CHAPTER FIVE #2
“You did it!” Vallis said, sitting down on his butt and cradling my furry face in his hands.
He kissed my nose and I almost headbutted, wanting him to shift but stopped short.
I wasn’t sure I could shift into a human right now if I wanted to and I didn’t want him to expend more energy than was necessary.
I wanted him here for as long as possible because this was only the first step in a long journey.
I let my eyes drift closed as he scratched and rubbed my fur. I leaned into his touch, reveling in his soft warmth and how close he felt now that we were both out of body. He kissed my nose again and leaned back.
“Back in you go. It takes more energy than you think at first and I don’t want you exhausted,” he said.
I almost protested but realized if there was going to be kissing and stuff, I’d need my energy.
Going back was quicker than getting out.
I came to on the sofa, blinking my eyes and yawning.
My limbs felt heavy and warm. I wanted to kiss Vallis but with each blink it grew harder to hold my eyes open.
When I woke the next morning, still on the sofa, Vallis was gone. I was hard and slick and burning up.
“Fuck a duck,” I swore under my breath and slung a sofa pillow across the room.
“I’m not that horny yet. It’s heat not prion disease. Ducks are food, not fucks,” my bear rambled off into my thoughts, laughing at his own joke.
I grabbed my phone and sent Dad a quick text.
ME: I need you not to tell them and I need you to come first and I need a fast-acting heat shot.
“If you use the word ‘and’ one more time the guards are going to come and arrest you for word abuse,” my bear chimed off into my thoughts like my internal editor.
DAD: I won’t tell them but they have noses, huh? I’ll see what I can do about getting there before them. You could ask Barry. He won’t tell them. There you have healer patient confidentiality. He’s not married to your sire and your carrier.
ME: I know Grandpa would help me but what is the point of having all these parents working in midwifery if not this? (I am whining!)
I ended the text with a line of howling wolf head emojis. I wasn’t a wolf but I could howl with the best of them.
DAD: I said I’d do it! Sheesh! Howl! Howl! Howl!
I laughed and put my phone aside. I had cereal for an early breakfast because I knew if I didn’t eat something before the shot I’d spend the rest of the day feeling like I might throw up all over everyone. That wouldn’t be a great first impression on my incoming guest.
True to his word, Dad, known to the rest of the world as Ivan, showed up a full three hours earlier than my sire and carrier under the pretense that he wanted to stop in and chat with Grandpa Barry.
They did know each other back in the day and back in that place where people weren’t people.
I had to shake that thought away before it reached him.
We all had enough on our minds without dredging up a past I wasn’t even alive for.
“You okay, kiddo?” he asked as I rested on the sofa, wondering if this would be the time I had a reaction to the fast-acting heat shot.
Some sort of allergic reaction wasn’t uncommon, but the formula had been improved in recent years.
I’d never had a bad reaction to them and hoped it stayed that way.
“Yeah.”
“I meant besides the shot,” Dad asked, flopping down into the nearby armchair. “You smell… Off. Not heat off either. Like something’s on your mind. Your carrier hasn’t gotten inside your head about all this Mated for the Holidays stuff has he?”
“Not really,” I shook my head even though that would’ve been a good cover up.
“It’s just that you were excited about it before. Excited enough that you two argued over it,” he said.
“Eh, I don’t want to argue with him.”
“He doesn’t want to argue with you either,” he shrugged. “It’s part of getting older and individuating. Everyone goes through it. It’s part of finding out who you are as a separate person from the people who raised you. It puts you in a state of both belonging but also being who you are.”
“Didn’t I do that when I moved here?” I laughed, happy for a change of subject to give me a few seconds relief from worrying about Vallis.
“You started it then but it’s an ongoing process,” he nodded.
“We live long lives. I think it’s a process that happens over and over.
It’s like we’re always correcting for balance.
We don’t want to be too far from the group but we still want to be our own person.
Plus, if you are worried about this guy, I’ll be around. If the vibes are off, I’ll sock him.”
“Don’t get into a fight,” I laughed.
“I’m not. I’ll put a giant sock over his head,” Dad laughed, resorting to humor as he’d done for as long as I could remember. “Just remember what I said when you started dating.”
“If they don’t know the meaning of no take their balls as a trophy?”
“That’s my boy!” he grinned and got up to get more coffee from the kitchen.