Page 152 of The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate
“Sienna!” Anne is looking at the cushions, at the small woven blanket folded over the arm of the nearest chair, at the tea setting already laid out on the table by someone who must have known I would bring my visitors out here. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s home,” Violet says, smiling at me.
I press my lips together and seat her in the deepest chair, the one with the firmest support for her back. Anne settles beside her, and I take the seat across from them so I can see both my friends.
The boys are already at the pond. Eli is keeping a cautious hand on the back of Theo’s coat. Theo is pointing at something with all the gravity of a young scholar.
“Eli is so good with my son,” I murmur.
Anne’s eyes go soft. “He has been waiting for this for months. He kept asking if Theo would have grown taller.”
“He has, actually.”
“I noticed. He’s going to be like Lucas. Same build.”
“He is.”
A comfortable silence settles over us. I trace the rim of my teacup with one fingertip. The wisteria leaves move above us.
“I’m so glad the merger structure has held,” I say eventually. “Since Darius and Lucas worked through the final integration phase in the spring, we haven’t had a single territorial dispute.” My voice softens. “And Lucas is so good to me. I never thought I would find someone who would dote on me this much.”
Violet’s hand reaches forward and finds mine across the table. “Your happiness shows.”
Out near the pond, Theo lets out a delighted shriek. Eli’s calm voice answers him.
Anne pulls her son into her line of sight with a quick, instinctive look, satisfies herself, and turns back to me.
“I want to have more children,” I say quietly. “I haven’t discussed it with Lucas. Theo’s birth was so hard that he has never brought up the matter again. He avoids it.”
Anne’s breath catches. Her hand comes back to mine, fingers folding tight around it. “Oh, Sienna.”
“I’m getting another baby. I’ll tie him down if I have to.”
Violet chortles. “Can you imagine how that conversation would go?”
Anne is squinting. “Not well. What are you going to do if he says no?”
I smirk. “I won’t let him pull out.”
“That’s diabolical.” Violet shakes her head at me.
“He wants more kids, Violet.” I get serious now. “He has always wanted more. But he’s scared for me. Meera said she’d be there in case I need her help, and we could have all the best healers standing by, so I don’t know why he’s being like this.”
“Because he loves you,” Anne says quietly. “Talk to him again. Make him listen. He’ll change his mind.”
I’m not so sure he will.
By the timethe sky has gone purple, the men have come out of Lucas’s office looking like they have agreed on something they will not tell us about until tomorrow. Dinner has happened, and the children have been bathed and tucked into the guest rooms with a small army of nightlights. Even the adults have said goodnight.
I climb the staircase slowly. The lamps along the corridor have been turned low. Our bedroom door clicks shut behind me.
The fire in here has been lit. One of the staff has turned down the bed and drawn the heavy curtains halfway across the windows. The lamp on my side throws a soft pool of amber across the floor.
I take a shower and change. Back in the bedroom, I head to the full-length mirror.
The robe slides off my shoulders into a puddle of silk on the floor. Underneath it, a black nightie sits cool against my skin, the satin falling to mid-thigh, the lace at the bodice low.
This is my secret weapon.
