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“Absolutely.”

“Mr. Abernathy told us that the colors are best friends and that they make each other stand out a little brighter when they’re together,” Wren explained.

“Really? What are some of the colors that complement one another?” Logan asked, making certain to use the word Wren struggled with to help them remember what it was.

“Yellow and purple,” Wren replied. “That one is easy because I love them together, just like blue and orange, they’re complementary colors too.”

“Good job!” Kale and I said at the same time.

Kale wheeled a cart around the room, passing out cartons of food that were nothing like the trays Logan had seen in other cafeterias. Each meal was bundled similarly to the meals that some of the other pups had brought from home. Looking around, Logan saw the kids eagerly pulling containers out and arranging them on the table, so he followed suit.

Thin cuts of turkey lay in one container, real cranberry sauce and an apple stuffing with fresh herbs sat in the other. There was gravy and sweet potatoes, with another container with what looked like cherry cobbler inside.

“Nothing has to touch if I don’t want it to,” Wren declared as they happily dug in, and it was no wonder.

The food was exemplary, just like everything shared around the family table had been.

“I see that,” Logan replied, thrilled for them and all the pups who could enjoy their meals however they wished, including in fur, as Kale had two low tables in the classroom that were the perfect height for pups to eat off.

“What else did you learn today?” Logan asked once they’d gotten a few bites of food in their bellies.

“We talked about hi-ber-na-tion and why some animals gather food before winter,” Wren explained. “Then we went outside and tried to find the nuts Mr. Abernathy scattered in the snow, but it was hard, because they’d sunk into it and some had gotten buried. We tried to find the scent of them, but the snow kept going up our noses.”

Wren had gotten the hang of calling Kale by his last name in the classroom the way the rest of the pups did, while at home, he was Uncle Kale, and Wren’s favorite person to go to whenever they wanted to learn more about something.

Logan chuckled. “I’ve snorted my share of snow on a hunt.”

“I sneezed, and snow flew off my nose and onto Laci’s head, but I apologized.”

“It’s okay,” a red-headed pup Logan assumed was Laci spoke up from further down the table. “I had to sneeze too. It was cold and it tickled.”

“When we came back inside, Mr. Abernathy told us a fable about a grasshopper who spent the whole fall playing and mocking the ants who were hard at work gathering food,” Wren explained. “The grasshopper would have starved when winter came or frozen in the snow if the ants hadn’t let him join them in their tunnels and chambers. Those are the parts beneath the ant hill. We learned that today too. Even when the snow covers the hill, they get to stay warm because they’re underground and the earth works as an in-sul-a-tor.”

Another big word sounded out beautifully. Logan’s pup might have started behind, but their new uncle was rapidly aiding them in catching up with the rest of their classmates, without insisting that Wren drop back a year the way their last school had.

“I see,” Logan said, proud of the progress Wren was making. “Did you learn a lesson from the story?”

Wren paused, looked thoughtful, and ate several pieces of their food before nodding. “That we have to plan for when the snow comes ‘cause some of the best food is going to be sleeping.”

Snorting, Logan pressed his hand over his lips and caught Kale struggling not to laugh right along with him.

“Right you are, pup,” Logan said, because it was a worthwhile lesson to take from the story.

In time, he knew Wren would return to it and see that there were other messages to be found, too. For now, he was thrilled at the pup’s thoughtful answer, especially with the night that lay ahead for Logan and Baz.

Tonight, when Wren went to sleep, Logan wouldn’t be there to tuck them in. Not wanting to lose time with his pup was why he’d shown up at the school today. Well, that and he’d seen the menu, just as Kale assumed.

Succulent, tender turkey swirled in gravy, followed by the last of the stuffing from his container. He’d noticed that the bundles sent for the adults in the room were larger than the ones given to the pups and understood now why Kale asked to know when one of them planned to have lunch with Wren.

Logan stayed until after the pups’ social time, which followed the meal. The ones in fur groomed one another, while those in human form chatted, played, or listened to the story Kale read in the quiet corner. That’s where Wren had gravitated, so Logan sat behind them and listened to three fun tales of animals weathering snowy winter conditions. He left with even more appreciation for the way Kale taught and returned to the cabin to sneak a nap in before he and Baz headed out for the night.

It felt like he’d just closed his eyes when something stroking along his cheek prompted him to open them again. Rusty’s face was inches from his, then boop, his finger landed on Logan’s nose before Rusty smirked.

“You asked me to wake you forty-five minutes before it was time to head out,” Rusty remarked.

Blinking, Logan took in the way the light pattern had changed in the room, stretched, then yanked his mate into a searing kiss.

“Do not start something we don’t have time for,” Rusty murmured against his lips before kissing Logan this time.