Chapter 11
Beryl
The Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
I’d tossed out probably a hundred rocks and twice that many pebbles from the pond but none of them had faces.
At least not faces I could discern. Each rock tossed onto the muddy bank made me a little bit more pissed off.
I was out here spelunking for a rock that looked just like every other rock in the world.
“Maybe we can give the kid all the rocks and it’ll make up the difference,” my dragon chimed into my thoughts.
I didn’t think Jade would go for that but I had a bloody good mind of where to tell Jade to stick all these rocks.
We hadn’t even had a proper conversation and he was already making demands.
Bree didn’t demand Mum to go on some fool’s errand when they met.
Medwin didn’t have Clarence spelunking around in a pond for some trinket without so much as a proper hello.
I hadn’t realized I was muttering to myself until a little voice reached my ears.
“I thought you were looking for my rock,” the kid from the night before said. “Not a trinket.”
“I—” I took a deep breath and let it out.
Whatever was going on between me and Jade wasn’t the kid’s fault.
He stood by the pond with his arms crossed and I was about to tell him that I knew what I was looking for when it hit me that this little brat probably snuck out again. “Does your daddy know you’re out here?”
“No,” he shook his head. “My daddy left and my uncles are asleep. I’m hungry. So I came to look for my dad.”
“Wake your uncles up then,” I said.
“They need their sleep. I can wait. Daddy said he was coming to talk to you and never came home,” he said, his little eyes narrowing on me. “Did you eat him?”
“No, I most certainly did not. I am not Ferrick.”
“I know. You’re an alpha,” he said and rolled his eyes. “Why are you so mad? You were mad when you were watching me too. I smelled it.”
“That’s complicated,” I said.
“What’s that mean?” he asked.
“Means there are many complex reasons – that means—hard to explain. Many hard to explain reasons as to why I was mad. I wasn’t mad at you,” I said. “I thought you were a wild otter having fun while all us nutjobs were in bed.”
“It’s not nice to call people nutjobs,” he frowned at me.
“It was a joke,” I frowned back at him. “Anyone ever told you that you’re way too serious for a kid?”
“They call me a lot of things. Nutjob is one of them,” he sighed.
I cocked my head to the side with the nagging urge to slam someone against the wall.
“Who calls you a nutjob?” I asked, keeping my voice level.
If anyone was a nutjob it was me. I was the one standing waist deep in the pond trying to have a serious conversation with a little kid.
“The kids at school. Sometimes adults. I don’t like it.”
I let out another long, slow breath and rubbed the bridge of my nose.
“I don’t like it because it hurts my feelings,” he went on explaining.
“I’m not mad at you, buddy. You’re right. It’s not nice to call people nutjobs and I didn’t mean it that way. I meant for a wild otter shifters must seem strange.”
“Not strange,” he shook his head. “Just different. Everyone is different,” he shrugged. “So, why were you mad?”
The kid wasn’t giving up on that question, was he?
“It’s an adult thing,” I said, hoping that would end the conversation and that he’d go back to his house where he belonged until his dad came home. I glanced around wondering where Jade got off to after he shoved me into the pond.
Instead, the kid walked closer and put his hands on his knees, staring into the water.
“I see my rock,” he said, his eyes lighting up.
“How can you see anything down in this water?” I asked.
“I’m an otter,” he shrugged and pulled off his shoes.
He tossed them behind him one at a time before splashing into the pond.
I moved forward, intent on stopping him before he got wet, but he shrank down into his otter form too quickly for me to catch him.
Then he swam around my legs and picked up a rock that was about two inches in front of my left foot.
I’d been right by the stupid thing for probably ten minutes now.
He swam up, breaking the surface of the water and holding his rock in his little otter hand.
Floating on his back, he turned his rock this way and that and then traced its indents that made up two eyes and a mouth.
He hugged the rock to his chest before swimming to the edge of the pond and climbing out.
A second later, he was once again a drenched little boy.
“Will you come and cook breakfast? I’m not allowed to use the stove,” he scrunched up his nose. “I would go to the fishpond…. But Canton doesn’t like it when I eat his fish. He’s sort of stingy with them. Said they were for looking at but I think he eats them at night when no one is around.”
“I think that your dad wouldn’t like to come home and find me in the house,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
“He said he’d talk to you when you found the rock and I have the rock,” he said, holding it out for me to see.
“I don’t—” I stopped myself. Whatever problems this kid had or didn’t have he didn’t need whatever weirdness that was going on between me and his dad added to the list.
“Do you just want to stay in the pond? Were you mad last night because I was in the pond and you wanted to play in it?” he asked.
“No, that’s not why I was mad,” I laughed.
“Then why? And why won’t you cook breakfast? Did your mummy not teach you to cook? Your mummy is the octopus dragon lady, right?”
“My mum is her mate,” I said, answering the last question, fearing he might keep firing away at me if I didn’t sneak in and answer at least one.
“Oh. She’s nice. I watch her sometimes. She’s always bringing home food. Does she bring you food too? Is that why you don’t know how to cook?”
“I do too know how to cook.”
“Oh, okay,” he glanced down at his muddy bare feet. “You just don’t want to cook for me. That’s alright. I’ll go home now. Have fun swimming.”
He started to walk away, and I called out for him to stop. Why was this kid intent on making me feel like a jackass?
“Yeah?” he sniffled as I waded out of the pond.
“Your dad really hasn’t made it home yet?” I asked him.
“No,” he said, not turning around.
“Have you checked where he’s at over the family link? Can you do that?” I asked and the next thing I know my ear drums threatened to explode as a single bark sounded, followed by a screaming that was made to scare the dead back into their graves.
“Uh-oh!” the boy said, smelling sheepish as he sprinted off in the direction of his house. On the back porch stood a brown dog screaming like he might eat me and the souls of my unborn children. I didn’t speak dog, but I knew a threat when I heard one. Still, I followed the kid.
The dog leapt down the steps and pushed the kid behind him, still screaming at me. A second later, a man erupted from the house in just pajama pants.
“Beryl?” Eran called out, shielding his eyes from the sun.
Eran and Bernard were roommates at one point. I’d only met him once or twice, but it was a good thing he remembered me.
“Why do you have Jondi?” he asked.
“I came out looking for Dad,” Jondi said as the dog finally stopped screaming.
“Jondi, go inside with Uncle Vatten and help him check on the babies, please,” Eran said and I fought off the urge to roll my eyes.
“Okay! I found my rock, though! He can come in!”
“No, he’s not,” Eran said. “Not in those wet clothes! You need to change too.”
“I will! My pool still has bite marks, though,” Jondi said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
When Jondi was gone, Eran looked me up and down as if searching me for weapons.
“I didn’t lure him out of the house if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said.
“No, Jondi likes the pond. He wanted his dad and his rock. I’m surprised you were looking for it at all from the things I’ve heard recently,” Eran said, crossing his arms and looking more like his sire than ever before.
“I… I don’t have to explain myself to you,” I said.
“No, you don’t, but if you break Jade’s heart, you better run. Not from me. There are bigger cats who’d love to cook your flank and serve it up to him.”
“Why is everyone intent on eating me?” I asked.
“Because you’ve upset Jondi and Jade. They’re family,” he said and then it hit me.
This guy had slept with my mate. My dragon reared up on his hind legs and fire scorched up my throat.
It escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
My dragon had all he could take of whatever craziness Canton Valley Farm grew.
A blur of motion and a wing slapped it away.
I landed on my back hard with a lion on top of me.
I almost shoved it off because I was tired of lions knocking me over but then his scent hit me.
This was Jade in his winged lion form. He snarled, his lips curling up to show his long, sharp teeth.
He shifted back still pinning me to the ground.
“If you ever hurt Eran over some petty jealous bullshit we will never be together,” he growled, holding my face in his hands. “Jondi, Jade, the twins, Vatten and Eran – their babies, these are my people, my family. That is not how we handle feelings in this family!”
“I’m not a kid! Don’t talk to me like that!” I growled back.
“You could’ve fooled me with the way you’ve acted today!” Jade growled.
“If you already had a boyfriend, you should’ve said something! This makes a whole lot more sense now!”
Jade roared, tossing his head back toward the sky. His scent turned frustrated and for a moment I thought he might actually eat my face with his human teeth. Phantom fur played across my skin.