13. Kai

Chapter 13

Kai

Curled up between Gideon and Dante in our enormous bed, that was specially made and had cost a lot, I was half awake when Albie cried out.

He was teething, and my little boy had had a rough night. Me too, but I was an adult, and my gums weren't owie and I didn't have a fever. This was parenthood, and I could catch up on sleep when he was older. Maybe after he had his eighteenth birthday.

But before I'd paced over the floor with my little boy and my mates had taken turns, we'd had sex. All four of us. Gods, the memories and my aching hole reminded me of how often and how many cocks had penetrated it.

I rubbed my ass against Dante who stirred and clapped a hand on my thigh. Wishing we could have another marathon session, I pulled myself out of bed because Albie needed me.

I froze. My little boy had stopped crying, and I shot up, one hand on my bear mate and one on my wolf. Didn't I have a third mate? Where was he?

Tiptoeing out of bed, I cracked the door and crept down the stairs. Seymour was in the living room, with Albie on his chest in the baby carrier that was a little too small. He was swaying and humming a song by his favorite musician.

What a sweetheart. My dragon shifter mate must have been just as tired as me and the others. But he was looking after our son and allowing us to catch up on sleep.

I should have done exactly that, crept back to bed. But observing my newest mate tending to Albie warmed my heart. Treating my son like his own signaled fate had chosen well. I tried to put myself in Seymour's position. He came into a ready-made family with me mated and going into labor with Mate Number One's child. But his heart had expanded and included my mates and Albie under his dragon wings.

Seymour picked up two toys and conducted a conversation with them using high-pitched voices and jerky movements. Albie giggled. His laughter touched my heart after his pain-filled cries, and I stayed where I was, listening to the story Seymour was telling my son. There were more giggles as my dragon mate held one toy and swooped in and tickled Albie's belly. Peals of laughter filled the room.

Seymour's hesitation and uncertainty on joining our family seemed to be resolved, and he'd jumped in with both feet to be not only my mate but a father to Albie.

"I see you peeking." Seymour didn't turn around, but his super-sneaky shifter hearing must have picked up on my breathing. Or my human clumsiness as I'd staggered to the door, half asleep.

"I wasn't checking up on you."

"No?"

No. I wasn't. But it may have appeared that I was. I didn't want my mate to feel less-than in our family. "I got frightened when I couldn't hear Albie. But he's in good hands."

"Go back to bed."

"I will." But I couldn't resist kissing our son, his scent and soft skin soothing away my exhaustion, though it would return to bite me in the ass later in the day.

"You're not going back to sleep though, are you?"

No, I was. I needed days and weeks to catch up on missed sleep. But I was also craving coffee. Having a cup would ensure sleep wasn't happening.

"I'll make it," he offered.

"Nah, you're on baby duty. I've got this." I got out two cups because Seymour enjoyed his morning coffee as much as I did. "Do you have any children in your extended family?"

"No. My family didn't reproduce easily, so there were many single eggs rather than a clutch."

My belly lurched when he said eggs. Dragons were reptiles, so of course there were eggs, but if I ever got pregnant after sex with Seymour, I'd have a live baby inside me. Humans didn't carry eggs.

"That must have been hard."

"Hard, yes." I picked up on his husky tone. Hard. Right. We'd all been hard last night.

Seymour put the baby in his high chair. Good, I didn't want him to be aroused while holding Albie. No, no, no.

While standing at the coffee maker, I glanced down. Shoot, I wasn't dressed. After our hours-long sex session last night that lasted into the early hours of the morning, not long before Albie cried, we'd fallen asleep in a tangle of limbs. Seymour was wearing PJ pants, but I was buck naked.

My dragon shifter mate gasped as I jiggled my butt while the coffee maker did its thing and flooded the kitchen with the aromatic caramelized fragrance.

Glancing over my shoulder, I asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Ummm, no." His voice thick with emotion told me he was fibbing. "None at all."

"Are dragon shifters not good at telling fibs?"

"Ummm—"

He was interrupted by my son banging a toy on the high chair tray.

I placed his mug on the table and gave Albie his sippy cup.

"Why do you ask?" Seymour took a sip, and another, holding the cup in front of his face for longer than necessary.

"Oh, it's not important. Just wondering."

"When in dragon form, our beasts don't hide their emotions. They're angry, they burn. When they're happy, they burn. And when they're frustrated, the same."

"And you?" I sat opposite Seymour.

"I tend to keep everything inside, but my voice often betrays me."

"Any other part?" I asked innocently.

He tossed down a mouthful of coffee. Owww. It was hot and must have hurt. Seymour didn't react. He may as well have been drinking a luke-warm drink. But as a dragon shifter, maybe he was used to heat.

"My dick gives away some of my secrets. When I'm near my mate, I can't hide how you excite me."

He fiddled with his mug, twisting it around.

I reached out and took his hand. "I'm glad. I like that your cock tittle-tats."

He burst out laughing. "Never thought of it that way. My tittletattling cock."