Page 6 of Sobek’s Joy

Instead, he said, “How did you come to have them?”

Rudy’s expression shifted - something sad, fierce, and protective all at once. “I found them, all three, just at different times.”

“Found them,” Sobek repeated carefully, doing his level best not to sound judgmental.

“I know it sounds weird, but that’s literally what happened. It was Rose first.” Rudy reached over to smooth down one of her wild curls. She batted his hand away but smiled while doing it. “She was outside a gas station about three years ago, just after I got this house, actually. She was barely walking, just sitting there by the dumpster like someone had left her out with the trash.” His voice hardened on the last word. “No ID, no note, nothing. I called the police and social services, but nobody was looking for her, and nobody cared.”

The territorial rage that swept through Sobek was so intense he had to physically grip the table to keep from shifting right there. Someone had abandoned a panther cub, leaving her alone and vulnerable where anything could have happened to her.

Mine, his crocodile side growled. Pack. Ours to protect now.

“Then it was Jack.” Rudy nodded toward the wolf pup, who’d pressed closer to his side. “I found him in the woods behind this house about two years ago. Poor thing was so terrified he wouldn’t talk for weeks. I still don’t know his whole story, but from what I’ve pieced together, something bad happened to his parents, and he saw it. But he’s safe now.”

Jack’s fur rippled under his sleeves, and Sobek understood the impulse. Wolf shifters were pack animals. Losing parents that young would have been doubly traumatic.

“And Timothy was last.” Rudy’s hand moved to rest on the hatchling’s head. Timothy leaned into the touch, those too-knowing eyes still fixed on Sobek. “I found him about a year ago, sitting by that pond, actually, over in what I thought was an abandoned property. Just...sitting there, waiting. Like someone had told him to stay put and they’d come back for him.”

The fury in Sobek’s chest crystallized into something cold and deadly. Crocodile shifters didn’t abandon their young. Ever. Hatchlings were precious, protected, and guarded with a ferocity that made dragon hoards look casual. For Timothy to have been left alone meant something had gone catastrophically wrong with his family. Or someone had taken them.

“So yeah.” Rudy smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “They’re mine now. All three of them. And I don’t care if they’re different or weird or if Timothy’s skin gets scaly sometimes, or if Jack gets hairy when he’s scared, or if Rose’s fingernails are sharper than they should be. They’re kids. My kids. And anyone who has a problem with that can kindly go fuck themselves.”

The mate light pulsed brighter, if that was even possible. Sobek’s crocodile side rumbled so loudly he was surprised Rudy couldn’t hear it.

Perfect, it said. Perfect mate. Protects the young. Ours. OURS.

“You really don’t know,” Sobek said quietly.

“Know what?”

That your children are shifters. That the paranormal world exists. That you’re glowing like a star and that I would burn down the world to keep you safe.

“Nothing,” Sobek said instead. “You’re a good parent.”

Rudy blinked, then his cheeks flushed pink beneath those freckles. “Oh. I… Thank you. I try. Most days I feel like I’m just barely keeping everyone alive and the house from falling down around our ears, but I love these kids with all my heart...” He trailed off, smiling properly this time. “So, yeah, I try.”

Sobek took a drink of his coffee to avoid saying something catastrophically stupid. Like “You’re my mate,” or “Let me help you with the house,” or “I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you or these children.”

The whole situation was a disaster, an absolute disaster. His mate was human, had no idea the paranormal world existed, and was accidentally raising three shifter children who couldn’t properly shift yet. The logistics alone were enough to make Sobek’s head hurt, never mind the emotional complications.

The sensible thing would be to leave - right now. To walk away and never come back. Find another cabin in another state that had a lovely deep pool, or better yet, buy one for himself on the other side of the country and just fucking stay there.

But Timothy was still watching him with those dark knowing eyes, and Rose had stopped eating crackers to study him thoughtfully, and Jack’s fur had smoothed back down beneath his sleeves. Meanwhile, Rudy was smiling at him over a mug of tooth-rotting sweet coffee in a kitchen that looked like a rainbow had vomited on it, glowing with that impossible mate light.

Mine, his crocodile side insisted. Ours. Stay.

Sobek took another drink of coffee and accepted that he was absolutely, completely, irrevocably screwed. His life was going to change whether he wanted it to or not.

Chapter Four

Sobek left after two cups of coffee and minimal conversation, climbing into his sleek black car with a nod that might have been goodbye or might have been a muscle spasm - Rudy honestly couldn’t tell.

“Bye.” Rudy called from the porch, waving enthusiastically while the kids clustered around his legs. “Thanks again for bringing Tim back.”

The car disappeared down the driveway without so much as a brake light flash of acknowledgment.

“Well,” Rudy said to the children. “He’s not much of a talker, is he?”

Timothy made a soft rumbling sound that Rudy had learned meant agreement. Jack pressed closer to Rudy’s leg, and Rose bounced on her toes.