Page 109 of Kingdom of Aramis

“Goodness, child, you are soaked,” Granny scolds me and hurries to the cupboard, pulling out some towels and passing them around.

“Micah, these are my grandparents, Jenny and Joseph. This is Micah. He is one of my mates,” I tell them. “And so is Hunter.” My grandparents both greet them warmly.

“You found your mates!” My granny looks at me with sparkling eyes. “And such handsome ones too. You’re a lucky girl.” She gives me a wink, and the guys chuckle while I blush.

“We aren’t the only ones. She has a few more,” Hunter tells her, and Grampy frowns.

“How many?”

“Ah… Um… Six more,” I tell him awkwardly, and his mouth drops open in shock, but Granny’s grin just gets wider, if that’s even possible.

“Very lucky girl,” she says as Grampy grumbles under his breath. “And what kind of shifter are you?” she asks, and this brings a look of excitement and anticipation to Grampy’s face, distracting him from the other news. She’s such a clever woman.

“I’m a hydra,” I tell them, and they both gape in shock.

“A hydra? Oh my, that is certainly a surprise.” Grampy sounds proud and relieved despite his shock. “Nothing will stop you now.”

“No, but we need to keep that on the down-low. We haven’t been making it common knowledge,” Hunter explains as he towels off his hair. Micah is doing the same, and I take a moment to look around my kitchen, feeling a pang of longing. I miss being normal so much, but I can’t deny that my life is certainly a lot more exciting now, and wasn’t that what I secretly wanted?

I take stock of what they have already made, and it seems like all the muffins and cupcakes are baked but need to be iced. Granny has something bubbling on the stove, which I’m assuming is the marshmallow that Grampy has been piping into animals. He has half a table full of them. I see dragons and wolves so far. He sees me eyeing the creations and winks at me. “I’ll have to come up with a hydra design for your coronation.”

My eyes prickle with tears, and I concentrate on drying myself off so no one sees them.

A commotion at the door has everyone turning to look at it again, and Gem, Brodie, Gryffin, and Liam all walk in. Liam strides straight to me and tugs me to him, giving me a quick kiss before stepping away and inhaling deeply.

“God, I missed you,” he mutters quietly. “That was rough. I don’t want you out of my sight again, if possible, for a little while. The mating bond is making me needy.”

“Pfft, you’re always needy,” Gem scoffs, grabbing my granny by the waist and spinning her around before kissing her on the cheek. She squeals with surprise but smiles at him when he says, “Jenny, you are looking gorgeous, as always.”

“Get your damn hands off my wife,” Grampy grumbles, but I see his eyes sparkle with amusement, and I’m a little shocked by how comfortable they are with one another.

“What is going on?” I ask, and my granny pats Gem’s cheek.

“These boys have come by every day to make sure your mother isn’t here causing us problems,” she tells me, and I gape at the guys in surprise.

“Well, we couldn’t have her stirring up any more trouble for our queen, who is also our mate,” Gem says, and Granny claps her hands.

“All of you?” she asks, looking at them as Brodie snatches a muffin from the cooling rack.

“Yup, isn’t she lucky?” He winks, breaking it in half and shoving one piece into his mouth.

“More like you’re the lucky ones, and the damn menaces have been conning your grandmother out of our wares. Been cutting into our profits,” Grampy mutters and starts piping again so the marshmallow doesn’t set before it can be formed into creatures.

Jesus, how did I get so lucky? They didn’t even know we were mates before yesterday, but they were still making sure my grandparents were okay. I fall in love a little more with all of them.

“Now how about you all get out of my kitchen? It’s too crowded with all of you assholes in here.” Grampy shoos them away with the piping bag. “Going to get stray hairs in my little critters. Go make yourselves a coffee or something.”

I give my mates a nod of reassurance, and thankfully, they don’t argue. They all march through the kitchen door and into the café, and Grampy sighs heavily with relief.

“Have your hands full there,” Granny comments as she returns her attention to the pot bubbling on the stove.

“You have no idea,” I reply, smiling. Her eyes go to the bite mark on my neck, and she sighs happily.

“It’s such a relief to know you have mates who will look after you like you’re the most precious thing in the world.”

“And so they should,” Grampy mutters, “though I don’t know why she needed so damn many of them.”

I grab the sieve of corn flour he uses to set the marshmallows and start shaking it over the animals as he pipes, and then I fill my grandparents in on everything that has happened, knowing I can trust them. They listen intently, only interrupting for clarification here or there, and we have a neat row of tigers and bears by the time I’ve finished telling them everything.