11 #2
“It’s good what we have. This is amazing, and if we can do it again that would be great, but all of the time might be tiring and have more problems. We’re having fun though.
I told him about all the other familiars and he’s getting to tell me more about when he goes out.
It’s really fun. Thank you so much for sharing.
You’re really the best. I hope he mates you. I do.”
Everything was beyond amazing… Until that last part.
Wyatt cleared his throat and looked away, sitting down and asking about the food awkwardly.
“What just happened here?” Winter asked dryly, gesturing between the three of us as Teddy approached.
I decided to ignore the whole hoping Wyatt mated me thing and focus on the rest. “Miracles do happen.” My voice cracked and I set down my container and hugged Quinn with all I had but was still careful of his smaller body. “Thanks, Quinn. Thanks for not being selfish with me.”
“Of course. I’m sorry I didn’t understand at first and hurt you. Some things get really confusing, you know?”
“Yeah, they really do,” I agreed and looked at Wyatt. I mouthed “thank you” to him.
He nodded but then let out a slow breath. “It’s how I really feel. I realized that when I thought about it more—had more time to wrap my mind around it all.”
“Wait, I need to be included here,” Winter said firmly as he greeted his familiar. He shook his head when Wyatt seemed like he was going to argue. “Naw, I’m in now, man. I was worried about you. Talk to me.”
Wyatt seemed to accept that and put up a barrier over us, and I handed him a container in thanks, plus the wasabi from mine since he was a lunatic who practically slathered it on. He thanked me and then explained the conversation he’d had with Quinn, not just the fox’s excited rambling.
“Wow, that’s big of you,” Winter accepted when he was done. “Really.”
“It is how I feel,” Wyatt repeated. “I don’t have years of hiding it.
There are too many variables—I have thousands of students a day staring at me waiting for me to slip up.
I would. But also reading the research Bev’s put together about the people who can hear animals, none of them had familiars. There’s a reason for that.”
“One gift or the other,” I muttered. “Actually seems fair.”
“Seems the way to keep your sanity,” Wyatt added.
Winter shot Teddy a look and the polar bear seemed like he had a lot to say, staying oddly quiet through the whole thing. “Others won’t agree. You know that. I think it’s smart to leave the apples where they are for now, leave that stove alone if you will.”
Teddy looked down. “You’ll let me talk to Winter though eventually, right, Bevin? We’re friends too, not just you and Quinn. I know I don’t understand it all, but even if you had ten, you’d pick me.”
I realized this wasn’t even about wanting to experience it with Winter, but he thought I didn’t love him as much.
I reached over the huge glamping bed and rubbed his leg.
“Yeah, Teddy. If I only had ten apples, you’d get one, buddy.
I promise. We just don’t know what they do or how long.
If you only get a few days, you want to plan to use them best, right? ”
“Yeah, just wanted to make sure you would pick me.” He raised his head and smiled at me.
“I’d pick you, gorgeous. Even over some of his other friends.
You’re Bevin.” He nodded like it was the truth.
“And I wouldn’t ask again. I get what Wyatt is saying.
Maybe in an emergency or if we were really worried about Winter. Only then.”
I told the others what Teddy said and Winter couldn’t hide how proud he was of his familiar. I smiled at Wyatt. “Thank you, really. I didn’t…”
Several emotions danced in his eyes. “Yeah, I know. This was a really tough one, Bev.” He let out a shaky breath. “You gave me a miracle that I will treasure forever. If nothing else, I should have helped on how to navigate this minefield.” He cleared his throat. “Thanks for trusting me to do so.”
“You were the right choice,” I whispered, focusing on my food as my cheeks flushed.
Because I was pretty sure we both knew I meant about more than just this. I meant as my priest too.
“Not to turn the mood, but I heard about what happened with Nina,” Wyatt said quietly. “You okay?”
“Can I ask what Taylor got?” Winter asked, glancing between us. “I know I can’t get the how, but it’s kind of hard to help mediate and figure out how bad her reaction is when I don’t know how the other example went. Kind of?”
That was actually fair and I nodded to Wyatt to go ahead.
Winter choked on his sushi when Wyatt did, thumping himself in the chest and a piece of the roll going flying. He didn’t care at all, simply staring at Wyatt as if he’d grown another head. Then he slowly looked at me with WTF practically stamped on his forehead.
“Yeah, I know,” I whispered. “Add awe and that was how Taylor basically handled it though.”
“I bet,” Winter drawled. Then he told Wyatt about today with Nina and Sergey.
“Yeah, the three of us aren’t the ones to really know how to handle loving parent stuff,” Wyatt drawled, giving Winter an apologetic look. “You love yours but never met them. Ours are monsters.”
“I didn’t ask him to pick my side. I wouldn’t have.
I even understand him acting a bit like I overreacted because in his mind he knows his mom and that she would never hurt me.
My point is that in that moment I didn’t know if she would hurt me or not.
That’s unacceptable. And then he made it so much worse saying I was punishing her not doing the sessions. ”
“She deserves consequences for her actions,” Wyatt defended. “Just like the councilmen and anyone else who does anything to you. You’re giving them—I know you hate the word miracle. Quinn yelled at me for using it.”
“Derek’s right that another word is basically the same and would still make you wince because you know it means the same,” Quinn admitted. “I like the double-edged sword, but it makes me sad that you’ll get poked.”
“Me too,” Wyatt and I said together, and I just stared at him with wide eyes.
“Wow, that’s so weird to have both of you do it,” Winter mumbled.
“It’s really nice for me,” I admitted as I looked back to my food, giving a half shrug. “Not the only freak for once.” The air was tense and awkward which meant I was going to be as well. “An octopus wanted to molest Winter.”
Winter threw back his head and burst out laughing. He laughed so hard he almost fell off the glamping bed while Teddy, Quinn, and Wyatt all stared at me as if I’d grown another head.
We explained what happened and the three of them chuckled then.
“Wow, that’s really cool. I wish I got to go see the fish and sharks and hear them,” Quinn said as he nibbled on a piece of something he could eat. Wyatt had loosened his strict diet with Quinn and it had helped their relationship a lot.
“Me too, but if we get everything we want, we won’t appreciate what we have,” Wyatt said as if reminding him of something they’d discussed.
Quinn nodded. “And nothing would be fun or nice then. It would all get boring and suck.” He looked at me. “I’m glad you got to experience it though. That had to be fun for you. I know this gets hard for you.”
“Nicely done, man,” Winter muttered under his breath. “Smart way to handle it.”
Wyatt gave a half shrug. “After my own shock and greed wore off, I realized it was true and the framing we all need for this.”
But he was still amazing for having that mindset.
Link showed up looking off in a way that I hadn’t seen him since I’d done that weird running thing on him and used my magic to make myself supersonic fast. I started to stand to go talk to him but paused when Winter moved his hand to my thigh.
“What’s good, man?” Winter greeted him.
Link either didn’t notice or pretended he didn’t. “It’s not an emergency, but I’d like to speak to Bevin privately. It’s personal.”
“What kind of personal do you need to talk about with my girlfriend?”
That got a reaction from both of us, and mine was a mix of several things, but Links was sort of hostile and amused if I had to put a name to it?
He raised an eyebrow at him. “The type that if I wanted you to know, I’d tell you. We’re just going to step ten feet away within your view and I’ll put up a sound barrier if she can have your permission, caveman.”
“What is happening here?” I asked quietly, gesturing between them. Neither of them seemed like they were going to respond at first and I swallowed a sigh, not wanting to deal with any other issues.
Was it really so impossible to have one day without any kind of drama?