Thoreau - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

The day before Christmas, Mom Evie came over to have a Hallmark channel marathon with me. We spent all afternoon on the couch in the living room, watching lovely kissy-kissy movies and snacking, while Arch and Wayne went to Greenville with Dad Nathan and the younger boys to buy presents for their mom.
The last movie Mom Evie and I watched together was about a woman who was trying to find her mother's long-lost brother to reunite them in time for Christmas. Mom Evie and I had already gone through one whole box of tissues by that point, and she had to open another one after this movie ended because I just couldn't stop crying.
"It's okay, baby." Mom Evie pulled me into a squishy hug. "They had a happy ending. All of these movies do, or I wouldn't watch them."
" 'lijah doesn't have a happy ending!" I wailed into her shoulder. "His baby sister is still lost!"
"Did he tell you about that?" Mom Evie stopped squeezing me and crooked her head to look down at me. "Or did you hear it from someone else?"
"He told me himself. The day those bad boys hurt me after school. He made me promise to keep it a secret, but you already knew, so I figured I could talk to you about it."
"That was a very rough time for his family," she said with a big sigh. "None of them ever really recovered from it, even Gamma Rube, and he was only four and barely aware of what was happening. Elijah, though, has struggled the most."
"Why? He was a baby and never got to really know her." I sniffled and started to wipe my eyes and nose on my shirt until she handed me another wad of tissues. "Is it because of the bond twins have?"
"Probably, although fraternals have the weakest bond of all multiples. You know the Hall twins?"
"Yes, I do!"
"Theirs is the perfect example of the absolute bond between identicals. If one gets hurt, the other feels it, and they live inside each other's head so much, they can finish each other's sentences. Fraternals are more like regular siblings. Close, but not integrated with each other. For example, Posy told me that her uncle never knew his fraternal twin brother was dead until a day later. If one of the Hall twins died, the other would know immediately and probably wouldn't survive it."
"Wait. Wayne said shifters don't have same-gender fraternals!" I looked at her with wide eyes.
"Well, he was wrong. They do, just very rarely."
"Oh." I finished cleaning up and tossed my soggy mess of tissues into the trash can we'd sat next to the coffee table. "Why can't anyone find Momo?"
"Aw, Eli even told you her name? He must really trust you, Reau."
That made my chest feel warm, and I smiled as Mom Evie pulled me into another snuggly hug and petted my curls.
"I'm not sure, baby. If she was taken by a human, that would complicate the search since we as a species don't have much interaction with them outside of the occasional mate. Everyone in our world knows to watch for a half-Japanese she-wolf who was kidnapped fifteen years ago. Even your papa knew that years before he came to Five Fangs."
"Gamma Rube and 'lijah are half-Japanese?"
"Yes. If Isaac Ford hadn't gone to Japan on a mission with the fae king, he and his mate never would have met. The Goddess' hand at work."
"Hopefully, her hand will work to help 'lijah find Momo," I said. "It makes me so sad to think about it."
"I know it does, baby, so let's focus on something nice, okay? Do you want help getting ready for your date?"
"Yes, please!" I sat up and grinned at her.
Everyone in the pack and at school knew Wayne, Arch, and I were boyfriends now. At first, there were some meanies about it, but luna and the alphas took care of it here in the pack, and Bubble, Arch, Wayne, and our friends took care of it at school. I was just glad our families weren't mad or upset with us!
Now that we were on winter break, Arch, Wayne, and I each planned a special date, and mine was tomorrow! I was so excited and hoped they liked what I planned: A gingerbread house competition!
Mom Evie said they would love it as she helped me get ready, and we'd just finished when Dad Nathan picked Mom Evie up, then Bubble came home not five minutes later.
"Look, Bubble!" I showed him the three trays of supplies Mom Evie and I had made. "For my date tomorrow!"
"Edible construction sites. Nice. Good job, fratellino." He nodded with approval. "How about I start on dinner while you clean up? You got a lot of chocolate on your shirt and around your mouth."
"Well, yes. We had to taste everything to make sure it was fresh, Bubble!"
"I'm sure you did," he chuckled as he headed for the refrigerator.
So I ran to my room and cleaned up and changed my shirt. By the time I got back to the kitchen, Mama and Papa were home and Bubble had dinner on the table. After we finished eating, Mama and Papa disappeared into the Christmas tree room with strict orders for me to stay out.
"What are they doing in there, Bubble?" I asked with a frown as they closed and locked the door.
"I'm not supposed to tell you."
"Are they having S. E. X. under the Christmas tree?" I whispered.
"No!" Bubble howled. "They're wrapping your presents! They wanted it to be a secret in case you still believe in Santa Claus!"
"Oh. No." I shook my head. "I know that he is just a story to make little children like William and Winnie Barlow behave themselves. And it works, too! They have been super good all month!"
That made Bubble laugh.
We cleaned up in the kitchen and were about to head into the living room to make a blanket fort and watch movies when we had a surprise visit from luna and the alphas!
The first one through the back door was Alpha Ash, and he whacked his head hard when he forgot to duck. His eyes spun around until his wolf, Sid, healed him, and I giggled as I ran over to him.
"Alpha Ash!" I screeched and jumped into his arms.
He caught me and swung me up high in the air like I did with William and Winnie Barlow, and if the downstairs rooms didn't have such high ceilings, I would have needed Spring to heal my concussion!
"Damn, alpha," Bubble chuckled as luna and the other alpha came inside. "I think you've gotten even taller!"
"Yep! Had a growth spurt in the last couple of months." Alpha kissed my forehead before setting me down on my feet. "Exactly seven feet tall now!"
"Wow!" My eyes widened as I stared way, way up at him. "You really are a giant!"
"Giant everywhere, too," he smirked and looped an arm around luna's shoulders. Bending almost in half, he nuzzled her ear with his nose. "Ain't that right, princess?"
Her face turned bright red as she squirmed around and hid in his neck, which turned his smirk into a grin.
Giant everywhere? I asked Spring. Where else is he a giant? In the human world?
Never mind, he murmured. He's being vulgar.
I didn't understand why he thought Alpha Ash was being dirty. He looked pretty clean to me. I was just about to ask him when Bubble distracted me.
"Uh, fratellino? Your construction sites are being raided."
Whirling around, I saw Alpha Wyatt unwrapping the silver paper from a Hershey's kiss and there was another silver paper already laying on the countertop!
He ate two of my kisses!
"No!" I gasped.
Running over, I wiggled between him and the breakfast bar, then put my hands on his chest and tried to push him away. He didn't budge, and frustrated tears filled my eyes.
"Bad alpha!" I shouted. "Don't eat anymore! You are ruining it!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, buddy." His silvery blue eyes - exactly like Wayne's - sparkled even more than usual. "I thought it was up for grabs. Like a candy charcuterie board or something."
"I don't even know what a charcuterie board is!" I wailed.
"Hey, you said that word perfectly!" Luna came over and gave me a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"
"Thank you, luna." I hugged her back. "Spring fixed it. He's helping me with a lot of things now that he's a part of me."
Spring told me he'd found a few things Tanner had started to heal, like my hearing, and Mama was right! It wasn't my ears at all! My brain didn't always understand what my ears sent to it, which was why I'd say words incorrectly so often. Spring straightened that out, so no more mistakes like peabutter jelly sammiches because my brain now knew that it was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Wayne had been a little sad about it, saying he'd miss my mispronunciations, which he called cute, but I was proud that I would not embarrass or shame my family and friends by sounding like a baby anymore.
Of course, there were things Spring wouldn't or couldn't do anything about, but he said those things were part of what made me me and I deserved to be me, and there was nothing wrong with me.
"How do you know what a charcuterie board is, Wyatt?" Alpha Cole shook his head. "Did Ash get you hooked on Pinterest, too? Goddess, I can't believe I call you two lame asses my brothers!"
"You don't like us anymore?" Alpha Ash pressed his hand over his heart. "That's a shame. Wait. Wy and I need a second to recover from the devastation."
"What are you, twelve?" Alpha Cole sneered.
"On a scale from one to ten, yes, I am, bitch!"
"Ash," luna murmured.
"Sorry, cupcake."
"At least try to control yourself while we're in public," Alpha Mason told him with his usual expressionless face and voice.
"Dude, if I was meant to be controlled, I would have come with a remote," Alpha Ash giggled.
"Anyway," Alpha Wyatt dragged the word out, "can I ask a dumb question?"
"Better than anyone I know," Alpha Jayden smirked, and Alpha Wyatt punched him hard right in the solar plexus.
"Wyatt!" luna scolded him as she rushed over to Alpha Jayden.
"Sorry, cutie." Alpha Wyatt gave her an apologetic smile, but ignored Alpha Jayden, who was bent double and trying to suck in air. "Reau, why is all this candy laid out like this if it isn't for eating? Are you playing a prank?"
"No, you silly alpha! My boyfriends and I are having a gingerbread house competition tomorrow!" I put on my angry face and showed it to him. "And now WayWay has two less kisses than ChiChi and me!"
"Just give him two more," Alpha Mason suggested.
"I can't give him any more kisses!"
"Why not? Are you tired of him already?" Alpha Wyatt smirked. "I mean, I guess I can understand. He may be hella handsome, but he's also hella annoying. No wonder you don't want to give him any more kisses."
"Dude." Alpha Ash tried to catch Alpha Wyatt in a headlock, but Alpha Wyatt dodged him. "Your little brother is exactly like you. Are you saying you're hella annoying?"
For some reason, Alpha Mason put his hand over his mouth and Alpha Cole let out a funny cough. Before Alpha Wyatt could say anything back, I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.
"You are correct that Wayne is very handsome, but he is not annoying! And I am not tired of him! I can't give him more kisses because I don't have any more! The bag is empty!"
"The bag's empty?" Bubble raised his eyebrows. "There was a lot left before dinner."
"I ate some, Bubble! Obviously!" Stomping my foot, I grabbed big handfuls of my curls and tugged hard on them.
"Calm down, baby," luna murmured as she came over and pried my fingers out of my hair and held them in hers. "Let's take two away from your tray and two away from Archer's. Then you'll all have the same amount of kisses."
"But that will leave seven each. It has to be six or nine!"
"It's okay to not have everything in threes, fratellino." Bubble patted my shoulder. "Ask yourself how important this is to get so worked up over. It's just candy that you will be eating or throwing away once your gingerbread house goes stale in a month."
Flapping my fingers against luna's hands, I thought about what he said and knew he was right, but it was so hard to stop thinking about it! There were seven kisses on Arch's tray. Not three, not six, not nine. Seven!
Seven was not a good number!
"Hey, I got you, bud." Alpha Cole rearranged the kisses so each tray had six. "And I'll even help you out by eating these leftovers so you won't be bothered by them anymore."
"Okay, but give one to luna and none to You Know Who!"
Putting on my angry face again, I glared at Alpha Wyatt, who raised his hands and stepped away with a little smirk as everyone else chuckled.
He's just as dramatic as Wayne, I told Spring, who hummed in agreement.
"Em!" Dropping my hands, luna ran over to Mama as he and Papa finally came out of the Christmas tree room. "And I see you got a tattoo. A for Angelo. Aww! How sweet!"
"Yep." Mama leaned down so she could see it better. "I wanted the world to know I was taken. Angelo picked out the lettering, and I had it done last week as an early Christmas present."
"We have presents, too!" Luna clapped her hands and bounced up and down as she looked over at Alpha Mason. "Could you please go get them?"
"Sure, little flower."
He left, but returned quickly with a flat, rectangular package in one hand and a large envelope in the other.
"We have something special for you, Kon and Reau." Luna's smile was as bright as the sun, and her dark blue eyes shimmered with excitement. "Kon, you first."
Alpha Mason handed him the envelope, and Bubble raised his eyebrows.
"Thank you. I wasn't expecting any gifts, so I'm unprepared, but I am more grateful than you know."
"You don't even know what it is yet," Alpha Wyatt laughed.
"Open it and see, Bubble!" I told him, clapping my hands, and he nodded.
Sliding his finger along the sealed flap, he opened it and shook out a number of papers. As he sorted through them, I looked at the alphas for an explanation.
"It took a lot of digging, but we found who stole your inheritance," Alpha Mason said.
"We recovered some physical items, which are at the alpha offices whenever you want to go through them or pick them up," Alpha Cole added.
"Unfortunately," Alpha Jayden chimed in, "your house is no longer standing. None of the colony is. Your grandfather's lawyer illegally sold the land to a trucking company, who razed everything to build a distribution center."
"When we contacted the trucking company," Alpha Wyatt picked up the story, "they were shocked and offered to reimburse the cost of the properties to any survivors, but we didn't think that was fair, so we took it out of the lawyer's hide."
"Literally, too." Alpha Ash grinned and nudged Alpha Jayden with his elbow. "Quartz got a little upset after we uncovered all the details of how the lawyer bilked your family."
"Anyway, Kon," Luna Posy said, "Mason was at least able to get back the value of your house as well as the money your father and grandfather left to you."
"I'm overwhelmed." Bubble's voice was rough, and he cleared his throat. "I had hoped to one day track down what happened, but didn't really hold out much hope I would get even a dime back. Thank you so much, not only for your time and effort, but for gathering up some of my family's possessions. I can't wait to see if there's a photo of my parents and grandparents."
"There were a couple photo albums," Alpha Mason told him with a nod. "Anytime you feel up to it, come over to the offices and you can go through the boxes."
"And I'll join you if you want or need company," luna offered.
"Me, too, Bubble!" I piped up.
"We will, too, Kon," Papa said. "Emerson and I will always be here to support you, son."
"Thank you." Bubba's eyes were bright and shiny. "All of you. This means so much to me."
He swallowed hard enough to make his Adam's apple go up and down, and Mama and Papa squished him in a hug between them.
"And now for your present, little man." Alpha Ash laid his hand on top of my head as luna handed me the big package.
"Oh, boy! I love presents!" I took it with both hands and grinned at all of them.
"Go ahead and open it," luna encouraged me with a smile.
As I tore off the wrapping paper, I found a very nice picture frame and thought they were giving me a photo of someone, but I couldn't guess who. Mama had a few photos of Big Brother Whit, Big Sissy Sabine, and Baby Dean that he made copies of and had framed for me to keep in my bedroom, and I never wanted to see Mommy Daddy's face again, so whose picture would they have printed out for me?
When I finally got it all unwrapped, my mouth fell open and tears filled my eyes.
Binda.
My dear, dear Binda.
And not just a printed photo, either! It was a real painting with WSB written in tiny white letters in the corner, and I wondered what that stood for.
"Briar texted me a few photos that she and Alpha Jace found among the Gray Shadows pack records," Mama said in a gentle voice, "and I linked Alpha Wyatt with my memories of Miss Marriott. He used all of those pieces to paint her portrait. How does she look?"
With a sniff, I looked up at Alpha Wyatt.
"Just how I remember her," I whispered as the tears beaded up on my eyelashes before skimming down my cheeks.
Handing Mama my precious gift, I launched myself at Alpha Wyatt and squeezed him hard around his waist.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"Of course, pup." His voice was gruff, but he hugged me back. "I'm glad you like it."
"It's beautiful." I snuggled into him more so that I could wipe my face on his shirt.
"I know you're wiping your face on my shirt, Reau," Alpha Wyatt sighed.
Looking up fast, I saw him rolling his eyes.
"How did you know that?" I demanded.
"One, I feel wet. Two, Mom does the same thing to Dad. Here." He stopped hugging me, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a white hanky. "At least blow on this instead of me. I mean, the tears I can handle, but not snot bubbles!"
"You never complained about my snot bubbles," luna pouted as she looked up at him.
"Baby, your nose is too cute to produce anything as disgusting as a snot bubble," he assured her. "And even if it did, I would gladly sacrifice my shirt for the honor of you wiping it on me."
That made luna giggle, which made me giggle and the others chuckle.
"Fratellino, do you want to give luna and the alphas the gifts you got them now?" Bubble asked with raised eyebrows, and I gasped.
I'd almost forgotten!
Racing to my bedroom, I tuned out Mama's grumbling about running up the stairs, grabbed the six shopping bags from my closet, and thundered back down to the kitchen.
"Reau. Stairs. Running. Ring a bell?" Mama scowled.
"No, Mama." I shook my head and scowled back. "I did not hear a bell."
Alpha Ash snorted for some reason, and Alpha Wyatt snickered.
"Never mind," Mama sighed and shook his head.
Shrugging at him, I handed luna her bag, then one to each of the alphas. They thanked me with hugs, even Alpha Mason, and I told them they were welcome. Then, dancing on my tippy toes, I covered my mouth with my hands to muffle my squeals as they pulled out matching bunny rabbit hoodies!
The luna's was pink and the alphas' were black. I'd wanted to get all of them pink, but Spring had said only Alpha Ash would have worn it, so black it was.
"I love it!" Luna immediately slipped hers on.
"Oh, you are so cute!" I told her, jumping up and down. "I knew you would be. As soon as I saw them, I knew they were perfect."
Surprising me, Alpha Mason put his on, too. He was the only one I was worried about not liking it, but he even put the hood up and draped the ears to lay on his chest!
Alphas Ash, Jayden, and Wyatt laughed so hard, they fell on the floor, and Bubble put both hands over his mouth as he giggled.
"Mason, you look adorable!" luna giggled.
"You look ridiculous," Papa told him, which made me pout.
"You look like the Terminator version of a bunny," Mama snorted. "At least smile, alpha."
His lips flicked up at the corners, which was more of a smile than I'd seen from him before, but that was okay. Luna was happy and hugging him, and no matter what Mama or Papa said, he really did look adorable!
On Christmas morning, I handed out my presents to Mama, Papa, and Bubble. I got them each a t-shirt. Mama's said, "This is my human costume. I'm really a werewolf," and had a picture of a wolf howling at the full moon. That way, it was for Cove, too.
Papa's was black with a diagram of a bunch of different knives because he wasn't the kind of guy to wear a funny shirt. All his t-shirts and hoodies were solid colors, usually dark, and I thought he'd like one with knives because he had so many of them.
Bubble's shirt said, "Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are good and crunchy with ketchup." After Spring had explained some of that to me, I'd laughed and knew I had to get it for him so Chime Karma could also enjoy it.
They each smiled and hugged me and said thank you, then put their shirts on, which made me happy. That meant they liked them!
When they started handing me my gifts, my fingers slapped into my palms, and I bounced up and down on the couch as little whines of excitement slipped out of my mouth. I hadn't had Christmas presents in nearly five years!
Calm down, little one. Breathe in and out.
Only then did I realize I wasn't breathing, and I nodded at Spring's advice. Taking a few deep breaths until my heart stopped racing, I looked over at Mama as I felt him sit besides me on the couch.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"I'm okay. Just got too excited!" I told him.
He smiled and petted my curls, and I hummed with happiness.
Tearing the wrapping paper off my first present, I discovered a skateboard with pink strawberries on it from Bubble, who promised he would go with me to the skatepark on the next nice day. Mama gave me two awesome cornhole boards with color-changing lights. Of course, we had to set them up and try them out right away!
Finally, I opened Papa's gift - a set of four laser tag guns and vests.
"Really, Papa?" Bubble smirked. "Why am I not surprised that it involves guns?"
Papa caught him in a headlock and tried to give him a noogie, but Bubble wrapped his arms around Papa's waist and picked him up and tossed him on the couch. As the two of them wrestled around, Mama explained that the laser tag guns weren't real, then he made Papa and Bubble behave so the four of us could test them out.
So we had a battle all over the downstairs and were sweaty and panting and laughing before Bubble, Mama, and I managed to finally get Papa, and we declared him the king of laser tag.
By then, it was time for Christmas dinner, and Papa, Mama, and Bubble outdid themselves with delicious food and desserts. I was so stuffed, I had to take a nap until Arch and Wayne came over that evening for our competition.
My boyfriends and I enjoyed making our gingerbread houses very much, even though it was messy and I had a small freak-out over the thick frosting getting between my fingers and under my fingernails.
Once we cleaned up from that, we exchanged presents. I gave them black matching t-shirts that spelled the word, "Love," in dirt bike parts and showed them that I had one, too.
"Aw!" Wayne cooed as he wrapped me up in a tight hug. "I love it! Thanks, Reau!"
"Yeah, Curls, they're great, and I'm glad you got one for yourself so we can all match," Arch agreed and squeezed me and Wayne both. "I feel dumb, though. I should have bought us matching gifts, too."
"You are not dumb, ChiChi!!" I scowled at him. "You are very smart! And I will love anything you ever give me!"
"All right, baby," he chuckled and dropped his arms so he could hand me and Wayne our presents.
"You and Wayne didn't exchange gifts with your family this morning?" I asked as I accepted mine with cupped hands like Binda had taught me.
"We exchanged family gifts, but not boyfriend gifts. Like Wayne told you before, the three of us will do everything important together from now on."
With a big grin, I nodded and opened my present as Wayne opened his. Arch gave me the complete set of a manga I'd been longing to have and Wayne a video game he'd wanted for a while now. Hopping up and down, I hugged him, then Wayne hugged him before handing out his presents. He gave me a new stuffy - a turtle with a super grumpy face that I loved on sight! - and Arch a gaming headset that lit up bright blue. Again, we had a round of hugs, only this time it included soft, sweet kisses.
Mama cleared his throat, and I swiveled my head to see him with his arms crossed as he glared at my boyfriends.
"Oh, come on, beta," Wayne laughed. "They were innocent pecks!"
"I don't care what kind of kiss it was! Keep your lips off of him!"
"Now, wait," Arch said with a smirk. "You didn't say anything about lips. You said to keep his d-"
"Well, now I'm adding no lip to lip connections!" Mama growled.
"Mama! I can kiss my boyfriends!" I protested. "They're just princess kisses, not soul-sucking kisses!"
Something thumped behind me, and I spun around to see Papa lay his gun-cleaning kit on the coffee table before he sat down and started cleaning a pair of pistols.
While I was wondering why he'd decided now was the time to clean his guns, Spring burst out laughing, Arch rolled his eyes, and Wayne snickered.
"Princess kisses only, cucciolo." Papa glanced up from his work to eyeball Wayne and Arch. "No soul-sucking kisses. Not yet, anyway."
"Hey, the snow's piling up! You guys want to-" Bubble came to a sudden stop as he walked into the living room. "Papa! Quit embarrassing Reau and threatening Arch and Wayne!"
"I am not embarrassed." I tilted my head as I looked from Bubble to Papa, then at my boyfriends. "Is Papa threatening you?"
"Yeah, but it's all good, Curls. We're used to it." Arch took my hand and linked our fingers together. "What were you saying, Kon?"
"The snow's starting to pile up now. Want to shift and let your wolves chase Papa and Chime Karma around the backyard?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" I shouted, throwing my arms up in the air and hopping around. "Come on, Spring! Let's go!"
Of course, little one, he chuckled.
So we all played together outside for nearly two hours until it got too dark, then Papa ran upstairs to warm up in the shower while our wolves laid in front of the fire. When their fur was dry, we shifted and changed into our pajama pants, and Mama made us mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows as we watched Christmas movies together until midnight.
"Okay, time for bed," Mama said as he turned off the TV, then got to his feet. "Don't forget to brush your teeth, boys, before you hit the hay."
Frowning as I wondered where the hay was going to come from and why he wanted me to hit it, I let Wayne pull me up and we all trotted up the stairs.
It just means go to bed, Spring told me with a chuckle.
Why does it mean that?
I don't know. We can try to look it up later.
Nodding in agreement, I grabbed my phone from my dresser and sent Briar a Merry Christmas text and told her I'd call her tomorrow. Then I brushed my teeth alongside Wayne and Arch before we raced over to my bed and jumped in. Then Wayne started a tickle fight that got pretty intense, and we were all breathless and a little sweaty before we finally collapsed in a pile of giggles.
"Someday, we'll fall asleep this way for a different reason," Wayne snickered.
"Wayne!" Arch, Ocean, Firth, and Spring all growled.
"What way?" I asked.
"In a tangle of arms and legs, all sweaty and naked," he chuckled.
"WAYNE!"
"We are not naked. We have pajama pants on," I pointed out. "But what reason?"
"It's a secret."
"But I want to know!" I whined.
"You'll just have to wait."
"Until when?"
"On my eighteenth birthday, I'll tell you. I promise."
"When's your birthday?" I scowled.
"April 9, and Arch's is February 19. When's yours?"
"March 14." I huffed and rolled out my bottom lip. "That's months and months away! And we're only going to turn sixteen! I'll have to wait a whole two years after that to find out the secret! Not nice, WayWay!"
He only chuckled, which made me huff again.
You can get him back in the morning, little one, Spring said on a yawn. I'll wake you up while he's still asleep and you can scare-prank him, okay?
Yes! You're the best wolfie ever, Spring!
I know. He rolled his eyes, making me giggle, then a new thought came to me.
"Hey, wait!" I wriggled around to look at Arch. "When is Alpha Cole's birthday?"
"February 23."
"Then why is Peri's in June?" I asked. "A she-wolf goes into heat at the same time every year, so how is that possible?"
"To sum up a long story, Dad killed a shifter who went feral. No one knew the shifter's mate was a dark witch, and she put a curse on my mom. Wanted Dad to know what it was like to lose his mate after he killed hers. Anyway, Dad called in a favor with the nephilim, and they sent a Watcher to freeze Mom, who was due to have Peri any day."
"Nephilim?" I'd never heard the word before, and my curiosity woke up.
"Nephs are the children of Fallen angels and human women," Wayne murmured as he snuggled his face into my neck. "They have classes of talent like we have species of shifters. Watchers can teleport and most can manipulate time and space in some way. We'll tell you more later, baby boy. It's too late tonight."
"Okay, but what happened to your mommy, ChiChi, after she was frozen? And frozen like Anna in Frozen? Like an ice pop?"
"Frozen in time. She didn't age a single second. That gave Dad a chance to find a cure. Thankfully, King Rhys Winterlight of the fae was able to dissolve the curse, although it took four months-
"Huh? I thought the fae king was named Brioc," I interrupted. "Papa calls him that, anyway."
"That's Rhys's oldest son," Arch told me. "He stepped up as king a few years ago. Anyway, the king dissolved the curse, the neph Watcher unfroze Mom, and Peri was born two days later."
"Wow. Like Sleeping Beauty!" I shivered. I loved that story, but Maleficent was sooo scary! She was even scarier than the Evil Queen in Snow White with her death apple! "Fairies and nephs must have powerful magic!"
"The fae kings are elves, not fairies," Arch told me. "Elves have far more magic than fairies. As for nephs, their level of power varies based on how many generations they are removed from their Fallen parent."
"What was the name of the dark witch who cast the curse?" Wayne yawned and asked at the same time, making it hard to understand him. "Bernie or something? She was never caught, if I remember right."
"Talia Ben Elihud. She went by Bennie. No, Dad never found her. Reau's papa has her on his hit list, though, so maybe someday." It was Arch's turn to yawn, which made me yawn. "All right, my boys. Story time's over. It's sleep time."
He moved me around a little until my back was against his chest, and Wayne wiggled so his back was against my chest, then Arch threw his arm over both of us. I copied him and put my arm around Wayne, who grabbed my hand and pulled it up to the base of his throat. Soft, plump pillows pressed against my knuckles, and I smiled, knowing he'd just kissed them.
"I love you, ChiChi," I whispered. "I love you, WayWay."
"Love you, my boys," Arch murmured.
"Love you both, too," Wayne yawned back. "Good night."
Surrounded by their warm bodies, my breathing and heartbeat evened out and I was on the edge of dreamland before I remembered something.
Did you find it, Spring? I whispered.
Did I find what, little one? he asked in a sleepy voice.
Happiness. Binda told me to find my happiness if I could escape Mommy Daddy, and I'm sure Everett would have wanted you to find yours. Poor Tanner only found his in death, but have you found yours yet?
Oh, little one, I most certainly have. Did you?
I chortled at how silly he was being.
I was in my own bed in my own bedroom with my two very best besties ever. I wasn't overheated or freezing or starving or thirsty or locked in a cage. Dr. York was helping me understand that Mommy Daddy were actually breaking me, not fixing me, and Mama and Papa said the only punishments I'd ever get were being grounded or having my dirt bike taken away. Not even smacks and never any whippings!
Plus, I had Bubble and luna and lots and lots of friends now. Friends like Beta Ty and Briar and Elijah and Bridger and so many more! I even had Henry and Squidge! People who loved me and cared for me and wanted the best for me, just like Binda said I deserved.
I was so blessed and lucky, how could I be anything but happy?
Yes, I did, Spring, I whispered. More than my heart can hold.
With a smile, I let myself drift off to sleep, knowing I was the happiest boy in the whole wide world.