Galen's Lovely Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Four) (5 page)

His grin slipped away to gentle concern, and
he moved quickly to join her, pulling her against him. “All joking
aside, Serena, I’m so happy you’re mine. This baby is the result of
two lonely people finding each other. We’ll never be alone, and
we’ll make sure our kids aren’t ever alone either. They’ll always
have each other for support, and their cousins, too.”

“I like that. Just how many kids are you
talking about?”

He wiggled his brows. “As many as you
want.”

“Will they be fairies or sabers?”

“The saber genes are dominant, so I would
expect that most of our children will be shifters, but who knows?
You’re clearly a powerful fairy. They could even be a combination
of both – shifters with fairy powers.”

“Now that would be cool.”

He kissed her so tenderly that it made tears
spring to her eyes again. “Are you upset?”

“No, it’s a wonderful thing we’ve done. We
found each other and we’ve started a family. You’re mine.”

“And you’re
mine
.”

When her stomach rumbled again, he reached
for her cell on the nightstand and said, “What does my lovely mate
want for breakfast?”

She watched him click the room service app
and pull up the breakfast menu. Although she liked to cook for
herself, she often used room service for those days when she wasn’t
in the mood to make something for herself. “They have these little
cinnamon donuts stuffed with sweet cream cheese and a breakfast
meat plate that has amazing brown sugar ham on it. And you should
probably get something for yourself,” she said, grinning.

“Oh, how generous of you, love,” he said,
snorting. After making selections, he put down her phone and then
rose from the bed, reaching down and lifting her into his arms.
“Let’s clean up. Breakfast will be here in half an hour.”

“And then what?”

“Then we’re going back to bed to celebrate
our new family.”

“Don’t you want to call your brothers and
sister to let them know?”

He put her down in the bathroom and tugged
the fabric curtain aside to turn on the water. “We can tell them
tomorrow. I plan to be very busy with my tongue for the next
day.”

Her stomach flipped at the thought of his
wicked tongue. “I love how your mind works.”

Chapter 6

The following morning, Galen and Serena
walked out of her room and took the elevator to the restaurant in
the lobby. He didn’t want to leave their little love nest, but he
wanted to share the news of her pregnancy with his family. He
couldn’t believe that she’d become pregnant so quickly, and the joy
he felt at knowing she carried his cub was far more than he
expected.

He found his two brothers and their mates,
along with Lia, at a table in the restaurant. Gretchen and Aubrey
jumped up and hugged Serena. Aubrey smiled at Galen. “I’m so happy
you found your truemate, Galen. I was worried you were going to
have to leave to find her.”

Gretchen nodded. “Me too. It never occurred
to me that the pink and gold of your dreams was Serena’s
wings.”

Galen introduced his sweetheart officially to
his family. Lia stood and hugged Serena. “Welcome to the family.
You already know Caleb, and he’s happy you’re part of the family,
too.”

Serena was beaming. Galen was thrilled that
his sweetheart finally had the family she’d been missing out on. He
was glad she hadn’t gone through with the arranged marriage, even
though he was disappointed she’d been exiled for making her own
mating choices.

“I have some news,” Galen said as he pulled
out Serena’s chair for her.

Alaric kissed Aubrey on the cheek as she sat
next to him and said, “Better news than finding your truemate so
you’ll stop being a pessimistic ass?”

Galen growled sharply at his oldest brother.
“Yes, you jackass.”

Aubrey giggled and Alaric made a face.

“My Serena is pregnant.”

There was a heartbeat of silence, and then
the three girls leapt up and raced to Serena. They squealed in
happiness, pulling Serena from her seat to huddle together in a
tangled jumping-hug. Galen watched with amusement as Serena laughed
and hugged them back, their excited chatter reaching a fevered
pitch.

His brothers stood and came to him, clapping
their hands on his back and congratulating him.

“Your cub will be the start of the next
generation of our people,” Alaric said. “I’m happy for you.”

“Me too,” Slade said. “You deserve all the
happiness in the world, brother.”

Galen grinned at his brothers. “She’s
amazing.”

“Well, she’d have to be to put up with you,”
Alaric said.

The group returned to their seats, and Galen
slid an arm around his mate. A waitress appeared and took their
orders.

Aubrey said, “Are you going to move to the
fourteenth floor? I like the idea of our family all being on the
same floor. Plus, the rooms are much bigger and with a baby on the
way, you’ll need the space.”

Serena nodded. “Galen mentioned that Gretchen
had moved there with Slade. It would be nice to have more room and
a new place to live.”

Gretchen slid a keycard across the table.
“This is coded to let you into the empty rooms. Aubrey’s room is
the last on the left and ours is next to them. All the rooms are
the same – three bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a full kitchen
and living room. It depends on what view you like best – the city
or the river.”

“Probably the river, but we’ll see which
suite tickles our fancy,” Serena said.

Lia shook her head with a smile. “I can’t
believe that our family is complete now. It took Alaric a year to
find Aubrey, but the rest of us have found our mates within a
week.”

“It would have been sooner if I hadn’t been
out of town,” Serena said with a grimace.

Galen kissed her cheek. “Your timing was
perfect.”

When their meals arrived, Lia said goodbye.
Because Caleb was a vampire, she was now sleeping during the day
and up at night. After a leisurely breakfast, he and Serena went to
the fourteenth floor to look at the suites while the rest of his
family went to work. Aubrey was the hotel manager, and Gretchen was
her assistant. Alaric was the head of hotel security, and Slade
worked the security desk. When Galen returned to work, he would be
working security with his brothers. Keeping Serena safe was his
number-one priority, and there was no better place than the
security desk in the lobby, across from her flower shop.

They exited the elevator. “Do you want to see
the city or the river?”

“I think the river. The city lights might be
bothersome at night, and I love to sleep with the windows
open.”

He snorted as she opened the first door on
the left. “As if you’re going to be sleeping that much.”

She gave him a heart-stopping smile. “I love
your sexy threats.”

They toured the suite, but Galen wasn’t
interested in being so close to the elevator. Like his brothers, he
wanted to be close to the stairwell in case of an emergency, but he
was thankful his sweetheart could simply fly off the balcony if the
need arose.

They systematically checked the rooms on the
left side of the hallway that faced the Belle River. Each suite had
similar furniture but the décor varied. Some of the rooms were very
masculine and some more feminine. In the suite next to Slade and
Gretchen’s, they found a perfect mixture of the two. The master
bedroom and bath were across the living room from the two spare
bedrooms. As she walked across the plush, tan carpeting to check
out the spares, Galen grabbed her around the waist and flopped onto
the suede sofa.

“I’m happy,” he said, purring.

“Oh yeah?” She chuckled as he twisted their
positions until she was under him and he was hovering over her.

“My truemate is carrying my cub, and we’ve
got a great place to live. You do want this one, right? I saw the
look in your eyes when you saw the Jacuzzi tub in the master
bath.”

She stroked her fingers up his throat and
smiled. “I like it.”

“Then let’s christen the rooms.”

“You have the best ideas.”

* * * * *

The following night, Jocelyn shoved the
register closed as a customer turned away with a large bouquet of
irises. “The flowers you made are so beautiful. They’re flying off
the shelves.”

Serena smiled as she fluffed some baby’s
breath surrounding large yellow roses. “They’re very special.”

Jocelyn, a sweet human who had been working
for Serena for six months, yawned and stretched. “Well, feel free
to produce plenty more special flowers, Serena. They’re
amazing.”

Serena stifled a giggle, thinking about the
cause of the flower explosion. She was sure that Galen would be up
for some more workshop nookie anytime she suggested it. The idea
made her smile, and she lifted her cell from her back pocket and
opened a text.

I’m thinking about flowers
, she
typed.

After a moment, he texted back.
Are you,
love? Sexy flowers?

Or, the cause for sexy flowers. Like you and
me on the counter.

I love how you think. I’ll be over as soon
as your store is closed for the night. Feel free to be naked and
waiting.

I guess you’ll have to wait and
see
.

As the night passed quickly, Serena waited
anxiously for her truemate. She hadn’t expected to feel so
connected to Galen so quickly, but she couldn’t deny that not only
was she wildly attracted to him physically, he was a really
wonderful man and cared deeply for her.

Jocelyn said goodnight and left Serena alone
in the shop. Serena moved a vase of asters from one refrigerated
case into another. The pretty flowers made her miss her sister.

“What is it sweet love?” Galen asked as he
wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You look so sad just
now.”

“Asters are Alanah’s favorite flower. I wish
I could see her or that I could’ve helped in some way.”

She turned in Galen’s arms and rested her
head on his chest. He held her close and laid his head on top of
hers. “I know you’re sad for your sister, but you have to let her
make her own choices. It’s unfair of your parents to care so much
about their position within the fae commune that they allowed her
to be forced into an arranged marriage with a man she doesn’t love.
She could leave, and maybe she
should
. Or maybe marrying
that guy will be the best thing to ever happen to her.”

She lifted her head and smiled up at him.
“Lia told me that you were very pessimistic, once upon a time.”

He wiggled his brows. “Once upon a time, I
was lonely as hell and couldn’t help but feel like I’d never find
my truemate. Meeting you was the single greatest event in my
life.”

“And our cub?”

“The second greatest.”

“No more pessimist?”

“I don’t see a reason to be a downer when
things are amazing. And, even if things did get bad, we have each
other and that’s enough for me to be happy and optimistic for the
future.”

Her stomach flipped as his sweet smile slowly
slid into a sly one. “Close the security gate, my sexy tiger,” she
whispered.

“Go get naked. I’m in the mood for some
cream.” He urged her toward the workshop, and she hurried inside,
tugging off her clothes once she was out of view of the lobby.

“Come and get it,” she said as she hopped up
onto the counter. Galen stalked into the room, kicking the door
shut and stripping off his shirt.

She spread her legs and leaned back on one
arm, crooking her finger at him.

“Oh, love, I’m so glad you’re mine.”

“I’m glad you’re mine, too. Do me a
favor?”

He threw his jeans to the side and moved
swiftly between her legs. Gripping behind her knees, he purred.
“Anything.”

She pointed to her pussy and said, “Put your
face here for about an hour.”

“Just an hour?”

“For starters,” she said, grinning.

Chapter 7

Galen took a drink from his coffee mug while
his mate snoozed on his chest. She made the best blanket, draped
over him and smelling of sex and sweet dreams. He wished he could
help her sister, but the entire situation was out of their hands.
He just hoped that Alanah would find peace with the choices she
made and that Serena wouldn’t continue to feel guilty over her own
choices.

The morning stretched ahead of them. After a
night of making love in the workshop, and several hours putting the
resulting explosion of flowers into arrangements and putting them
for sale in the shop, they made love a few more times and then
passed out. Galen wasn’t much of a late sleeper, so he’d gotten up
and made coffee and snuggled back in bed with his mate.

As he listened to Serena breathe deeply in
sleep, he thought about the future. Two months from now, his sister
Lia would be marrying the master vampire of the city and her
truemate, Caleb. Alaric and Slade were discussing asking their
truemates to marry them as well and having a joint wedding
ceremony. Galen had wanted to ask Serena to marry him from the
moment they met, but he hadn’t wanted to move too swiftly.

Tonight was a great night, though, to begin
the next chapter of their lives. He lifted his tablet from the
nightstand and opened the browser to begin searching for local
jewelry stores. As he stared at the images of engagement rings, a
plan formed in his mind that began with asking her marry him and
ended with him feasting on her sweet cream and her screaming his
name.

* * * * *

Galen paid for the ring and waited while
Slade and Alaric paid for theirs. When he had told them his plans
to ask Serena to marry him, they’d immediately wanted to tag along
to the jewelry store.