Crossbred Son by Brenna Lyons Read Free Book Online Page B

while they’d been out on such errands. The café had been a convenient stop, though ill-fated.
    Maybe I should offer to do her supply runs for her. Or accompany her, when I don’t have work. There were plenty of cowardly humans who would attack a human female with a Xxanian infant, but few wanted to attack a Xxanian male protecting his mate and child. Bound or not, Abby was his mate, and properly mated or not, Michael was his son.
    And I’ve waited far too long to introduce them to my family. He opened his mouth to broach the subject.
    “What will we do now?” Abby asked.
    “What do you mean?” Was she asking what future they had?
    “If you live the same place you did when...”
    “I do.” It came out rougher than he’d intended it, but the memory of her packing and walking out on him still hurt.
    Abby winced. She took a moment, seemingly calming herself. “Why?”
    Gabe turned on the bed, stretching out beside her while he tried to decode the strange question. “Why what, Abby?” he invited.
    “You make so much more money now. You never let me contribute to the rent at your apartment. So, why haven’t you moved on to somewhere larger?” She didn’t look at him when she asked it.
    That was a difficult question to answer. “I suppose...”
    Her head swiveled around, and she stared at him, her eyes wide. “What? Why didn’t you move?”
    “I always hoped you’d walk back through the door to me.”
    Abby didn’t seem to know how to answer that.
    “If my seir hadn’t beaten a woman’s choice into me so soundly, I might have followed you and begged you to come back to me.” It wasn’t an exaggeration.
    “I wish you had.”
    Her wistful tone stilled the need to balk at the implication that Abby would have preferred to see him beg.
    “I would have had no excuse to hide the truth from you. And if you’d come looking for me and found me gone... You would have looked for me. You would have found out I was at SLAL.”
    “Damned right I would have.” Gabe succeeded in keeping that lighthearted, when the concept of having to search for Abby made the Xxanian warrior in him stir in preparation for battle.
    “So, what do we do now? Where do we live? How do we...arrange things?”
    He laid a kiss on her forehead. “My apartment isn’t large enough for all of us. I suppose I should start packing my belongings and terminate my lease.”
    Abby wriggled in what he would assume was apprehension.
    “I would be most comfortable here with you, but that would be a short term option. As Michael grows, we will need more room.”
    “I agree.” Her muscles eased.
    Did she really believe I wouldn’t come to her nest, if that was the only option we had? If she was most comfortable here?
    “We could find a larger place, if you were willing to move into one. One with good schools and a safe neighborhood.” A Xxanian nest nearby.
    She nodded.
    “Or, we could take the safest option and move into my family’s nest.”
    Abby gasped, and her eyes widened. “But...Will your family...uh...?”
    “Accept you? Of course.”
    “But they don’t know us.” There was an edge of panic in that.
    “Which is what I want to talk to you about.” She gave me the opening. I have to take it.
    “What is?”
    “I have to introduce you both to my nest, and I can’t risk waiting too much longer to do that.”
    Abby stared at him, working at words that didn’t emerge.
    “How old is Michael now, Abby? Two months? Almost three?”
    “F-four.”
    His heart stuttered. “Four?”
    She nodded. “But he doesn’t look it, because—”
    “Four?” he demanded.
    She cringed, drawing away from him on the mattress. “Yes, but—”
    “ Seir-God , he will set his scent without a firm nest scent unless we introduce him to the nest soon.”
    Gabe worked at that, making calculations and speculations. It would have to be this week. He didn’t dare procrastinate on this. It was too important to give Michael a firm grounding in his nest.