His Apprehensive Mate - Brea Alepou Page 0,79

Dezi for sure.”

Kenny laughed and glanced over his shoulder to watch his kid full of so much excitement. His eyes traveled over to Morgan, his mate beautiful and happy surrounded by his pride mates.

“Oh, I know that face,” Kash said.

Kenny cleared his throat. “What face?”

“There should be a full moon coming up soon. Hint, hint.”

Kash’s hint wasn’t subtle in the least. Kenny laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kenny and Kash worked together with ease. Kash in the kitchen was like a machine: everything had a place, and there was an order to how things went. Kenny easily picked up on it, and they rarely had to speak to each other to understand what the other needed while cooking.

“You two move fast in the kitchen.”

“Kenny’s easy to cook with.”

Dezi wrapped his muscular arms around Kash and pulled him away from Kenny playfully.

“You can’t have him.”

Kash batted at Dezi’s arms. “Would you stop, T. rex? We aren’t done yet.”

“You don’t cook with me like this,” Dezi pouted.

“Because you are either playing with the food or eating it.”

Dezi grumbled but quickly kissed Kash before dashing away.

“Going to go check on the dinos.”

“Dinos?” Kenny asked.

Kash laughed. “He’s been trying to make it stick. Just humor him.”

Not too long later, they had three pizzas in the oven and another three ready to go once the first batch was finished. As the smell of pizza filled the house, everyone started migrating to the kitchen. Which was great for Ava—every person who walked into the kitchen got the full story of her exciting day, and each one congratulated her. It was a small thing, but it meant the world to her. Even Gabriella congratulated her.

“I get to go to school next year, right, Daddy?”

Indigo picked Gabriella up, a smile on his face. But Kenny saw the dark circles under his eyes and the way his shoulders hunched once he looked around the room. “That’s right.”

The only one missing from the kitchen was Logan. Kenny pulled out his phone and excused himself. He made his way outside and dialed Logan’s number. It rang five times before he picked up.

“Where are you?”

There was a rustling sound before Logan spoke. “Home.”

Kenny knew Logan, Cole, and Clyde had apartments away from the pride house, but they’d been spending so much time at the pride house he was sure they were going to move in. And with Indigo and Gabriella here, he thought Logan would have made the move already.

“Why?”

Logan groaned. “I don’t know. I think because I pay rent here. So, I should sleep here.” His tone was filled with anger, and some of his words came out as growls.

“Watch it, Logan,” Kenny said.

Logan sighed. “Sorry, I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with our newest members, would it?”

There was a long pause.

“We asked if it was okay and—”

“I know what I said,” Logan shouted. He quickly followed it up with an apology.

Kenny rubbed his temples. “Well, get your ass over here and come eat. I have a feeling you only drank coffee today.”

Logan didn’t deny his words. “I should get som—”

“If you’re really that tired after you eat, you can go upstairs to your room and sleep.”

“Bu—”

“It’s an order from your beta.”

Kenny hung the phone up. If Logan and Indigo were mates but they weren’t bonding anytime soon, Kenny knew what they both were going through. The anguish of not having your mate was like losing the will to move on. Eating became a chore, moving out of the bed was nearly impossible, and slowly but surely you lost control over your animal side.

“Logan’s on his way?” Dezi asked, joining Kenny outside.

“Yeah, he didn’t want to.”

Dezi rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “They have to figure it out on their own, but we have to keep an eye on them. We can’t have them shifting out of nowhere.”

Kenny nodded in agreement. They looked up at the stars.

“You ever think we would get here?” Dezi asked.

Kenny laughed. “No, but damn am I happy we did.”

“Yeah. Our little makeshift family is getting huge.”

At times in their lives, Kenny never thought they would be having this talk, but as their mates and children sat comfortably in the house, a dream they never thought possible had come true.

“You still want to borrow the dad joke book?”

Kenny groaned. “No, Ava is way too smart for that.”

Dezi laughed. “You have a good point; it works on Gabriella.”

Kenny shook his head. Of course—five years old.

“You and Morgan are thinking about adding more to the family?”

Kenny