“Without Mommy?” Danny pulled the covers up to his chin, as if hiding from a monster in the dark. “But I’ve never been away without Mommy. Can’t she come too?”
“She wouldn’t want to come. She and your alpha would jump at the chance to have private time alone together. They were eager enough for you to come with me tonight, weren’t they?”
A twinge of jealousy shot through him at the mental image of that arrogant alpha in Hayley’s bed. Even if she was a bit fatter and more tired-looking than when he’d known her, she was still an extremely attractive woman. Reiner wouldn’t have said no to a second round…but of course there was no chance of that, now that she only had eyes for her oh-so-alpha mate.
Reiner consoled himself with the thought that at least he’d had her first. And she’d been younger and riper then, too. If only she’d been a shifter! But there was simply no way he could ever have taken a mundane human home to his family. Not when his perfect older brother had already mated a perfect alpha lioness and started producing perfect pure-bred cubs…
Our cub is perfect, his lion said, its mental voice a soft purr.
So he is. Reiner shook off his dark thoughts, focusing on the shining promise of the better future ahead.
“Your mother and her mate don’t want a cub like you getting in the way all the time,” he said to Danny. “They’d be happy if you stayed with me for longer. They just don’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you so.”
“Oh,” Danny said quietly. His little face was shadowed in the moonlight. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Don’t worry. I always want to have you around.” He stroked Danny’s golden hair back from his forehead. “You go to sleep now, my son. I’ll be right next door if you need me.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Danny yawned hugely, his expression relaxing again as he snuggled down. “I did really like hunting tonight. Can we do that again? Here, I mean. Not back at your proper home.”
“You’ll have to ask your alpha.” He couldn’t resist adding, “Make sure you tell him you want me to take you hunting, not him.”
“Oh, Mr. Griff won’t mind.” Danny’s voice had gone soft and sleepy. “He doesn’t hunt.”
“He doesn’t?” Reiner’s hand paused. Some traditionalists—Reiner’s own grandfather among them—still held that hunting was women’s work. Was that bastard Griff laughing at him even now? “Why? Does he think it’s something only lionesses should do?”
Danny giggled. “That’s silly. Who would think that?”
“Never mind. It’s not important.” Reiner relaxed a little. At least that asshole alpha wasn’t filling his son’s head with ridiculous old-fashioned nonsense. “But why doesn’t Griff like hunting?”
“I think he’d like to,” Danny mumbled, his eyes drifting shut. “But he can’t. He wouldn’t be able to bite the deer, after all. Not with person teeth.”
…Person teeth?
“Why would he try to hunt without shifting?” Reiner asked, bewildered.
“Ummm.” Danny’s eyes popped open. He suddenly looked as guilty as if Reiner had just caught him eating his entire stash of Halloween candy. “Never mind.” He rolled over, squeezing his eyes tight shut again. “Night-night, Daddy.”
Reiner switched the bedside light back on.
“Hey!” Danny flung his arm over his face. “I was sleeping!”
Reiner ignored the protest, leaning over him intently. Inside, his lion crouched, every muscle tense, tail lashing. Normally, it was the voice of caution, holding him back…but not this time.
If the alpha cannot even catch a deer, his lion snarled, he cannot protect the pride. He cannot protect our cub. If the alpha is unfit…
“Danny.” Reiner let his lion rise, let its force show in his voice and eyes, despite the way it made Danny cower. “Tell me exactly why Griff can’t hunt.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hayley
As soon as I get off work, I’m going straight to the store, Hayley thought as she watched Griff move around the kitchen. And I’m buying condoms. Lots and lots of condoms.
Lacking other options, Griff had put his Halloween outfit back on again this morning—though the unselfconscious ease with which he’d donned the kilt had made it clear it really wasn’t just a costume for him. Hayley wondered how often he wore it. She wondered how often she could persuade him to wear it.
“As often as you like,” Griff said, without looking up from buttering toast.
Hayley made a face at his broad back. “Okay, clearly we’re going to have to lay some ground rules about using your eagle powers.”