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same way that mums and dads usually do? Well, yeah. I think it’d be good for him to see what healthy relationships look like. You guys have been great with checking in with me, making sure I’m still comfortable, and I have to keep practising putting up boundaries.”
“Yeah?” Peter’s voice was husky when he slung a leg over, then rolled until he hung above me.
“It’s OK,” Aidan said, rubbing my shoulder as he somehow sensed my pulse had gone from a steady thud to an out and out gallop. My eyes went wide, my breathing rapid, because Peter wasn’t a gentle giant anymore. He covered me with the shadow of his body, his smile just a slice of light in a dark visage. “You’re OK.”
And I was. I felt the fear, since he looked somewhat sinister above me, but perhaps because part of my brain reassured me it was Peter, it created an exciting little sizzle of anticipation. Something that only increased as he dropped his head down.
“You are OK, aren’t you…” came Aidan’s low purr. His hand slipped under the shirt, cupping my breast as his thumb brushed my nipple, making me gasp against Peter’s lips when they connected with mine, so that he swallowed the sound and then added to it with his own in the form of a throaty moan.
“Muuum!”
We jerked apart, eyes going to the open door, then one guy after the other rolled away from me, the blankets up as Peter leapt out of bed. He had his shorts off and his sweats on in seconds, which was impressive.
“Hey, champ,” he said to Kade when he walked in. “You slept in your own bed last night? Good work.”
Kade looked up at him for a moment, then nodded.
“Mum, I’m hungry.”
“Well, how do you feel about going down to the mess? We can catch up with the other kids and you can have—”
Peter didn’t get to finish the sentence as my son completely transformed.
“Can we? Alright! I’ll go and have a shower and brush my teeth right now!”
“Wow,” I said, wriggling out from under the covers, a process Aidan seemed focussed on thwarting. I gave his shoulder a shove and then clambered out. “I need to start setting up play dates or something. He’s never that easy to get ready.”
“He’ll be starting at school soon. He hasn’t had many kids to play with so…” Aidan said. “Hey,” he looked at my downcast eyes, “you weren’t ready, and neither was he, really. We can start eating down at the mess, and I’ll tell them we don’t need food delivered anymore. It’ll be fine.”
14
And it was, kinda.
“Kade!” Mila, the little girl we’d met when we first visited the mess came barrelling over to my son, a flock of boys at her back. “You haven’t been down here! Come and play with us.”
“Kade is with me.” We all turned to see Kiralee had sidled up to Kade and linked his arm in hers. “He was my friend first.”
That did not impress Mila at all, her jaw setting as she looked the other girl up and down.
“He is part of my pack. Auntie Ophelia said so.”
“You’re too young to have a pack,” Kiralee scoffed with all the authority of someone much older and much taller. “Assigning members this young would be barbaric.”
Mila blinked at that, then shook her head.
“Are you calling me barbaric?”
“Ladies!” I snapped when I saw little fists start to form. “This is no way to act. Kade belongs to himself…and me, I guess. But he’s super keen to play with both of you.” Actually, right now he was leaning hard against my legs, but anyway. “How about we leave aside this pack business and all have fun right now? That’s what being a kid is about, right?”
There was a pause, and then both the girls nodded, eyeing each other.
“Wanna play chasey?” Mila said to the other girl. Kiralee just nodded stiffly. “OK, boys, time to run!”
“The boys run and the girls chase them?” I said.
Both the guys watched the kids play with a smile, though there was something darker in their eyes when they turned to me.
“Not everyone shifts into Tirian form, but if you do, it’ll be on the full moon,” Peter said, his eyes flicking briefly to the morning sky. “Your Tirian will have her head and probably want a mating chase. Any of the blokes here…” Our eyes were drawn to the gathered families and a whole lot more. The place was packed with so many more men than before. They obviously belonged to families, as I watched them sit with who I assumed were their mums and dads, but a lot of eyes were on us, or rather, me. “Any that want to petition for a place with you will be there and run before you, hoping you’ll bring them to ground and then…”
