Chapter 366 Chapter 366
“One of the young could be my mate?” Her brows were creased.
Konner nodded, “if they’ve changed the first time, then yes, you could be one of theirs.” He stared at the ground, not wanting her to see the internal thoughts he was having about one of the guys being her mate. Again, he was sure it was because of wanting to protect her after the atrocity that had been her life so far.
“So, Lucus or Paxton could be?” She tilted her head and looked at him, “Or Reeves, and you?”
Konner cleared his throat, “any of us could be.”
“What if no one is?” Terah touched his arm, but didn’t stop him this time, “can I still have babies with no mate?”
As uncomfortable went, Konner was at a high ten on the scale right now. “Yes. You can. Unlike some of the other clans, we do not need a mate to have children.”
“That is good.” She dropped her hand and smiled up at her, her eyes sparkling. “I want ten babies.”
Konner choked on the air he was trying to take into his lungs. “Ten?” He stopped walking this time. She nodded. He knew she understood how many ten was, but still found himself holding up both hands with his fingers extended, “that many?”
Her smile was beaming, and he wouldn’t have done anything to dim it. She was breathtaking.
“I guess you’ll need a big house.” He finally settled on saying.
“Yes, with a big pool like yours.” She nodded. “I was born in a pool, my mother told me.” She walked alongside him now, “she said it was the best moment of her life when I arrived—except it had tap water and she wasn’t happy with that.”
Konner frowned. Childbirth was hard on both mother and child, tragedy was the result often. “Okay, with a big pool.” He would have to get one of the women to talk to her about this because he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
They reached the fishery ponds and Konner raised both eyebrows to see Auburn and Reeves tossing feed into the water.
“Malachi didn’t want Raelyn to try to walk here,” Auburn said over his shoulder.
“I came looking for you.” Reeves shrugged and tossed more in.
Terah went over quickly and leaned down to look in the water. “There are so many.”
“They’re not fully grown yet,” Konner pointed to the waterway they’d designed, “as they grow, we release them into the lake.”
“Is the lake full too?” She straightened up.
Konner smirked, “there are enough.”
Terah nodded and went over to Auburn and held out her hand, “I can do that?”
Auburn looked at the pail in his hand and then held it out to her, “just walk around them and toss it in.”
Terah smiled, “I will.” She lifted the pail and inhaled, “more good food for them means bigger fish.” She grinned and walked toward the other pond.
Reeves set the pail down and came over to stand with Auburn and him. “I know you have to get ready for tomorrow, but I need you to return some calls before you.” He shrugged, “supplier issues.”
Konner blew out a breath and nodded, “I’ll do them when we go back.”
Auburn watched Terah walking slowly around the pond. “How’s she doing?”
He watched her for a moment, “we should get her to help here until Rae is ready, Malachi already has enough on his plate.” Both men nodded. “I just explained why she shouldn’t swim with anyone for a while.”
“How did she take it?” Reeves jammed his hands in his pockets and looked at him.
“She understands, mostly, I think.” Konner cleared her throat, “she wants ten children, with or without a mate.”
Auburn’s eyebrows went so high that they almost blended into his hair. “Ten?” his voice cracked.
Konner nodded, then turned to see Reeves giving Terah a thorough assessment. He blinked and looked at him then at Auburn, “sorry, just,” he shook his head, “does she know how dangerous that is?”
Konner shook his head. “I’m going to get the girls to talk to her.”
“Ten.” Reeves whispered, “hopefully she’ll change her mind once she finds out.”
“I don’t know, Reeves,” Auburn gave Konner a quick sideways glance, “she lights up as bright as the sun when she saw the kids.”
Konner smirked, realizing Auburn wasn’t going to pass on a chance to harass the younger man. “It’s true, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wants a dozen at least.” Reeves was the most awkward adult around children, their size and intellect didn’t compute in that man’s statistical brain.
“Who knows, those could be your dozen children,” Auburn said, trying to keep a straight face.
Reeves looked at Terah, then back to them, his brows knitted. “I need to get back to the office,” he backed up a step and shook his head, “you guys are,” he took another step and then slipped off the edge of the wooden platform. A splash followed.
Auburn laughed so hard, that he started choking.
Konner couldn’t help but laugh even as he went over and extended a hand down to an unimpressed Reeves looking up at him. The tie holding his long hair back off his face had come off and half his face was covered in it now.
“I didn’t think we could swim here,” Terah called over to him from the other platform.
Konner chuckled, “we don’t.” He gripped Reeves’s hand and lifted him high enough he could get his hands on the wooden walkway.
Auburn was bent over, still laughing.
“Bastards,” Reeves muttered and walked the other way. The squishing sound from his shoes only made Auburn laugh harder still.
“He’s going to pout for hours now.” Konner looked to the man behind him. “Is Olanna over at the greenhouses?”
Auburn nodded, as he took deep breaths, trying to settle himself down.
Konner looked over a Terah, “want to take Terah over? I told her I’d show her the greenhouse, but if we’re having supplier issues, I need to get on it, so it’s sorted out.”
Auburn blew out a long deep breath, “I’ll take her over after we finish here.”