He opened his mouth to say something, but I shot him a look. Jondi hadn’t been a ‘good’ eater when he first came to me. Now, if he wanted something on my plate he could have it. As long as he was eating, I’d survive. Beryl made more bacon anyway.
After breakfast, Jondi ran off to his room to pack, and I stood up ready to start cleaning up the kitchen.
“I got it. You can relax,” Beryl said. “And just so you know, Eran and Vatten really did leave on their own.”
“They probably sent me a text, but I turned my phone off before laying down last night,” I said.
“And I talked to Mum this morning. She’ll talk to the others about moving the date of our mating feast back so we can have a matingmoon.”
“You know I have a kid and a business, right?” I arched a brow.
“I know you need a vacation.”
“Well, this isn’t a season of my life where I can have a vacation,” I crossed my arms.
“Tough. You’re having one,” Beryl said, placing the stack of syrup-sticky plates into the sink. “You need a break, Jade.”
“And how do you think that’s going to work? That I can just dump my kid somewhere and fly off with you?” I crossed my arms. This alpha totally didn’t get a damn thing.
“He’s coming with us. The way I figure is that a matingmoon isn’t just mates romping all over the place. It’s about them figuring out how their lives will work together. That also means giving Jondi time to get used to me.”
“He has school, you know,” I said.
Beryl opened his mouth and shut it before saying, “I missed plenty of school to see the world when I was a kid.”
“Did you also hate change? Did you also have trauma built into the way you were born and found?” I asked him.
“I—” he huffed and a ring of smoke came out of his nose.
“We don’t smoke in the house,” I stood up and wafted it away.
“I didn’t mean to!” he growled low. “Look, you can’t bemoan the fact you want a partner and then not let me be a partner. Being a partner doesn’t mean I just stand around waiting for you to tell me what to do. You have employees for that. Having a partner means being a partner and that means sometimes you have to let other people make choices.”
“Not about Jondi,” I shook my head.
“You don’t trust me, do you?” he asked, turning the water off.
“You don’t know him like I do! You don’t know him well enough to make choices about him!” I whisper-shouted. “He’s doing so well right now with everything going on and I don’t want to risk that! Right now what I want most in the world is to keep that little boy happy! I’d chop off my own tail to keep him happy!”
“What about you? Do you get to be happy?” he asked.
“I am happy!” I snapped, trying not to roar. “I have my dream business, my pride, and my baby is finally starting to find his place in the world! Being happy for me means keeping up with all of that!”
“Then where do I fit in? Finding rocks and whipping out my D-I-C-K when we have a night alone?” Beryl growled. “Don’t you want to see the world? Don’t you want Jondi to see it?”
“No, I don’t,” I sat back down. “I watch the news. I’m online. There are people here from all over the world, Beryl! I know how the world is and I don’t need to see all that mess in person. Neither does Jondi.”
“There’s more than mess to the world, mate,” he said, his voice softening as he joined me at the table. “Let me take you to the lake house. We’ll have some time alone. There won’t be any mess there. It’ll just be us and Jondi. Hell, if you’re worried about being alone with me, bring a friend or two. You can even invite the twins if it makes you feel better. I just don’t want you to limit yourself because of the bull you hear from other people.”
“It’s not just rumors, Beryl,” I sighed. “Bad things happen.”
“They happen here too! Have you forgotten about the three recent murders? Look, I’m not going to argue with you over this anymore. Come or don’t. You say you want a partner. You say you want someone to help you with life and I’m trying. Maybe I’m going about it wrong. Maybe you’re right and I don’t get it, but this is what I do when I’m stressed out. I go on vacation. I see some place new or revisit an old favorite. Getting away can give you perspective.”
“I can’t leave my business while it’s under threat,” I sighed.
“I’ll hire whoever you want to protect the place while we’re gone. I mean it seems the folks here are doing a fine job of it, but if you want extra security we’ll get it.”
“What about Sermon and Gaia?” I asked.