83- Intense conections
“I have,” I said. If I still felt confident after that, surely I was ready to do this. “Besides, if I forget you, you won’t be able to save my shop!”
“Half true. You would forget I’m a cat. That’s part of why we have the three-day limit,” Eron said. When I furrowed my brows in confusion, he explained. “It's kind this inmate natural magic that makes it hard for humans to remember us. It's sort of what I was going do.”
“What were you going to do?” I asked, frown deepening.
“If I stayed to help with your shop, you’d remember me as a person, but the magic would actually erase your memory of having seen me change. Which is why I was avoiding the subject. The less you knew, the better. In a couple of weeks, you wouldn't remember it at all. Honestly, I would probably have had to make up a story about how we met, in case you asked.” He laughed. “It's funny actually. It would've been really inconvenient to help you with your shop when I couldn't tell you about shifters. It honestly would have been easier for me to just leave town and let you forget about me completely, which the magic would also do, if I didn’t stick around. I couldn't figure out why I offered to help you... but now that I know you're my true mate, it makes perfect sense. I just instinctively want to take care of you.”
“Like how I wanted you to stay.” The words just sort of tumbled out, and I knew it was true. I wanted him here. “Guess we really are true mates...”
A smile spread across his face, that I couldn't resist returning.
I recalled the start of our conversation and realized we hadn’t finished. “So, the Alpha Parliament comes and makes sure that I want to become a cat. Is that alpha, like alpha wolf?”
“Well, they aren’t all wolves,” Camry said calmly.
“They aren’t all wolves? You mean some of them are wolves? Like werewolves?!” “You didn’t think we were all cats, did you?” he asked with a laugh.
“Honestly, I hadn't thought about it…”
He smiled and patted my thigh reassuringly. His hand was warm, and I was sorry when he retracted it. “There a lot of different kinds of shifters. And, that leads me to another thing you should know... How do I explain this…” He yawned. “Let me get some coffee while I think about this.”
“I can make it,” I offered, starting to stand.
“I know my way around a coffee shop,” he told me. “Besides, I’m not the sort of alpha who expects his omega to do everything.”
“What’s an omega?”
“Oh.” Eron paused halfway through measuring out coffee beans. “So, there are three kinds of shifters. Alphas are one. Historically we were the leaders. We’re also the only type of shifter that can change a human into one. Humans turned into shifters become omegas. They’re er… traditionally they were the homemakers. They took care of the alphas, and the betas, raised the children, that sort of thing. Of course, I’d never expect you to give up your shop for our children.” He started the coffee grinder and raised his voice. “As soon as you’ve recovered from giving birth you can jump right back into working, if you want.”
Obviously, I misheard him over the whirr of grinding beans. “Okay,” I called agreeably.
After a couple of pulses, he nodded in satisfaction and started spooning the ground coffee into a filter. “I’m also just as happy to let you take as long as you need after we start having kids,” he added. “I guess it depends how quickly we want to do things. True mates are extremely fertile. My cousins’ true mates both conceived oh, probably the night they were changed. Or at least sometime in the first week or so, judging by when their kids were born.” Eron stiffened and looked at me in alarm. “Sorry! I’m just assuming you want kids…”
“I…” Wait, had I misheard him? “I’ve always wanted children,” I said honestly. “But uh… I’m not sure where you’re going with this…”
His eyes widened. “Right… right. Carrick said humans find this one tough to swallow…” he muttered. “Omegas bear children. All of them.”
“So, I…”
Eron nodded. “If you wanted to.” “And they’d be yours?”
His mouth stretched into a smile I felt compelled to return. “Ours.” He tapped the edge of the grinder thoughtfully, then added, “I should warn you, gestation is only three months.”
“That’s… fast,” I said. “We’d have a kid by spring.”
Even though I was joking, his cheeks flushed. Somehow, the idea of having a kid in just a few months didn’t seem that horrible at all. Especially not one with Eron. It was clear he liked the thought too. Man, this true mate thing was weird. Last night I was stressing about keeping my shop open another year, now I was fantasizing about having children with a man I hardly knew.
My stomach churned nervously, loud enough for Eron to hear. “Hungry?” he teased.
“Nerv – yeah, actually.” Now that he mentioned it, I was hungry. “I’ll make something,” I offered. I didn’t add that I was embarrassed to have him rooting through my meager cupboards.
“Great. While we eat, I can answer your other questions, if you have any.”