Slice of Life
The rich, sweet aroma of vanilla made Runa’s mouth water as she turned on the professional quality electric mixer her mate, Shade, had gotten her for Christmas. She wasn’t a big fan of cooking meals, but she did enjoy baking sweet treats, and her family didn’t complain a bit.
Boots clomped on the floor down the hall, and she turned off the mixer as Shade sauntered into the kitchen. He’d donned his black paramedic uniform for his afternoon shift at Underworld General Hospital, and she had a powerful urge to rip it off. Right here in the kitchen. She could finish making cookies to go with the smoothie pops she’d just put in the freezer to celebrate Stryke’s A+ in science class later.
“Where are the boys?” he asked as he reached for a bottle of water in the fridge.
“They’re at Stewie’s pool party. Serena just sent a picture of them playing on the big float. It’s on my phone if you want to see it.”
“We should get a pool,” he said as he swiped his finger across her phone’s screen.
“We’re welcome to use theirs anytime,” she pointed out.
A smile ruffled his lips at the sight of the three dark-haired, espresso-eyed boys, the spitting images of their father, splashing in the water.
“Wraith and Serena made their house the place to be when they put it in, didn’t they?”
It was probably the very reason they put in the pool. “Well, they love parties and kids.”
“That’s because they only have one,” he muttered, but he was joking. Shade adored children, and when they were around, he could always be found nearby.
She fetched a can of cooking spray from a cupboard. “Speaking of kids, this morning a witch at the hospital told me I’m going to have twins in exactly eight years.”
“Only twins?” Shade twisted the cap off his water. “Awesome.”
She shook a spatula at him. “I remember when you wanted a whole bunch of kids.”
“I remember too,” Shade said. “And then we had triplets.”
“Are you saying you don’t want more?”
Pausing with the bottle at his lips, he shrugged. “We’ve got centuries ahead of us. I’m not in a hurry.”
Neither was she. She loved being a mother, but she only had so much time between volunteering at the hospital and taking care of triplets, a mate, and two homes. Granted, one of the homes was a cave in a jungle, but it still had modern appliances and conveniences like hot running water and toilets, and modern things needed to be cleaned.
“I still can’t believe your drive to impregnate me hasn’t kicked in since the boys were born.”
“That’s how it works when we’re mated.” He grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and tucked it into the leg pocket of his BDU pants. “The drive only kicks in when our mates are ready. You’re clearly not ready.”
“You think? I barely have time to shower, let alone have more kids. But I’m sure everything will be different in eight years,” she added, with more than a little sarcasm.
“You never know.” He waggled his brows. “Wanna practice making our twins?”
Always up for a little practice, Runa eyed her mate, her body already heating at the thought of watching him strip out of his uniform. Or maybe she’d make him leave it on. It was sexy as hell.
“Don’t you have to be at work in fifteen minutes?” she asked.
“Con will cover for me. Sin’s working late with DART today.”
Smiling, she peeled off her shirt and tossed it at him. “Then by all means...let’s get some practice in.”
* * * *
Shade lay in the afterglow of their lovemaking, knowing he needed to get to work. But even after nearly a decade with Runa, every day still felt like they were on their honeymoon, and he didn’t want to leave her.
Of all his siblings, he was the one who had fallen the most headfirst into family life.
He loved it. He loved everything about it. He was the PTA-attending soccer dad, and if Eidolon hadn’t needed him so much during the triplets’ early years, he would have been a happy stay-at-home dad. As it was, almost all of his days off were spent doing family things, from day trips to museums and theme parks to teaching the boys how to fish, how to perform first aid and, given that they were demons who would have to defend themselves from other underworlders, how to fight.
And yesterday on his day off, he taught them how to make meatloaf cupcakes for dinner. Blade was a picky eater who wasn’t a fan of meatloaf, but Shade had discovered that he’d eat any food that could be made into a cupcake.
“We’re the best parents, aren’t we?”
Runa turned toward him as she lay in the crook of his arm, her head resting on his biceps, covering three generational glyphs on his dermoire. “Hmm?”
“Of all my brothers’ families. Like, we’re the most normal.”
She gave him a placating smile. “Depends how you define normal. Our bedroom at the cave is a BDSM chamber, and once a month I turn into a werewolf.”
She had a point, but that wasn’t the point. “You know what I mean.” Taking her hand, he twined his fingers with hers. They were so delicate, but so incredibly strong. “I think we’re pretty awesome.”
“We are.” She wiggled closer. “But I might be biased.”
He stroked the soft skin on the back of her hand and stared up at the ceiling fan as it spun in lazy circles. “It’s weird how we all turned out so different. My brothers, and I, I mean. As parents.”
“I don’t know.” Runa thought about it for a second. “You and Lore are a lot alike. You’re both doting and patient.”
Lore had the patience of a saint. Mace was a handful, a mini-Wraith with an overabundance of attitude and mischief.
“Actually, you’re all pretty patient with the kids,” she continued.
“Yeah, but there are different kinds of patient. Wraith’s is like, meh, Stewie will do it when he’s ready. And Eidolon?” Shade snorted. “He’s not as patient as he is stubborn. He’ll wait as long as it takes for you to do what he wants, but you pay for every floofing minute you delay.”
Runa laughed. “Tayla says he’s relentlessly stubborn.”
“Poor Sabre.” Tayla was less strict than Eidolon, but they were both pretty intense, Type-A and focused.
“Oh, I think Sabre is fine,” Runa said as she began to trace circles on his abs, just above where the sheet lay across his hips. “With his temperament, he thrives in that kind of environment. Could you imagine a kid like Stryke having Eidolon as a father?”
Oh, hell, no. “E would destroy Stryke.”
Stryke was the most sensitive and easygoing of their sons, a true mama’s boy with a good heart. Rade was the spirited one, the troublemaker and ringleader for most of the hot water they got into. Blade was a mix of his brothers and of the three of them, the one most like Shade.
Runa pushed herself up on one elbow. “You know, I was talking to Serena the other day, and she brought up a good point. All our children will be brought up in stable, loving families, largely in human society. It’ll be so different than what you and your brothers, or even most Seminus demons, grew up with.”
“I was raised in a stable, loving family of Umber demons,” he protested. “Until they were slaughtered and eaten by another demon.” He glanced over at her. “Yeah, yeah, I made your point.” Her kiss-swollen lips curved in a self-satisfied smile. “So you think our kids are going to be so well adjusted that they grow up and have boring, uneventful lives?”
“Boring and uneventful? In our family?” She chuckled. “Never. But they won’t have the kind of obstacles to happiness that you all had.”
Obstacles to happiness. Otherwise known as trauma.
But no, none of the children in his family would know trauma if he could help it. Life was full of surprises, but he and Runa, and all his siblings, had laid solid foundations for their families. They had, in fact, played a part in saving the world so the kids had a chance at all.
So Shade, figuring he had nothing to worry about, at least for right now, agreed with his mate, the female of his dreams, and turned off his cell phone.
Runa gave him a goofy smile. “What are you doing?”
He rolled over and, before she could blink, tucked her beneath him. “I’m playing hooky.”
“Nice.” Her smile turned naughty and her arms came up to wrap around his neck. “For how long?”
“For as long as you want. Con owes me several shifts.” He brushed his mouth over hers. “And then when you’re done with me...let’s talk about getting a pool...”
* * * *
For Runa and Shade’s romantic beginning (it actually wasn’t a romantic beginning at all...full of dungeons and monsters and betrayal, you know, the usual things), check out book 2 of the Demonica series, !