Page 57 of Baseball and Shifters

“Photography,” I tell her. “He’s got a knack for capturing moments, especially nature shots. I’ve seen him get completely lost behind the lens. If you want to get him something he’ll love, get him something related to that.”

Her lips part slightly as if that wasn’t quite what she expected me to say. “Photography… That actually makes a lot of sense.”

Before I can respond, the man in the pick-up window hands over our crepes, and Lucas joins us, carrying a drink holder with three coffees. We find a table, settle in and Lucas passes around the drinks.

“The usual large black coffee, two sugars for Bas,” he says, handing me a large steaming cup. “And for those of us with a morerefinedpalate, I have procured two of the finest iced caramel lattes.”

The cup he hands over to Rachel is an abomination to coffee but when she does a little happy dance once it’s in her hands, I decide to keep my thoughts to myself.

“Thank you, Lucas!” she says before taking a long drink. “It’s delicious. Bas noticed I couldn’t choose just one crepe, so he let me pick out three for us all to try and share. This one is Cheddar Affair, a savory crepe filled with cheese and eggs and bacon and drizzled in hollandaise. Then there’s the two sweet ones, ChocoBerry Dream which is chocolate and strawberry and then Cereal Killer with vanilla ice cream, fresh fruit and fruity cereal sprinkled on top.”

“Sounds delicious, Moonbeam.” Lucas is basically drooling as he looks over the spread laid out before him.

“Where should we start?” I question, smiling at her overexcitement. I feel like we’ve turned a corner in our relationship. She’s really opening up. It feels good to see her so happy.

“I say we start with our savory, then move on to the sweets.” She declares.

With a plan in place, we all grab forks and dig into the crepes spread before us. Sitting around a table sharing breakfast with half of our pack, feels good. It feels like things are finally falling into place.

Rachel

Walking back down towards where the other vendors are, I can’t help but bask in the sunshine. My bonds with Bas and Lucas are happily thrumming in my chest and it fills me with warmth and joy. Missing my stoic dragon, I decide to send some of the joy I’m feeling down our bond. It only takes a moment for the feeling to be reciprocated, making me ponder why it is that our bonds seem so much stronger today.

We pass a table with jewelry and a sign that says they do engraving before Lucas drags me to a comic book stall. I laugh at his excitement and wonder if I could use it to my advantage. When he lets me go, to flip through comics, I know this is my chance. I slip away from his side without him even noticing and find Bas racking his eyes over my body. I blush instantly and he smirks.

“Not ashamed of looking at my mate, Firefly. So don’t look at me like that,” he drawls with his hands in the pockets of his pants, the picture of casual cockiness.

I step into him, giving him an up and down and licking my lips, loving the instant flare of his eyes. Putting my lips as close to his ear as I can without touching him, I grin when his breath hitches. He’s not immune to this pull either.

“I’m going next door for Lucas’s present,” I murmur, fighting to hide my amusement when his entire body deflates. Not exactly the type of thing he was wanting me to whisper in his ear. “Watch him for me so he doesn’t see?”

I pull back and look him in the eye, trying to make him see how much it means for me to do this for my mate’s birthday. I felt terrible seeing him yesterday and not having a gift. I know he said my presence is present enough, and I know he means it, but I want to do something for him. I’ve never had anyone who cared about me before… not since Ms. Coleman and I want him…themto know what that means to me.

“Of course, Firefly. Go get your mate a present. I’ll make sure he stays distracted and doesn’t ruin your surprise.”

I’m so lucky to have such understanding mates. From what little I know about men, I’ve won the freaking lottery. So, there’s one that’s not a hundred percent on board yet? That’s not so bad in the grand scheme of things. At least none of them got jealous and possessive or went crazy over me having multiple mates like I’ve feared my whole life.

I kiss his cheek before sneaking off with one last glance at my nerdy mate. My eyes roam the jewelry booth when something catches my eye. I smile as I pick up a set of black dog tags as an idea takes root.

A gangly teen boy sporting a neon green mohawk and an eyebrow piercing stops in front of me, looking at the dog tags.

“You want that engraved?” he asks the way only a bored teenager can.

He looks like he’s only here because his parents dragged him and he definitely doesn’t care about selling a set of dog tags this early in the morning… if ever.

“Yeah. Can you putR & Linside a heart on one side andYou are not aloneon the other?”

“Whatever.” He rolls his shoulder and takes the chain from me. “You gonna wait or come back?”

Shit. I didn’t think about how long it would take. I’ll have to find another reason to sneak away. If I’m gone much longer, Lucas might come looking.

“I’ll come back.” I nod to myself and he gives me a weird look. Paying for my purchase, I take my receipt, agreeing to return before they close and head back to my mates with a smile. My cheeks actually hurt from how much smiling I’ve done this morning. It’s kinda crazy. I’ve never really had much reason to smile until lately. My muscles aren’t used to being flexed so often.

I get back to my mates and freeze when I see an attractive woman clearly flirting with Bas.

What the fuck? I’m gone for five minutes and someone swarms in on my territory?

Lucas, my sweet oblivious mate, is still enraptured in his comics as this girl flips her long blonde hair and giggles at something Bas says.

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