Chapter 37
Vatten
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
It was another week before our house was ready to be moved into.
I didn’t mind so much as long as I was with Eran.
We spent our days together and he taught me how to use his sewing machine.
We made up some of our own little quilted blankets for the babies to pass the time.
All the while we listened to rumors that Clarence and Medwin were almost done working on their secret Burrow project.
The morning of our move, I woke up rather shorter than I expected.
I stretched out, longing to rub my cold toes all over Eran’s eternally warm feet.
Only I couldn’t reach them. I got his side instead.
He rolled over and wrapped an arm around me.
He nuzzled into my fur. Wait?! Fur! I was in dog form.
“Shall I call them off?” he mumbled in his sleep.
“Do you think they’ll freak out?” I asked.
“Why would they freak out? Are you going to bite them or pee on them to mark territory or something?” he blinked his sleepy eyes open.
“Because I’m stuck like this.”
“In your adorable toller form?” he arched a brow and yawned.
“Make all your jokes, but you’re the one who either has to hold me over the toilet or carry me down to the street to pee,” I said.
“Your wish is my command,” he sat up and stretched. “What? You thought you’d freak me out? Kittens often learn to use litter boxes before potty chairs or toilets. The only question that remains is, are we still moving? If not, I should call them off so they can all go back to bed.”
“Can you get me down the stairs and into the truck and then into the house?” I asked. “I know I can walk, but I don’t think I could climb into the truck if my life depended on it. I’m too big. It looks like I swallowed a dragon egg.”
“I can get you wherever you need to be, love,” Eran said.
“Then if everyone will be okay with me not helping, let’s move.”
“If they’re not okay with it, I’ll sic Evie on them,” Eran let out a sleepy laugh. “Let’s pee because I need coffee before I deal with all these people. I’d much rather just stay in bed with you.”
***
I was surprised at how many people showed up to help us move.
I was extra surprised at how many people brought snacks and how they rotated in and out of keeping me company while things were loaded up for the move.
In the end, I got what felt like the royal treatment.
I rode down in the elevator with Eran, Evie, and three of her lioness daughters.
If a pregnant dog wasn’t safe surrounded by lionesses, he was never going to be safe.
We rode to the farm in the back of Evie’s veterinary van where I could stretch out and rest my head on Eran’s lap.
His sire drove his truck to the farm so that he wouldn’t have to come back for it later.
It wasn’t as nice as sticking my head out the window into the wind (before it hated me) but it was the coziest ride I ever took from the city to the farm.
It was the sort of luxury a pregnant dog could get used to.
Eran massaged my ears all the way there.
Once we were there, Evie opened the back door, so we had a nice breeze that smelled like grass and all the people and animals who lived on Canton Valley Farm.
We hung out and ate sandwiches while everyone carried our stuff inside.
Part of me wondered if they thought we were just being lazy, but maybe this was supposed to be my lazy era.
My body had already changed into dog form so that I could conserve energy to finish growing my babies.
When everything was inside, Eran wiggled out from under me and then lifted me from the van.
I could’ve made the walk myself but there was something romantic about him carrying me over the threshold of our new home.
Evie took me straight into the en suite bathroom to show me that someone had thought ahead and installed a dog me level urinal for when I was stuck in this form.
It was one of the best gifts I’d ever received.
When everyone else had cleared out, Eran and I took up our normal evening spot on our sofa and ordered a pizza.
I was amazed any delivery person was willing to drive in from town to bring food this far out but we got our pizza.
Then the next night we ordered subs from this place called Sandy’s.
It seemed whatever my pregnancy made me crave the farm or the GGB had the answer for it.
After moving, our life settled into a new normal that involved lots of food and naps.
While I napped, Eran worked on making toys or double-checking things for the babies.
Jade and Jondi came by a lot and we all quickly learned that the easiest way to get the five-year-old down for a nap was for someone furry to be asleep nearby.
It almost always lulled him into curling up too.
He liked to poke at my belly and count to five over and over again as if he knew where each of my little ones were.
We talked him through how long it would take for the babies to get here and how things would be a little different for a while because babies didn’t like to be touched a whole lot.
“I don’t like most people touching me either,” he whispered to me in that shouty way young children had. “I’d like to bite them.”
The day I started pacing, Jacand showed up and Jade kept Jondi home.
Jacand’s trip was planned for a long weekend to give him a break from his younger siblings.
He came bearing food and snacks from his parents but also several large pizzas.
That evening I alternated between eating nibbles of the pizza and pacing the whole house like I could walk the babies straight out of me.
“He’s really panting,” Jacand said to Eran.
“That’s normal. Other shifter types do it too,” Eran assured him.
“Really?” Jacand asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I imagine you’re rather warm when your body is gearing up for the fight of a lifetime. Speaking of which, when that starts, you’re going over to Jade’s. If it goes on long enough, you can hang out with Jondi while Jade checks in.”
“Why do I get sent away like a kitten?” he asked, his facial expression matching perfectly that kitten he claimed he wasn’t.
“It has nothing to do with your age. It’s up to Vatten and if you start bugging him about it, I’ll bite your ear and call Sire to come get you. It’s his body, his labor, and his choice.”
“What if he sent you away?” Jacand crossed his arms.
“I’d wait outside the door for him to bark for me,” Eran shrugged. “There’s no catch or gotcha. It’s literally something intimate and private and he gets to share it or not share it as he pleases. If you were a few years older, I’d bap you a few good ones, but maybe no one ever told you that.”
Jacand was quiet for a minute and then nodded. “Tell me when because I don’t know what start really means. I know where babies come from and stuff but…”
“I will tell you,” Eran said and bumped his shoulder into his little brother’s.