Iron Master – Jennifer Ashley Page 0,66
offed by dokk alfar or the hoch alfar when he finally pisses them off, but I’d rather take care of him myself. He’s family.”
“You want a Guardian to send him to dust, you mean,” Sean said, his laughter fading. The Sword glinted, even in the rain. “Leaving his soul to be stolen would be cruel, even if he is an asshat.”
Dylan shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and didn’t answer Sean. “I’ll wait for your answer, Reid. Meanwhile, it’s bloody cold. Will I be breaking all kinds of protocol if I ask one of you to take me inside for a beer?”
Peigi strode beside a silent Stuart as they hurried through the rain, heading home. She seethed about Dylan’s demands, plus his assumption that Stuart would be going back to Faerie, but Stuart remained stoic, no emotion on his face.
They opened the front door, stepping out of the wet, to find all six cubs in the living room with Nell and Shane, the cubs lined up by age. The line was uneven by height because the bear cubs were already taller and bulkier than the wolves, but they presented a united front.
“The kids have something to say to you,” Nell said, her eyes a mystery. “Got to go. Bye.”
Shane was nearly bursting with laughter as he gave them two thumbs-up and followed Nell out the door Peigi and Stuart had left open.
The cubs chorused, “Bye, Aunt Nell! Bye, Uncle Shane!” Shane slammed the door and was gone. Peigi heard Nell’s and Shane’s laughter drifting to them as the two passed the front window.
Instead of brushing past the cubs to continue wrestling with his own problems, Stuart slid off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack, brushed the rain from his hair, and faced the cubs.
“What’s up, guys?”
Peigi hung her jacket next to Stuart’s. She’d been less bothered by the rain but it felt good to be in the warm, dry house.
“We have something to discuss,” Donny said, his face serious. He nudged Noelle. “You tell them.”
Noelle stepped forward, a piece of notebook paper in her hands. Donny retreated, as though relieved to leave the confrontation to her.
“We had a meeting,” Noelle said. “We’ve drawn up a list of reasons why Peigi needs to accept Stuart’s mate claim. Also, we’ve set out a schedule that lets us each have time with you, and you with your cubs when they come, and gives you two alone time so you can form the mate bond.”
Chapter Eighteen
Peigi’s love for her cubs surged. Noelle, with the brown and blond hair of her grizzly, regarded her so gravely with deep brown eyes, the line of cubs slowly sidling behind her as their point of contact.
“This is very thoughtful of you. Did Nell help you at all?” Peigi imagined Nell gleefully suggesting adding the part about the mate bond.
“She helped us with the words when I wrote it down,” Noelle said primly. “But what came out of the meeting was our idea.”
The other cubs nodded solemnly. Kevin, now behind all the others, said, “We want you to have cubs but not forget about us when you do.”
“Sweetie.” Peigi knelt on the carpet in front of them, putting herself at their height. “I’d never, ever forget about you. You’re my cubs.”
Noelle held her paper in front of her as though it were a shield as she addressed Peigi. “Aunt Nell says we can’t expect you to accept the mate claim. But we have places for you to sign for what happens if you do accept the claim, and what happens if you don’t.”
Stuart remained standing, but his voice was gentle. “May I see? I’m curious as to what happens if we don’t have the mating ceremony.”
Noelle handed the paper up to him. “Basically everything remains the same, but I think the schedule for spending time with each cub should be imple— implem—” She gave up trying to twist her mouth around the word. “We should do it. There are six of us, so that’s one for each day of the week, plus a day for you and Peigi alone.”
Stuart folded himself up on the floor next to Peigi, his long leg touching her knee. “You put a lot of consideration into this. I commend you.”
“We want what’s best for all of us,” Noelle said. She stepped next to Donny, hands behind her back.
Stuart read through the paper, written in Noelle’s careful hand, turning it over to study the other side before he passed it to