“Uh oh, I think someone’s getting ready to shift.” Sam eyed his son.
Dakota held his son at arm’s length and smiled. Kane shifted in seconds. Vince came back into the dining room with the beers and stopped.
“Aw, look at Kane; he’s so cute,” Vince said with a grin.
Kane’s ears flattened on his head and he growled softly. Dakota snickered.
“Oh, what’s wrong, Kane? Don’t like being called cute?” Vince put the beers on the table and cocked an eyebrow at Kane. “How about adorable?”
Kane’s lips lifted as he bared his tiny teeth.
“Cute, adorable little puppy!” Vince chuckled.
Dakota laughed as Kane snarled, wiggling in his grip.
“He’s going to get me!” Vince backed up, his hand on his chest, a look of mock horror on his face. “Oh, no!”
Dakota set Kane down and he ran straight for Vince, who promptly snatched him up and covered his face in kisses.
“He’s going to lick me to death,” Vince chuckled.
Sam drew Dakota into his side and smiled at Vince Markov with his son. Kane had spent the last few days in the presence of the notorious killer and had loved every minute of it. Vince really had a way with kids.
Keegan sipped his beer, watching his husband play with Kane. Both ‘werepups’ loved Vince. Keegan couldn’t blame them. His husband could be a huge sap at times. But he had a feeling it was more the fact that they sensed a great warrior in Vince.
Keegan smiled at Maggie in Mateo’s arms, sleeping sweetly.
“So, I read in the paper something’s happening in Phoenix this week?” Keegan grinned.
“Oh, yes. I think we should all go. Don’t you?” Riley raised his brows.
“What’s going on?” Tristan narrowed his eyes.
Scott went to the front room and came back with the newspaper. He opened it and put it in front of all the guys.
“This is.” Scott put his hands on his hips.
“Oh, we are so going!” Wyatt laughed loudly.
“I’m totally going to love this.” Mateo rubbed his hands together.
“I love going every year.” Vince gave Kane one last smooch and put him back down.
“Yes, we know, Vince,” Keegan sighed.
“Well, we’ve got a booth set up for the outreach centers so we have to go anyway.” Riley looked at the whole group. “We should all be there for that reason alone.”
“Yeah, but the other reasons are so much more fun!” Mateo cracked up.
“Lord,” Riley rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”
“Let’s go sit by the pool for a bit. It’s beautiful out.” Mateo took Riley’s hand.
The group sat out on lounge chairs staring at the star-filled sky. Sounds from the canyon echoed around them. Riley sipped his strawberry daiquiri and looked over the pool, glowing with lights.
“God, it’s so beautiful out here. I can’t wait to run in the canyon,” Riley sighed.
Vince tilted his head, looking at the pool. “Wasn’t this yellow at one time?”
Keegan snickered.
“Yeah, it was.” Mateo raised his brows.
“I wonder how that happened?” Vince sat back in his chair with a grin. He pulled Keegan into his chest and nuzzled his hair.
“Probably the same way yours turned red,” Riley chuckled.
“I’m really going to miss this.” Dakota snuggled into Sam. “All of us hanging out.”
“Well, we’ve got more outreach center parties coming up.” Riley leaned his head back and smiled at Mateo.
“It’s going to be hard to beat the Valentine’s Day party,” Vince smiled. “Nikolai really set the bar high.”
“Who knew he could sing so well?” Keegan laughed, remembering his stepson’s performance.
“Well, July Fourth is right around the corner. We’re having that party at the Seattle center, then another one for Christmas at the Phoenix center.” Riley closed his eyes as Mateo’s lips kissed his neck softly.
“That is so cool,” Sawyer sighed happily. “All those kids have somewhere to go, and have people who care.”
“Yes, well,” Vince chuckled. “We’ll be taking over the planet soon.”
“Planet of the Gays?” Keegan snickered.
“I like it.” Troy pulled Sawyer closer to him.
Riley’s head felt heavy on his chest and Mateo caressed his cheek. “Tired?”
“Yes, I guess I am.”
“Well, let’s head in. We’re going to need all our energy tomorrow if we’re going to take over the world.” Vince stood up.
“That’s planet.” Keegan pointed at his husband.
“Well,” Mateo cocked his head to the side. “We are kind of an army.”
“Hell, yeah!” they all shouted in unison.
“Nite,” Riley laughed, walking inside.
“Nite!”
~*~
Riley ran around the house packing up the diaper bag and stroller. Mateo was chasing Matty down. Again. The last three days had been spent with the guys, relaxing around the pool and barbequing at night. They’d had a full house for almost a week now.
Not only were Sam and Dakota staying with them, but Sawyer, Troy, Josh and Mark were as well. Vince and Keegan, as well as James and Derek, were putting up the rest of the guys at their homes.
Riley loved it. He’d lost his parents, but had gained so much more over the years. A husband, good friends and now their children. All of their kids would grow up together.
They figured out pretty quickly that Matty and Kane could communicate with each other. They would sit and stare at each other for hours. It was so cute.
While Sam and Dakota were there, the boys were inseparable. Maggie would sit in her carrier and drool while watching her brother run around. The moment Maggie would cry, Matty would be at her side. Riley smiled as his son ran by him and into the kitchen.
“Matty!” Mateo called out from the hall.
Riley chuckled softly. “He’s in the kitchen.”
Mateo came into the living room and leaned against the wall. “Thank God I’m a super-strong werewolf. I swear he’s going to kill me.”
“If you’d use your inside voice,” Riley snickered, “he might stop running.”
Mateo raised his brows. “Are you saying I yell?”
Riley smiled and shook the travel-size bag of Cheerios. “Matty? You want a snack?” Riley covered his laugh as claws clicked on the kitchen tiles. Matty poked his head around the doorway.
Mateo knelt down and put his arms out. “Come here, Matty. Don’t you want to go play at the park?”
Matty’s ear perked up at the word ‘play’.
Kane came barreling through the living room and pounced on Matty. Dakota threw the diaper bag over his shoulder and smiled down at his son.
“He was scratching at the bedroom door.” Dakota knelt down and put his arms out. “We have to go out with people, Kane. So you need to be human, okay?”
Kane tilted his head and padded over to his father. Dakota picked him up and Kane shifted seconds later. Matty made his way over to Mateo and sat down at his feet. Mateo grinned and picked him up.
“Let’s go put your big boy clothes on, okay?” Mateo kissed Matty’s forehead.
“Yeah, Kane’s not too keen on clothes,” Sam said, walking into the living room.
Maggie squealed and Riley laughed, picking her up out of the carrier.
“Maggie wants to see people?” Riley blew bubbles on Maggie’s cheek.
Sam looked at his watch then over his shoulder. “Bishop!”
“Which one?” Sawyer grinned, walking down the hall.
“Either,” Sam said with a laugh.
There was a quick rap at the front door before it opened. Keegan’s face poked inside.
“We’re ready.” Keegan walked in and broke into a grin at the sight of the babies. “Aw! They are so cute!”
“Good morning, Mr. Markov,” Riley winked at Keegan
“Fed and changed and happy.” Riley handed her over. “Oh! Mateo, I almost forgot! I got us some of those stick-people decals for our rear windows! Look: Two dads, a boy baby, a girl baby, and a puppy for when Matty’s a wolf! Isn’t that a hoot?! Mine’s already on the Land Rover; go put yours on the Impala.”
“Um, no?” Mateo raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously? It’s us! It’s our family.” Riley narrowed his eyes.
“Trust me, my refusal to defile a classic car with vinyl doesn’t make me a bad father,” Mateo laughed, dodging Riley’s swipe.
“Well, don’t blame me when they end up in therapy,” Riley snorted.
Mateo doubled over with laughter. “Oh, trust me; there will be plenty for them to bring to the couch.”
Just then, Vince stepped into the house with a huge grin.
“Who’s ready to go fuck with people?”
They all raised their hands.
~*~
They looked like a parade driving down Pima Freeway. The streets were quickly flooding with people as the morning sun made its way up. Even in April, Arizona was scorching. Riley took the exit for East Indian School Road and looked in the rearview mirror as they turned onto Hayden Road. Hayden sat quietly in the seat, watching the landscape go by. Riley grinned.
“Hey, Hayden. We’re turning onto your road,” Riley chuckled.
Hayden sat up in the seat and smiled. “That’s kind of cool. Maybe I should move out here?”
“I don’t think so,” Jude huffed.
Hayden turned in the seat and looked right at Jude.
“Why?”
“Did you forget that Ross and Noah live with you? What about them?” Jude narrowed his eyes. Okay, that was kind of lame, but the thought of Hayden moving out of Washington gave him a feeling of dread in his gut. What the hell was wrong with him anyway? This was Cox the cock, his grade school tormentor, his mortal enemy. Wasn’t it?
Riley quietly observed the men in the backseat. Matty and Maggie’s heads bobbed back and forth between the conversations.
“I think Maggie likes you, Hayden,” Riley said with a smile. His daughter was staring myopically at Hayden, drool dribbling from her pink little mouth.
“She’s such a cutie,” Hayden touched Maggie’s cheek softly with his fingertip. “Aren’t you? You’re such a beautiful little girl.” Hayden looked up to see all eyes on him, mouths dropped in surprise.
He cleared his throat and sat back.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Jude looked out the window with a smile.
Riley pulled into the lot and parked his Land Rover, followed by the rest of the guys. Mateo was out, grabbing the stroller, and Riley unbuckled Matty from his car seat. Maggie wiggled and made squealing noises.
“You’re going, too,” Riley laughed at his daughter’s sounds.
Sam held Kane in his arms and took Dakota’s hand. The rest of the group piled out of the cars and helped grab coolers. Riley put Maggie and Matty in the twin stroller and they headed toward the festivities.
“Happy pride!” a man said, handing them a brochure.
“It is that!” Riley grinned. He was wearing his signature ‘Get over it!’ shirt, which pictured two men kissing. Mateo’s shirt said ‘I love my husband.’
Vince wore his ‘I’m with him’ shirt that featured an arrow pointing at Keegan. Keegan’s was identical, but the arrow pointed the other way, towards Vince.
Wyatt and Preston wore matching rainbow shirts, with flames on the back. Gage had on an ‘I have two daddies, and I love it’ shirt. He walked between them, holding both their hands. Ethan was on Tristan’s shoulders. They made quite a group.
Riley waved at James and Derek Jacobs manning the Camp Pride and outreach center booth. The rest of the guys approached the booth and took the shirts being handed out by James. They’d wear them the rest of the day to bring awareness to the camp and all the outreach centers.
Hayden pulled on one of the shirts and looked around the festival. There looked to be thousands of people roaming around, smiling and laughing.
The usual protestors were across the park. Hayden shot them a look and turned back to James and Derek.
“I can man it for a while if you guys want to go mingle.”
“I’ll stay, too,” Jude said, walking behind the information booth table.
Scott raised a brow at his brother but said nothing. He looked at Ethan and took his hand.
“You want a hot dog?” Ethan nodded and Scott took Tristan’s hand, leading them toward the hot dog vendor.
“I see cotton candy!” Gage jumped up and down in between Wyatt and Preston.
“Oh, a kid after my own heart,” Josh sighed comically.
Wyatt grinned and walked in the direction of the cotton candy machines.
Josh turned to Mark with his saddest puppy-dog eyes.
“Oh all right!” Mark sighed, following Wyatt.
“I swear you are like a giant child, Montgomery,” Derek laughed, leaning against his husband.
Wyatt grabbed the cotton candy and handed the vendor his money. When he turned to give it to Gage, he realized he wasn’t there. Panic set in and Wyatt looked around wildly.
“Gage!?” Wyatt shouted.
Preston scanned the crowd, alarm rising in him as well. “Gage!? Where are you?” Preston grabbed Wyatt’s hand.
“Where is he, Preston? Oh God, maybe someone took him!”
“Calm down, babe,” Preston soothed, trying not to panic completely. “He couldn’t have gotten that far.”
“What if some homophobe took our son?!” Wyatt frantically scanned the crowd for the little boy.
“There!” Tristan pointed. “He’s over there!”
Wyatt ran, relief overwhelming him. If he didn’t reel it in, he was going shift in front of everyone.
“Gage!” Wyatt shouted.
Gage turned around at the sound of his fathers’ desperate calls. He looked at the man in front of him again and scowled.
“I thought God loved everyone?” Gage demanded, small hands on hips. “It’s in the Bible.”
“Gays are different, son. You should be with a mommy and daddy,” the man said. “It’s not natural to have two daddies.”
“I had a mommy and a daddy. They died. Now I have two daddies.” Gage grinned wide. “They love me and I love them.”
“Oh, thank God!” Wyatt swept Gage up into his arms and held him close. “Don’t scare me like that again.” He inhaled his son’s scent, letting it wash over him and calm him.
“If you touched my kid,” Preston began, growling at the man with the protest sign.
“He said he had something to tell me.” Gage held onto Wyatt’s neck tightly.
“Oh, I’ve got something to tell you,” Wyatt snapped at the man.
Tristan walked in between them and looked over his shoulder at the protestor.
“Don’t bother, Wyatt. He won’t hear it. It makes sense, therefore he won’t understand it. Come on, let’s go have fun.”
“I don’t like him, Daddy.” Ethan narrowed his eyes at the man with the sign.
Tristan froze. He looked down at Ethan, his mouth hanging open.
“W-what?” Tristan knelt down to be at Ethan’s level.
“I said I don’t like him, Daddy. He’s mean.” Ethan crawled into Tristan’s arms. He looked up at Scott and put his hand out. “Let’s go, Dad.”
Scott nodded slowly. They walked away from the protestors and Tristan set Ethan down. Both men knelt to be at his level and Scott palmed Ethan’s face.
“How come you look sad?” Ethan put his hand on Scott’s.
“Not sad, Ethan. We’re actually really happy.” Scott turned his head and wiped at his eyes.
Tristan smiled as Scott tried to hide his tears. He’d never seen Scott cry. He had to admit, Ethan calling him ‘Daddy’ almost had him breaking down. A
s it was, he could feel the heat in his cheeks and his eyes pooling.
“Was it okay I called you Daddy? My mommy and daddy came to see me; they said I would be loved.” Ethan looked from Tristan to Scott.
“It’s more than okay, Ethan. I just want you to know that I’ll never try to replace your real father. Your parents will always be remembered in our house.”
Ethan threw his arms around Tristan, and held his hand out to Scott.
“We’re a family,” Ethan declared.
“Yes.” Scott kissed Ethan’s cheek. “We are.”
~*~
Wyatt didn’t want to let go of Gage. Those few seconds of not knowing where he was had scared him to death. He held his son in his arms as closely as he could.
“Poppa?”
Wyatt sniffed and pulled away slightly. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry I scared you. I won’t let anyone take me. I have claws,” Gage grinned.
Preston snickered.
“Yes, yes you do, but we talked about that right?” Wyatt asked.
Gage nodded his head. “Uh huh, you said I can only show them to people who are like me.”
“That’s right,” Preston took Wyatt and Gage into his arms. “We’ll protect you with our lives. We have a special secret.”
“That man said we’re not a family.” Gage scowled. “I don’t like him.”
“People have their own beliefs, Gage,” Preston said. “We can’t judge them for how they feel or we’re just like them. We have to show them we’re better by being nice.”
“I don’t want to be nice.”
Wyatt closed his eyes and tried not to laugh.
“Neither do I, little man,” Preston laughed. “Neither do I.”
~*Chapter Nine*~
Thankfully, the rest of the day went without too many problems. Vince and Mateo had way too much fun fucking with the protestors, and even got Troy and Sam in on it.
Dakota sat at the outreach booth with Jude, watching Hayden and the guys playing football. Maggie was in the carrier asleep, sucking on her pacifier while Kane and Matty napped in the playpen. The day had gotten sweltering as it progressed, and they had set up fans in the booth.
Dakota watched Sam cock his arm back and send the pigskin forty-five yards and into Riley’s hands. Riley shook his butt and was tackled by his husband.
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