Page 68 of Briggs
“What about John?” I asked. “Should we let him know we’re going?”
Briggs tilted his head to the side and looked at me with a confused expression. “He’s already there. He was going to meet up with Maximus. I thought he had cleared it with you?”
“Cleared what? What am I missing?” I slid my arms into the sleeves of my coat as Briggs helped me pull it up onto my shoulders.
“He’s spending the night down in Honey Creek with Alpha War and Arik. They’re having this huge party with the den kids. There’s going to be a den run as well as an all-night movie marathon. I’m not sure I’m up for something like that anymore, but I know the teenagers are all for it.”
That sounded like fun…if you didn’t have newborn twins at home. “I’m sure he mentioned it to me; I just don’t remember. I’m glad he’s going to go hang out down there. It’s about time he’s opened up a bit more to friendships.” I wanted my brother to have friends. Most of the non-adults here on Treasure Ridgewere either way younger than John or older and about to head off to college. But Max was only a couple of years younger than John, and his sister, Val, was the same age. They were tiger shifters, and I think that, combined with the fact that Arik was a tiger shifter as well, really drew John and his cheetah. I was happy for my brother. He needed to have as much of a normal teenage life as he could.
Briggs was giving me a funny look. “What?” I asked. He grabbed his own coat now that I had mine on.
“You want to go hang out and watch movies all night?”
I snorted. “No.” I bent my head down and kissed the top of Willow’s hat-covered head. “I wouldn’t mind watching a movie and eating junk food with you, but no, I do not want to go to the den and hang out all night.” I sighed. “I know that with these two, watching a movie is not going to happen only because we would try, and both of us would fall asleep within minutes, most likely.”
Briggs laughed, and I smiled. I wasn’t wrong, which was why it was so funny. “We’ll get there someday. Probably before you know it, we’ll be able to do things that we did before we had the girls.”
I nodded. “I don’t regret them. Not even when they’re spitting up all down my back and onto the bed. Not even then.”
Briggs had his coat on and the backpack back on as well and leaned in and gave me a quick kiss. “I love you,” he said. “I love the life we have together and the thought of the one we’re building. I’m looking forward to spending many more centuries with you because you are absolutely perfect for me. You’re an amazing daddy and partner.”
I fanned my face and took several deep breaths. I’d been doing so good. My hormones had started to regulate, and I wasn’t nearly as emotional as I’d been while pregnant. “I love you too,” I managed to get out. I took several more breaths, butwhen Briggs pulled me into his arms, I felt a tear escape. It was a bit awkward with both of us wearing a baby on our front, and I couldn’t get nearly as close as I wanted, but he’d tried, and that meant everything to me.
“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he whispered. He kissed my hair, and I wanted more, so I looked up at him and waited. Briggs didn’t disappoint—he never did—and I got my kiss. Unfortunately, it was over before it could start, and I was left with a bit of disappointment. I knew Briggs loved me. He was so sweet and loving toward me. But since before I’d given birth, we’d not been intimate in any way. I understood then because it had become uncomfortable and then painful. But now? The girls were five weeks old. Dr. King had cleared me to resume all activities. Yet…still nothing. I knew it wasn’t that he was repulsed by me. He looked at me with nothing but love. I sighed. It would happen when the time was right. We both passed out within minutes of putting the twins in bed after their midnight bottle.
“What’s wrong?” Briggs asked.
“Nothing,” I told him. Because that was the truth. I knew it would happen when the time was right. “Are you ready?” I asked. “I don’t want the girls to get too warm with the blankets on them here in the house.” Sure, they were babies, but they were also shifter babies. They were tough, and both were in thicker sleepers, hats, and were strapped into a baby carrier with a blanket snapped onto the carrier to keep them covered.
“Sure,” Briggs said. We left the house, and although I caught my mate sending me looks frequently as we walked toward Council Square, he didn’t say anything. He held my hand, every so often giving it a gentle squeeze, but that was the extent of it.
When the council building came into view, moments later, the faint sounds of music and children’s laughter could be heard. I knew the celebration was on the other side of the councilbuilding, and I suddenly wondered if it bothered the single enforcers.
“When you lived in single enforcer housing, did the festival noise bother you?”
Briggs shook his head. “No. The houses are all soundproof. We can hear people knocking on the doors, but when Master Edison created the houses, they were all made to where we couldn’t hear our neighbors or outside noises. Much like the house we live in now. The only way John ever hears the twins crying is when we both have our doors open.”
Briggs glanced my way, offered a quick smile, and when I saw him raise his hand, I looked toward the crowd we were approaching. I smiled at the sight of Dr. King. He was talking to someone, and I was sure it was one of the created ones, but sadly, I didn’t know them all by sight.
Whoever it was, they left before we reached them, not that we were going to interrupt. We just happened to reach Dr. King shortly after they’d left, and apparently, he wanted to chat because he waited for us.
“Good evening and happy solstice,” Dr. King said. “It’s good to see you out and about.”
I smiled. “It was past time, I think,” I said. I glanced up at Briggs. “I think we have our routine down?” I said in a question-type way while looking at my mate.
“I’d agree with that.”
Dr. King smiled at us, and when he leaned his neck forward, I grinned and moved to the side and undid the blanket so he could peek at Willow.
“They’ve changed quite a bit since I saw them last.”
“They grow fast,” I said.
“Not to push, because I’m not,” Dr. King said.
I answered for him. “I’m still planning on coming back after the first of the year,” I said. “The girls will be over at thechildcare center, and it’s not far if I need to go over and see them.”
Dr. King looked at me for a moment before he nodded. “You are welcome to bring them to the clinic. You don’t need to be away from them. We can set up a place for them right there by the desk.”
