by Kallie Frost
“This is delicious as always, Tessa,” Brooks said.
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she snickered, returning to her cake decorating.
Then Brooks picked up a croissant and gagged. “Oh!” He set it back down quickly. “What is that?”
Tessa arched an eyebrow at him. “It's a butter croissant.”
“It smells...” Brooks covered his nose with one hand. “No offense, but it smells terrible.”
Tessa looked more amused than offended. “You ate six of them yesterday,” she said.
Brooks shook his head, moved his hand from his nose to his mouth, and bolted from the table. Carrick looked torn between chasing down his mate and remaining and giving him privacy.
“He'll be fine,” I said, grateful that the awful period of morning sickness was long behind me. Then again, I could have as many children as I wanted, providing I stopped after four alphas. I looked at little Verona with a smile. Honestly, I wouldn't mind starting up again as soon as she was done nursing, I was quite enjoying the baby, not to mention the doting collection of aunts and uncles and grandparents taking care of her.
Heeding my advice, Carrick stayed behind and carefully plucked all of the croissants off his mate’s plate. “What should I do with these?” he asked Tessa.
“Well, I don't want them now that your dirty paws have been all over them,” she said.
Carrick snorted, then stuffed nearly an entire croissant into his mouth, and set the rest of them on my plate. “Here, you're still eating for two, right?” he said.
I chuckled; I couldn't argue, I was rather fond of Tesla's butter croissants. I picked up the danishes off my plate and set them on Brooks's.
Ready for some coffee, I finished off a croissant and headed over to the little coffee bar. I bypassed the complicated coffee makers that Rion’s cousin Cambry used, and helped myself to a single-serve cup.
I was getting used to the typical morning routine of eating breakfast as people came in and out, but everyone lingered in the kitchen this morning. Brooks returned and helped himself to a handful of crackers. Not long after that Dell, the second eldest brother, came down. Cambry joined us after that, and he was followed by Tessa’s mate, Kylan, and their sleepy-looking boys, Finch and Ford. Of course, neither of my nephews were boys; both were older than me. Jacob, Rion’s father, rounded out the group, leaving just Verona at large.
At last, she joined us with much fanfare, in a dress that put Morticia Addams to shame. I shared a grin with Rion, as his mother swept into the room, commanding the attention that only an alpha with a large pack can.
“Happy Halloween, my family,” she said. Even though the sound of her voice stirred some strange, submissive instinct in me, there was no mistaking the warmth and love in it.
Everyone greeted her and she took an extra moment to kiss her sleeping namesake on the top of the head, before praising Tessa's work on the cupcakes.
“Is everyone finished eating breakfast?” she asked. Everyone said yes, except for Carrick, who was doing his best to eat for two, in spite of the fact he wasn't the one pregnant. “Well, I'm going to eat mine, and then there's a surprise for everyone on the back porch,” Verona said.
Judging from the chuckles, and the way Brooks arched his eyebrow at me, we were the only two who didn't know what the surprise was. By the time everyone, Carrick included, was ready to change gears, I was starting to get really curious.
Chapter Two
Verona led us out onto the sprawling back porch and I burst out laughing. There were dozens of pumpkins stacked up, the porch floor was coated newspapers, and there was a large basket filled with pumpkin carving tools and paints.
I looked at Rion with a grin. “We're going to make jack o' lanterns?”
He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “My mother loves Halloween,” he chuckled.
Dell, it seemed did as well. He wasted no time in grabbing a pumpkin and was already stabbing somewhat gleefully into it with a knife. A now-familiar chuckle caught my attention and I turned to see Kessel, one of the wardens guarding us, lounging on a railing on the side of the porch.
“Are you going to carve one too?” I asked him.
“It’s tempting,” he said with a grin. “Hey, Lark, don't bears eat pumpkins?”
I followed his gaze to see his partner coming up the path to the house. I had a feeling the large alpha did not enjoy being called Lark, and I wasn't disappointed when he grumbled in annoyance, “Don’t call me that.”
“Don't you though?” Kessel pressed.
Larkin heaved a somewhat long-suffering sigh and joined us on the porch. “Yes,” he said grudgingly. “Bears can eat pumpkins.” The implication that he was not a bear who particularly enjoyed it was not lost on me.
“Wolves do,” Rion said, rejoining me with a pumpkin bigger than our Verona.
“Do we?” I asked.
“That's the best part,” he laughed. “After Halloween is over, we all shift and chow down.” He displayed the pumpkin. “I think we should hollow this one out and put Verona inside it for a first Halloween picture.”
“Oh,” his mother said, “that would be wonderful.” I noticed that she had happily taken charge of little Vee and was cradling her gently in one arm. “I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to buy her a special Halloween outfit.” As Verona spoke, she narrowed her eyes. “All this nasty business with the hunter.” I could hear the ferocity in her voice. Her eyes lingered on Rion for a moment, before flicking to Carrick and Brooks, who had been the hunters most recent targets. I heard a soft growl from Rion.
“We’ll get the bastard,” Kessel promised. Larkin grumbled something that sounded like an agreement.
After getting to spend some time with the two of them in close proximity, I was quickly learning that they were opposites in every way, and not just Larkin’s hulking size compared to Kessel’s lithe frame. The bear was as silent and serious, as the owl he worked with was chatty and outgoing. If shifters didn't subscribe to the whole true mate thing, I had a feeling the two of them would actually have been quite an interesting couple. It was the sort of thing I already knew I could never, ever mention to Larkin, but Kessel would probably find quite hilarious.
Rion plopped onto an empty spot on the floor, and started removing the top of the pumpkin with a very large knife. Even though I knew he would heal quite rapidly, I still felt a little concerned for my mate and sat down next to him.
“Can I help you?” I offered.
“No, love, I’ve got this. Why don’t you grab your own pumpkin?”
With an agreeable shrug, I got up to go get my own. Tessa lifted the lid off a pumpkin while her mate, Kylan reached in with a bare hand and scooped out a huge handful of seeds.
“Oh,” he said, “this smells amazing. I've always loved the smell of raw pumpkin. I don't know why…” He chuckled and looked at it. “It feels gross. I guess it just reminds me of when Finch and Ford were little.”
“Yeah,” Brooks agreed. “I’ve always loved the smell of – oh!“ He gagged and clamped a hand over his nose. He dropped his pumpkin onto the ground, where it exploded. “Sorry,” he said, throwing a look at Verona before backing further away. “I think I'm going to be sick.”
He retreated from the porch and stood in the doorway, pulling his shirt up over his mouth and nose. Carrick was by his side in an instant.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” said Brooks. “I just took one whiff of this pumpkin and…” He shook his head and I swear he turned just a little bit green. “Were you this sensitive, Elliott?” he asked, looking at me. “This is awful.”
I smiled weakly at him. “I'm afraid I wasn't nearly that bad. But,” I said, hoping to cheer him up a bit. “What none of them will tell you – ” I gestured to everyone who had been born a shifter or hadn’t been human in decades. “—is that your nose isn’t just sensitive because you're pregnant, but you're also adapting to having a super strong shifter sense of smell.”
; “Lucky me,” Brooks mumbled from behind his shirt. Still covering his face, he hustled through the porch and out the door to the yard. “That’s better.”
Larkin nodded to him in greeting and, in spite of still looking a little bit green, Carrick chuckled at the warden. “Good morning to you too,” he said with a smirk. Kessel laughed out loud and Larkin’s eyes narrowed, obviously not amused.
I decided to grab my own pumpkin and get to carving. I couldn't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin and was starting to feel a little embarrassed by my jagged cuts. But as other designs around me took shape, I realized that nobody was really focusing on style. Feeling better, I returned to my traditional triangle eyes and toothy grin. By the time I was feeling quite satisfied with it, and debating adding a small nose, Vee had gotten sick of being held by her grandmother and was starting to fidget.
“I'll take her, thank you,” I said.
The family matriarch somewhat reluctantly handed her to me with a smile. I found a comfortable chair and settled in to nurse Vee, while I watched everyone else go about carving their pumpkins.
Someone, I couldn't say who, hurled a handful of pumpkin seeds, either by accident or on purpose, across the porch. They splattered on Rion’s shoulder.
“Hey!” He grabbed a handful of his own slimy seeds and chucked them at Dell.
“Hey, I'm not the one who threw them,” Dell protested.
With an indifferent shrug, Rion grabbed another handful and tossed it Carrick’s way.
“I didn't throw them either,” Carrick said. Nonetheless, he scooped up his own seeds and threw them with both hands, splattering both Dell and Rion
“Oh, now you've done it!” Rion grabbed another handful at the same time as Dell did, and they both threw them at Carrick. He successfully dodged one, but took the other pile of seeds full in the face. The one that missed him flew over his shoulder and splattered onto Cambry.
Soon, the air was full of flying pumpkin seeds and guts. I quickly shielded Verona and escaped into the house, behind the screen door, and watched in amusement. Finch and Ford took up a back-to-back position and just started chucking pumpkin seeds at all of their uncles. Tessa started throwing her goop with deadly precision, taking her time and carefully catching each target on the back of the head. By the time they spun around, she was standing innocently again, with a scowl on her face as if she disapproved of the fun and games. I had to fight back a laugh each time, especially when Kylan kept bearing the brunt of the retaliation.
“At least watch out for the pumpkins!” Verona said, escaping the fray to join me and Vee.
Jacob grabbed some newspaper and flipped it into the air, sending a shower of seeds and pumpkin pulp everywhere.
“Outside!” Verona snapped. This time there was just something wholly alpha about her voice, and her family was out the backdoor in a flash. Brooks slipped safely around them and retreated to the porch.
The fray outside quickly turned from throwing pumpkin seeds to just an all-out scuffle.
“Should we intervene?” Kessel asked. “I mean, we’re just supposed to protect them from the hunter, right? Not each other.”
“If they all kill each other, we can go home,” Larkin said, with the barest hint of a smile.
Since the fight had moved off the porch, and there were no longer flying pumpkin seeds, I went back out to my comfortable chair, with a good vantage point of the fight. I brushed some seeds off, then sat down with Vee to watch the unfolding chaos. I tried for a minute or two to figure out exactly which team was which, but quickly decided that if there were any teams, the allegiances switched as quickly as I could identify them. In spite of shooing them outside, Verona didn't actually seem to mind and was watching the fight with a wide, almost proud, motherly grin.
Jacob was right in the thick of things, just as youthful and energetic as any of his children. Immortality was going to be nice. Brooks sat down in a chair near me, eyeing the fray with a wishful expression.
“It's only three months,” I said. “You'll be out there with them in no time.”
He sighed. “I know. It’s just that I haven't been healthy like this in thirty years…” He subconsciously flexed one knee as he spoke. “And as soon as I traded in my arthritic middle-aged body for a young, healthy one, I went got myself knocked up. Now I still can't do anything.”
“I think you're sturdy enough to go out there, if you really want to.”
“Nah.” Brooks put a hand over his slightly rounded stomach and smiled tenderly down at it. “I like to play rough.”
I nodded sympathetically to Brooks, wishing I could say something a little more comforting. In spite of our similarities – being the newest mates in the family and former humans – the biggest difference was age. When Rion changed me I wasn't exactly where I wanted to be in life, but I was still young enough to turn things around. Brooks, on the other hand, had been pushing fifty with no family, a dead end job, and a worsening knee problem that ended his dreams of playing professional hockey as a young man.
I heard a soft chuckle from behind me and turned to see that Cambry hadn't joined in the chaos with his cousins, and was instead still working on his pumpkin. His eyes however, flicked up to the melee, and I could see a similar longing in his expression.
“You're not going to go out there?” I asked him.
He returned to his pumpkin almost too quickly, as if he was embarrassed that I noticed. “No, no, I'm happy watching.”
“You look like something's bothering you,” Brooks said softly.
“I'm just thinking about all the stuff I have to do at the café,” said Cambry. “If the wardens ever let me go back.” Cambry owned a coffee shop on Half Moon Island, that I knew he was itching to get back to.
“I’m sure they will soon,” I said. “They’ll catch the hunter any day now.”
“Too bad I can’t get a crack at him first,” Brooks snarled.
After a few minutes the fight began to die down as, one by one, they peeled away from the melee and returned to the porch. Carrick zeroed in on his mate’s mood immediately and sat down playfully on the larger omega’s lap.
“Get off me,” Brooks groaned. “You reek of pumpkin guts.”
“Sorry.” Carrick laughed, standing. He extended a hand to Brooks, who took it, covering his nose with his other hand.
“You need to go shower. Now.”
“Care to join me?” Carrick said, batting his eyelashes.
“Not until you wash that gunk off,” Brooks retorted.
The pair laughed and went into the house. A few moments later, thoroughly coated in muddy sand and pumpkin pulp, Rion joined me. He kissed me on the cheek.
“You could have joined in,” he said. “I'm sure my mother would have taken Vee again.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “I was enjoying watching.” He tried to kiss me again and successfully smeared sand on me. “I think you need a shower too. You smell like pumpkin.”
“Is that such a bad thing?
I smiled wryly. “Well, I suppose if you add a little bit of spice you’d smell like a pumpkin pie and I’d eat you up.”
“Gross,” Dell commented from nearby.
“Just you wait,” Rion told him. “You’ll have a mate of your own too and you'll be just as gross.”
“I'm not the one covered in mud and pumpkin seeds,” I teased, plucking a stray seed from Vee’s hair as I spoke. “And you got them all over your daughter.”
“Sorry,” Rion said. “I probably should shower though, before Carrick uses up all the hot water. Want me to hold her while you get up?”
“To get her even muddier and pumpkiny? No, thank you.” Vee was still small enough that I was easily able to cradle her in one arm and push myself up with the other. Rion and I said a few goodbyes and see you laters to the lingering family on the porch, before we headed upstairs.
Chapter Three
Breakfast, the pumpkin carving, and the pumpkin fighting lasted longer than I expected, and
it was just about time for the baby’s nap. I made sure there were no more errant pumpkin seeds and settled her down on her back in her bassinet. She fidgeted for a couple of moments, but I set it to the rocking speed that she liked and urged her thumb to her mouth. She eagerly began sucking and soon she was fast asleep.
“I’m going to take that shower now,” Rion said.
I turned to see he was still standing behind me. “What were you waiting for?” I arched an eyebrow suggestively at him. “Me?”
“Well,” he said with a sly grin. “That, and I enjoy watching you with Verona.” His smirk turned into a tender smile. “You're a great dad.”
“So are you,” I said, returning his smile. I felt an itch on my neck and plucked off a pumpkin seed, which I flicked at him. “Maybe an immature one, but a great one nonetheless.”
He laughed. “Please, I think I'm too old for you to call immature.”
“Probably,” I said, laughing in agreement.
“Race you!” he teased, sprinting for the bathroom.
I took one last look at our daughter to make sure she was settled, and then followed him in. I gave him a couple of minutes to rinse off the worst of the sand and the pumpkin pulp, before joining him. He was in the middle of soaping up his body a second time. So, I took over and started scrubbing his back. I took advantage of the slippery suds to massage his shoulders. The proximity to my mate turned me on immediately.
“That feels great, thanks Elliott.” He let me rub him for a moment, before he bent down a little and urged his butt against my already hard dick, and bumped teasingly against me a couple of times. I moaned at the contact. Rion turned and cupped my cheek with one hand, and started kissing me deeply. He straddled one of my legs and my dick pressed against his thigh, as his pushed into mine. I eagerly kissed him back. He tasted of his usual pine and spice, mixed with pumpkin and lingering sugar from Tessa’s sweets. I bit back a laugh; he actually did taste like pumpkin pie! I broke the kiss and licked his lips, seeking out every last drop of lingering glaze. He chuckled as if he knew what I was doing. He licked mine back, then nipped my lower lip and sucked it into his mouth. I moaned and tugged my lip back, biting him in return. Our tongues began to twist around each other, licking and tasting.