Elle

In the week following his first night spent at her house, Braden came over several more times. Each time she opened the door after his gentle taps, her heart and stomach competed to see which one could freak out more. That butterfly feeling and heart-pounding near-panic that came from seeing someone for the first time? It never faded.

If anything, it grew stronger the more she saw him. Elle came to adore waking up in the mornings next to his gigantic frame. True, she lost out on some real estate in the bed. Arguably most of it. But for a change, compared to most men she’d dated in the past, Braden had no problems with her cuddling up next to him. In fact, he would often reach out in the middle of the night, sound asleep, and pull her in tight to him.

Elle was in heaven those times, curling right up next to him and leeching as much body heat from him as she could. It was glorious, and she woke up feeling more rested than ever before after a night spent asleep in his arms. Her only complaint was that he couldn’t be there every night.

She thought about going to the embassy, to spend the night there when he couldn’t be with her, but so far that hadn’t happened. It was more out of convenience. If he couldn’t spend the night at her place, it generally meant he was working the night shift, so even if she did pack up everything for herself and for Gwenevere, she would still be sleeping alone. Except this time she would be in a different bed, without the comforts of home. So instead she just stayed at home and let him come to her.

Today though, he was working and then had something else going on after, some sort of training seminar or something. He’d been rather vague about it, comparing it to a budget meeting sort of thing. Elle shrugged. Whatever it was, he hadn’t sounded like he was looking forward to it. So she’d decided to head on up to the north end of town with Gwen. As it turned out, plenty of the other women had decided to do the same thing today.

“This is going to get really hectic in another six months,” Kelly remarked.

Elle turned to look at Gray’s mate. “What do you mean?”

The brunette smiled and gestured at the crowd in front of them, her wavy brown hair bouncing lively as she did. “Well, right now most of these little ones are inert, or just starting to fumble their way around. That’s going to change in six months.”

“Ah. Yeah. That’s going to be interesting.”

There were six little ones on the floor. On top of that, there were three other women with stomachs that indicated they were nearly ready to give birth.

“I’m sort of glad I don’t have a house, so I can’t host these gatherings with ease,” she said selfishly. “Because you’re right. It’s going to get crazy trying to run herd on all these little ones.”

Even as she spoke, Elle watched Gwen lever herself upright and walk unsteadily across the floor to where Karlie and Cooper were currently smashing plastic blocks together, trying to make them do…who knew what. Something.

“Think of all the friends they’re going to have though,” Karri said, joining their conversation.

“That’s a good point. And by the looks of it, you’re going to be contributing.”

“Oh yeah. This little one is cooking right along.”

Elle hadn’t seen much of Andrew’s mate lately, but she quite liked her, and made a mental note to try and hang out with her a bit more.

“Do you have a name picked out yet?”

Karri smiled. “Actually we just decided the other day.” Her face took on a warm glow. “We’re going to call him Jet.”

“Aww that’s an adorable name!” Elle gushed, and Kelly joined her. Eventually the others overheard and conversation stilled as they asked what was up.

“We decided on Jet as the name!” Karri announced to everyone. More cheers and compliments followed.

Elle looked around the room. So many familiar faces, friends one and all. She was closer to some than others, but it didn’t matter. Each of them had something in common that most other women would never understand, and that Elle herself was only just beginning to understand as her relationship with Braden grew stronger and more serious. Dating a shifter was not for the faint of heart, despite how easy Braden made it feel. They were strong-willed creatures, and they wanted things their way. So far neither of them had disagreed on anything, but Elle suspected once they did, it would be explosive.

“So, how are things going with you and Braden?”

She turned to see Rachel approaching.

“Yeah, tell us everything!” Madison Koche called out from her chair across the room.

The five Koche brothers were the original shifters to settle in the north part of Cloud Lake, buying up a huge amount of property and then proceeding to build houses upon it for the other shifters that came to join them. All of it was done in secret, because if Cadia found out, they would be in a lot of trouble. No shifters of Cadian origin were supposed to live outside the borders of the territory, by law.

By Elle’s last count, there were over a dozen of them located in the burgeoning community. She knew that Cadia would eventually try to do something about it, but until then, she was determined to enjoy it as much as possible.

“Things are going well,” she said. “We see each other as much as possible, which is generally every day or other day.”

“Are you fucking yet?”

“Oh my God,” Elle ranted with fake anger. “Is that all you filthy-minded people want to know about?”

“Yes!” Karri piped up.

“Well for your information, yes, we are fucking, as you put it. And it’s damn good. Better than any that you’re getting.” She waved her finger around the room casually as she spoke.

The last comment brought forth laughter from all the women, each of them knowing that their man was better in bed. It wasn’t much of a contest, as a group love-in that acknowledged that they were all getting their brains screwed out way better than they ever had in their previous lives. It had become a fun little game at this point, with each woman making up some ridiculous story to try and top the others, no matter how unbelievable.

Elle sobered. “But I need to ask you something.”

The laughter died immediately as the other women recognized a serious question.

“What is it?” Rachel asked, urging her best friend to speak up.

“Okay. I know most of you are mated. And that your mates have bought you a house, which is kinda my question. But I need to know, before that, or after even, have they been spoiling you rotten? Not with attention, but with physical things?”

“What do you mean?” one of them asked, confused.

Elle looked around. “I mean, almost every time I see him, or that we go out, Braden is buying me stuff for around the house, or for Gwen. Look, even the carrier-carseat thing I brought today. It’s brand new, top of the line. He just showed up with it the other day. And the morning after we slept together we went out for breakfast, but by the time we came home, he’d bought enough food to feed me for a month.” She frowned. “I feel guilty that he’s spending all this money on me. I’ve got new clothes, a new rug for the main room, everything.”

“New shoes?”

Despite the fact she was trying to ask her question without making a joke of it, Elle couldn’t help but laugh. “No, he hasn’t bought me new shoes yet. Which is a problem.” The women all laughed. “But seriously, is that normal?”

“I mean, Andrew bought me stuff, but I come from money,” Karri said. “So I can’t really answer your question very well.”

Rachel shrugged. “Hector bought me a few things, but nothing crazy. Certainly not that much.”

One by one the other women all agreed.

“Hmmm. Well I hope I didn’t just get your men in trouble,” she said at last, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’ll just have Kean take me shoe shopping tonight,” Madison said. “Then I’ll have him buy me ice cream and jalapenos.”

The other women all cringed at the combination.

“Isn’t it supposed to be pickles and ice cream?” Kelly asked, garnering much agreement from the others.

“Nooo.” Madison shook her head. “You guys are missing out! It’s so good. Trust me, this needs to be a boxed flavor!”

“I honestly kind of want to retch right now,” Elle said bluntly. “That’s absolutely disgusting. And I liked cookies and canned cheese when I was pregnant.”

The conversation segued into the more odd and disgusting pregnancy cravings that the women had—or were having—while pregnant. To her surprise, most of the others decried her combination as worse than the ice cream and jalapenos one. Elle wasn’t sure whether she’d won or lost the conversation, since nobody could seem to agree on whether they were trying to be the grossest, or least gross. In the end it didn’t matter.

“Would it be okay if Braden moved here?” she asked suddenly.

The silence in the room was deafening as the others stopped talking to once again look at her. Elle was getting tired of being the center of attention, but it was too late to back out now. She’d asked a question, and she needed to get an answer.

“Like, not into your house,” she said with a nod at Madison, who was hosting the gathering. “But up here in general, with the rest of you?”

The women sort of looked at each other.

“I think that’s a question better asked of the other shifters,” Kelly said at last. “After all, they’re the ones that are in danger, not us. But I don’t see why not. He knows about it, he’s well liked, and Andrew speaks highly of him. If he were to ask, I doubt anyone would say no. Why, is he worried that they wouldn’t be okay with it?”

Elle shook her head. “I haven’t asked him, truthfully. I was just looking around, and while you’re all nice enough to invite me up here all the time, I definitely think about what it would be like to live here. And now that Braden’s in the picture, and things are going well there, it’s something I’ve thought of some more. I just…I’d be devastated if he wasn’t, I guess. I don’t want to leave all of you behind.”

Almost immediately she was swarmed with hugs and affection, others telling her that they didn’t want her to leave either. It was a reassuring sensation to be wanted, to know that she had a place here, among friends. And that Braden did too.

She couldn’t wait to tell him.