Thoreau - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

On Monday, Luna Posy had a special ceremony to make her the pack's luna, which didn't make sense to me. She was the five alphas' mate. Of course she was the luna! But Leo 'splained the ceremony was to make everything official.
After the ceremony, she and the alphas welcomed a lot of people into the pack - including me, Gelo, and Leo! I didn't like it when Alpha Mason slit my thumb open, and I liked it even less when each of the alphas pressed their cut thumbs against mine. Their blood was getting into me! I started to panic, but Leo gave me a hug and pressed my face into his chest until it was all over.
Bubba linked me right away, and I grinned, so happy to be able to talk to someone other than myself in my head again!
After the ceremony, we went to a big party. It was good because there was a lot of different food and I could eat as much as I wanted, but bad because there were sooo many strangers! I was scared at first, but then my friends Beta Ty and Royal Price came over to talk to me, and Leo stayed by my side nearly the whole time while Bubba took Gelo around to meet people.
Royal Price introduced Leo and me to his mate, Julia, and his friend, Nathan Barlow, and Nathan Barlow's mate Evie. Nathan Barlow and Evie had a bunch of boys with them. Two of them, Wade and Wesley, were Evie's and two of them, William and Winston, were Nathan Barlow and Evie's.
How did Evie have two sons with no mate? I linked Bubba, who was on the other side of the room talking to Alpha Wyatt.
She had a Goddess-given mate, but he died in the sickness, he 'splained gently. His name was Shawn. He's also Alpha Wyatt's dad.
Did Nathan Barlow's Goddess-given mate die in the sickness, too? I asked after I thought about it for a minute.
Yes. Kelly. She's Alpha Cole's mom.
So Evie and Nathan became chosen mates?
That's right, honey.
Satisfied I understood everything, I hugged Evie when she held out her arms.
"You'll have to meet Archer and Wayne, our oldest sons, another time since they ate and left already," Evie said as she ruffled my curls. "They're your age. Maybe you three can be friends."
I grinned, excited at the thought of making more friends, then asked something I'd been wondering about since Nathan introduced her.
"Why do your words sound different from everyone else's?" I tilted my head. "Gelo's do, too, but he told me that's because he's from Italy, and Bubba said most of the pack have a Southern accent in their words, which is why everyone sounds so different from how people talked at Gray Shadows. But you don't sound like anyone else I've ever heard!"
"I'm from England originally, love. The Lake District to be precise." She smiled at me, and I smiled back.
Her voice was so soft and pretty, like a song, and I could have listened to her talk all day, even if all she did was read a recipe out loud!
Then William tugged on my shirt and asked if I wanted to go outside and play with them. I looked at Nathan Barlow and Evie for permission.
"There's a playground outside if you want to take them." Evie shrugged. "Wade, you go with."
"Aw, Mom!" Wade whined. "I want to hang out with my friends, not the heathens!"
I didn't know what a heathen was, but if he had friends, he should hang out with them!
"I can go along—" Leo started to say, but Nathan Barlow cut him off.
"Royal and I would like you to stay and talk to us. The heathens will be fine with Reau if Wade goes along."
"Oh, come on, Dad!"
"I'll go with," Wesley cut Wade's whining off. "Between us, Reau and I can handle watching them."
"Yes, we can!" I clapped my hands with a giggle, and the adults around me chuckled for some reason.
"Do I need to watch him, too?" Wesley asked Leo in a whisper, but I still heard him.
Why did he think I needed watching? I was a big boy, and he was only nine!
"No, he's fine, but if something scares him, link one of us right away," Leo told him, which I thought was a good idea.
I got scared lots of times, and I liked Bubba to be with me when I was.
Gelo or Leo, too, but mostly Bubba.
So Evie took the younger boys to the bathroom to change into play clothes while I stripped off my suit coat and dress shirt and handed them to Leo.
"See? Aren't you glad now that your brother made you wear a t-shirt under your dress shirt?" Leo smiled as he folded my clothes over his arm.
"Yes. Bubba is super smart!"
"If he was that smart, he would have thought to bring along sneakers and shorts for you to change into," Nathan Barlow chuckled. "Rookie mistake."
"My bubba is so smart!" I insisted and made an angry face at him.
"Nathan meant that Emerson is still getting used to being a parent. That's all, Reau." Julia Price pointed to a door near the bathroom. "How about we go check the clothing closet and see what we can find?"
"Okay!" I bounced up and down on my toes, then grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the closet.
I had so much fun on the playground! First, Wesley and I pushed the little boys on the swings, then we all climbed up what Wesley said was a rock wall, but it was made out of plastic with hand- and foot-holds screwed into place. Not one rock anywhere!
After that, the three brothers clamored up the ladders to the slides, and I stood at the end of Winston's to catch him.
"No, no!" he shrieked when I set him on the ground. "I do it! I do it!"
"Be nice, heathen," Wesley scolded him. "Thoreau was making sure you didn't fall and get hurt. Say sorry and thanks."
"Sowwy and tanks, Toe-woe," Winston repeated like a good boy.
"Toro?" William laughed and high-fived him. "I love it, Winnie! Good job, little bro!"
I frowned. My name was Thoreau, not Toro.
"Say Thoreau." I crouched down next to Winston. "Tho-reau."
"Toe-woe," he said again, which made me frown harder.
"Hahaha!" William hooted. "That's your new nickname! Toro!"
Still giggling, he grabbed Winston's hand and led him over to the sandbox.
"Sorry, Reau," Wesley chuckled, "but you have to admit it's cute."
"But they are not saying my name correctly, Wesley Black."
"What do you expect? Winnie just turned three." He shrugged. "He can't say some letters yet. And at least William likes you enough to give you a nickname."
"Like how Bubba calls me Reau?" I tilted my head.
"Yep! Like Winston's nickname is Winnie."
"Do you have a nicky name, Wesley Black?"
"Some people call me Wes. And you don't need to say our last names every time. Just Wesley or Wes is fine."
"Just Wesley or Wes." I nodded to show I understood. "Does William have a nicky name, too?"
"No. He doesn't like anything but William. He'll throw a hissy fit if you call him something else."
"Oh." Remembering that we were supposed to be watching the little boys, I looked over at the sandbox and saw them throwing handfuls of sand at each other. "Uh-oh! They are being bad boys."
"Hey, you heathens!" Wes shouted as he ran toward them. "Stop that or I'll tell Mom!"
The little boys looked at each other, then grinned and started throwing sand at him. That was a little funny, but still very bad and not nice, so I jogged over to help Wes.
Suddenly, a roar like thunder made the ground tremble and all of us froze in place.
"Wivvah mad," Winnie said with big eyes.
"Who?" I looked at Wes.
"River. Beta Ty's wolf. He won't hurt us, but we might need to leave in a hurry so we don't see something we shouldn't." He picked Winnie up in his arms and jerked his chin toward William. "Can you carry William?"
The way he said it so matter-of-factly helped me not to panic, and I knelt down and told William to climb up on my shoulders. I was still really weak, and I'd get further carrying him like that than any other way. He settled on my shoulders, and I grabbed his little legs before I stood up straight.
Reau? Leo linked me. Where are you?
Still at the playground with the little boys and Wes.
Listen, Beta Ty's wolf, River, is angry about something, and it made Cove upset, too. Stay where you are for a minute until everyone's calmed down.
Okay, Leo, I whimpered and squeezed William's legs gently.
Hey, don't worry, buddy. They're mad at someone else, not you, okay?
Okay, Leo, I repeated.
Suddenly, the community hall's back door opened and Beta Crew wrestled Beta Ty out of it. Beta Ty snapped and snarled and flung himself around, but Beta Crew held onto him and dragged him toward us. Seconds later, Gelo came out with Bubba, who was also angry and fighting to get out of Gelo's hold.
My bubba was a big, big man, but Gelo was a famous monster hunter and knew what he was doing. He jumped on Bubba's back and locked his arms around Bubba's neck. Bubba staggered around for a few seconds, then fell to his knees. That's when Gelo changed his hold to a hug and whispered in his ear until Cove went silent.
That made me feel a little calmer, but then a rough growl rattled out of Beta Ty, and my eyes swung over to him. Beta Crew had his arms threaded through Beta Ty's with his fingers locked behind the back of Beta Ty's neck, but Beta Ty was throwing his whole body around to get free and I could tell that Beta Crew was struggling to hold him.
Then Beta Ty half shifted. Gray fur sprouted up all over him, his face narrowed and sharpened into a wolf's, he grew three or four inches taller, and his white dress shirt split apart at the seams as his upper body bulked up.
Half-shifted had all the best parts of the human and all the best parts of the wolf. It was only supposed to be used in real fights against enemies who wanted you dead.
Or you wanted them dead.
Knowing River wanted to kill someone made my heart beat harder and faster, and a funny sound filled my ears. It was like the noise that came from the headphones I had to wear when Bubba took me to the pack clinic for a hearing test the other day, only much louder and more annoying.
"Uh-oh," William said, and his little arms tightened around my head. "Not good, Toro."
"Not good," I agreed and squeezed his legs again.
Wes said River wouldn't hurt us, but Wes was a pup. He could be wrong, and I wanted to bolt out of here. On the other hand, a mad wolf would chase anything that ran. Sure, I was fast, but something told me I couldn't outrun Beta Ty on his worst day and my best, 'specially with River ascendant.
"Calm down, River." Beta Crew had managed to keep his hold on the man-wolf, but now he dangled down River's back. Still, he kept his voice low and soft. "Everything's okay now. Give Ty control back, please."
Why isn't he yelling at him for being a bad boy? I wondered.
By then, Bubba was back in control, and he and Gelo ran over to help Beta Crew.
Reau, are you okay? Bubba linked me. Did I scare you too much?
I'm okay. I'm scared, but not of you, I admitted.
I know River is scary right now, but he would never, ever hurt a pup.
You should yell at him. He is being a bad wolf! I told him.
You can't yell at River. If you do, it upsets him and makes him even crazier.
Oh. I raised my eyebrows. That was good to know.
"It's okay, Riv," Beta Crew crooned in the man-wolf's ear. "Calm down now. Everything's okay."
"Tris and Matthew are dealing with them," Bubba added. "Our luna is safe and happy with the alphas."
"And there are pups behind us and you're scaring them."
River's shaggy head swung in our direction when Gelo said that last part, and I quickly stepped in front of Wes, who still held Winnie in his arms. I wasn't much of a shield if River wanted to eat them, but they were babies and I couldn't not protect them.
But I didn't need to. River's gold eyes widened as he saw us and the wolf light winked out of them in a second. They went back to Beta Ty's clear blue and his body shifted back to human.
"I bet he's glad his pants didn't shred," Wesley snickered, which made William giggle. Hearing William giggle, Winnie giggled, too.
I didn't feel like giggling, but my shoulders loosened up a bit.
"All good now, kid?" Beta Crew asked in a gentle voice.
How is he still so calm?! My heart's beating so hard and fast, I think it's going to 'splode!
"Yeah. Sorry," Beta Ty mumbled as he pulled off the scraps of his shirt.
Bright red stained his cheeks and splotched down his neck, where it stopped right above a thick pink scar running across the left side of his chest.
"What's wrong with him?" I asked William, wishing the buzzing in my ears would go away. "He's turning all red."
"He's embarrassed. He doesn't like anyone to see him naky."
"He's not naked," Wes argued, "and it's his scars he doesn't like people to see."
Scars?
I tilted my head as I looked at Beta Ty again.
Along with the one on his chest, there was a thick pink line on his belly and another one that started above his hip and disappeared into the waistband of his pants.
What could have made those? I wondered.
It was very hard to scar a wolf shifter. Our wolves could heal nearly anything and even regrow a tooth or limb! I should know. I'd had some scary-bad ouchies in the last four years, and I didn't have a single scar on me.
"Che due coglioni (What the fuck)!" Gelo shouted, his eyes fixed on Beta Ty's back. "Who did that to you, boy? And where can I find them?"
Are there more scars on Beta Ty's back?
"Give him your shirt, Angelo," Bubba muttered.
"He's already dead." Beta Ty shrugged and held up a hand when Angelo took off his suit coat. "And I can get a shirt from the clothing closet."
"I'll fetch it for you, Beta Ty," Wes called out and set Winnie back on his feet. "Toro, you can put William down now. I'll be right back."
He took off running, and I put William down like he told me to. Then the little boys surprised me; they each wrapped themselves around one of my legs and hugged them.
"You okay, Toro?" Winnie asked.
"I'm fine," I told him, my eyes not leaving Beta Ty.
"You're shaking," William said. "You don't need to be scared. River would never hurt us."
I put one hand on each of their backs and patted them gently. They were such sweet pups to worry about me.
"Reau?"
Beta Ty took a step toward me, and I took a step back, dragging the little boys with me. Something flashed in Beta Ty's eyes and his mouth flattened into a thin line, but he didn't try to come closer, and that was fine with me.
"I'm sorry River scared you," he said slowly and clearly. "Some boys said mean things about luna and it made him mad. He wanted to punish them. When I wouldn't let him, he threw a tantrum."
"Who would say mean things about luna?" I made an angry face. "They must be very bad boys!"
"Elijah Ford and Bridger Donohue. And yeah, they are very bad boys," Beta Ty muttered. "I'm going to hand them their butts at fighter practice tomorrow."
"If they have any butts left," Bubba snorted. "Matthew's chewing Bridger a new one and Tris is doing the same with Elijah."
"Sorry I couldn't get Riv calmed down fast enough to keep him from half-shifting," Beta Crew said.
"Not your fault or your responsibility." Beta Ty shrugged and some of the red faded out of his skin. "Thank you all for your help. I couldn't get control of him. I wasn't prepared for how strong his reaction would be when it came to protecting luna, even if it was only from stupid comments made by idiots."
By then, Wes was back with a gray t-shirt and he handed it to Beta Ty, who took it with a quiet thanks.
"Any time, kid. We'll always help you." Bubba slapped a hand on Beta Ty's back, making him stumble forward a foot or so, and Beta Ty glared up at him, which made Bubba chuckle.
Rolling his eyes, Beta Ty jammed his hands into the shirt sleeves and pushed them up his arms. When he raised his arms to stick his head through the neck opening, I took a chance to look at his back, curious to see what had made Gelo shout like that, and gasped.
His back, shoulders, and upper arms were covered in scars. Some were short and others were long, but they all stood up on his skin like fat, pink worms.
I didn't know what could have made them, but I did know that he must have been in a lot of pain.
Carefully untangling the little boys from my legs, I walked over to Beta Ty and waited until he had the t-shirt pulled down.
"Did you have a mean Mommy Daddy, too?" I asked very softly.
He blinked a couple of times, then cut his eyes over at Bubba for a few seconds before he looked back at me.
"Yeah, buddy, I did. My dad. But like I told Gelo, he's dead. Has been for a long time now."
"Did you have a Binda to get you away from him? And do you have a Bubba who takes care of you now?"
He doesn't know who Binda is, honey, Bubba linked me, but I ignored him, wanting to hear Beta Ty's answer.
"Alpha Jayden's wolf, Quartz, saved me, and the alphas watch out for me, but I take care of myself now."
"I'm sorry your Mommy Daddy hurt you." I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him.
"I'm sorry your Mommy Daddy hurt you, too," he whispered as he hugged me back. "And I'm sorry River scared you. I'll shift sometime and let you meet him if you want. He's really a big, sweet baby when he's not in a temper."
"You'll let me meet your wolf?" My head popped up and I stared up at him with wide eyes. "Yes, please! I love fluffy animals!"
"Well, he certainly is that," Beta Crew chuckled. "I don't know why, but River is the fluffiest wolf in the pack. Smoke, Bram Merriweather's wolf, is close, but River is definitely our resident floof."
"Yeah, Toro! River's a floof!" William screeched.
Then he grabbed Winnie's hand and they ran back to the playground with Wes trailing behind them.
"I never met a floof before!" Grinning, I stopped hugging Beta Ty so I could jump up and down.
"Then I'll come over tomorrow morning, if that's okay with you, Em? I don't need to be anywhere until fighter practice at one."
"You know you're always welcome at our place, pup." Bubba caught Beta Ty in a headlock and gave him a noogie, which made me giggle.
"Don't make me show you up in front of your mate!"
"As if you could," Bubba scoffed and dug his knuckles harder into Beta Ty's head.
"Bubba! Let my friend alone! He is going to show me a floof tomorrow!" I shouted.
"All right, all right, baby brother." Bubba let Beta Ty go, then put his arm around Gelo's waist. "Don't get your panties in a twist."
I stared at him and tilted my head to one side.
"What are you talking about? What are panties? And how do I twist them?"
Instead of answering me, all of them laughed at me!
Losing my patience with them, I ran off to play some more before it was time to go home.
They weren't lying about River.
He was a floof.
Right after breakfast the next morning, he showed up at our back door, and he was exactly what Beta Ty said he was: a big, sweet baby! He couldn't talk very well, but I could understand him, so it didn't matter.
"You are so cute!" I squealed as I laid next to him on the living room floor and petted his super fluffy gray hair. "If you were my wolf, I'd never stop petting you!"
"If he were your wolf, you wouldn't be able to pet him at all," Leo pointed out from where he sat on the couch.
Gelo had asked him to supervise us until Bubba was ready to leave for work, then he and Bubba disappeared back upstairs, which made Leo snicker, but I didn't mind because it meant more floof for me and no one else!
"Do you want to stay here with me forever?" I asked as I rubbed River's ears.
Me stay? Me stay wif Toro?
I giggled as his baby voice.
"You shouldn't have asked him that, buddy. He can't stay here. Beta Ty has a home of his own to go back to."
"No, he doesn't," I argued with Leo. "Bubba said he lives at the pack orfig— Ornig— Orf-something where kids with no family live."
"Orphanage." Leo slowed it down so I could hear the syllables. "Oh. I didn't know that. Sorry, Beta Ty."
"So see? He can move here. He needs a home."
Me not need home, River disagreed. Me birfday in two days, den can find mate. Ty-Ty say home is wif mate.
"You're going to be eighteen? Oh, boy!" I gave River a big hug. "I hope you find your mate really soon!"
I didn't know much about the mating process, but I knew you had to find one first, and that didn't always happen as soon as a shifter became an adult. Some had to wait a long time. Bubba was twenty, so he'd only had to be patient for two years before the Moon Goddess gave him Gelo, but Leo was twenty-four. He'd been searching for his mate for six whole years now!
Tank you, Toro! River stood up and began to hop around.
"It's so exciting!" I got to my feet, too, and hopped with him, ignoring Leo as he told us to stop before we broke something.
Yep-yep! Me find mate, den home, den have pups. Me want pups, Toro! Lots and lots of pups!
"Oh? Is that how it works?" I stopped jumping up and down to look at Leo. "Pups are made when you find your mate?"
"You don't have to right away," he muttered as his ears turned pink. "You can wait."
"Meeting your mate doesn't make a pup?" I asked, and River tilted his head as he waited for the answer, too.
"Of course meeting doesn't make a pup!" Leo rolled his eyes. "If you're Goddess-given mates, heat activates in the female. Once a year, she'll go into heat, which is the only time she can get pregnant. If you're chosen mates, she goes through a cycle every month like a human and can get pregnant during that time."
"Ooo! I know what pregnant means!" I opened and closed my hands really fast, proud of myself for 'membering. "I asked Bubba and he 'splained it! A boy puts a pup in a girl's belly, and it grows in there for nine months, then it comes out. My brother Whit put a pup in Sabine's belly and baby Dean came out!"
How boy put pup in girl belly? River asked before I could. Me want Ty-Ty put pup in mate belly!
"Oh. Well, um, you have to go through the mating process," Leo mumbled.
River and I cut our eyes at each other for a second, then we looked back to him.
"What happens during the mating—"
"Hey, I have a great idea!" Leo jumped to his feet, and his ears were really red now. "Let's go outside! It's not too hot yet, and the grass is probably dry by now. Ruby would enjoy stretching his legs, so you three could have races in the backyard. How does that sound?"
"Yay!" I cheered.
Yay! River yodeled.
Yay! Ruby sang out.
"Take River to the kitchen until I shift, Reau," Leo said. "You can put your sneakers on while you wait, okay?"
"Okay!"
So River and I ran out of the living room to do what he said and forgot all about pups and how they were made.