Chapter 10 #2
“Me, too.” The baby was so warm and sweet on her lap, but Nia’s sadness overwhelmed any excitement she might have felt otherwise.
Cole wasn’t the kind of person she’d envisioned falling in love with someday.
She’d imagined someone closer to her age, someone a little more spontaneous, someone who hadn’t already established his life so concretely.
After all, she was still figuring out a lot of hers.
But he was a good man. He cared about his family, his pack, and his entire community.
Even if he could be a bit stiff and stuck in his ways, he was kind and generous.
Nia couldn’t deny how handsome he was, either.
When Cole was serious, his heavy brows and dark eyes sucked her in.
When he finally let himself go, and that wide, wolfish grin crossed his face, it made her heart skip up into her throat.
Nia could thank the fates for matching her with a good person, but they’d balanced it out by making him unattainable.
Another baby was at his feet as soon as he laid the first one down, patting her chubby little hand against his foot and tugging at his pant leg. Cole scooped her up, and she sprouted wings before he even had her settled in his arms. “Are you really going back to Salem?” Cole asked.
One of the other dragonlings was beginning to fuss.
With naps, feeding, and diaper changes, there were simply too many of them, even for two people.
Nia flicked her finger against her thumb, sending a shimmering bubble of magic floating across the room.
The baby’s eyes widened, and he watched it with fascination.
“I don’t think I have a choice.” Nia had decided in the heat of the moment during their confrontation with Brianna, but even in the light of the next day, it felt like the right one. “Brianna doesn’t want me as her business partner anymore.”
Cole put the baby girl he was holding down next to the other baby on the carpet, where they both began giggling over the bubble of magic as it dipped and darted through the air. “There are other reasons you could stay.”
“No, there aren’t.” Nia’s throat began to tighten.
She got a big burp out of the baby in her lap, so she put him down to play with the others.
It took only an occasional stroke of her finger to keep the sphere moving, just out of the babies’ reach.
“I can’t have a relationship with you if it means my best friend will be mad at me for the rest of my life. ”
“She might be anyway,” Cole sighed. He sat in the other armchair, looking tense. “I’m not saying we should just charge into this regardless of the consequences, but Brianna doesn’t get to run our lives.”
Nia frowned. He was absolutely right, and his connection with Brianna was much closer than what Nia had with her.
It still just felt wrong. “But then what happens? Is Brianna ever going to speak to you again if you want to be with me? I don’t think I can live with the guilt of being the reason for that. ”
“Nia.”
She’d been keeping her focus on the babies as much as possible. It was much easier than looking at this handsome, caring, responsible man that she could never have. Nia could feel the request in this voice, though, and she looked at him.
He sat with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped between them, and he leaned forward slightly. For once, he didn’t look like a police chief or an Alpha, nor did he even look like her friend’s dad. He was just Cole—her mate.
“Why are you taking the blame for this on your shoulders?” he asked. “You’re talking about yourself as the reason behind the problem, but it’s not like you did this. Neither did I. We weren’t asked, and we didn’t get to decide.”
She pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she considered the question, but it only made her think of just how good it’d felt to finally kiss him.
Nia sent another bit of magic toward the babies, this time a bubble full of golden sparkles.
“We don’t get to choose, but can’t we at least decide how we act on it? ” she challenged.
He interlaced his fingers and rubbed them slowly back and forth.
“At one time, before I met you, I would’ve said yes.
I would’ve believed that I could keep myself in check, no matter the situation.
I’ve had plenty of practice with it over the years, but not around you.
Not with a mate. That’s a completely different challenge, and I’m not sure it’s fair to ask anyone to do that. ”
Nia looked at him again, and her palms were instantly electrified. Her lynx didn’t care for this heavy conversation and instead preferred to focus on how pleasant his body would feel against hers. “Are you asking me to stay?”
It took him a moment to answer. “If I’m honest, I’m not sure. It would be complicated. Brianna will be pissed, and I don’t think the pack would be thrilled, either. Not that they don’t like you,” he added quickly.
She flapped her free hand. “No, I get it.” He didn’t need to explain anything. She could easily imagine the shock on their faces if they knew.
“I don’t like the idea of you leaving, either,” he continued. “It’s not like we’re going to just forget about each other if you’re back in Salem. I’m usually pretty good at looking at a problem and coming up with a decent solution. Right now, it’s muddy.”
The door opened. Nia looked up, expecting to see Scott or maybe Linda. It was Brianna.
Her face lit up when she saw the babies playing on the floor, but it instantly folded into a scowl when she realized who was there. “What the hell? You can’t stay away from each other for even a few hours?”
“Close the door, Brianna,” Cole told her, “and don’t cuss in front of the babies.”
“Good lord, you’re still treating me like a child,” she muttered as she closed the door behind her.
“You happen to be acting like one, in case you haven’t noticed,” he pointed out.
Nia wondered how he managed to remain so calm, but then again, an argument with his daughter probably wasn’t nearly as stressful as chasing down a bank robber or de-escalating a domestic dispute. “I thought you were at the bakery.”
“Which is why you decided to come and spend some quality time with my dad?” Brianna retorted.
Her heart thundered, and adrenaline shot through her veins. Nia wasn’t one of those people who enjoyed confrontation. “Actually, I came to spend some time with the babies as I said I would, plus I figured it would be a good way to give you the distance that you want. The rest was coincidence.”
Or fate, working in the funny way that it did sometimes. Nia fought the urge to pull out her cards. This wasn’t the time for a reading, though the uncertainty of her future was vibrating constantly in her mind.
“I did go to the bakery for a little while,” Brianna told her. “I just needed to get my mind off of everything that’d happened there. I figured whoever was watching these little rascals would need help, and it would be a nice distraction.”
So she had come to the packhouse for the same reason that Nia had. The babies seemed like a good diversion from reality, but it was becoming apparent that they could never truly escape their problems.
Nia thought about what Cole had said. Brianna couldn’t run their lives.
There were so few things that a person got to truly choose, and they couldn’t give away what little power they had.
It might not do any good, but she had to try.
“Why don’t you join us? We could use an extra hand. These little tykes are a lot.”
Brianna stared at her in amazement. “Are you kidding me?”
Nia pressed her hand against the arm of the chair, trying to keep her body grounded. “No.”
“There’s absolutely no way I’m going to stay in the room with you, especially not with both of you while you’re all ‘we’ and ‘us.’ It’s awful.” With tears in her eyes, Brianna turned and stormed out of the room.
The babies startled at the bang of the door. One of them began to cry.
Nia felt like crying herself, so she picked up the poor infant and rocked him in her arms. “I tried.”
“I know.” He looked torn, as though he wanted to go after Brianna but knew it wouldn’t improve the situation.
“I’m going to stay through the grand opening,” Nia told him.
“I said the dragons are my obligation, and that’s true, but I think it’s also only right that I stick around to make sure Brianna can get The Cozy Crumb officially opened smoothly.
I’m hoping that the dragons will be squared away by then, and I’ll go back to Salem. ”