Chapter Six #2
Behind the counter Emmett couldn’t contain his laughter anymore. Around Rhys everyone started cracking up.
“She really does know you,” Rian said.
“It was the ‘psychotic midget’ comment that gave it away huh?” Abby laughed.
“You’re not funny.” Rebecca pouted.
“Go ahead and let the bottom lip stick out, chickie. Remember, you and I shared a room for four years. I know how you think, which is exactly why I am scared for paranormals everywhere.” Abby grabbed another fry.
“She’s actually helped us come together. She’s doing a great job,” Sebastian interjected.
Rebecca blew kisses in his direction.
Rhys couldn’t help but agree. Rebecca had her zany moments, but she had done a lot of good. He would forever be in her debt for saving him.
Abby turned to face Sebastian and whatever she was going to say died on her lips. “Oh my god your baby is so freaking cute!” she gushed.
Sebastian sat up straighter and turned his body so that Lucian was more visible. “He takes after his fathers,” Sebastian said happily.
Abby nodded then stopped. “Huh?”
“I’m a hybrid. I gave birth to Lucian. My mates are Kent and Liam.” Sebastian indicated the two men sitting on either side of him.
Abby’s eyes bugged out a little.
Everyone around the room made their introductions. Rebecca stood up and went to Ma who handed Aidhan over to her. She walked back over to the table and handed him to Abby.
“Hello Aunt Abby, my name is Aidhan, pleased to meetcha,” Rebecca said in a high-pitched voice.
Rhys watched as Abby’s eyes filled. She lay Aidhan down on her legs and let him wrap both hands around either one of her forefingers. He cooed and giggled.
“Oh, Rebecca, he is perfect and look at those eyes. He has your eyes.” Abby sniffed and leaned forward to blow raspberries on his tummy.
“Rhys, I’d like you to meet one of my oldest friends, Abigail Wright. Abby, this is Rhys. He belongs to the local vampire coven and has the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard.”
Rhys smiled at Abby. The woman smiled back at him. Leave it to Rebecca to notice that he had stayed in the background.
“Hybrids and vampires. How long have you been Alpha Mother?” she asked. Rebecca thought about it for a second.
“Coming up on a year.”
“Well, it looks like I’m moving to Arkadia.” Abby sighed.
Rebecca perked up. “Really!”
“Yes, really. Did you honestly think I was going to leave you here by yourself to have all the fun? Besides you’ll need help in your lab. I bet Meg will want in on it too.” Abby made funny faces at Aidhan.
Rebecca started to look nervous at the mention of a lab. “Lab? What lab?” Rebecca asked with a nervous laugh.
Rhys watched as Abby took in Rebecca’s anxious expression and Aleks’s frown. “Right. Well, if you don’t have one, we need one. I can continue to do small trips here and there but I would need a lab to do my research.”
“That’s cool, I’m sure we can work something out,” Rebecca said, letting out a breath.
“Becca, baby, I thought you weren’t allowed in labs?” Aleks asked, still looking concerned.
Rhys was torn between wanting to see what this tiny woman could come up with and being terrified of living in any proximity to her lab.
“Arkadia is off the grid. The US government can’t see me here, so I can work in a lab.”
Abby laughed. “Meg purged your records last year. So, you’re good.” She handed Aidhan back to Rebecca, who cuddled him close.
“Awesome! I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.”
“Working on?” Aleks asked.
“In theory only, baby,” Rebecca said, and shared a look with Abby.
“Oh, okay.” Aleks nodded.
“Did she ever tell you about her napalm experiment?” Abby asked Aleks.
His eyes went wide.
“Ix-nay on the A-palm-nay!” Rebecca hissed.
“Or how about the bioluminescent rectal lubrication she invented?” Abby smiled slyly at Rebecca who began choking on her french fry.
Aleks scooped up Aidhan with one hand and pounded her on the back with the other.
“The what?” Bethany asked, leaning forward.
“Please, please let me tell, please!” Abby begged.
“Fine, it is kinda funny,” Rebecca said, after taking a sip of soda.
Abby turned in her chair until she faced most of the diner. Rhys smiled at how animated she seemed.
“Okay, so we all met pipsqueak when we were freshman. All of the other humans instinctively stayed away from Cassandra, Meg, Camille and myself. The four of us stuck together because we had figured out we were the only female shifters on campus. One day this runt comes walking over, sits down and just starts talking. Whatever instinct ‘normal’ humans have that raises the little hairs on the backs of their necks around us, she doesn’t have.
Bold as brass, she just plops on down, compliments Camille on her sweater, snags Meg’s phone to look at her songs, asks to borrow Cassie’s class notes and lays her head in my lap.
We couldn’t get rid of her.” Abby smiled at Rebecca.
“Y’all were always alone, so I figured you needed more friends.” Rebecca shrugged.
“After a while it became apparent that this tiny human had adopted us, but we quickly figured out she wasn’t like the normal vapid humans at school. One day we were walking across the quad after lunch when Rebecca here spots the swim team harassing this smaller looking guy.
As we get closer we hear that they are calling him names like “Queer Boy” and “Butt Boy.” The cheerleaders are making up gay-bashing cheers and heckling too. The poor kid looked devastated, crying and trying to pick up his books as they kept swatting them out of his hands.
Before Cassie and I could do anything, Tiny Tim over here marches right up to the swim captain and kicks him as hard as she can in the shins.
She starts ranting and raving about how big of a jerk he is and how would he like it if someone made fun of him.
That’s when he loses his temper and open palm slaps her across the face.
Of course she weighs like two pounds so she goes flying.
Cassandra had to restrain Camille, her hands had shifted to claws, so I was the one who went to defend Rebecca, that’s when I saw it for the first time.
When she looked up, she wasn’t crying or even breathing hard.
She stared down the swim captain, I mean stared him down.
Everyone had gotten quiet, and by this time, her just staring at him was starting to freak them out.
She was acting so much like a shifter I thought for sure we had pegged her wrong. The swim captain’s nerve broke and he ran. He freaking ran from her, of course the rest of the team followed and the crowd broke up. That’s when I saw what he had seen.”
“Oh Abby really.” Rebecca sounded exasperated.
“No, seriously. It was the first time I ever saw your ‘baby psycho eyes,’ but not the last.” Abby laughed.
“I do not have baby psycho eyes!” Rebecca protested.
“Yes, you do,” Sebastian, Kate and Nic disagreed.
“See, they know you too, now hush, I’m getting to the good part.” Abby turned back to the crowd.
Rhys leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. This was getting good.
“So, we don’t see munchkin here for like a week. Then, one day she says, ‘I think we should go to the swim meet.’ Of course I’m like, ‘Oh God, what has she done and are the batteries in my video camera charged?’
We all go to the swim meet and this one here keeps checking her watch. All of a sudden the lights go out and all around the pool we see faint glowing objects moving around. Then Rebecca stands up and with a lung capacity I didn’t think someone her size had she yelled, ‘Glow in the dark anal lube!’
She had swapped out her invention to whatever they kept in their sports bags.
The entire crowd goes nuts and the lights come on, just in time to see the mortified faces of the entire swim team.
But, she’s not done yet right. She made sure the swim team captain could see her and she screams, ‘Make fun of homosexuals now, asshole!’
The guys ran to the locker room leaving the girls there crying looking absolutely destroyed.
When they saw the guys bolt, leaving them alone, they ran from the heckling crowd to the girls’ locker room.
That was when we knew that whether she could shift or not this woman right here, was more dangerous than most shifters.
We’ve loved her ever since.” Abby blew kisses at Rebecca, who blew them back.
Rian shook his head. “Why were the girls destroyed? I mean no one likes their business put out there but it’s not that same as being outed, right?” he asked.
Rebecca began laughing hysterically.
“Because it wasn’t their asses lighting up like Christmas trees, they had glow-in-the-dark lipstick,” Abby said between laughing fits.
Rian and Kate gasped.
“Oh my,” Ma murmured.
“Oh my god, that’s terrible and hilarious at the same time. Can I say again, how much I love you?” Rhys managed to get out. He hadn’t laughed this hard in decades.
“Love you too, Rhys,” Rebecca said, wiping her eyes.
“Who loves my mate, and what’s so funny?” Moe asked, walking into the diner.
“God, Moe you missed one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long time.” Rhys used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes.
When he looked up his mate’s nostrils were flaring and raw sexual desire burned in them.
Rhys could smell that Moe was seriously aroused.
He was about to stand and go to his mate when Moe walked past him to Abby.
He scooped her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he didn’t stop his forward advance until he had her pinned against the diner wall.
Behind him he could faintly hear the others yelling directions.
“Rian, Damian, Sebastian, girls, get the babies to Baby Central. There’s no telling how this thing will turn out. They don’t need to see mating sex this young,” Kate said, jumping to her feet.
Aleks handed Aidhan off to Ma. They got the babies to Baby Central and shut the door.