Home is Where the Heart Is (Cloverleah Pack Series Book 15)

by Lisa Oliver

  It’s been such a long time since we’ve celebrated Christmas. Kane tried to think how long it’d been. Not since Shawn had come to town, turning Kane’s life upside down and setting him and the pack on a path he’d never dreamed possible. To think, all I used to worry about was whether the next part I needed had been ordered at Custom Rides. Kane chuckled quietly. So much had happened to them, but so much joy and love had been found as well.

  He smelled the sweet scent of his mate before he heard him. “Any regrets?” Shawn asked, sliding under his arm.

  “This is it, isn’t it?” Kane waved at the huge mound of presents under the tree. “This was the vision you were telling me about, all those months ago, wasn’t it?”

  “It was, it is.” Shawn rested his head on Kane’s shoulder. “I have to admit at the time, I wasn’t sure how we were going to get here, but I just knew in my heart we would.”

  “The kids are a blessing.” Kane rubbed his cheek against Shawn’s hair. “That pregnancy dream scare we all had, isn’t going to come true though, is it? I mean, we’ve got a whole pack of kids now; quite literally with Frankie as their alpha.”

  “The Fates are being quiet on that score,” Shawn laughed. “We know males getting pregnant is possible. I still remember Poseidon grumbling his way through his whole pregnancy. I thought Claude was going to be bald by the time the twins arrived. And there have been others. I did think maybe Nereus and his mates… but they have baby Simon now, so who knows? Does it really matter?”

  “After all we’ve been through, I guess we’d handle that if it happens too.” Turning away from the window, Kane held Shawn in his arms. “I love you. I feel like I always have. I can barely remember a time in my life when you weren’t in it.”

  “I know what you mean, and my love for you is as strong as the day you claimed me.” Shawn cocked his head, listening. “Do you hear that?”

  “Blessed silence?” Kane grinned.

  “That, but if you listen with your heart, you feel all the love that’s under this roof, on our land, across our territory and in every part of Cloverleah. It’s beautiful, mate.”

  “It is, and so are you.” Sliding his arm around Shawn’s waist, Kane led them both to the stairs. “Tomorrow’s going to be noisy.”

  “Full of fun, and laughter, and lashings of love. I’m so glad Wes and Cass are coming too.”

  “I’m not sure the watch I bought Cass is much of a gift after all he and Wesley did for us,” Kane admitted as they climbed the stairs together.

  Shawn chuckled quietly. “That’s not all we’re giving him – he gets to be here amongst all the love, and life, and laughter we have in this pack, and that’s the perfect gift for that busy couple. We’re giving them a taste of home for the holidays. What could be better?”

  “Is that enough?” Kane asked, although he already knew the answer.

  “It is for me,” Shawn said as he opened their bedroom door. “And I’m sure the rest of the pack all feel exactly the same way. Come on, alpha, let’s go to bed and you can show me again how much you love me.”

  “Oh, I do love you,” Kane growled as he closed the door.

  The End.

  Not quite, lol. If you turn the page, you’ll read some lovely little vignettes the wonderful author PJ Harrison wrote about the pack coping with their new children. Enjoy.

  Kiddie Time

  Diablo shook his hair out of his eyes. “Look if you don’t push, we’ll never get the track together.”

  “Whose idea was it, to put together a cute little racetrack where they can race each other with electric cars?” Griff grumbled at Diablo. “They do just fine on four feet.”

  “Yours.”

  “Okay. Fine. Well, it looked like fun.”

  “Those three don’t need encouragement.”

  “It’s not encouragement. It was fun.”

  Diablo sat down with a thump. “Right. Fun. You do realize you are too big to fit into the little race cars, right?”

  “I wasn’t… Hey, Anton!”

  Anton came into the pack house living room, a wiggling, very dirty, small sloth trying to break free from his arms. Well, at least Griff thought it was a baby sloth even though Zeke looked more like a mud statue.

  “Is that Zeke?”

  The mud squeaked and chirped.

  “He’s on his way to a bath.” The mud wiggled harder. “That big puddle of water that was not drying out and finally turned into a large mud puddle? Yeah. Found him there with the pup pack and, you aren’t going to want to hear this. The T.Ts. were in there too.” T.Ts., meaning the terrible triplets, a phrase used by most of the Cloverleah pack when talking about Griff and Diablo’s cubs. “They look worse than he does. I think they are trying to build something out of mud.”

  “Shit.” The mud stopped wiggling and watched Griff, fascinated by the curse word.

  “Griff.” Diablo glared at him.

  “Shoot.” Griff amended.

  “Too late.”

  “You might want to recover them before they make it to China because they are all digging like crazy.” Anton didn’t let go of Zeke who chirped louder and wiggled harder. As he walked off, they heard him say, “Forget it. You aren’t warning them.”

  The last they heard was a mournful sigh.

  “Dirty.” Diablo mourned.

  “More than dirty, filthy.” Griff dropped the tools. “I’m too old for this shit.”

  “How many years yet?”

  “They have to outgrow the hatred of baths, don’t they?”

  “They are cats.” Diablo slowly got to his feet.

  “You like baths.”

  “We won’t go there right now. And I’ll point out it has been a while since we had a bath together.” When Griff joined him, Diablo said, “We are too old for this shit, or at least too set in our ways. Somehow, I never saw cubs in our future. I wouldn’t give any one of them up for anything in the world, but I wouldn’t take another one if you paid me, either.”

  “I think we are officially parents.” Griff grinned, and despite the thought of what was waiting for them outside, Diablo smiled back.

  “Come on Dad, let’s get the kids.”

  /~/~/~/~/

  A large pile of mud sat on the edge of the puddle. Griff counted heads. “Um, babe? Either, we’ve inherited a couple of extra pups, or our three have more help than Zeke, and it ain’t just the pup pack.”

  “Oh, shit.”

  There was one bear cub, digging like crazy - Ollie. And at least two wolf pups. Three cheetah cubs, present and accounted for. The only question was who did the wolf pups belong to. Diablo pulled out his cell and dialed. “Hey, Kane? Are you missing your wolf pups? Okay, I’ll wait.” He shrugged at Griff. “One of them? I found him. You remember the big mud puddle?”

  Even Griff could hear the swearing.

  “He’ll be right over.”

  “So, who’s the second one?” Griff puzzled.

  “It’s too big for Tommy or Terry.”

  “We’ve gained one? Where in the hell...?” Griff stopped as he noticed a natural, female grey wolf stood at the edge of the clearing, staring avidly at the mud hole. When she saw Griff noticed her, she bristled and paced back and forth a short way. “It’s okay, we won’t hurt your pup. We are after our cubs. The other parents are coming for their cub, pups and dogs. I gather yours took off too. Feel free to retrieve him.”

  Her stance was less defensive and more harried parent.

  Diablo was dialing. “Hey, Raff? Yes, I can hear the baby slurping and I’m thrilled he’s eating well, but I thought you wanted to know, your mini-pack are in the big mud puddle digging for China. You might… yeah. Oh, and grab Luke, Ollie’s helping.” He sighed after he put the phone away. The female wolf gave him a sympathetic look. “I know. I know, but what can you do, they’re kids.”

  Kane, Kurt, and Raff arrived. The gray female bowed her head toward Kane, and he tried to look less harassed.

  “Hello, mother wolf. Yo
u and your cubs are welcome here. They are safe. Feel free to remain in our territory. You won’t be bothered here.”

  She nodded again and then strode in and picked up one of the filthy pups who barked. It was an unmistakable no. Ignoring it, she trotted off with the pup, disappearing into some bushes.

  The hole was now minus one digger, but it wasn’t stopping the others. Kane and Kurt headed for the digging crew.

  “Ollie, it’s lunch time,” Kurt said brightly, even though he was grimacing. “Luke made bison burgers and fries.” Ollie’s head popped up in answer and he lumbered towards Kurt. “You can walk home.” The cub nodded and followed his dad.

  “Shawn’s made lunch too, but it’s bison chili.” The wolf cub ran past him headed for home. Kane waved as he went past and said, “Good luck.”

  Griff muttered, “Yeah.”

  Raff tried a firmer approach. “Killer, get out of that mud and come home.”

  The poodle barked and Cutie Pie joined him.

  “No arguments. Home. Now. All of you.”

  Griff would have sworn the little pack was grumbling as they passed him. The triplets were no longer digging but staring at them. “B – a – t - h.”

  Three mud babies flew in opposite directions. “They can spell.” Diablo growled at Griff as he dropped his clothes. “The Fae aren’t home. Call Vassago.” He threw the phone at Griff and sprang forward in his huge panther form, chasing after one of the speeding mud-balls.

  “Hey Vass? We need you. No, we didn’t tell them bath. I spelled it. I know they can spell now. We can’t catch the little speeding mud-balls. Okay, thank you.” It wouldn’t take Vassago long to locate the little ones and zap them home, but Griff still stripped, dumped his clothes by the hole and let his wolf come out, following a trail of mud to find his cubs. Gods… I am too old for this shit. How many more years? Yeah… Welcome to parenthood. My mom will be laughing her head off if she saw this. ‘May you have a child just like you were.’ Griff and Diablo had three of them.

  /~/~/~/~/

  Kurt caught Ollie as he ran for the front door. “You have to be clean to eat those wonderful bison burgers that Luke made.”

  Ollie growled. Kurt growled back, bending down to pick up the heavy cub. Feet kicking and little growls and grunts didn’t do a thing to secure his release as Kurt carried him toward the bathroom. Finally, Ollie gave up. If a cub could pout, he was doing a wonderful imitation of it.

  “Kurt! Tobias!” Luke yelled from Emily’s bedroom. Kurt’s bear was fast, Tobias was right behind him when he ran into the room. Ollie had even stopped pouting. “She changed. I mean she shifted. I was just putting her back after changing her diaper and she shifted. I didn’t think… Look, she’s a badger!”

  “No wonder we didn’t recognize the scent,” Kurt said.

  They all stared into the crib where a small North American Badger crawled around it and up the sides to stare at her fathers and brother. Ollie made a soft noise and Em answered her brother. He started to wiggle to get to Em.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Kurt held on to him tighter. “You, sir, are getting a bath, then you can play with your sister’s badger. You are not turning your sister into a mud baby.”

  Ollie gave a grunt and settled down, resigned to the fact that getting a bath was the only way to play with Em.

  “Do you think she likes burgers and fries? I need to look up what she eats. I don’t have a clue. I can make something else for her if she stays shifted.”

  “Luke, babe, it’s okay.” Tobias caught his attention as he picked up Em. “She’s a badger. She eats meat. Bison burgers will work just fine. Fries not so much in this form.”

  “I’ll make some extra. This is so exciting.” Luke shot off down the hall.

  Tobias stroked Em’s fur. “Well, how about we go to the living room to explore and then when your brother joins you, we can have some burgers?”

  Em farted as she wiggled her little behind.

  “Oh, my Gods…” Tobias coughed and tried breathing through his mouth. He walked faster, hoping to leave the stench behind. “That’s as bad as the diaper. Kid you have a lethal weapon back there. Please don’t fart at lunch.”

  /~/~/~/~/

  Vassago hung the phone up. Okay… now where were the terrible trio? He closed his eyes concentrating. Ah. Got ya. Time for you three to go home.

  “Papa?” Frankie’s voice broke in.

  He held up one finger.

  “The Triplets.” Frankie wasn’t questioning it; he was making a statement.

  One quick finger flick and the cubs were back in their home. Another finger flick and the door was warded, so the cubs couldn’t get out. The third and final finger flick transported one ticked off wolf and a frustrated panther home. Vassago giggled when he realized that Diablo was thinking he was getting old if he couldn’t catch a tiny cub. Yeah, but they were cheetah shifters. Those kids were always going to be fast. “Sorry, Frankie, what is it?” He turned to his son, thrilled when Frankie elected to call him Papa the first night he called Adair Dad.

  “Nothing that can’t wait for a minute. Those littlies will never take a bath for Diablo and Griff. Those two have enough trouble catching them in a warded house. I’ll be back for lunch.” Frankie hurried out of the room.

  Adair walked in carrying a laptop. “Where did Frankie go?”

  “He just left to control the mini demon cat shifters. He’ll be back shortly.”

  “Damn,” Adair waved the laptop. “Well, help me get this plugged in for him.”

  Vassago started to waggle a finger.

  “No, we plug it in. Come on.”

  With a sigh, Vassago trooped behind his mate into Frankie’s room. “Why do you have this fixation on having to do things without magic?”

  “Because Frankie can’t use magic. And besides, it feels good to do things with our hands.”

  Vassago grinned. There were some things that he definitely enjoyed doing with his hands. “You know Frankie’s an Alpha, right?”

  Adair sat the computer on Frankie’s desk. He looked over at his mate, his expression confused. “Um… yeah, hon. We knew this from the start, he reeks of alpha.”

  “No. He’s the Alpha for the kids like Kane is for us. He just went to straighten out the triplets. Again. He’s the only one that can get them in a bath.”

  “Give me those cords.” Vassago handed Adair the cords hanging over the bedframe. “I figured as much,” Adair said. “Just like I figured he’s made Wes part of his little pack. That’s why it was different when Cass and Wes came back to visit. Wes might not realize it because our son is still young, but he already has a bond with Frankie and I’m betting he’s Frankie’s second when the boy grows up.”

  “What are we going to do?” For all his reading up about shifters, there was still so much Vassago wanted to learn.

  Adair smiled. “It’s not a bad thing. We teach Frankie how to be a good, intelligent, and fair Alpha. But for now, we teach him how to have fun. One day at a time. Now let’s finish this.”

  By the time they got the computer hooked up and working, they heard the front door open. The little bear was muttering about cheetah cubs and bath times. Adair called, “Hey, Frankie? We’re in your room. We have a surprise for you. Come here.”

  The boy stopped in the doorway. His face lit up. “A computer?”

  “All yours.” Vassago patted it.

  “But…”

  “It’s yours, so come over here and I’ll show you how to start it up.” Adair grinned. “Your Papa even helped me set it up.”

  “Alright!” It was a young boy who ran over to his new computer, not a mini Alpha and that was a lovely sight to see.

  Adair’s eyes met Vassago’s, and both of them smiled. Life would indeed be alright and so would their son.

  /~/~/~/~/

  “Carrie!” Dean glanced around the lawn. “Matthew!”

  “What?” The big wolf encircled him in his arms. “What’s wrong?”

 
“Carrie’s missing. She’s never done this before.”

  “Take it easy. We’ll find her. Since the Fae and Vassago warded the harmful areas, she’s safe.”

  “But there was a real wolf on the grounds. Raff texted and told me.”

  Matthew tightened his hug. “That’s all part of the wards. The mother wolf can’t come near the babies with the intention of harming or eating them so Carrie’s safe. Let me call Vassago, he would be faster in locating her.” Matthew gave Dean a quick kiss and headed into the house.

  “Carrie!” Dean still kept calling for her. He loved his little daughter, and while it hurt his heart sometimes when she cried in her sleep for her original parents, those times were getting less often, and she was always keen for hugs with him and his mate.

  Matthew seemed to be gone for hours when Dean knew it only was minutes. Even so, he sighed with relief when Matthew waved at him as he headed for the tree line.

  “She’s near Nereus’ pool. Come on. You want to see this. And yes, she’s fine.”

  “But...” Dean scurried after his mate.

  “Really, you want to see this,” Matthew said with a huge grin. “Our timid little deer has made friends.”

  “She already knows and is friends with all the kids here.” A touch of exasperation tinged Dean’s voice as he trailed after the bigger wolf.

  “New friends, babe. Look.”

  Reaching the clearing by the lake, Dean gasped as he saw a buck and doe with three fawns who were playing around the older deer. The older ones were grazing, while the three youngsters were running around, chasing flies and butterflies. One of them had the familiar markings of their precious daughter.

  “Oh.” Dean stopped next to Matthew not wanting to scare the deer away. Carrie was having fun, he could tell. Dean had never seen her so comfortable in her shifted form.