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Chapter Eighteen

Charlie

“Just to double- and triple-check,” Mica said. “You’re absolutely sure you want to rent out your cottage?”

I looked up at my brother-in-law. I got it, I was a much smaller shifter, but they were all giants!

“Yes. I hadn’t even thought about renting it until Silver said something to me about that being an option.

I love the idea of having that small bit of income if I happen to decide to take some extended time off once we have kids. ”

Mica’s eyes lit up. “Are you…” he asked as he leaned just a bit closer.

I snorted. “No. At least, not that I’m aware of. But we do want kids eventually.”

Mica’s smile dimmed just a bit. “Yeah, I understand. I’m not trying to be pushy or anything. It’s just that the thought of a mini version of my brother running around is kinda fun.”

We both looked over at Silver, who was standing next to Clay while they were at the grill. It was family dinner day, and this week, it was at our house. I gave my mate a very slow look from head to toe. Yeah, he was sexy as fuck, and giving that man babies wasn’t going to be a hardship.

“How’s your sister doing?” Mica asked suddenly.

Immediately, the thoughts of all of the different ways we could practice getting pregnant vanished. I glared up at Mica. “Really? You start talking about babies with that man and then mention my sister?”

“Hey,” Mica said, holding his hands out in surrender. “How was I supposed to know you were thinking dirty thoughts.”

I smiled. “It’s your brother. Just assume that the majority of my thoughts about him are dirty.

I’m really into my mate.” Mica chuckled.

“But to answer your question, Sam is doing better. I’ve seen her once since Silver met her and Justin for the first time.

” I sighed. “She has something that causes severe mood swings and anxiety. I don’t hold anything against her. I know it’s not her fault.”

“Is this a common thing? Should we make sure we watch out for it if and when you and Silver decide to have kids?”

I shook my head. “It’s actually not, and her doctors are a bit baffled as to why Sam has it because they’ve not ever seen it in shifters before.

” For the most part, shifters as a whole were super healthy and never got sick.

We lived longer than humans, a few hundred years, most of the time—unless something caused us to pass before natural causes happened.

“So we shouldn’t worry about you? You know…when you…”

I chuckled. “You mean when I become pregnant? No. I mean, of course, watch out for anything that isn’t usual for me, but with the way your brother watches over me, I have no doubt that Silver will have me at the doctor at the first sign of anything out of the usual.”

Mica looked over at his oldest brother. “Yeah, he’s pretty protective of you.”

I smiled. Those thoughts that I always seemed to have when it came to my mate started to creep back in.

I couldn’t help it—he was just so damn sexy, and he was all mine.

I decided to recall this morning, when Silver had fucked me up against the bedroom door.

Yes, fucked because it was raw and absolutely animalistic, and I loved every second of it.

I projected that memory to my mate, and he visibly stiffened and then looked at me over his shoulder.

I did my best to give him an innocent wave.

“Anywho. About the cottage.”

I smiled at Silver before I refocused on Mica. “Yeah. I definitely want to rent it out. Can you help with things? I know nothing about any of that stuff. As it was, I was incredibly lucky when I bought it because I had an amazing agent.”

“I’m your guy. We’ll need to get it cleaned,” Mica said.

“I already did that.”

“You had it professionally cleaned?”

“I did. I cleaned up a lot, but it really needed a good deep clean, and I had it cleaned. It’s just sitting there, waiting for someone else to enjoy its cute charm.”

“Oh, that’s not going to be an issue. Now…my fee for managing it for you is going to be steep,” Mica said. Immediately, my excitement about renting my cottage vanished. “I’m going to require a batch of that macaroni salad all to myself. Like, I don’t want to share it with my brothers.”

When he slowly started smiling, I narrowed my eyes at him. He started laughing, and I growled and pushed on his shoulder. That got Silver’s attention.

“Mica, you better be nice to my mate.”

Almost instantly, Mica sobered. “I’m being super nice. I’m only charging him a batch of macaroni salad all for myself in exchange for managing his cottage rental.”

Silver stared at his brother for a second before he nodded. “Steaks and veggies are ready.”

“We can talk about specifics more. But I can probably have someone in it by the end of next week,” Mica said as he stood.

“That fast?” I stood as well, and suddenly, the world tilted. I fell into Mica, thankful that he was there and was willing to grab me.

“Charlie?”

“I’m all right,” I said, looking up at my brother-in-law’s concerned face.

“Cutie?” Silver was suddenly there, his arms wrapped around me.

“I’m good. I think I stood up too fast and got dizzy.”

Silver looked down at me, worry all over his face. “You were dizzy yesterday or the day before as well.”

“I know. But we’ve not exactly been getting the most sleep, and work has been hectic.”

Silver stared down at me, and I wrapped my arms around his torso. “I’m good,” I told him. “I stood up too fast, and I definitely should have eaten more at lunch.” I’d not been overly hungry and had just picked at my food.

“Dad and Ma are here,” Clay called out.

I smiled up at Silver. “Your parents are here. It’s definitely time to eat.” Silver narrowed his eyes at me. “No? Are we not eating?”

“We’re going to talk about this later.”

I nodded. I had no clue what we were going to be talking about though. I let Silver lead me over to the table. The heaters were on, and it was a bit breezy outside, but nothing that would force us to go inside.

When I saw Gary and Joyce come through the back door, I smiled at them.

Immediately, Joyce beelined toward me. I opened my arms and accepted the hug she wanted to give.

I smiled at Gary over Joyce’s shoulder as she wiggled back and forth a bit.

She held on tightly for a moment before she let go.

“You’re looking good. A bit pale though. Are you feeling okay?”

My smile fell a little. I looked up at Silver. “Am I pale?”

“A bit,” Silver told me. “He stood up and got dizzy,” he told his mother.

“I need to eat,” I said defensively. Silver tugged on my waist, and I followed as he moved me to my chair where he pulled it out for me. Silver placed a steak in front of me, causing my eyes to widen. I looked up at my mate. “I don’t think this one is mine.”

“You need it.”

I glared. “Give me mine, please. You take yours. My appetite hasn’t ever been as big as yours.”

Silver looked as if he was going to argue, but it was Clay who stopped it. “I’ve never seen Charlie eat that much, Silver.”

I held up the plate. “That’s because I can’t. This one is his. Would you switch them for me, please?”

“Sure,” Clay said. Silver sat down in the chair that was catty-corner to where I was and where Clay had placed the massive steak. I looked up as a much smaller one was placed in front of me and smiled at Mica.

“Ma’s right, you do look a bit pale. You didn’t when we were talking though.”

I nodded as Mica sat beside me. “I stood too fast. I’ll be fine once I eat.” I tried to reassure Silver with a hopeful look.

“Do you often get dizzy?” Gary asked.

I shrugged. “Every so often. I didn’t eat much today, and I stood up too fast. It’ll pass.” I realized that everyone at the table was staring at me. I stopped looking around the table when I got to Silver.

“Could you pass the salad?” he asked. That seemed to snap everyone out of it, and we went about having a normal family dinner.

Well, what I’d discovered was as normal as they got for Silver’s family.

Joyce and Gary were discussing the fact that they were going on a cruise in a few weeks, and that caught everyone’s attention since it was news to their sons.

Apparently, they’d not mentioned it, despite the fact that the cruise had been booked quite some time ago.

That took up the majority of the discussion for the duration of the meal. By the time I’d eaten half of my food, I was feeling better, and when I smiled over at Silver, he stared for a moment before he visibly relaxed.

“Your color is back, and you look better.”

“I feel better. I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wasn’t hungry earlier, and I didn’t eat enough. You gave me quite the workout this morning.”

Silver’s eyes widened briefly before he looked away toward the house. When he looked back at me, he was smiling. “You enjoyed it, I thought.”

“You know I did. That’s why I was screaming your name, along with ‘harder’ and ‘faster,’ over and over. Because it just felt so damn good, and I loved every second of it.”

Silver cleared his throat. That grabbed everyone’s attention. I had to chuckle when everyone looked at my mate expectantly.

“I’m allowed to clear my throat, you know,” he said. After a moment, discussions about Gary and Joyce’s upcoming cruise continued.

It seemed like hours, but in reality, it was only just over one before everyone was cleaning up and then leaving. That left me and Silver alone for the rest of our Sunday.

Silver managed to grab me when I was in the kitchen, starting the dishwasher. He wrapped his arms around me, then kissed my temple. “If I asked something of you, would you promise not to be too upset?”

I looked up at my mate. “That doesn’t sound like something I’m going to like. Not too upset? But I can be a little upset?”

“Yeah.”

I turned in his arms. “Silver, you can ask me anything. You know that.”

“Would you do something for me?” Silver reached up on top of the refrigerator and pulled down a brown paper bag.

“What’s that?”