The communal dressing area in my previous job meant I didn’t mind a little public nudity among friends. “Thanks.”
“Hold still, and I’ll get you pinned so you don’t flash anyone.” She caught my eye, hers smiling. “Unless you want to, that is.”
“Um, no.” I kicked the towel away. “I’m good.”
About the time she announced me done, I noticed her angle her head to one side.
“He’s here.” She took a few steps to the left then back to the right. “Where do I hide?”
The urge to pinch myself and make absolutely certain I wasn’t dreaming surfaced again. “Why do you have to hide exactly?”
“Do you think I want him to know I aided and abetted you?” She scoffed. “Please.” She flipped a hand at me. “Samzilla let you in. I just didn’t kick you back out.” She winked. “If anyone asks, this was all his fault.”
“Duck into the bathroom with your family.” Catching the spirit, I walked out with her. “I’ll handle Midas.”
Once she was hunkered down with her mate and son, I strolled to the front door.
Midas, proving gwyllgi had excellent hearing, said, “Knock, knock.”
In my sweetest voice, I called out, “Who’s there?”
“Midas.”
“Hmm.” I inched closer. “Midas who?”
“Midas well let me in. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Hey!” I flung open the door. “I’m the funny one in this relationship.”
“Then you only have yourself to blame for rubbing off on me.”
Folding my arms over my chest, I inched closer. “So, you admit it.”
“That you’re a bad influence?” He tilted his head. “Yes.”
Barefoot, I kicked him in the shin. “That I’m funny.”
“I would say funny looking, like I used to tell my sister, but we both know you’re beautiful.”
“Aww.”
Midas slid his gaze behind me. “You might as well come out, Kate.”
“I’m not here,” she sing-songed. “Go back to being adorable together.”
Crooking his arm, he held his elbow out for me. “Can I walk you to the cabin?”
“You shifted and chased me through the woods. I’m not certain I feel safe with you alone in the dark.”
A flicker of…something…pinched his features before he wiped them smooth.
Lately, he had been smiling easier, laughing quicker. I had almost forgotten how somber he could be.
“I might require an escort,” I kept going, desperate to dig myself out of the hole. “Samzilla?”
True to his mother’s word, he emerged from his bath dry as a bone. “Hadwee!”
Sam squished when he walked as he trailed his son, and he left wet footprints behind him.
The kid bulleted at me, naked as a jaybird, and I knew what I had to do.
I scooped him up in a practiced swing, setting him on my hip, the way I had with my little brother.
“This is my champion of choice.” I checked with Kate and Sam. “As long as his parents don’t mind.”
“Well…” Kate slanted her eyes toward Sam. “It’s not like he’s had his bath, so why not?”
Leaning in, I whispered to Samzilla, “Will you protect me in the scary woods?”
“Yep.” He wriggled to get down. “I big grr.”
Reddish-pink magic swirled around his feet, and he splashed in it until it covered his head. His giggles were infectious, and I couldn’t help smiling. And, okay, my heart melted with the magic when I saw my first baby gwyllgi.
About the size of a beagle, he was covered in downy gray fur like you expect to see on baby chicks.
“Oh. My. Goddess.” I squealed, but I couldn’t help it. “He’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Gwyllgi pups are the most adorable thing you’ll ever see,” Kate agreed. “They’re also nearly indestructible, thank God, because they’re the sneakiest, most destructive, dare-deviling things you’ll ever see too.”
“Samzilla climbed one of the longleaf pines last week, testing out his claws.” Sam all but glowed with pride. “He jumped from the highest limb. Just leapt into thin air. Totally fearless. I caught him, but it shaved a century off my life, if you know what I mean.”
“Not fearless.” Kate worked to sound scolding, but she smiled. “He knew his daddy would catch him.”
The family moment washed over me, and I soaked in how life should be for all kids.
Loving parents, beautiful home, tightknit community.
What Kate said stuck with me. How Samzilla had taken a leap of faith, certain his father would always be there to catch him. How secure he must be to have that much trust so young. How confident in his parents’ love for him. How bold to test his limits without fear because he hadn’t learned to be afraid.
“I’ll keep him out of trouble,” Kate promised, and then shifted into her primal form.
Samzilla, taking his duty seriously, bounded between Midas and me the whole way back to our cabin. From there, Kate swooped in to tussle with him in the dirt then darted off with him in pursuit.
“They welcomed me into their home.” I hadn’t meant to say it, but it fell out of my mouth. “Why?”
“We’re courting.” Midas closed the gap Samzilla had kept between us. “You’re as good as pack to them.”
The squeaky barks grew more distant, but I could still hear the littlest gwyllgi challenging his mom.
Heart brimming from the encounter, I glowed with the aftermath of our game. “Are all pack families…?”
Loving. Happy. Nurturing.
“No.” He eased behind me, slid his arms along my sides, and linked his wide hands above my navel. “Not all of them.”
“Why did you chase me?” I twisted around to see his face. “I thought you were playing but…”
“The pack wanted to see you, and you needed to see them.”
“You were bribing me with your pack.” I elbowed him. “With Samzilla.”
“I don’t know why you’ve put off dinner with my mother, but I wanted to show you there’s more to this pack than her.” His shrug moved through my back. “Or me.”
The pack embraced me for one reason, and one reason only: Midas.
These people loved him. That much was clear. The gwyllgi I interacted with on the regular at the Faraday were enforcers. They looked to Midas for leadership, not comfort. Not fun. They acted more like employees. This—coming to the den—was meeting the family.
And since he wanted me to see this, to experience it, he must be closing in on my vulnerable spots.
“You owe me a secret.”
We had promised to exchange one every day, but we didn’t always remember. Between the witchborn fae and Natisha’s bargain, we had so much else on our minds it was hard not to let the small things slip.
Midas exhaled, warm across my nape. “I ate the last of the chicken wings.”
“That’s not a secret.” I elbowed him again for good measure. “You had sauce all over your muzzle.”
To hide the evidence of his crime, he had gone as far as to shift and gulp them down, bones and all.