Page 50 of My Monster, My Choice

She shoots me a grateful smile as we take all the food into the dining room to set on the table.

Relion takes his hands off Tera long enough to pull the wine from Christina’s grasp and pour. “Take a load off your feet,maman,” he tells her with a smile. It always makes the girls giggle when he calls her that.

“No, Telilah. You can’t grab with you testic—I mean, tentacles,” Kenny says, pushing his silverware further from her reach.

“Baby girl,” Tera warns. “Mind your manners or it’s tie them up or head to the highchair for you. And you like sitting in Uncle Kenny’s lap, right?”

Telilah blows a raspberry and then giggles.Kish—or at least ourkishwith tentacles—normally wear a long shirt with a string that closes like a bag at the bottom called amarniek. It teaches them to control their appendages and manners, since they can’t grab everything in sight. Because the days are still warm, she has been allowed leeway.

I fix Kenny’s plate and set it across from him, and hand Telilah a fist-sized biscuit to gnaw on.

“Thank yew,” Kenny says, and I can’t help but pat his head, then take a napkin to wipe my fingers.

“I love your hair,” Christina tells him carefully, and Tera gives his hair a side-eye.

“Thank yew, mum. Pappy Elex did it with a lil bit of bacon grease. An’ my eyebrows too.”

“Bacon grease?” Christina asks.

“His eyebrows?” Tera’s have shot up to her hairline and I falter for a second. Is that not a human grooming procedure? I look to Relion for the answer.

He shrugs helplessly as if saying he’s never paid attention.

“Yup,” Kenny drawls.

“Good job,” Christina says softly and my attention snaps back to her. She’s staring at me with the softest expression on her lovely face and I can’t help but lean in to kiss her lips. The feel of her small hands on my shoulders as she lovingly traces my muscles makes me clench them tightly as I remember her touch on my naked flesh.

Her tongue on my skin.

I pull her chair out to help her sit and then take my seat next to her to enjoy our little family.

“Is that the…sash to my kimono?” Tera asks Kenny.

“Yess,” he drawls. “You said I could borrow a tie. Pappy Elex tied it.”

Tera sighs and Christina smiles, looking down at her plate.

“Mikhail’s coming tomorrow,” Tera says. “Jaire says they’re offering medical care at the midwife center, so we’re shutting down classes. Mom, you should get checked out.”

“Perhaps.” Does Christina’s vague response sound a bit stressed? I clasp her hand, mostly to distract her so I can wrap a tentacle around her waist. I just need the barest amount of skin to press my sucker against…

She shifts and I touch bare skin, followed by a taste of dread and anxiety.

Why would seeing Mikhail’s medic cause her nervousness?

“If you want, I will go with you,” I whisper, and her anxiety increases tenfold. I take another tactic. “Or if you’d rather, we can play hooky.”

Her levels drop immediately, and her scent is sweet again, with just the barest hint of a leftover bitter flavor from the lingering shame.

“Whichever,” she says.

Lie. I taste the sickly sweetness, and I narrow my eyes, aware she is lying.

“If we get time, fine. But I’d much rather spend the day with you, handsome.” Truth. Clean, pure, rich.

My mate is afraid of the medic, Calbin, who is not a stranger to these lands. He has visited Eden many times. He delivered her owngrandkishbecause he, Mikhail, and their mate Mindy were here visiting when Tera went into labor.

Suddenly it dawns on me.

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