Chapter 1

M y gaze kept darting towards him. I couldn't help it. Spying that big idiot gently cradling Miss Big Britches, Mini-Mina Lottie as she wove trinkets into his hair while he spoke heatedly with Kirch —hose me down now— it was doing things to me. Ovaries exploding, too cute for words, insides melting, someone pray for me now because I must be losing it, maybe I'd like to chat with my big furry headache about them bebehs he kept insisting he was going to make me wish to beg him for and then give me a million of ‘em, kinda crazy thoughts going through my head.

But, uhm, yeah. No. No-no-no. We weren't there yet. Not even close. It would be crazy to even contemplate- My god, she's practically pulling his hair out and he's barely let out a wince!

"She's going to make him bald," Daisy chortled out beside me, her gaze following mine.

"Maybe a few bald patches would be an improvement," I chirped sarcastically, grinning when Daisy laughed louder and Rosa spluttered from her spot across from me.

Nursing one of her little chuchbuhs, as my Keke girl lovingly called her younger brothers, my cousin shook her head at me. "I'll never understand you two," Rosa admitted as Daisy got up to tend to several of her fussy brood playing in the open patch of vegetation a short ways away from our chill spot. Rosa was too preoccupied with everything going on around us to see my smile dip.

Daisy probably assumed Rosa was referring to us with her comment, not me and Rektal over there, but I knew. Oh, how well I freaking knew, and it made my insides twist.

"Me, either, so why try, right? Cottontail has always been a bit weird, maybe it's a short blonde girl gone wild kinda deal, but we make it work," I quipped with a shrug, like I wasn't painfully aware that on some level Rosa knew there was something but she was possibly not exactly quite sure what all in great explicit detail, was going on with me and the bleach-squatch hottie getting his hair yanked out one tiny fisted handful at a time, then made myself busy with the basket I was trying and failing horribly to weave. The nails weren't helping. My claws were totally screwing up my basket crafting mojo.

Even with Goph's help behind the scenes in secret, a bit of tit for tat as he taught me all things Lo denaii living at our designated meeting spot and I taught him how to read English using my spicy books, I was beginning to think I was a lost cause on the basket making front. The male was a taskmaster but I kinda loved his determination to make sure I not only knew how to do these things but did them well.

"Gee, thanks a lot, Mojo," Cottontail huffed out with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. Eh, she liked me. Did she not just mock me with the deranged yet adorable name her kiddos, unable to say my name properly, had gifted me? I was growing on her, like a damn fungus.

Scowling, I held up the lopsided monster I'd been trying to create, to sigh in disgust. This floppy mess was just sad.

"Mine," Zhuely boy announced as he eyed that fugly excuse for a basket, giving me grabby hands for it.

With a shrug, I finished the lip of it and held it out to him. Maybe he could pretend it was an oversized helmet or something? Or hide from his mama under it, come nap time?

Taking it from me, he set it down beside us, shoved his favorite stuffy into it, and then proceeded to crawl into my lap. Before I knew what was what, I'd been hugged, kissed sloppily several times on both cheeks, and was absolutely melting as my sweet little cousin-baby-nephew-godson, as I affectionately called him, smothered me with love to then demand his due in kind.

Curling him close, glad I'd opted to wear my smudge proof lipstick today, once finished pecking kisses to his little cheeks until he was giggling hysterically, I eased up as a loud yawn left him. Adjusting him in my arms, I switched to humming the lullaby I'd heard Rosa try to emulate that her males hummed to their babes, rocking sweet lil Zhuely boy right to sleep.

"Auntie's boy." Rosa grinned, glancing our way as she fixed the dress on Keke's favorite doll for her.

"My god, I'm so stealing him from you," I whispered to Rosa as little hands buried in my hair and he settled on my chest. Not two minutes later, a soft snore left my little clinger-on as he passed the hello out. I'm melting. So melting.

"Like hell." Rosa grinned, watching us. "Get your own," she laughingly joked, jerking a finger at us, "that love bug is mine."

"He said I'm his, did he not?" I playfully bantered with a sniff.

"You may borrow him when he's grumpy as often as you like," Rosa promised, waving away my silliness, to the grimacing face I made in a reply. My cousin nearly woke up the sleeping cutie all sprawled out over me, she laughed so hard at my reaction. Zhuel was a total sour patch kid. Sweet when the mood struck him, and a total crankmonster when the sour side of him held him in its thrall.

Rosa's babes were sweet as sugar or borderline possessed, depending on what side of the bed they woke up on, there was truly no in-between with her boys. I loved to tease her about this out of their hearing.

"Ssshh! Woman?! Are you mad?!" I hissed dramatically, carefully covering the little dude in my arm's ears. Was she trying to sic a demon on me?!

Rosa waved me off as she finished nursing Tohkrii and got him settled. Play time had totally bled into naptime.

"You need to have at least six more," I told my bestie and cousin with a straight face, right as Daisy tromped back with her two rowdiest in tow.

"Him start it," Howd, short for Howard, grumbled in only the way a churlish four year old could.

"Hims started it," Garth garbled back on a snarl.

"And if either of you cutie pies wake up this babe, Aunnie Mojo will be ending it," I cheerfully warned the grumbling duo.

Daisy clapped her hand over her mouth to smother a laugh at the twin looks of disbelief aimed my way. Cottontail was a big believer in the whole it takes a village thing. If I ever deigned to "mom" her kids, she had zero problems with it.

Two soft mops of blond fur glanced from me to their mother, and even to their fathers, before circling back to me. "Mojo Jojo…" Garth huffed and puffed like a good little grumpy Yeti man, taking offense. His little arms folded over his furry chest and he gave me a look that said I wasn't his favorite person right then for scolding him when he'd already been scolded by his mama, but Howdy, as I lovingly called his brother, giggled at the rebuke, shaking his floppy mop of a mane as his head dipped and he cupped his hands over his mouth.

"She tease, dodo," Howdy taunted his sibling.

"You dodo, poo face," Garth grunted out back, careful to keep his voice low as his gaze darted between us.

"He'll sleep through just about anything," Rosa insisted, shrugging when I gave her a look.

Don't encourage them, woman! The look I gave her said.

"And he'll have the best uninterrupted nap ever with his fabulous, generous, glamorous Cousin-Auntie Joanie," I stubbornly muttered, giving her another long look.

"Of course." Rosa tried to look serious for about all of two seconds.

Running up to us from where she'd been prancing through the patches of wild flowers just up ahead, Kehko came stumbling her way to the blanket we were settled on, to dump a butt load of flowers into the middle of it. "Mama! Mama! Looks what I found?!" Kehko practically shrieked.

Wincing, I glanced down to find Zhu-boy still softly snoring away, not a flinch or a flicker of anything.

Huh.

"Wow," I mumbled, impressed.

It was Garth's bellow as he began to tussle with two of his sisters, the twins, Onica and Washel, christened Monica and Rachel at birth by their mama, that did the trick.

With a sharp cry and little claws digging into my neck where tiny hands were buried in the hair at my nape, Zhuel came to with a caterwaul to rival the madness that had dared to drag him from his slumber.

"Sleep through anything, huh?" I mumbled, wincing as I unhooked claws from my flesh and prayed my ears would stop ringing.

"Heh. Heh. Just about anything?" Rosa corrected with a laugh as Daisy broke up the dog pile beside us and the two males with her, running around with all the wild littles, came over to give a gal a hand.

Rosa took Zhu-boy from me and handed over Tohkrii. "I don't suppose you'd like to play with this fancy basket?" I asked the little guy, to a babble of baby talk and wet, furry fingers clapping to my face.

"Suppose not," I muttered between wet claps, relieved I'd forgone going fully glammed up in favor of saving that kind of fabulousness for a fully done war paint kind of day.

Righty, one of Daisy's mates, as I'd dubbed him, brought a basket over, joining Yeti-Thing One and Yeti-Thing Two, who'd accompanied Daisy today for this particular outing, Red and her males bringing up the rear, late as usual.

"You almost missed all the fun, Ginger," I chirped at Red in a perfect imitation of Daisy. Cottontail, who'd just opened her mouth to do just that, huffed, then reached out and flicked me, making me crack up even as I slapped her hand away.

Rosa and Red grinned, shaking their heads at us simultaneously.

Soon food was distributed, the kids settled, and Red and Daisy, as usual, casually broke off to do their own thing. Rosa and I didn't mind. In fact, we totally got it.

We were replacement peeps, fill-ins for Red and Daisy when they couldn't hang with each other, and my cousin and I freaking knew it. We may heckle them about this from time to time but we certainly didn't begrudge them this. Rosa and I were pretty much the same way. I'd admit, it would be nice to have a third buttcheek or two to pal around with, a general group of really tight gals. We'd never really had that before.

Daisy and Red were good to chum around with but they weren't all inclusive besties. I couldn't tell them everything.

Damn, I thought, thinking that one over. I couldn't exactly tell anyone I had in my life EVERYTHING, not really, could I? This paragon of awesomesauce, they didn't exist.

Couldn't tell Rosa about Rek because, my god, why torture the woman? And how could I, why would I, do that to her? She absolutely loathed Rek and I understood why. The guilt of my secret little thing with Rek ate at me whenever I thought on it too hard or too long.

Bah dum tss. That's what she said.

Distractions with humor for two hundred, please, Alex!

Good god, I was a jumbled up mess.

Even Booger, I felt, was starting to tire of listening to me yammer on about the Rek and Joanie Show. Unless I was dying to vent, I kept a lot of my shit largely to myself anymore.

When things were good between me and my bleach-squatch, they were amazing, wonderful, shout it to the moon. When they weren't, everything sucked balls.

I couldn't talk to Rek about a lot of stuff because he'd just be a butthead about it…

There was Gopher but I'd yet to really pull him into any of my shit. He was exposed to the periphery insanity but the main bull crap, I did my best to shield him from it.

Gopher was… our friendship was… Damn. Shame filled me to admit it. Gopher, despite how out and proud we are as best buddies, there was this tension, this whole side to him I'd spy and secretly loved and I- Truth time. Gopher is my dirty pleasure, secret crush that I'll never take seriously, blow off if he even hinted at liking me back because how the hell would that work?! I mean, Rek beat him up for giving me dung chips! Who beats people up over poop for the stove?!

So… Yeah. Dragged in by a poop fight mishap aside, Goph was, unknownst to even himself, my untouched, secret pleasure. Things with him were so chill and calm. I loved relaxing and just hanging out with him after a long day of crazy. It's like taking a deep breath after holding it for so long.

And I refused to taint any of that with mine or Rek's bullshit.

My soft n fluffy, skinny stick o' furred up Gogo boots was just too pure for my world.

Dramatic, I supposed, but there it was.

Unless I was in the mood to hunt down and harass Bum-bum, that left me with a big ol' nobody.

"Yeah, I see how it is!" I called after Red and Daisy from their short distance away. There was no real heat behind my words.

Red smirked, while Daisy "eep"ed, and "op"ed, snuggled between her males as their kids crawled all over her big old brutes for dudes.

Red's males stiffened at first by my tease but relaxed once they realized Red took no offense.

Intense— that's how I'd describe Red's guys. And bossy. And about a million other things. Daisy's males were less intense in looking like they might kill me for offending their tiny dynamo, but not really that much different at the end of the day.

Rosa had more chill dudes than all the rest but I've seen them good and riled so that wasn't saying much. They'd kill for her.

Daisy insisted if I just gave a large group of furry buns a chance I'd come around, I'd see, I'd join the furry multi husbands side, but I failed to see the appeal of having a bunch of butts bossier than me barking orders they actually expected me to follow. Hah!

I had one bossy butt to contend with, thank you very much. One was enough.

"More!" the little man in my lap demanded, clapping his fruit sticky hands together.

Okay, two bossy butts to deal with.

"Yes, my tyrant. Your wish is my command!" I joked.

"What do we say?" Rosa prompted him, to Kehko squeaking out excitedly for him, "PLEASE! We say please!"

"PEAS!" my fruit lovin' fiend hollered, to my rolling laughter.

Handing over his required sustenance, a piece of precut yellow melon, I glanced up, feeling like I was being watched.

Rek's gaze darted from me to the little one in my lap. His throat worked, the look on his face unreadable. Our gazes met, held. Something passed between us. It felt… electric.

"Wek?" Lottie grumbled, gripping her uncle-cousin's chin hair none too gently to drag his attention back to her. "Wek? You no wisten," she fairly pouted.

Rek blinked and with some effort offered Miss Lottie his undivided attention.

It was then I noted Rektal had not been the only one paying attention to me. Or, possibly, had noted Rek taking note of me. The look on Kirch's face was curious, darting between me and my furred headache. Damn. We had a busybody on the watch.

The moment was broken, just like that.

"Prinnedcess Lottie?" Rek gruffly rumbled at her when she just stared, giving him a dirty look.

He gave her one back but it just made her laugh.

"You wook so pitty," she told him, gripping the fur on his cheeks to bring him nose to nose with her.

"My princess," Kirch grunted out softly, causing his daughter to sigh, release her death grip on Rek, where he was tolerating her torture quite impressively for someone who barely tolerated much of anything, and wriggled for him to put her down.

I nearly burst out laughing at the reluctant look on Rek's face, the pure delight on Kirch's when his baby girl immediately took her little hair accessories basket and climbed up her papa like a tree to start in on his wild mane.

Crossing his arms over his chest, my fuzzy sock monkey was the one practically pouting now, feeling thwarted.

My god, it was too cute for words.

"Why you look at hims, Aunie Jojo-me?" my little Keke, auntie's girl, inquired curiously. Making a face, she grumbled, "Hims bad male. Bad bad. Daddums says no talks to hims."

"Who? What?" I spluttered, looking anywhere but at Rek. "Oh, honey, I'm watching Lottie do her thing. She's a regular mini of her mama."

Kehko gave me a look that said she wasn't so sure but she didn't want to argue with an adult, perhaps more so this adult in particular.

"Would you like some more fruit, sweetie?" Rosa cut in, rescuing me from one of Keke's question fests. That kid was like the Spanish freaking Inquisition when she got going.

Daring to steal a peek of my secret boyfriend, my heart squished to find him stealing peeks at me right back. But for that look of longing in his eyes, there and gone in a flash, masked behind a quickly blanked expression, I felt a similar stirring of that same wanting myself.

My god, was baby fever hitting me hard today.

As if to quell that longing, I got a sweet baby smile aimed my way as Gurog, one of Daisy's youngest, crawled his way to me, babbling and gurgling, to then promptly christen my lap with regurgitated melon.

Daisy popped into action, helping me clean up, apologizing profusely all the while as she checked over her little one, even though I sucked it up and assured her spit up happens. As if to squish any baby making thoughts of me and Rek altogether, my gaze was drawn to a twin set of alarming snarls.

Standing off to the side, Kirch and Rek had wandered away from Kirch's family grouping. Shoving off Kirch's grip on Rek's nape, teeth bared, eyes flashing, they were nose to nose, snarling in each other's faces. Kirch pulled back first, throwing his hands up at Rek, who threw his hands up back, snapping at him in beast speak, for Rek to storm off without another backwards glance.

Uhm, so, yeah, maybe not so ready to jump in and have to deal with a real baby along with my big furry sock puppet fuzz monster of one.

One baby was enough for me right now, I thought as I grimacingly wiped toddler vomit off of my lap.

One was more than enough.