Page 40 of Baseball and Shifters

Rachel freezes and I worry she’s gonna clam up and run at the turn of events.

“I never knew my mom. She died giving birth to me… If she had more mates where are they? If he lied to me about that, what else is he lying about?”

“I’m so sorry, Emerald. I never meant to make you question your whole life. I just… I needed you to know having four mates doesn’t make you a slut or a whore. I may come from a two parent household, but that’s the minority in our society, not the majority.”

“It’s okay, Derrick. I just… Can we change the subject? We’ve been talking about me and my messed up family. It’s time you guys share some deep dark secrets,” she huffs a laugh and Lucas jumps all over it.

If anyone could turn this date back around and make our mate laugh again, it’s the golden retriever twin. He has a way of making people feel better. I have no doubt he’ll pull out all the tricks to get our mate to smile again.

“I’m the first born, and most handsomest of my parent’s sons.” He winks. “I have three dads, so I’ve seen what it’s like to share a mate with your friends. I’ve also always had to share everything with Liam, so I’m probably the best sharer in the world.” He shrugs and Rachel giggles. “I have thirteen brothers and sisters and we are all some sort of multiple. The next oldest are 17 and they are triplets, Alexandria, Lydia, and Nadia. Next comes three sets of twins, Kurt and Bishop, 13, Carrie and Stella, 11, and Brandon and Colt, 5. Finally, hopefully,” he mutters under his breath, “two year old triplets Sadie, Morgan, and Becca.”

“Holy crap! That’s a lot of kids!” Rachel’s eyes bug out and I huff a breath of smoke, relieved Lucas was able to take her mind off the implications of our previous conversation so quickly.

“Definitely a full house. One of the reasons Liam and I were so happy to get our acceptance letters to Eldergrove. I love my parents and my siblings but it’s good to have some freedom. Kids take a lot out of you. Especially when they’re not yours and you didn’t ask to be responsible for them.”

“So you don’t want kids?” she asks, catching us all off guard.

Lucas just stepped in a landmine.

“I do. Just not any time soon. I need a long enough break to forget how crazy they drive me.” He winks at her and she laughs.

“Oh thank fate! I was kind of worried you guys may want me to start popping out babies once we graduate and I’m just not ready for that. I’m not saying never just not soon. I want to be out from under my father’s control and experience the world a bit first. In fact, one of the first things I did when I got on campus was go get a five year birth control spell from the campus clinic.”

Whenever I thought of the future with my mate, I assumed I’d follow in my parents’ footsteps. But I see the appeal of pack life. I’ll always be able to count on my brothers to take care of our mate when I can’t.

“What about you? Any siblings?” Rachel looks between me and Bastian.

I shake my head. “Only child here. If I didn’t have Bas to bug growing up, who knows what would have happened to me. Probably be a junior tribunal aid by now.”

“You don’t want to follow your dad’s shoes?”

“Nah. Could you imaginethison the tribunal?” I arch a brow as I gesture to my clothing.

My style doesn’t exactly scream ‘responsible’. My go to black ripped jeans and leather jacket have never upset my father but I’ve gotten more than one side eye from his colleagues. Those side eyes quickly became open glares when I had my lower lip pierced last summer, I can only imagine how they’ll respond to my mark.

My dragon lets out a small warning growl in mind at that thought. No one will be able to disrespect our mate’s mark on us without him having something to say about it.

“I don’t know anyone else on the council, but if they’re all like my father, you probably have a good point.” She laughs.

“Precisely, I’m not exactly the clean-cut type. That’s Bas all day.”

“Yes, well, unlike your parents who want to see you happy, mine pressure me to be like them. Do you have any idea how tiring it is to always be ‘on’? Like the whole world is watching, waiting for you to fail so they can laugh at you?” Bas snarks back.

“Your parents aren’t that bad. Your mom adores you,” I scoff.

“You don’t get it. All they want is for me to be rich and successful like them. You know how mad Dad was when I told him I wouldn’t be studying to be a doctor or a lawyer like he wants? Thank fate my little sister wants to be a paralegal, I don’t think he ever would have crawled out of my ass otherwise.”

“I’m sure he expected it. Y’all have been having the same argument since high school.” I roll my eyes at his dramatics.

“So what are you going to school for? Or are you just going to be a ball player?” Rachel asks.

“That’s the dream. Play in the big leagues a few years then eventually own a team.”

“I can see that.” She smiles. “What about you Lucas? You never told me what you’re going to school for.”

“My degree is in sports management, but the goal is to go pro. Baseball has been my whole life outside of helping take care of the pups. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

“So you all are pretty serious about baseball, huh?”

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