Chapter 29
Eran
Guardians of Glitter Bomb
The next morning, we started preparing for the time when Vatten would be in his dog form and for the birth and tiny lives of our five children.
Three puppies and two kittens. I turned that information over and over in my head as we had breakfast. I’d gotten up early and cooked for Vatten because now that I knew he was eating for six I felt as if a whole deer a day wouldn’t have been enough nutrients for him.
Would the kittens stay in kitten form as toller puppies did?
Would they be different? All of my siblings shifted into human form fairly quickly and back again as if they had little control over which form they were in and just chose the one that was most convenient for whatever they were trying to obtain.
News got around fast that Vatten was pregnant and that I had tackled Philip in Jade’s office.
Public opinion was mixed between I should’ve taken a swipe and how dare I assault a territory-wide treasure.
As for Philip? He didn’t seem phased either way as he posted daily photos of himself sitting outside Jade’s playroom.
He captioned the photos ‘have a problem with equity come fight me.’
Vatten still hadn’t wrapped his head around why people were mad.
“So, what if their wolf pup climbed up and jumped off in line with the flying kid? Wouldn’t they get hurt? Are they mad their children aren’t allowed to break themselves?” Vatten asked.
We were over at Jade’s watching Jondi splash around his above ground pool in his otter form.
Over the past few days, we’d set up an area just for him and the babies while they were still shifted.
We purchased a few nice cribs from Alesky who hand carved them and made a lot of ‘just in case’ purchases for the babies.
I hoped that once the awkwardness passed that Vatten and Jade would get along.
Jade could always use more friends and with Vatten being stuck in dog form I’d like the possibility of at least having Jade and Jondi to come visit.
“They’d be big mad then,” Jade rolled his eyes.
“I don’t even let Jondi play there because he doesn’t fly.
Literally filled a need. I have parents bringing their kids there to learn to fly or to get over their fear of heights so that they can fly.
I should’ve called it a flying school or something. ”
Vatten rested his hands on his belly and frowned.
In about an hour, he had his first private session with Gooseberry.
Now that the non-shifting dog had been informed that there was a plan in place to get the evil lady out of the well, he’d chilled out a bit but didn’t like Tarabell leaving his sight.
The latter behavior seemed perfectly normal to me.
Why wouldn’t he choose a humanoid to follow around?
Wasn’t that what pets did? Hell, I hadn’t stopped following Vatten around since my rut.
Hell, today would be the first time we spent longer apart than a few minutes since starting our matingmoon.
I offered to walk Vatten across the farm to meet with Gooseberry but he declined.
“You’d just have to walk back over here,” he laughed. “It’s a private session. I need to get him settled in before I’m dog bound. Private means private. Even non-shifting animals know if something is private or not.”
I kissed him goodbye and everything inside me ached to follow him.
“Never thought I’d see you have it that bad for someone,” Jade said, leaning on the porch banister as Jondi drowned his toy duck at the bottom of the four-foot, above ground pool.
I opened my mouth and shut it. I almost said that it was different. He knew that. Everyone said that about their true-mate but no one could understand it unless they went through it.
“It wasn’t an insult,” Jade said, glancing at me for a brief second before gluing his eyes back to Jondi. “It was a fact.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I said.
“You sound so much like a therapist. You know most people just make something up, right?” he laughed.
“Well, I did get my masters after all,” I shrugged. “Plus, I care if I sound insensitive or like an asshat.”
“That’s why we’re still friends,” he said. “I mean, I guess you don’t have to do Pheromone Swap now. I always hated when you did that.”
“I know,” I nodded. “Never wanted to give you hope like what happened in college. Some people make better friends than lovers.”
“Yep because some lions are too territorial and demanding,” he said and I sighed. “Now, you’re a cat following him everywhere.”
“I don’t know if that’s a fair comparison,” I said not looking at him. “We were young and I worried about you. I still worry about you. You do a lot.”
“You helped a lot,” he said.
“And now Vatten and I still will. Our matingmoon isn’t what to judge the future on. It’s like when I went to London. We were still friends and you knew I’d be around when I got back.”
“Five kids,” he said.
“Hell, maybe you can come over and help,” I said and bumped him with my shoulder.
“I don’t want to be eaten by your mate.”
“Eh, I think as long as we do things his way, we’ll be okay. It’s not that different than having a pregnant Evie around. Except he’s a lot sweeter,” I teased.
“You know I’ll help how I can, right? Are you guys really going to try to live in the apartment with five kids?”
“Not forever,” I shook my head. “Vatten feels like there isn’t enough time to build a house and move before he goes into dog mode.”
“Eh, Kieran, you know that once it’s decided where and what we could have it up in a long weekend, right?”
“I know. I’ve been a part of pulling that off many times.”
“Does Vatten know that?” he asked.
“I’ve told him. He just doesn’t feel safe enough to do that. Plus, well, the well lady,” I rolled my eyes.
“Speaking of that. I rented a cabin up in water dragon territory by the lake for Jondi and me for the night of and the night after. I don’t want anything scarring Jondi any more than he’s already been scarred. You two should come with us. He’s like a duck dog, right?”
“A Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever,” I nodded.
“May do him some good to be near the water. I bet Diamond isn’t going to let Bree stay around here either.”
“Eh, no, she’s staying. I talked to Bernard last night.
Apparently, Nashen is really pregnant. Like big pregnant and he doesn’t feel safe traveling that far,” I said.
“So, they’re staying because Diamond won’t leave Bernard and Nashen alone with the possibility of the egg smasher somehow sneaking out. ”
“Eggs?” Jondi popped up the stairs as a soaking wet little boy with hair plastered to his face still wearing jeans, a blue t-shirt, and his sneakers.
“You didn’t take your shoes off, buddy?” Jade sighed.
“Don’t like bare feet,” Jondi shook his head.
“How about I boil some eggs while you two go and dry off?” I offered.
“Make the yokes hard. Not explode-y!” Jondi said.
“Got it! Explode all the eggs!” I said and Jondi laughed.
Jade, on the other hand, flashed me a look that said one exploded egg in his kitchen and he’d use my fur to clean it up.