Jurassic Day Off
I would have loved to have gotten up the next morning and been able to say that it was the best sleep I’d ever had, but as anyone who has ever slept in the same bed as their children can attest to, that was just simply not the case.
In fact, I woke up to find that not only was Lucy’s foot smashed up against my nose, but Dylan was snoring two inches away from my left ear, and Collin- massive, in-between werewolf puberty Collin- was draped across me like a five-billion pound log. Also, I had been pushed all the way up to the edge of the bed, literally seconds from falling off. My back was killing me.
Still, there were worse ways to wake up.
After disentangling myself enough to be able to slide off the bed like a discount Three Stooges character, I dragged my aching old-lady body to the bathroom, cleaned myself up, and threw on some clothes that didn’t make me look like a twelve year old, before finally braving the stairs.
Aegis was in the kitchen, quiet as a ninja, and looked up as I approached. Any other person, and I might have been able to sneak up on them, but a multi-generational werewolf Alpha?
Not a chance.
“Coffee,” Aegis offered, holding up a mug. His expression became sympathetic. “You look like you didn’t sleep well.”
“What gave it away, the mile-deep shadows under my eyes?” I joked, accepting the mug from him. My fingers brushed against his skin, and I would have sworn under perjury of death that literal electricity sparked between our fingers. I barely managed to avoid dropping the mug, it surprised me so much.
“Static shock,” Aegis commented, flexing his fingers. He gave me a small grin. “Or fate.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the excited, cautious fluttering in my gut that would not be denied. “It’s too early for this, and I’ve had too little sleep.”
“What’s on the menu for today, then?”
“Apart from trying to get as much pie done as possible?”
“Yes, apart from that.”
I leaned on the counter. “You feel like watching some dinosaur movies?”
Aegis blinked, taken aback. “Dinosaurs?”
“Oh, yeah. Dinosaurs. I already know that’s what the twins are going to watch. You know: rich old crazy dude resurrects ancient dinosaurs from mosquitos trapped in chunks of amber, then thinks he can somehow control an entire park of creatures a thousand times his size, only to fail miserably.”
“I know the movies you’re talking about,” Aegis said, his accompanying laugh deep and throaty. “I’m just surprised that’s the first one you think of. I can’t remember ever hearing you have a fondness for dinosaurs.”
I shrugged, feeling self-conscious. “Growing up, both the boys went through super big dino phases. Any time they showed an interest in something, I sort of dove into it. When they were old enough, I showed them the ‘Jurassic Park’ movies, and it became tradition that whenever we had bad days, we did a marathon. You know… family thing.”
Aegis’s eyes widened slightly, and I held my breath, eyes darting down to my cup, because I couldn’t bear to see how he might react. Was it presumptuous to think he might be interested in doing family activities together…?
“Dinosaurs it is,” Aegis said quietly, and I looked up to see him giving me a look that sent those haphazard butterflies through my stomach.
Or maybe it was pterodactyls.
Embarrassed, I started working on breakfast for the kids, and as if he had done it all his life, Aegis seamlessly joined in.
----
It was one of the best days we had had in a long, long time. Stress and fear had been a constant companion for me all throughout my time away from Werewolf Hollow; I knew Aegis. I had grown up with him. I had zero stress being home, away from work.
Jade arrived first with Aegis’s change of clothes and two of her shiny, fancy new hand-held consoles, which the boys about died of delight over. We popped popcorn, we watched dinosaurs tear apart fictitious parks, and it was the most heartwarming day I’d had in a long time.
The kitchen, being an open plan, had a direct line of sight to the living room, so while the boys played through Jade’s impressively large digital library and consumed top tier dinosaur media, Aegis and I got to work on the pies.
In my mind, I tentatively played with the idea that this is what it was like to be married. Our kids laughing and screaming along with the movie, Dylan clapping his hands over Lucy’s eyes when things got too scary, Collin scaring the snot out of her otherwise, and Aegis and I continually brushing shoulders in the kitchen as we worked in perfect tandem.
It was a selfish dream, but it felt more real than it ever had before.
By the time we finished the pies, Ivy had brought me the promised coffee, and we even started knocking out the gluten free cookies and Aegis’s last item on the menu, the chocolate cake, before everyone else was supposed to come over.
“At this rate, we’ll be able to all work together on those macarons,” Collin commented, slipping onto one of the nearby chairs.
“Jade never was very good at cooking,” Aegis said, grimacing. “Mom still won’t let her near the stove.”
I paused, realizing I hadn’t asked him at all about his mother, even after discovering what had happened to his father. That was even wore because I had been somewhat close with her, even if he probably didn’t know it. “I haven’t asked about your mom at all.”
“Smooth, mom,” Collin snickered.
Aegis snorted. “You’ve all been here a week, and Brittani’s got you opening a bakery out of your kitchen. I’m not keeping track of what you’ve asked and what you haven’t,” Aegis added, perhaps sensing my guilt. “Besides, my mom’s kind of a hermit these days.”
“Right. Your dad.” I shifted. “Are you okay? How did your mom… take it all?”
Aegis shrugged. “This was a few years ago. Obviously, you never really get over it. My father was a good Alpha; I can see that better than ever. Mom’s been… well, they were fated mates, so… she took it pretty damned hard. Isn’t really interested in seeing the rest of the pack, anymore.”
Collin frowned. “How did he get sick? I thought all werewolves had super healing.”
“Normally, yes,” Aegis said. “The doctors said it was initially brought on by stress. My dad was living a life that brought on a lot of hardship to his body.”
“But doesn’t the virus fix stuff?” Collin asked. “I mean, the… caninus…”
“It’s supposed to,” Aegis said, stifling a smile. “But it’s less like a virus and more like a quirk in your genetics at this point. I’ve always felt the word ‘virus’ implies it can be cured, and it just can’t. Either way, when the body’s under enough pain, the virus can turn on you and start tearing you apart from the inside.”
“Are you in danger of that?” I asked, my heart dropping.
“I know he doesn’t look like it, but Paul’s a good Beta,” Aegis said, giving me a small smile. He looked back to Collin. “Remember what I told you: a Beta’s job is to make sure their Alpha is capable of doing their job. Especially since my dad’s death, Paul’s really tuned himself to figuring out when I need a break.”
“He always surprised me with how much he really knew,” I commented. I blushed. “I mean, I knew he knew a lot-“
“I know what you mean,” Aegis chuckled. “He gives off that air of simplicity, but it’s all a front. It’s what makes him a good Beta.”
“But you don’t have a Luna,” Collin said suddenly. “A Luna would be the one to make sure you’re taking breaks, right?”
Aegis paused. “Normally, yes.”
“And how come you don’t have one?”
“Collin,” I hissed, feeling myself turn pink.
“Werewolf mating is very complicated,” Aegis said, trying not to laugh. “While there are casual relationships, it’s risky. Any and all feelings can get completely wiped out if a werewolf comes in contact with their fated mate; it can cause a lot of heartbreak.”
“So you’ve… never found your… fated mate?”
“Not in the way most werewolves do,” Aegis said, and my stomach did that flip again. What did that mean? “When you come of age- usuallybetween 18 and 21- the werewolf virus becomes incentivized to find a mate. Specifically, the perfect mate.”
“Ugh.” Collin wrinkled his nose. “Skip.”
“Hey,” I said, trying (and failing) not to laugh. “Don’t interrupt!”
But Aegis just chuckled. “When your fated mate is a werewolf, if you meet under a full moon, you’ll know instantly. It’s partly why we throw those bonfires; bring all the pack together, and some of the youngsters might find a fated mate. You can’t mistake it, and you can’t miss it.”
“It’s a bigger deal than he’s making it out to be,” I said dryly. “People have described the feeling as almost ‘catastrophic’ in size.”
“The problem lies in if one’s fated mate is human,” Aegis continued. “Some studies have shown that usually, we still know… but there’s no big moment. Not unless the mate becomes a werewolf.”
Collin considered that for a moment, tapping his fingers on the counter; his claws clacked against the marble. “So then… you think our mom’s your fated mate?”
I reacted so hard and fast that I choked on my own words and jammed my hip into the counter, only able to grunt in muffled pain as I slid awkwardly to my knees.
Aegis, of course, was totally unphased. He looked Collin calmly in the eye and said, very bluntly, “Yes. I’m pretty sure she is.”
Ivy will need to order my tombstone, I thought, turning scarlet and coughing so bad, Dylan had to jog over to quickly thump my back. We’ll have to move back to LA. Sorry, Rudy. The mortification was just too much.
“You think she’d make a good Luna?” Collin asked after a moment. “That’s the question, right? You want mom to be your Luna?”
“Gak,” I said, horrified at the direction of this conversation. “C-Collin, enough!”
“These are important questions,” Collin said, holding up his hands defensively. “I’m just looking out for you. You know him, but all I know is that every time I’m around him, he makes me feel anxious!”
Aegis scratched his chin thoughtfully. “You’ve got a good point, but we’ll give your poor mom a break.” He continued to look at Collin, however, and I wondered for a second if something was wrong… until he met my gaze, and I remembered the conversation of literally ten seconds prior, and my face burned like the surface of the sun.
“Mama, are dinosaurs real?” Lucy called from the front room.
“Oh, thank God,” I muttered, quickly sliding out of the kitchen. “Yes, honey, they were real, but they’re just bones, now.”
“So a T. Rex isn’t going to break into my room at night?”
“Oh, definitely not.”
“Yeah, they don’t like the gamy meals,” Dylan said, hanging over the back of the couch with a wide grin.
“I’m not gamy!” Lucy said, thumping him with a pillow before turning back to me. “What’s gamy mean?”
I could feel Aegis’s gaze on my back even as I talked with Lucy. My face still burned, and my body temperature was like a furnace from blushing so hard, but butterflies danced a waltz in my gut.
I’d have to thank Brittani for this whole stupid pie arc after it was all said and done.