Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(115)

“It’s Christmas in two days,” she said in a rush. “Two freaking days. My baby’s first Christmas. I’m just not ready.”

“Your baby is not exactly born yet,” I said tentatively because she was unpredictable right now. “I don’t think they’ll mind if it’s not quite the perfect Christmas.”

She paused, and I braced myself for her yelling, but instead, she sighed. “I’m being overbearing, aren’t I? Shadow told me I was, but I just thought it was his usual asshole personality rising to the surface.”

She rubbed a hand over her stomach, and despite the way she frequently and loudly complained about the trials of pregnancy, she already loved her child with a desperation that should warn any meaning it harm to stay far away.

She wasn’t the only one, either. Shadow was downright scary these days and when this baby was born, he would be the literal beast he was named after.

Who was I even kidding? This child would be the most protected being in the Solaris System, and I’d be the first in line if any came at us with ill intent. For Mera, Shadow, and the baby—my family—I’d fight the gods themselves… and even put up with a dust-weaving asshole.

An asshole who looked really good tonight, his warrior body showcased in a simple black shirt, black pants, and his usual scowl as he watched us approach. Reece’s skin shone bronze in the low twinkling lights strung around the snow-tipped Christmas tree. The blue of his eyes was searing, and what had once been my favorite color was now my least, no matter how pretty he made it look with those dark lashes framing pools of cobalt.

“Mera, you’re not supposed to run off like that,” he admonished, removing his glare from me to glare a touch less at her. “Sticking us with stringing up the lights was not a good distraction, but luckily, I knew you didn’t leave the room.”

She poked out her tongue, hip-checking him gently. Their relationship was so easy and caring, and I had no idea how she’d achieved that with the being who was basically as reticent and cold as Shadow had been. But that was Mera’s way. To tame the angry soul. A way I did not possess, but that was okay. I made up for my lack of people skills with exceptional blade skill, and I had no doubts of which was more important.

Only one would protect my family when the time arose. And it would arise… There was always something evil lurking in the wings. That was just how our worlds worked.

“Angel, come on,” Mera called, dragging me right into the midst of her winter wonderland.

She’d gone all out for the library’s first Christmas, the tree dominating the space, while underneath it was stacked with what seemed like hundreds of wrapped gifts. She’d been in the room of need for days choosing the exact right gifts for us all, and maybe it was her child-like excitement, but I found myself with swirls of anticipation in my stomach. An emotion that I’d thought I could no longer feel.

Rebirth might have taken from me, but it had also given so much back.

Shadow’s energy entered the library then as he stepped back from the realm. He would have to go there more and more as he helped to rebalance a world that had spent centuries under the rule and control of evil beings. It would take years to repair the damage, but they were heading in the right direction.

Despite Mera’s complaints before, her head snapped toward the direction of her mate as soon as his power was felt. When he appeared, her face lit up, and they came together in a way that was hard to watch. Not because I wasn’t happy for them, but because their pure love was the same sort of love my parents had shared.

A love I knew nothing of, and doubted after this many years, I would ever know.

“You weren’t long,” Mera said, after he kissed her senseless, and she dragged him toward the tree.

“And yet somehow you found the time to completely redecorate the library,” Shadow said dryly.

Mera lifted an eyebrow at him, her warning expression. “You don’t like it?”

Shadow’s lips twitched. “It’s perfect, Sunshine.”

Mera paused then, her little nose twitching as she started to sniff before she turned suspicious eyes on her mate. “Hand it over,” she snapped, and this time, Shadow actually fucking laughed.

To see that stoic bastard tip his head back and laugh like that was super unsettling. Sometimes I wondered if Mera wasn’t the long-fabled lost witch of Solaris System. She had that way about her.

“Shadow,” Mera growled. “You do not want to fuck with a pregnant person.”

“You really don’t,” Len called out from nearby, his voice filled with concern. “Can someone seriously tell us how much longer she’ll be pregnant?”

Mera had enough at this point, all but jumping on her mate before using her powers to hold him down while she searched his pockets. Shadow let her, his eyes eating her up in a way that was probably dangerous to any of us standing nearby.

Finally, she found what her nose had sniffed out, pulling free a white paper bag, her hands near trembling as she hugged it to her chest. “You found one,” she sniffled. “Aw, mate, I love you.”

She kissed him then before wiggling her way down, both of them careful of her stomach.

Shadow pulled her close as she opened the bag and removed a weird green… stick? “What the hell is that?” Reece asked, in his usual asshole, tactless way.