cubs in tow.
“Hello to you, too,” I said, reaching for my tiny niece. The other one was a boy, but both were rambunctious, as all good bear shifter toddlers should be. “My, look how you’ve grown, Matilda.” I held up the girl, who looked so much like her father, while she giggled in my arms.
“Hey, Nacho, Riggs.” Ivan closed the door, shutting out the wind that grew sharper and fiercer by the day. Winter was making herself known in a loud way this time.
“Where’s Anna?” I asked. His mate was the sweetest thing. He had gained weight since meeting her because she was such an amazing cook. He deserved to be spoiled though—and she fed us, too, every chance she got, but I was still jealous.
“She needed a break from the tiny monsters. They shifted last night. I think she’s still in shock.”
“You didn’t tell her about the other early shifters in the family?” Riggs asked, coming into the family room. He grabbed Merrick from Ivan’s hands and tossed him in the air a bit before hugging my Ivan. Our families had been friends long before we were born and so Riggs had been friends with him since we were cubs.
“I did, but seeing them shift at age three was unexpected,” Riggs said. “Hell, I was seven. Nacho was eight. These two aren’t even four yet.”
I shrugged and addressed the little one in my arms. “Matilda, did you turn into a bear yesterday? Did you scare your mama?”
Her answer was to show me her human fingers bent into claws and growl at me. Cutest damned thing I’d ever seen.
Riggs had been with me during my first shift and was jealous as all get out. He didn’t shift until thirteen. I was with him that night as well, talking him through it.
We’d been through everything together.
“They scared the life and death out of that dear woman. She’s rethinking more kids as we speak, I’m guessing. And you never answered me about a tree. You guys always have a tree.”
“Tree!” Merrick bellowed while getting his chubby fingers tangled in Riggs’ beard.
“We haven’t really gotten into the spirit of the season yet,” I answered. “But…” I cupped Matilda’s ears while Ivan reached for a cup of coffee still warm in the coffee maker. “We’re gonna give you the p-r-e-s-e-n-t-s before you leave so they will have them on Christmas morning.”
“They love getting those from their uncles. You know…I’d like to be an uncle, too.”
Gods, here we went again. This was the only thing we and everyone we knew apparently had to talk about.
“Don’t start, Ivan,” Riggs said. Merrick had found one of the blankets we kept on the back of the couch and was snuggling against Riggs’ chest. He soothed everyone that was around him. It was his thing. He didn’t do it on purpose. It was simply his way.
“I’m not starting anything but you two should. It’s no secret how I met Anna.”
“I, um, actually saw another advertisement for that app on my email last night,” Riggs shrugged.
“Why do I feel ganged up on?” I rummaged around in the pantry and found a gingerbread man for Matilda, but instead of eating it, she hugged it and kissed its icing nose.
“Because we all want you two happy. My parents. Your parents. Riggs’ parents, who I saw last week in the city. First thing they asked me was about Anna then you two finding a mate.”
I sighed.
Chapter Six
Riggs
When we closed the door on Ivan and his beautiful cubs, I let out a long breath. On the other side of that door was the situation I longed for. Happiness and belonging with a mate and a family.
Honestly, I would be grateful for the mate even if we never had children. My bear and I knew that having her around would mean everything to Nacho and me.
Children would be a bonus.
