Chapter 12
Jade
The Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
With Ferrick gone to the Other World, I expected to wake up and find that Eran and Vatten took their babies and went home. Not that I wanted to kick them out of the house, but it was clear that Beryl was going to be a jealous ass until I screwed some sense into him or something.
Yawning, I nuzzled against his chest. He still smelled like the pond and grass. It was a scent that had become familiar to me since adopting Jondi. Beryl smelled a bit worried and a little bit sad. The last couple of days had been long and stressful.
“Dad?” Jondi called, walking up to us.
“Oh, baby!” I pushed myself upright. “I’m sorry I was gone so long.”
“It’s okay. Uncle Eran made breakfast. I ate the whole box of fish sticks too. Don’t worry. He baked them. I didn’t eat them frozen this time.”
A couple of months ago I woke up in the middle of the night to him devouring a box of frozen fish sticks.
I had told him then that he could wake me up anytime he was hungry and needed me to cook for him.
He claimed he liked them frozen but with research on otter shifters being so sparse I wasn’t sure how healthy that was for him in either form.
Sure, the company claimed they were all natural, but it was my job to worry about whether or not they were lying.
“Is he still not allowed inside?” Jondi asked, looking down at my sleeping mate. Beryl still had one arm wrapped around me, but the other was sprawled above his head.
“We just fell asleep.”
“Because the bullies are mean,” he nodded. “The bullies at school make me want to nap too.”
“Are they still bothering you, baby?” I asked, doing my best not to frown.
“No, but they’re still there. Them being around makes me sad,” he shrugged. “It’s almost like I can hear them thinking that I’m weird. What are we going to do with him? I don’t want to share my room.”
“Of course, not! That’s your room. He’ll share mine, probably,” I managed to say without laughing.
“He could sleep out here, but he might scare other people. Uncle Eran said that Ferrick was gone,” he said, looking around as if he wasn’t going to believe it until he heard it from me.
I sniffed the air. The farm was a lot less tense.
Gaia had mentioned something about it too before I fell asleep.
At least I thought her name was Gaia. Maybe it was Gia.
I didn’t know anymore. I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand.
The sandwiches I bought earlier in the day still lay in the grass not far from us.
“Uncle Eran said not to eat them because they were in the sun and he didn’t know how long,” Jondi wrinkled his nose up. “He didn’t fix my pool, though. Said the pool needed to retire.”
“He’s probably right,” I said and added replacing Jondi’s kiddie pool to my ever growing to do list.
“Morning?” Beryl said, squinting against the sun as if he wasn’t sure what time of day it was.
“Afternoon,” I said, looking around. “Late-ish afternoon.”
“Is Ferrick really gone?” Jondi asked again, looking around the farm as if Ferrick might spring forth from a blade of grass any second now.
“Yeah, baby,” I said.
I almost reached out to give him a one-armed hug, but I needed a shower since I took a nap on top of a man who smelled like a pond.
“You don’t stink, daddy,” he laughed. “I like how the water smells. It smells like home.”
“I need a shower anyway,” I laughed.
“Does he have to take a bath?” Jondi pointed at Beryl.
“Most definitely.”
“Don’t forget to wash between your toes.
That’s where the dirt hides. If you don’t crabs will move in there,” he said, referring back to a kid’s book we read so long ago that I almost forgot it.
Back when we read it, Jondi wasn’t even talking to me yet.
Only clinging to me as if I was his driftwood lost at sea.
“And don’t play with my bath toys. They’re mine,” Jondi said.
“He’s not using your bathroom,” I said. “That’s all yours.”
“Good. I’m glad you came home.”
“I’ll always come home, kiddo,” I said, pushing myself upright.
Maybe I should’ve stuck around to talk to Beryl, but I needed a shower and to touch base with Eran and Vatten. I also needed to eat something before I really did take a chunk out of someone. I hadn’t eaten since the night before and my lion wasn’t having it. No one wanted to see my lion hangry.
“Too late,” my inner beast sounded off into my thoughts.
***
Jondi played with the babies while I took a shower.
I scrubbed my skin clean under the hot water and then shifted to use the wall-mounted fur scrubber because it felt as if I was the one who swam around in the pond searching for Jondi’s rock.
Sooner or later, I’d need to swing into Franny’s Fur Salon but finding the time to do that was unlikely.
I dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel before grabbing my phone.
I avoided opening any social media app on purpose and just checked my texts from Zevna.
She’d done a sweep of the building as soon as she received the news Ferrick was gone.
Tomorrow we’d open back up. I’d only closed so no one was out and about because of Flight School if shit hit the fan because of Ferrick.
ZEVNA: I’ll handle it tomorrow. From what I’ve heard you have your hands full with a runaway kiddo and Beryl. If he doesn’t mind his manners soon let me know and I’ll flog his ass.
ME: Zev, you’re not a dominatrix anymore.
ZEVNA: Says you, but I’ll use my wings and he won’t like it.
ME: I think it’s complicated for him. I don’t know why but it is. Hell, it’s complicated for me too. Like I just met this dude and want to trust him. That feels like dark magic. Seriously, dark magic. I trusted him to find Jondi’s rock.
ZEVNA: That’s the true-mate response for you.
It makes everyone crazy. You’re on edge because of the trolls, threats, and that damn memoir.
Out of all the true-mates in the universe very few sets end up like Ferrick and Roster.
Besides, if Beryl ran around like that Diamond would castrate him herself.
ME: I’ll probably come in at some point. It doesn’t feel right not to be there with so much going on.
ZEVNA: Amorti is on the guard rotation tomorrow.
We’ll be fine. I swear he has a sixth sense for things.
I never got to tell you but Michael’s daughter, Gretten, got tired of flying and tried to nap midair.
She plummeted and before I even realized what happened Amorti like slid his big bear ass across the room like he was sliding bases at a ball game and caught her.
She laughed her scaley little butt off but she took a decade off my life.
If that guy ever quits the Cuddle Club, we should hire him.
Anyway, why are you texting me instead of climbing Beryl like a tree or whatever you plan to do to him?
ME: Because romping is still low on my to do list.
ZEVNA: Okay, Mister I’m-Going-To-Use-Pheromone-Swap again.
ME: It was simpler than this.
ZEVNA: You’re not happy??
ME: I don’t know how I feel. It’s been a rough start. Like I said I want to trust him but I just met him.
ZEVNA: You better figure it out before the magic takes over. Now, go play or whatever with him. At least talk to the man. I’m making tacos. I’ll send some over to you guys.
ZEVNA: Hey! Wait! Is Eran still there?
ME: Yep.
ZEVNA: Send him home!
ME: I’ll do no such thing! I asked him and Vatten to come and stay.
ZEVNA: Jade, I think sometimes you enjoy the drama.
I didn’t but I also didn’t feel like arguing with her about it again. She said that a lot any time I brought up Eran before he met Vatten.
“Besides, if Eran and Vatten go home, us and Jondi will be alone with Beryl when he comes back,” my lion chimed into my thoughts. “He’s our Alpha but we don’t know him.”
I wanted to bang my head on the wall but that would’ve been a horrible example to set for Jondi. Instead, I dried my hair and pulled it back into a low ponytail before I got dressed. The first thing Eran did when I walked into the living room was offer to load up his brood and go home.
“You can stay another night. I mean it’s almost dinner time already,” I shook my head.
“Or you and Beryl could go to our place. Just don’t use our bed,” Eran offered.
“Nope. I’m okay,” I said.
Eran narrowed his eyes on me as if he was psychoanalyzing me. I hated it when he did that. Sure, he technically went to school to be a therapist, but he was my best friend, and I didn’t want his feedback on a loop.
“What?” I asked, against my better judgement.
“Do you not like him or are you living someone else’s anxieties?
” Eran asked. “You don’t have to answer me.
It’s just something you need to think about for yourself.
We’ll stay another night, but then I’ll be out of clothes and probably kitten formula.
So, we’ll go home tomorrow. I’m not that far away if you need help. ”
“Thanks, Eran,” I said as Jondi popped up out of one of Eran’s diaper bags in his otter form.
He raced out of the bag and grabbed ahold of my pants leg before climbing up me. I held him in my arm as if he was a newborn and he turned his rock this way and that, admiring it.
“What do you want for dinner?” I asked him and he made a little fluid motion with his hand. He wanted what he wanted for dinner most nights: Fish.
“What else?” I asked him.
He shook his head and made the little motion again.
“Well, I’ll figure something out,” I laughed as someone knocked on the door.
Every head turned towards the door. I almost handed Jondi off to Eran for safekeeping, but we all knew who it was.
Beryl must’ve either properly woken up or finished going home to take a shower.
Only when I stepped closer to the door it wasn’t Beryl’s scent that greeted me, but his mother’s.
When I peeked out the peephole, she held a green kiddie pool in one hand and a stack of pizzas in the other.
“Is she really my grandma now?” Jondi asked.
“I think so, baby,” I nodded and unlocked the door.