Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,30

the chance to ask me after I left, but I think you already know what the birds and the bees are, huh?”

“If I didn’t, I’d have been a crappy doula, wouldn’t I?”

We both snickered at that, and the sudden splash of orange and pink in her aura that highlighted just how uncomfortable the conversation had made her, abated, morphing white as she accepted that I wasn’t judging her.

“I’m supplementing with formula,” I told her softly, rubbing Knight’s head. “But he’s always hungry.”

“How do you know he’s always hungry?”

“Because he’s gnawing on my boobs all the time?”

Her brows rose. “Well, that’s normal.”

“It—well, no. It can’t be,” I reasoned. “He gets so frustrated. I hate it.” Then, as shame hit me, I whispered, “It makes me feel so useless. I feel like I’m letting him down.”

“Well, you’re not. It’s totally down to you, but if you carry on supplementing with formula, then you’ll need to add more and more because your milk production will never increase to the point where it can satisfy him. You just need to reconnect with him, and he’ll control the flow.”

I blinked at that. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. You don’t have to believe me, of course.” She shrugged. “And I kind of can’t believe that I’m standing outside this massive house of yours talking about breastmilk, but I could just sense—”

I tipped my head to the side. “What could you sense, love?”

“He’s hungry and you’re sad. Plus…” She waved a hand at me. “I just know something isn’t right.” She cleared her throat. “Do you have any pain there?”

I shook my head. “No.”

A hum escaped her. “I’ll watch over you, make sure you don’t get an infection or anything.”

That had my eyes flaring wide, but it was my turn to clear my throat too. “Okay. Thank you, Lara.”

Her grin appeared, and it was swift and sharp. “Well, that kind of broke the ice, didn’t it?”

“Talking about tits will do that to you, I guess,” I said wryly, but I beamed at her because she was right.

Eli had warned me that it might be awkward, that the first few moments of our being back together would be difficult.

But they weren’t.

She’d never have tried to help if they were.

I knew what she was like. She never shoved her opinions onto other people, because she couldn’t deal with their anger, and I didn’t blame her, not after I’d seen what one of our father’s rages could do to her—it could incapacitate her.

For Lara’s sake, I hoped she’d grown stronger mental barriers, but I wasn’t even sure if that was possible. I knew I was trying to craft them with the guys, in an effort to keep some distance between us all so that they could have their private thoughts and I could have mine, only it wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed.

It wasn’t like I could just go to Home Depot and pick up some dry wall, now was it?

I heaved a sigh at that, especially when Austin murmured, “Wouldn’t life be simpler if everything was at Home Depot?”

“You’re not supposed to be listening,” I chided, but there was no heat to my rebuke as I turned around to shoot him a grin. When he grinned back, I’d admit to being floored. To being positively hurled to the ground as I stared at him and just felt the heat of our connection.

Sometimes, that happened. Sometimes, especially after I’d been emotional, I was reminded that I belonged to three powerful men, men who included me in that power, who thought I was stronger than even they were. While it boggled my mind, it was beyond delicious to know they saw me as their version of Wonder Woman.

Okay, I didn’t have her ass or those perky tits anymore, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I turned to Lara, who was eying up my three mates with a wary eye. She was judging them, not just on what they looked like, I knew, but on what they were feeling. I was used to this too, and it stunned me how easy it was to fall back into the regular rhythm of life with her.

I always talked so that she could have a moment to assimilate the lay of the land. So she could figure out what her first words would be.

Wanting to introduce her, I reached for her then jumped when she released a hiss and a pained, “Ouch.”

“What is it?” I asked, worried.

“That hyena got a few licks in.” She pulled a face. “It’s