Raphael shuffled the cards in front of him, dealing for the group once again.

A large stack of cash was next to him.

"You're demolishing us tonight. What the hell?" Arlo groaned in annoyance.

Grimes nodded in agreement as him and Felix passed more chips around.

"You all interrupted something important by showing up, I might as well profit off of it."

Zane looked at Phoenix, smirking and discreetly shoving his finger through a hole made with his other fingers.

Phoenix cleared his throat to hide his chuckle, Raphael didn't look up as he put all of his chips in specific order.

"I saw that," Zane abruptly stopped at the sound of Raphael's voice.

"Seriously boss," Kieren spoke up as they all began the game.

"You've got to give us details."

Raphael rose a brow, "I don't got to do anything."

"I bet she's in heat," Arlo piped up. "I heard shadow demons are really clingy in heat."

"Do you think any of you would be here if she was in heat?" Raphael glared while pushing more chips out. "I'm raising."

"Boss is making moves out here. I'll take you on that raise, Saint. You've gotta support your future kid somehow right?" Kieren chuckled.

Raphael smirked a little in amusement, the others laughing knowing damn well Raphael didn't need a poker game to support a child.

"I know you already answered this, but your mate was there and there was probably a lot of pressure. I want to know how you actually feel about having a kid. Or kids, we don't know. Because I would shit myself if I found out," Grimes admitted as everyone continued playing fast paced.

"I wasn't playing it up for my mate when you asked the first time. I'm looking forward to it whenever it happens I just think we have a lot to work on. I can barely wrap my head around it but with the coven up her ass I can't get distracted."

All of the men nodded, a moment of quiet passing over them until Phoenix finally spoke up.

"Well we're behind you, no matter what."

Raphael nodded gratefully towards his closest friend.

They continued their game, Raphael winning once again with a cocky grin. Another game started and another after that.

Just as they were dealing again, a shiver shot up Raphael's spine. His nose flooded with his mates scent.

Leaning back in his chair, peering into the kitchen he saw Juniper in pajamas. She had climbed onto the counter and was looking for snacks.

He was surprised since neither the other berserkers or himself had heard her. The only reason he knew she was here was because of the matebond.

He forgot how sneaky shadow demons truly were.

As if feeling his gaze, now that his attention was not on the game whatsoever, Juniper looked over her shoulder.

She herself looked surprised to be noticed before sending him a small grin.

Turning back to look through the cabinet, she held up gold fish to show him what she was getting.

Just as she began shifting to get down from the tall counter, Raphael stood from the table without an explanation.

His friends looked shocked at the departure. The head berserker came to lift his mate off of the counter gently.

"Careful baby," he muttered under his breath. Either way he knew all of the men in the other room could hear them both.

Juniper rose a brow in amusement at him, gripping his hand she shared some of the gold fish with him.

"I'm going back upstairs I didn't want to interrupt," Juniper hummed quietly. Her hair was in a large bun on top of her head, face clean of makeup, and his very own shirt hanging from her much smaller frame. He was grateful he caught a glimpse of shorts underneath.

"Want to sit?" he nodded over to the table that'd been overtaken with poker.

She shook her head with a little grin, tugging him down to kiss him gently.

"No I'm going to take a bath soon," she wiggled her blue brows. "So... do with that information what you will."

His own eyes widened in delight at the invitation, kissing her one more time before watching her retreat back up to the steps.

Raphael came back into the room, where the boys tried to randomly start speaking as if they weren't just listening.

As he sat down with narrowed eyes, Bear came waltzing in to sit besides his chair.

"After we finish this round you all are leaving."

His tone left no room for arguments, not that they would in the first place. Some of them shook their heads in amusement.

"I thought you didn't like dogs?" Felix asked while reaching to pet Bear who was besides his chair that was adjacent to Raphael's.

"I don't like other peoples dogs. 'Sides whenever I'm not around he's protecting Juniper."

"So have you sealed the deal yet, Saint?" Grimes smirked. "Because I know you've probably been itchin' to. She looks like a great f-"

He halted his next words as the way everyone looked at him sharply reminded him that this was his bosses mate and not a random woman.

His light eyes looked at Raphael who rose a brow, daring him to finish his next words.

"She looks like she's a fine lady," he cleared his throat. "But actually it's not really any of our business anyways right?" he laughed nervously.

Raphael nodded as he accepted the change of words, "I think that wraps up the night. Thank you for handing over all of your money, it's always a pleasure."

The man shot them all a smirk as he stood up, soon enough he was seeing them all to the door as Bear trailed behind him while watching the strangers leave.

Once the door was shut, Raphael turned on his heel and took the steps by two up to the bathroom.

By the time he was to the bathroom door he stripped down to his sweats and boxers.

Letting himself in, he grinned as Juniper had just sunk herself into the large claw foot bathtub.

Her hair was damp, long curls falling into the water. Juniper had managed to fill the whole damn thing with bubbles so her body was now hidden.

"So he decides to show," Juniper hummed playfully.

"Move over," he grunted while shoving his sweats down. Juniper giggled quietly in glee while making room for him, he submerged himself while making a splash.

Wrapping a strong arm around her waist, he dragged her closer. Their bodies smushed against one another, Raphael pressed his face to her shoulder.

His arm braced against her chest, keeping her tight to him.

"You want to hear something ridiculous?" he mumbled against her soft skin.

"What's that?" she sat atop of his thighs.

"I fucking missed you a lot," he grumbled begrudgingly. As if it was hard to admit.

Juniper smirked, feeling him gather her hair into his fist and draping it over his shoulder so it wasn't stuck between them.

"It was just a couple hours," she turned her head so she could look at him with a smirk.

"And they were trying to call me clingy," Juniper nipped at his jaw.

"You heard that?" he hummed while grabbing a wash cloth.

"Mhm," she felt his hands begin washing her gently. "Don't worry I missed you too. Watching our tv show just isn't the same."

Raphael perked his heads up, "You watched without me?"

Juniper pursed her lips. Deciding not to answer.

"You brat," he pinched her nipple in retaliation. She gasped and squirmed on top of him.

"Stop it," she whined quietly. "I got bored and your friends are annoying."

With his hands soaped up, he massaged her tits. "Yeah they are," Raphael agreed.

"I'm glad you have friends though, I don't like the couples that spend all their time together. I don't think it's healthy."

Raphael shrugged but ultimately agreed, more interested in washing his mate.

"I didn't finish the new episode by the way," she wiggled on top of him. Groaning lowly, he felt her brush his erection.

"I started watching a crime documentary," she turned to straddle him. He trailed his eyes over her exposed body, as she grabbed her hair product behind him.

He helped her while lathering it into her many wild curls. She showed him the correct way to do it while they both sat in comfortable silence.

"What was it about?" he asked as she began washing him as well.

Her face scrunched up, "Abductions. It was kind of scary... it was a bunch of kids."

She didn't voice her worries but Raphael knew what she was thinking about. Their own future child and what could possibly go wrong when he was finally here.

He sighed quietly, running his thumb under her eye gently. It worried him when Juniper was constantly overthinking about the future.

"Baby you're going to worry yourself sick about this," his voice was soft as she didn't look up at him. Juniper scrubbed at his collar while avoiding his concerned gaze.

"So much could go wrong," her voice cracked under her stress.

Tightening his grip on her face, he brought both hands to hold her cheeks.

"We've talked about this before. We are doing the best we can and that's all we can do. It is enough, he'll be the best protected kid out there Juni. All the berserkers around are going to work to keep him safe. Not to mention we're his parents," he rest his forehead against her own.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Juniper kissed him gently.

Suddenly she pulled back with a smile, "You say all this stuff like you love me or something." Her tone was teasing and he rose a brow, pressing his lips down her neck.

"Wow who would've thought," sarcasm dripped from his words as he rolled his eyes. Brushing his tongue over his name written along her chocolate skin.

"I know right," Juniper laughed quietly.

"How many kids do you want?" Raphael asked into her shoulder.

Juniper was surprised by the question, kissing up his own shoulder.

"I don't know, I used to think about it when I was little. I didn't think anyone would really want to have kids with me," she thought aloud. Tracing shapes on his strong back.

"Two or three maybe."

"Okay baby," he mumbled as they moved a little, water splashing around. "I want to have kids with you."

Juniper tightened her arms around him, inhaling his scent that was mingled with their soap.

They sat in comfortable silence, until Raphael felt himself pruning and abruptly stood up with Juniper's legs wrapped tightly around him.

The blue haired girl squealed in surprise, cold air chilling her damp body.

"How do you know if I was done," she pulled away to frown at him.

"We're all done," he snagged two towels and dried the both of them off as she clung to his large body.

"Fine but you have to watch a movie with me."

"Deal," he toweled her off while one was wrapped around his waist.

~

sorry for the late update happy saturday!