Hello, sweet readers. I'm taking a bit of time between each chapter because after I write them, I let them sit for a few days and then come back to edit them. Sometimes, this means adding or deleting stuff from it.

Anyhoo. I hope you like this chapter, it's like a sweet interlude before we go dive into Jasper's appearance, which is coming next chapter and I hope to update that one this week.

Thanks again, a million times for your support :) I greatly appreciate it.

Enjoy!

Oh, those who are following Pack Souls should be expecting a few things there at some point if I decide to go with what my brain came up with.

WARRIOR

Chapter 18.

Turned out, the little human had an infatuation with me. It was the cutest thing ever. He kind of became my little shadow that afternoon. If I got up to do something – unless it was to the bathroom – he went with me to see what I did. One time, he carried my glass of iced tea to the table. Emily met my eyes from across the table and mouthed, 'sorry,' but I dismissed her. It didn't bother me at all. If he felt comfortable doing these things, I could indulge him. He wasn't doing anything wrong or disrespectful; he was being a little gentleman.

The four-year-old was on the quiet side, but whenever he spoke, I could see he idolized his mom; his uncle Sam was his biggest hero and had a great sense of humor.

At one point, I caught him whispering to his mom while looking at me, trying not to be too obvious. I pretended not to notice and busied myself in the kitchen with the girls.

Paul walked behind me, pressing a kiss to my temple. I smiled at him.

"Heads up, Liam is asking his mom if he can stay the night here."

"Oh. Why?"

He chuckled. "He's starstruck with you, babe. He wants you to tuck him in bed and read him a story."

Oh my god!

Ovaries. This is not the time! You are not in commission now and won't be for a few years.

My ovaries, despite now being in period mode, were dancing and wanting one of our own.

Nope. Not happening for at least four to five years, at the very least.

"That's very cute." Kim whispered, genuinely awed.

"Is it okay with you and Sam if he stayed?" I whispered, not wanting Liam or Emily to catch us speaking of them without them having decided as a team. "If Emily lets him, that is."

Paul kissed my forehead, my cheeks, and finally my lips. "Yeah, baby. We're okay with it."

I nodded and went back to drying the dishes. The guys had cooked, so the girls cleaned. When the girls cooked, the guys cleaned. It was teamwork at its finest.

A few minutes later, I felt a tug on my pants leg. I crouched and put myself at Liam's level.

"My mommy says I hath to ask Uncle Sam becauth ith his house. But can I stay here tonight?"

Oh god! Kids at my age were not a blessing. Kids at my age would mean either dropping out of school or delaying my career. Please, ovaries, behave!

I smiled at Liam. "I don't mind it if you stay. I can ask your Uncle Sam for you if you want."

His little brown eyes widened in surprise as if someone taking the task from him was a big thing. It was as if no one – probably aside from his mom and uncle – had ever done something for him out of genuine care and interest.

"Ith okay, I'm cute. He won't say no." I laughed hard. I had to. The dichotomy between his sass and his innocence was just too much sometimes.

"You're right. I bet he wouldn't say no to you. You are cuter than me." He giggled and ran to his uncle. The kid doesn't waste any time.

I rose and watched from afar as Liam launched into Sam's arms.

"I'm pretty sure my brother doesn't say no to you, either." She said with a smile.

I giggled. It was true to some degree. Sam hadn't had a chance to say no to something I wanted or needed. Of course, most of my requests had been small, like I wanted a specific meal, to steal his shirt, or to hear his voice. I'm a simple kind of girl, and my love language varies.

"He's smitten with you."

I glanced at the living room and noticed Liam conversing intensely with my men. I wondered if he was negotiating his stay tonight. I wouldn't put it past the little rascal to do something like that to his uncle.

"The feeling is mutual." I said, turning back to her. She was looking at me in that 'I'm the sister, I'm measuring you up' kind of way. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner and meet you. School was crazy busy, and I decided to change careers." I blushed. I didn't want to sound like I was making excuses or avoiding her.

She grabbed my hand and squeezed gently. "Please, don't apologize. I know you're busy, and I know how school is." Her face fell, and I wondered why the mention of school made her sad. I wanted to ask but didn't want to invade her space. "My brother is happy. That's what I care about."

I glanced at Sam again and noticed he was looking at us, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head like a curious kid trying to figure out something. I knew he could hear what we were discussing, so I just stuck my tongue out and turned back to his sister.

"He makes me happy, too. So, I'm glad the feeling is mutual." I knew Sam was happy, and Paul was too. They didn't hide their feelings from me, whether good or bad. We wanted open communication and to make this relationship work. But I had to admit that hearing from Emily that Sam was happy – that she noticed he was happy – made me giddy. It took a special kind of girl to make a special kind of man the right kind of happy. I knew he'd been happy with Leah, but it was a different kind of happy from now. This, this was the forever kind of happy.

Later that evening, Emily kissed her son's forehead and wished him goodnight after making sure several times that he was sure he wanted to stay at his uncle's place without her. He seemed pretty convinced, so his mom decided to wait until he was asleep to leave in case he decided to change his mind, or in case he wanted her or something. Being a single mom must be challenging, but being a recently single mom after experiencing a traumatic event must be harder still. She was my hero.

I tucked the little human in the bed in the spare bedroom and fluffed his pillow in a show of dramatics that had him giggling madly. I knew I was supposed to be settling him and not exciting him more, but toddler giggles were addicting and contagious. Liam laughed with his whole body, and his entire soul lighted from within. I was bewitched.

"Do you want a made-up story, or do you prefer a storybook?" I asked, settling next to his cuddled body.

"A storybook, please." So polite!

I grabbed a storybook from the pile still in the room – I guessed Uncle Sam purchased some books when he offered his house to his nephew and sister – I fantasized briefly about reading those books to a little human of our own.

I left fantasyland and read the story to the tiny human who'd cuddled to my side. Be still my heart! When the story was over, we stayed silent. He was not asleep yet, and I wondered if there was something he wanted to talk to me about.

"Bewa?" It was hilarious how he could pronounce certain letters perfectly in some words but not in others.

"Yes, little man?"

"Ith Uncle Paul your boyfriend?" I resisted the urge to laugh. It was a big question from a tiny person. But I knew kids saw the world more clearly than adults gave them credit for.

"He is." I said simply.

"And Uncle Sammy?"

"He is also my boyfriend." I offered, wondering where he was going with this. I knew Emily didn't have a problem with polyamory, but I wasn't sure how much she wanted her kid to learn about it.

"Why do you have two boyfriends? Mommy never let me have two girlfriends."

I giggled. "Well, little man. It's a bit complicated, but simply put, I love your Uncle Paul a whole lot, and I also love your Uncle Sam a whole lot, too. I asked them if they both wanted to be my boyfriends, and because we are grownups, we decided to do it." That was partly what happened, aside from the artistic license I took, but whatever.

"Oh." He nodded his little head as if what I said made a lot of sense.

"Do you ask for a specific reason?" I buried down on the bed to lie on my side and meet his eyes.

He bit his lip. "Mommy is sad."

Be still my heart. Again.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I know my mommy. She only laughed when we were together. When Dad was home, she didn't laugh that much. And now she doesn't laugh much anymore." Oh, sweet boy.

"Well, I know only a little of what happened. But I know that your mommy was scared, and she wanted to protect you. She might be sad now, but she loves you very much, and you make her very happy. Sometimes, happy people show they're happy differently. They don't always laugh, but they're happy."

"Do you think mommy ith happy?" That was a tricky question.

"I know she loves you very much, and you are her everything. I know she wants to be happy. But sometimes, grownups need to be sad for a bit before we are happy again." I looked down at the book we just read. "Do you remember how the plant was sad because they were getting a bit brown?" He nodded. "Then it rained, and they were green again? And when they were green again, they were happy?" It was a crappy example, like teaching a kid that happiness depended on someone else's actions upon us. But he didn't have the mental capacity for such a deep analysis, so I went on with my crappy metaphor. "The plant was sad and then happy. It happens sometimes."

He nodded, thinking about what I said. I hoped I conveyed my thoughts accurately. I didn't want to say to this toddler that his mom was scared because her soon-to-be ex-husband had tried to hurt them. And I didn't want to tell the kid that his mom was happy and it not being true. I didn't want to overstep my boundaries, but it looked like Liam needed someone to talk to. His mom was his hero; he clearly adored her and was concerned about her.

"I want Mommy to be happy."

"She will be happy again, little man. But it takes time." I tweaked his nose to lessen the seriousness a bit.

"Okay."

"She is lucky to have a son like you." I kissed his forehead. "You are a smart kid who's not afraid to look after his mom."

He blushed at my praise.

"Uncle Embry ith very funny." I arched an eyebrow. Now, the sassy toddler was coming to life. "Mommy laughs with him." Oh! So, this is where we were going.

"That's a good thing, right? That she laughs?" I queried.

"Yes. Mommy laughs like she laughed when we were alone."

So, what this little toddler wanted to let me know was that he was not afraid of leaving his home. He was not affected in the least. He didn't care about himself. He was concerned about his mom because she didn't laugh with his dad, but now that they were here, she looked sad. She also laughed with Embry like she used to laugh only with him.

Kids were observant, and I'd say kids were from a different planet if we didn't have memories of childbirth, pregnancy, and biology.

In Liam's mind, I think he saw that I was hugging his uncles, and he saw us happy. He thought that his mom laughing with Embry the way she used to laugh with him was a sign that maybe his mom could be happy with Embry. If Liam were old enough to be a matchmaker, he'd be plotting now to get his mom together with Embry. I didn't comment on the situation between those two because that was for them to decide, and again, that would be overstepping my boundaries with the little man.

It was both adorable and sad that Liam was worrying about this at this early age. He truly was a wonderful kid. Emily must be proud of raising him to become a little gentleman with better emotional intelligence than most adults and an empathy that everyone would be jealous of.

I couldn't help myself; I snuggled closer to Liam and passed my fingers along his hair, helping him relax and eventually fall asleep. I stayed there long after he fell asleep. My heart was all shrugged and turned around by his questions and care. I admit that I haven't spent much time around kids and am not an expert on them, far from it. I could be one of the most inexperienced people out there. But helping kids navigate childhood, school, and home life kind of called to my soul.

I cleaned a tear that spilled over my cheek without my permission and looked down at the little person sleeping under the covers, and I had the urge to grab a bat, nail some nails and march my ass towards his dad's house and beat the crap out of the bastard that dared raise his hand against his own flesh and blood.

A soft knock on the door took me out of my reverie. I glanced at the door to see Paul peeking in. I extricated myself slowly from the bed and walked towards my man. If there was something I knew for sure, it was that my men would have Liam's and Emily's backs and would never allow anyone to hurt them again.

"Are you okay?" He whispered while I walked out of the room, leaving the door ajar.

"Yeah. He's too smart and took me by surprise." I sighed. "Did you hear what he asked?"

He nodded, his face solemn. "Yeah, we conveyed the conversation to Emily. That was fucking hard."

"I know. It makes me mad that someone could be so cruel to their kid. Especially while they're little and defenseless."

Paul had told me his relationship with his dad wasn't stellar, but it was way better than the one with his mom, who, according to him, was a bitch. But he still cared for her and visited her sometimes. Paul texted her sporadically to check in on her, but those were terse conversations, awkward at best, horrible and heartbreaking at worst. But I admired his will to maintain some sort of relationship with her. When I asked him about it, he simply said, "She's still my mother." To some, it might not mean much, but I understood that despite the strain she put on their relationship, he'd rather deal with her bitchy behavior than cut all contact with her. I wasn't sure if I would have endured as long as he had.

"I want to go there and beat him with a bat." I offered when we made it to the living room. Emily snorted out a laugh. That's when I remembered that she had actually hit him with one. Well, I guessed great minds think alike.

"Careful there, Sammy. You have a tiger at home." I liked seeing Emily tease Sam despite the obvious sign that she had been crying.

Sam grabbed my wrist and dragged me into his lap, pressing a kiss on my neck. "I know." He growled, and I could feel him getting hard underneath my thighs. "I plan on using her pent-up aggression in fun ways." He said, nibbling my ear, causing a shiver to run down my spine.

Emily snorted again. "Gross. That was more information than I needed to know about my brother."

I smiled apologetically, and she shook her head.

"Thank you." She said, finally.

I tilted my head, wondering what she was thanking me for.

"For speaking with Liam. He didn't tell me any of what he said to you."

I flushed and shrugged, pretending my heart was not about to fly out of my chest. "It's okay."

She shook her head. She was unrelenting and stubborn, like her brother. "He opened up to you. He's said a few things to Sam here and there, but he opened up to you. Thank you for taking him seriously and listening to him."

I was not crying. I had allergies. Or maybe some bug had gotten into my eye. Right. Because that's the only explanation for my blurred vision.

I left Sam's lap and approached Emily. "You are raising a wonderful kid." She teared up and hugged me.

…

…

…

"Well, that was a much more emotional welcome home I've received." I joked as I settled in the middle of Sam's bed, wearing only his shirt and my panties. I would have put on some shorts in respect to Liam, but even teeny tiny shorts would be uncomfortable with the body heat my two human furnaces produced 24/7.

Paul had gotten ominously silent after Emily left, but I left him to his silence, knowing he liked to get lost in his head sometimes. He sat on my left, leaning against the headboard. I eyed him from the corner of my eye, trying to gauge his mood. He tended to get contemplative, and I wondered if today's events struck a chord in him and if he needed to talk it out.

Sam, on the other hand, was a ball of energy. He checked on Liam and returned to his room – or should I say our room? He hadn't asked me to move in with him or them, or whatever, but he very much implied that he wanted me in his house every time I came home. Dad was not too happy about it, but there was nothing he could do. He was glad I was safe and in a healthy relationship, even if he didn't like me growing up too fast. However, he did ask me to make time to see him whenever I came home. I choked up then, as if I would come home and not make time to see my dad.

"Sit down." Paul growled. I followed his stare and saw Sam pacing around the room. What was with him?

Sam sat down on the bed, probably not realizing that he had instinctively followed his best friend's order.

I remained where I was, rubbing lotion on my hands, the movement helping me keep my hands to myself when my nether regions were out of commission for a few more days. God allowed some small mercies but asking God to magically remove my period was too much. And I wouldn't put it past the universe to have a wicked sense of humor and leave a baby there in response to removing my period. Yeah, not yet, thank you very much.

"I need to tell you something."

Paul huffed, rolling his eyes. Clearly, this is something Sam has been thinking about for a while. "Just spit it out, man. You're dragging your feet."

It amazed me how vulnerable Sam could be with the two of us in private while being the put-together leader to everyone else. Like I said, he was a very special kind of man. And he was mine.

Sam settled on the bed, crossed-legged, and faced me. "I wanted to promise you something."

I cast a look at Paul, suddenly nervous. What was this about?

"My promise to you is long-term." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "I love you, sweetheart. To me, you are more than my mate. You are my soulmate, the love of my existence and beyond." He was not going to propose this early in the relationship, was he? My answer would be yes, a million times yes, of course. But it was too soon. "Don't look so panicked." He chuckled. "I'm not proposing." I blushed, and he continued. "My promise is that I will never put a hand on you in anger. I'd rather die. And any kids we have, if that's your choice, will know nothing but love."

Was I crying again?

"Oh." I so eloquently said. I cleared my throat before speaking again. "Sam. I know I have nothing to worry about in that department. You not only make me feel loved, but you make me feel safe." I pecked his lips and leaned my forehead against his. "But thank you for your promise. It means a lot."

Paul, probably feeling a little left behind, dragged me by the waist and tucked me against him, my back to his front. He nibbled my ear like Sam had done in the living room earlier. "Do you want kids someday?" He breathed against my ear.

"I do." Both my men looked surprised as hell. I tried not to find it insulting. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"You dated a vampire." Paul said as if that explained everything, and okay, it did.

I extricated myself from his arms and settled against the headboard, ensuring I could see them and they could read my body language the way they always did.

"When I was with Edward, I convinced myself I didn't want kids. I had recently left my mom's house, where I was always the adult and seldom the child. I needed therapy, not a relationship, but I fell in love, and so I convinced myself of this, especially when I learned that vampires can't procreate. I thought I had everything figured out."

"What changed? Aside from them leaving?" Sam asked.

As cheesy as it sounded, they were what changed. The minute I met them, and Paul phased to fight with Jake, I knew I had irrevocably entered something I didn't want to leave. I had the same feeling when I laughed for the first time during the pasta party, but it wasn't until a few months later that my life shifted for good. "Meeting you, falling in love with you. Finding myself again."

"So, you want kids with us?" Sam scuffed Paul on the back of the head, making the latter throw him a dark glare. "You know what I mean."

I giggled. They were more than best friends; they were brothers and family and loved each other, maybe not romantically like I loved them, but it was love, nonetheless.

"I do want kids with you. But not right now. Like in 5 years or so." Despite Liam making my ovaries dance whenever I saw him with Sam and Paul or whenever his cuteness was on overload, I was not ready to have a kid now. Not only did I want to finish my career first, but I also wanted more time to enjoy my men, just the three of us.

"I'm marking my calendar to knock you up five years from now." Paul nipped my neck, and I let out a girlish squeal and immediately regrated it, hoping I hadn't woken up Sam's nephew. I guessed he was my nephew, too?

"He's still asleep." Paul murmured. "He sleeps like his uncle. Dead to the world."

I laughed as Sam once more scuffed Paul on the back of the head and murmured, "Asshole."

There was never a dull day with these two.

"Back to the topic at hand." I needed to know if Paul's comment was serious or if he was teasing. I didn't mean it in the literal sense of him knocking me up in five years, but about him wanting kids, too. "Do you want kids?"

"I thought I didn't, once upon a time. I didn't have the best examples growing up. But I do want kids with you." Paul vouched, looking me in the eyes and carrying his words to the center of my heart and the center of my fucking soul.

I turned to Sam next. "What about you?"

"I do, with you."

I would have shed my shirt by now if I weren't on my period and if we didn't have a child sleeping in the room at the end of the hall with possibly augmented hearing despite his short age.

I wanted to say something before going to sleep, but words eluded me. After such an impassioned speech on behalf of three mates baring their souls to each other, what do you say?