Grant envied her the life she’d had. She didn’t really understand how fortunate she’d been, growing up with two loving parents. He hadn’t ever felt as if he had suffered growing up, with just his father raising him, but he knew he missed out on something amazing by not having a loving mother. He’d only seen his biological mother once when he was ten and his father had taken him, Aaron, James, John, and Rhett to her home. They’d been dressed up in their best clothes, their shirts neatly pressed and their hair combed perfectly. He stood next to their father on the front porch as he rang the doorbell. After awhile, a tall woman with long, dark blonde hair answered the door, looked at them all and said brusquely, “I don’t know what you’re doing here, Joseph. I have no desire to see you or
your
children.”
His father’s hand had tightened on Grant’s shoulder for just a moment, and Grant looked up at his father and realized that the woman in the doorway was his mother. Grant and his brothers had asked about her in the past but were told it would be easier if they never knew who she was because as a mountain lion, she had no desire to see her children or to be a part of their lives.
“Sandra, I know you’re moving away with some of the females. I wanted,” his father cleared his throat and then continued, “I wanted to ask you to reconsider. Not just for me, but for the boys.”
Green eyes that matched Grant’s own glared at him as his mother made a face and then sneered, “I will not. Isn’t it enough that I debased myself with you to give you children because you begged and pleaded? I did my part for the future of the lions. It’s just too bad that they turned out to be males.”
She didn’t say goodbye; she just turned away and shut the door. Their father straightened his shoulders and marched them down the steps and sidewalk to the waiting car. It was only later when they were home that Grant heard his father weeping in his bathroom, just barely discernible over the shower he’d turned on to drown out the sound. They’d never spoken of that day, and when their father died when Grant was twenty-four, he knew that he’d gone to his grave mourning the loss of the female he had loved. If his father had only known what Grant knew now. If he’d only imagined that their people would find a way to have mates and make real homes for their children, with mothers who would stick around and love not only the children, but the males as well.
Lily interrupted his thoughts when she came back to take their orders, and when she was gone, Sam said, “No one’s looking at us.”
Grant raised a brow. “Did you expect them to?”
She shrugged. “This
is
a small town, and people talk.”
Aaron said, “You’re new to town, but we’ve been here for two years. They are fairly understanding of us and know that there are things we do differently than what humans are often accustomed to because we’re weres.”
Grant leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Most of our family are cops. They probably wouldn’t say anything just on principle. They wouldn’t want their cars to get towed.”
She laughed and asked Aaron if he would really do that.
He just winked and laughed and didn’t answer. Grant knew that if someone did say something about them, especially if Sam was around, that person would find out very quickly that messing with a mountain lion’s mate was a very, very bad idea.
Throughout breakfast, they talked about the coming week. The week before, he and Aaron had taken turns each day with Sam, so that one of them was home with the boys and the other was with her. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do until they came to a place in their relationship where she would move in with them. And then it occurred to him that she might not be comfortable sharing a home with so many other males. His fork stilled halfway to his mouth as he contemplated what that might mean. They’d have to find a house big enough for their kids, but close enough so they could be with their uncles and the other lions they’d become close to. It would be difficult on them all, but he knew the kids wouldn’t want Sam to be unhappy so — like their fathers — they would do anything to make sure that didn’t happen.
Once back home in Aaron’s bed after they made love together again, Sam dozed between them, her pretty face flushed with passion.
With a low voice he said, “I wish it weren’t nearly over.”
Aaron sighed, staring up at the ceiling with one hand behind his head and the other pressed against Sam’s hand that was on his chest. “Me, too. It’s been amazing.
She’s
amazing.”
Grant agreed. He smoothed his hand down her waist, her soft, warm flesh beckoning him to touch and taste. He resisted because his sweetheart needed to rest, and the family was due back soon.
Aaron whispered, “I don’t like her not being with us. It makes me worry about her safety.”
“Are you thinking about the tire slashing?” Grant had been furious someone had tampered with her car.
Aaron nodded. “Out of all the cars in the parking lot, why hers? It’s a nice car, but it wasn’t the nicest one there. It couldn’t have been random.”
Unease settled over Grant as he looked down at his sleeping sweetheart. At war with himself, he didn’t know what to do about the situation. After several minutes of quiet passed, Grant said, “What should we do?”
“I don’t know,” Aaron said.
The afternoon passed slowly as Sam napped, waking up just before the family returned from their trip. She had plans to have dinner with her family, so she stayed only long enough to say hello to the kids, and then Aaron drove her home so she could make it to dinner on time.
The house had been mostly quiet during the weekend, save for the sounds of their lovemaking, so having all the members of the pride back with the kids running around still excited from their trip, brought a smile to Grant’s face. Brian, sporting a red welt on his neck, drew Grant’s attention first. Grant lifted his son onto the counter and peered at the mark.
“What happened, Brian?” he asked.
“I got whacked with a tree branch!” Brian said with a grin, showing that he was now missing a bottom tooth.
“You lost a tooth!”
“I did. Did you know, Dad, that the tooth-lion-fairy even comes out into the woods?” he said with wide eyes. Grant smiled at the mention of the tooth-lion-fairy. When Brian lost a tooth when Callie had first come into their lives, she asked him about the tooth fairy, and up to that point, the males had always called that particular mythological creature the “lion fairy.” In homage to Callie, the winged creature who dropped by after the kids were in bed was now known as the tooth-lion-fairy.
Grant glanced at James who smiled silently. “She does? How much did you get?” Grant asked.
“Twenty bucks!”
Grant blinked. “Did you say twenty?” He cast his eyes to James in confusion.
James shrugged and said, “I’m pretty sure that the tooth-lion-fairy thought she was pulling a five dollar bill out of her fairy wallet and accidentally left the twenty instead.”
Grant chuckled.
Wesley cracked open a bottle of water. “We told Brian that the tooth-lion-fairy left extra money because losing your tooth in the woods is good luck.”
Grant mouthed
thanks
to Wesley, who nodded with a smile. Grant hugged Brian, making sure that the mark on his neck didn’t hurt any longer, and set him down on the floor.
“Why couldn’t Sam stay, Dad?” Kevin asked.
“She had a dinner with her parents tonight. She stayed long enough to say hi, but she had to leave so she wouldn’t be too late.”
“Oh,” Kevin said, his mouth turning down slightly.
“What’s wrong, kiddo?”
Kevin turned his face up, blinking wide green eyes at him. “I like it when she’s here.”
Grant’s heart panged in his chest. “Me, too, Kev.”
As the pride sat down to a casual dinner of sandwiches and chips, the kids regaled them with stories of staying up late, telling ghost stories, and trying their burgeoning hunting skills out on small, furry prey.
When the boys were showered and in bed, Grant walked into his bedroom with a yawn. Except for grabbing clothes, he hadn’t been in his room since Friday. Aaron was sitting on his bed.
“What’s up?” Grant asked.
“Ben wanted to know why Sam wasn’t staying here with us. He said that when mountain lions find their mates, they shouldn’t leave them alone because it was the lions’ responsibility to protect them.”
Grant chuckled. “What did you tell him?”
Aaron sighed. “I really didn’t know what to say because a huge part of me agrees with him. She
is
our mate, and that makes her safety our responsibility. But I’m afraid she’ll think it’s too soon. We’ve only been dating her a week. I’ve seen enough chick flicks to know that women don’t like to be rushed.”
Musing silently, Grant pondered the situation. It was true that Sam was their mate; they were both certain of it now. Being with her for the weekend, sharing her together as a mating group, had changed things between them. When before, the relationship was still new and light, now that they’d spent so much time together, it felt more solid, more real. He’d never been in a relationship before, but he knew he never wanted anyone but Sam for the rest of his life.
“Maybe it’s best for us to let her tell us when she’s ready to get more serious. It does kill me that she’s alone at night, but maybe we can do something about that. Buy her a security system or something. It’s not as if we can spend nights with her. She has her job, and we have the kids and our own jobs. Until we’re living together, we’ll just have to make do.”
Aaron nodded. “I know a guy who does security systems in the area, I’ll give him a call and check with Sam to make sure she won’t mind. And when I’m working at night, I’ll drive by her place to check on things, too.”
Aaron stood up and headed to the bedroom door. Grant said, “If her tires get slashed again, I don’t know if I’m going to be so easy-going about her living on her own, away from us. We could always offer her one of the empty bedrooms, if she feels like living together is too fast.”
Aaron said, “That works for me. Hopefully whoever slashed her tires really was just some random punk, and we won’t see anymore from him or her.”
Aaron said goodnight and closed the door. Grant yawned again and stripped, climbing under his cold covers. As he clicked the light off, his phone beeped with a text from Sam.
Home safe. Bed’s cold. Miss you already. XOXO Sam
Grant smiled, his whole body warming at her sweet sentiment. Returning her text, he wrote:
Bed’s cold and empty here, too. Miss you more. XOXO Grant
The next morning, Grant rolled over and automatically reached for Sam. When his hand pressed against the pillow and not her silky skin, he groaned unhappily. Waking up without her was frustrating.
Mornings were a flurry of activity at the boarding house. Not only did six kids have to get off to school, but the adults were always coming and going at different hours as well. Grant got all the kids up. James was working the early shift with Aaron, so Grant took the responsibility of making sure all the kids were fed and off to school. Since Henry was in high school and there was no bus from Ashland to the shared regional high school, someone always took Henry and picked him up. Today it would be Grant’s job to make sure he got to and from school safely and on time.
Tristan, the resident breakfast-maker-extraordinaire, was busy filling plates with scrambled eggs as the kids sat at the island, swinging their legs, rubbing their eyes, and yawning.
Tristan said, “Coffee’s ready, Grant. Do you want eggs, too?”
“Thanks, that would be great.”
Grant talked to his kids as he stood at the island and ate scrambled eggs, home fries, and several slices of toast.
Nathan, who had Aaron’s blue eyes, took a drink of orange juice and said, “Next time we go camping, can Sam come with us?”
“Well, kiddo, I don’t know if she’s a camping kind of woman or not. You can ask her, okay?” Grant nodded encouragingly at his nephew.
Nathan nodded seriously. “If she doesn’t like bugs, you can tell her that there aren’t any bugs in the winter.”
Ben said, “There are spiders, though. There were some in the corners of the cabin, and Micah had a fit when he saw the one on the ceiling in the bathroom.”
Tristan laughed when Grant looked at him questioningly. “Micah hates spiders. He made James get it out of the bathroom and walk it far away into the woods before he let it go.” After a pause he continued, “He doesn’t want them dead, but he just doesn’t like them anywhere around him.”
Grant thought that was really sweet, in a wussy kind of way.
“What was the best part of the trip?” Grant asked the kids.
Henry finished his eggs and picked up his plate. “When Uncle James tried to light the fireplace and forgot to open the flue. The whole cabin filled with smoke until he realized what he’d done.”
“That sounds like my brother,” Grant laughed.
Owen declared the s’mores were the best part. Brian said it was finding the constellations and learning their names, courtesy of Wesley, who enjoyed astronomy. Ben said it was losing his tooth and getting twenty bucks. Nathan said it was when the adults played rock-paper-scissors for who got the only bed. Kevin said it was when they hunted animals using their lion senses. Even though they didn’t catch any animals, they did learn how to listen for them and watch for their movements.