Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,10
former alpha’s son who we’d adopted, was already a shifter, and his dominance flared up from time to time.
But he never made the staff cry.
The maid wouldn’t tell us what he’d said, but whatever it was, it had made her run off weeping when we’d chastised him.
A nine-year-old shouldn’t have that kind of ability, but maybe that was just the sign of the times.
Maybe kids had more power than they’d ever had before, and maybe they shouldn’t.
Maybe we shouldn’t be giving them as much sway as we always did.
“What do you mean?” Sabina rasped, and I grimaced at the realization she’d plucked thoughts from my brain again.
Her wince told me she was sorry, but fuck, she didn’t have to be, I just wished it wasn’t so difficult to keep things separate.
A little plot of space in my own head would be real nice sometimes.
I reached up, feeling crabby when it wasn’t her fault, and, rubbing the back of my neck, muttered, “Kids are revered in the pack.”
“You’d never know with how you were treated,” she groused, which turned my frown upside down and made me laugh because I loved how protective she was of us.
No one had ever been like that before, but here she was, coming in like a wrecking ball and destroying any and all walls we could put up between her and us.
What a fucking woman.
“Maybe not, but on the whole, they are.”
“I guess it makes sense. Only one kid all the time, I guess they’re spoiled.”
“That’s one way to phrase it,” Ethan said dryly.
“Children should always be protected and guarded, but equally, they have lessons to learn.” I shrugged. “In my opinion, that’s hard when the only discipline comes from the pack itself and not the family.”
Her eyes narrowed at that. “What do you mean?”
“Parents don’t discipline their kids. Surely you’ve seen that?”
She shook her head. “No. When?”
“Why do you think we always have kids traipsing in and out of the packhouse?”
Her mouth dropped open. “They’re here for Eli to punish?” she sputtered. “How the hell didn’t I know that?”
Her sharp tone had Knight grumbling and slapping her boob with a tiny fist in annoyance.
Regardless of the conversation, I had to laugh at that because you couldn’t exactly reprimand a newborn for being a spoiled brat, could you? The timing was just too perfect though.
Still, when her lips twitched as well, the three of us—even misery guts, Ethan, joined in with the smiling. It was a wonder his fucking face didn’t crack. Miserable shit.
“I thought you’d figured it out by now.”
She shook her head. “You know I spend as little time in his office as possible.”
I did, but I wasn’t sure why. Tipping my head to the side, I asked, “Because you don’t like the vibes in there?”
She hitched a shoulder. “It’s not my place.”
My brows rose. “Why isn’t it? Of course it’s your place. It’s where he’s based. Where we rule the pack.”
“I’m not supposed to rule it in that way. My job is to nurture and to guide. My place is the totem.”
Her words were soft, gentle. Whispered on a soft breeze to reach my ears.
As strange as the thought was, it was true nonetheless.
Ethan narrowed his eyes at her too and asked, “Is that why you always want to sleep out there?”
She nodded. “It’s different now though.”
“You mean, now Knight’s not in your belly?”
Sabina hummed. “It was more imperative then, like an urge? If I didn’t spend at least some point of the day in the circle, I felt odd. Not a good odd, either.”
A tender smile curved her lips as she traced her fingers over Knight’s head. The touch had him cooing, and I had to admit, when he did stuff like that and didn’t manage to piss all over me, he was adorable. And together? The pair of them just melted my fucking heart. I hadn’t known it was possible to feel this way until her, but with Knight, it was just amplified a hundred times more.
Her gaze caught mine, amusement lighting her eyes up from the inside out, and when she whispered, “Thank you, mate,” I blushed.
Crap. She’d heard.
“I love you.”
I swallowed. “I love you too.”
I knew she was telling me that she loved me even though I didn’t think the sun rose and fell on our little shit machine, and I’d admit to feeling a tad more at ease.
I loved Knight, of course I did. I just was ready for him to be potty trained.