by Dani Gray
Epilogue
It had been a couple of months since Trevor had been shot, and Harvey still had trouble letting him go anywhere without him. The thought of losing his bunny hurt his heart so badly.
What he didn’t expect was for Jerry to know about shifters. Holy cow! And for his step-father to be a cougar shifter. How cool was that. He still hadn’t told Jerry what he shifted into, but with Jerry’s family coming for a visit, he knew he was going to have to tell him, since his family was going to be able to scent that he was a shifter.
Since Jerry was familiar with construction too, Asclepius decided that Jerry’s company was going to do the work on getting the clinic ready for humans. The gods have been doing some of the work to get it done quicker, but the construction company was going to do the bulk of the work. Asclepius understood that the neighborhood would be more trusting of the clinic if they saw human workers taking the regular time to get things done.
It kinda made sense to Harvey, but it was also confusing to him.
“Hey mate, I have someone here who won’t settle down for me.”
Trevor came into the room, carry a sweet little girl in his arms. She had lost her parents to the hunters and they had almost lost her too. She had been born at the hunting grounds, but they threw her into a corner, leaving her there to die. She had been found by one of the police officers, who rushed her to the clinic.
Harvey took one look at her and burst into tears.
He named her after his mom, Belinda, and told Trevor and everyone else that they were keeping her. No one argued with him.
Trevor handed him the squirming bundle of freshly washed baby, and she settled down as soon as she scented him.
“Hello, my precious girl,” Harvey said softly to her. “Have you been giving your papa trouble?”
Lindy waved her arms and legs at him while he got them settled, then grabbed the bottle that Trevor handed him. He popped the nipple in her mouth and she happily began to eat her meal.
“How are the rest of the kids settling down?” Harvey asked.
So far there were twenty-seven kids there, not including Lindy. They ranged in ages of four to seventeen years old.
Some of the older children had been badly abused, and their healing was going to take a long time. As far as Harvey and Trevor were concerned, they could stay with them as long as they wanted.
Right now, they were hurt and angry. They sometimes lashed out in their pain, but they never tried to hurt anyone else physically. All Harvey and Trevor could do was wait until they were done being angry, then hold them until they could pull themselves back together. Harvey was getting a reputation as being the world’s best hugger.
The biggest thing they wanted them to know is that they were unconditionally loved by Trevor and Harvey. They knew that what happened to them wasn’t their fault, but logic didn’t always rule someone’s feelings. And with how some of these kids had been used and hurt, they were entitled to how they felt as far as Harvey was concerned.
“Jenna is having a bad night,” Trevor said. “She’s pacing her room in her animal form. I was thinking of going in there and spending some time with her.”
“Okay.” Harvey looked down at Lindy, who was fast asleep with the nipple in her mouth. “Let me get this one burped and tucked into bed, and I’ll make the rounds to the others.”
“Mom already tucked in the littles, but maybe check on Joey,” Trevor told him as he walked out the door. “He’s been asking if you would stop in and see him. He said he needed to ask you about something.”
“Sure.”
Making sure that he had the burp blanket in place, Harvey put the bottle on the bedside table, then gently lifted Lindy to his shoulder. He rubbed some circles on her back and give her some soft pats. He was happy with the loud burbs that came from the little body, but even happier that she stayed asleep. Harvey moved her over to her crib, and once she was lying with her own baby blankie covering her, he moved to make sure that the baby monitor was turned on and he had the portable receiver.
Saving Joey’s room for last, Harvey made the rounds to all the kids rooms. All the little ones were sound asleep, but a few of the older ones were still awake. Some of them were playing games or doing some homework, since Harvey and Trevor insisted that they finish their schooling.
After making sure that they were all good, Harvey made his way to Joey’s room and knocked on the door.
“Hey Joey,” Harvey called out. “It’s Harvey, can I come in?”
“Come in.”
“Hey,” Harvey said after he entered the room. He moved over and sat on the chair. One of the rules that they had was they never sat on one of the older kid’s beds. They didn’t want to leave their scent on them, especially after all that they already had to endure.
“Trevor said you needed to speak to me.”
“Yeah.” Joey looked so frightened.
Harvey tried to be patient, but he was getting worried. “Is someone hurting you?”
“No,” Joey immediately shook his head. “It’s nothing like that. It’s…just…I found my mate.”
After saying that, he burst into tears. “He won’t want me, not after what they did to me.”
Harvey got up, going to stand in front of Joey.
“Can I hug you?”
Joey launched himself into Harvey’s arms as soon as he finished asking that question.
“How can anyone want me after what they did?” Joey sobbed out. “They took everything away from me that I was saving for my mate.”
“Oh baby,” Harvey said. “You are still giving something to your mate. They took stuff from you, but you will be giving yourself freely to your mate. You need to remember that. If you want, either Trevor or I can speak to your mate, but you also need to remember, you can’t go to him until you are of age. You are still underage for almost a year. You only just turned seventeen.”
Joey cried for a few more minutes, then slowly pulled away from Harvey. He went into the bathroom and washed his face and tried to compose himself.
He came out after a few minutes.
“If you don’t mind, can I ask who your mate it?”
“Do you promise not to say anything to him?”
“I promise, not until you are ready.” Harvey vowed.
“It’s Jerry.” Joey whispered.
Holy poopsicles.
The End
About the Author
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I still remember one of the first books I read, it was the Bobbsey Twins. As I got older, I moved into more the interesting books, but some of the typo’s made me nuts! So, after contacting writers I started a career of where I began content editing, beta reading and brainstorming. Please, don’t ask me about good grammar, as I wouldn’t know it if it jumped up and bit me in the ass! After being harassed for a couple of years by some of the writers, I gave in and have now begun to write.
I live in central Canada with my hubby of over 25 years, 4 kids, and 5 grandkids. We have a collection of pets, including our guard cat. I love nothing more than curling up with a good book, or my laptop to work on the next thing that catches the muse, much to the frustration of my hubby. I would love to hear from readers, you can find me at any of these places below. I promise, I’m bad at updating my blog, but I never ignore a question sent to me.
Blog: https://authordanigray.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.dani.gray
MeWe: https://mewe.com/group/5b256bafa5f4e50e605dbac2
Email me at [email protected]
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