Chapter 40

I could do this. One make up with a mate down, a bajillion to go.

Seeing as Tor was MIA, possibly playing wildman with his beastliest side out by his treehouse, and Celuk was gone fishing, that left my little kumquat headed Odix to contend with.

A knot formed in my gut as I shuffled my way to his front door. My palms were sweating profusely at this point. The grip on the basket in my hand kept slipping.

My free hand kept going to my hair self-consciously every time I lifted it to knock.

When I finally did knock there was no answer.

Smoke puffed from his smokestack but he could have stepped out for a minute or left heating rocks on.

Waiting a few more minutes, I tried again.

Nothing.

Absolute silence.

Biting at my lip, my gaze darted around.

What to do… What to do…

Staring down at the freshly cooked, sliced up roast from the meat Rosa and her mates had given me in thanks for babysitting the kids on the fly, roasted potatoes, half a loaf of that thick, dark bread he loves, all his favorites, down to those stinky berries he likes that make me think of gherkin pickles, baked up into a nauseating pie of nastiness and everything, just like he loved, lord help me, I had no idea what to do at this point. Did I leave the food here for him? What if he was on a hunt? Who wants to come home to moldy food?

Crap-sicles.

Waiting a few more minutes, I had to concede that if he was home and choosing not to answer the door to me, he had every right to and I had to respect that. Then, you know, corner him once he left his fortress of solitude and ambush him at the earliest opportunity.

Following down the main path that would lead back to my place, I'd just reached the fork in the road when Lukar popped out of a hut a few down.

"Jo," he greeted warmly, looking pleased to find me out and about.

"Uhm, have you seen Odix, by any chance?" I mumbled as I waved at him in returned greeting.

"Odix?" He gave a short sniff and nodded. It was the puke berry pie. Had to be. Who the hell liked gherkin pie? My crazy fool, that's who. Blech to that. "No see him today."

Hefting the basket a little higher, a feast for five and then some because Odix could put it away, I gave it a little waggle. "You all wouldn't happen to want a human deterring pie and some roast veggies, bread, meat, would you? I can't eat all of this by myself and I don't want it to go to waste."

Leaning forward, he lifted the cloth covering the contents, let out a rumble of appreciation, making me wonder if he liked puke berry pie, too, and garbled out, "We eat. We go." Clasping my arm, he steered me back around and led me towards his place.

"Uhm… I meant-" I mumbled.

"We go. Rothy miss her Jo," he rumbled out quickly, making sure I understood, not the other way around.

"Alright," I mumbled as he kept pace with me. I supposed I had more than my cousin and fellas to make up with.

"Rothy sorry. No mean stick nose in it. Jo come see. My Rothy misses her Jo, the terribles, she say," he went on.

"She misses her Jo the terribles, she says, huh?" My lips quirked at that.

"Jes," he muttered shortly. He either chose to ignore the humor lacing my tone or just didn't give a crap. He was bringing his Rothy her Jo. Apparently I was Rothy's now.

My mouth kicked up a little more at that. Then my gaze fell to his hand on my arm. I reached over and slapped at it. He promptly released me with a respectful nod. I'd swear his lips quirked up at the corners as I slapped him with some sass but he only ever smiled with his Rothy.

As soon as we started to climb the steps and he shouted, "My Rothy! Come see your Lukar bring for you!" I totally understood what the quirky lip thing was for now.

"Brownie points with the wife. Smart." I had to give credit where credit was due.

A grin broke free on Lukar's face as he set his healer's bag by the door and Dorothy came storming into the room. "I've got a pot of tea about to shout at me! Now, what is this you're shouting abou- Joanie!" Tossing the cloth she was wiping her hands off on towards the table, she made a beeline for me, completely bypassing her grinning mate.

Lukar instantly made a face when she threw her arms around me instead of him and hugged me half to death.

"Oh, hun, we were so worried about you," she was saying, while Lukar grumbled something at our side. Dorothy released me to turn to him. "You hush. He had his reasons, and he was right! See? Look! She came around!" she told him. Picking up the cloth she'd flung, she returned to us to playfully swat at him with it until he just snapped and snatched her up.

"Kisses," he rumbled, puckering his lips playfully to plant loud, smacking kisses to her neck until she laughingly complied.

"You two are adorable. It's almost as nauseating to watch as smelling this nasty pie is," I muttered, then sighed softly.

"Make pie for Odix. He not home. Lukar find Jo. Give my Rothy food. Eat foods. Set pie outside, keep beasts away," Lukar told her.

Dorothy paused as she chuckled at him, growing thoughtful. "Do you think that might actually work?" she wondered aloud.

"Mama! We here!" Doogie announced. The sound of him stomping through the back door and into the house had my gaze darting towards the long hall, hoping this we meant him and the male he usually hung out with in his free time, a stinky pie loving fiend I was in need of.

When Doogie and Bia came down the hall, I had to force a smile past my disappointment.

"Don't be dragging mud through my clean house!" Dorothy called back.

"We didn't," Bia assured her.

"Butt-kiss," Doogie muttered, making a face at Bia he probably learned from hanging with me too much.

"Jo," Bia greeted. "Mina and the kids miss you," he told me with a smile. "It's nice to see you around."

It was nice to hear all the warm wishes from everyone but the wording was making me feel like I was a recovered mole person. I suppose, in a way, I kinda was.

"Thanks, but don't inhale too deeply. I made stink berry pie."

My warning was met with Bia quickly plugging his nose. "Ugh. I don't know how Od can eat that," he grumbled.

"Him weird," Doogie offered with a shrug. "Odix likes Jo, no?"

"Shots fired," I whispered, shaking my head.

"Forget she has pie in hand," Lukar reminded him.

Doogie grabbed Bia and shoved him in front of him. "Here! Go!"

"What do you mean, go?! I don't wanna wear it! Mina hates that shhhh- stuff! She calls it skunk pie! Are you crazy? One whiff and she'll puke! I'll end up sleeping on the other side of the room!"

"You can share a bed with brother-dear, I'm sure, right Kunkle Doodie?" I taunted Doogie.

"Doogie not want share bed with Bia stink-face," Doogie muttered, shoving his brother aside. Twisting, he called something over his shoulder in Lo denaii.

Feeling a little overwhelmed, I handed the basket over to Dorothy with a hug. "I just wanted to drop this off. Enjoy your dinner, on me."

Squeezing in behind Lukar, I slipped out the front door.

I was almost to the path when Dorothy's front door slammed open and a garbled bellow issued into the night.

Pausing, I turned.

Odix came barreling out of the house, shouting my name breathlessly. He tripped down the steps, recovered, tripped again, but kept coming, limping his way to me.

"Oh my god, kumquat, don't kill yourself! Are you okay?!"

"My Jo!" he choked out, almost bowling me over as he stumbled a few steps to finally reach me.

Sliding into his side, I tugged at his hand until he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Can you walk? Are you okay?"

His knee gave out and he toppled, taking me with him to the ground. "My Jo," he rumbled out, making sure he took the brunt of our fall.

Sprawled out atop him, I struggled to get up without hurting him. He wasn't making it very easy to accomplish when he just yanked me back down to him to hug me to him every single time I tried to lift up.

"Up. We want up, Odi, " I managed to garble out finally.

Rolling to his knees, while I stood, he wrapped his arms around me and shoved the side of his head between the girls.

A small measure of relief filled me, his reaction to seeing me coupled with spying him wearing the bracelet I'd given him.

"I made you pie," I mumble-blurted.

Lifting his head, he grabbed my hand and shoved it onto his head, telling me to run my fingers through his hair without words. Then he promptly reburied the side of his face in the girls.

Turning his head, he took a few deep breaths. His breathing was ragged. He sounded shaken.

I blinked down at the sight we must make. "I don't know if sucking in lungfuls of titty sweat is necessarily the right way to go-"

"Mine," he grumbled, his voice gone deep and gravelly. His chest rumbled so loud the girls were practically numb from the vibrations.

Thick fingers roamed my back, hugging me to him to release me, then hug me to him all over again.

"Let's give them a minute," I thought I heard Dorothy say.

Tapping at his shoulder, I murmured softly. "I- I've been wanting to talk to you. I think it's best if we do this face to face instead of face to tits, though."

Odix's hold on me tightened and he shook his head. "No want talk. Jo mine. Want stay like this," he mumbled into my breasts.

"Even if there's stink berry pie, sliced roast beast, and roasted veggies nearby?" Tightening my fingers in his hair, I gave a little tug. He grunted but would rather lose tufts of head fur than relinquish his hold. My heart warmed at the sweet possession.

Burying his face deeper, until his hot breath was heating the middle of my chest, he inhaled deeply. An engine revving purr tumbled out of him. "Want Jo say Odix hers. For the evers. Odix keep Jo for the evers."

Swallowing thickly, my eyes welled with unshed tears. My voice quavered as I struggled to repeat him word for word. "Joanie wants Odix forever. Joanie is very sorry for pushing Odix away."

Pausing to take a deep breath, I was trying to hike up those big girl panties to finish the rest of it when Odix jerked his head back, shot up, snatched me up, and hugged me tight.

"My Jo. My Jojomine," he purred happily. Burying his thick digits in my hair, his lips took mine. This wasn't a peck. There was nothing gentle about it. He ate at my mouth roughly, too eager to even think to try and ease up.

When one of his fangs got my lip, his tongue followed, laving the small nick.

This just seemed to excite him more. A groan of a growl left him. "My Jo."

"Everyone's waiting for you back at Dorothy's," I pointed out when he finally let me up for air and started to cart me off, presumably to his place.

"No, we not!" Doogie shouted after us, then switched to Lo denaii.

Bia, grinning alongside him, waved us off.

"Are you even going to let me finish my apology speech?" I mumbled. My fingers smoothed over the fur on his shoulders, marveling at all the body heat his massive frame could put off.

"No," he rumbled out curtly.

"No?" I frowned at that. Worry joined the mix but I fought past it. Staring at his shoulder as I made little swirlies, I bit the inside of my cheek. "Even if I'm really sorry for pushing you away and hurting you and I wanted to tell you how much I missed you horribly? Or tell you how much I love you?"

Odix stopped dead in his tracks to pry me free of him long enough to force me to meet his gaze. Our eyes met and held. "No," he grunted out, then jerked me right back to his chest to hurry on his way.

My heart sank at that one little word.

"No need hear it," he muttered after a moment, adjusting his hold on me. "Jo already say. Say Odix hers for the evers. Odix know."

Pinching his shoulder, making him yelp, I grabbed his furry mug when he would have turned his head towards me to demand to know what I'd done that for, and planted one on him.

His pained growl turned into a hungry purr.

"Mine," he muttered against my lips, lifting me up to settle my legs around his thick hips so his hands were free to roam. And roam they did.

"We're still outside," I reminded him when he rounded the side of a hut that was not his and began to tug on the back of the waistband of my pants.

"Mine." His rumbling purr had me shivering from head to toe.

"Whose hut is this?" I whispered between hungry kisses as he fought to take my pants off and I fought to keep my head on straight with him tempting me beyond reason.

"No care," he garbled out. The male was an expert at distracting me, an absolute beast.

Turning me to face the side of the hut, facing away from him, he jerked my hips towards him, found the ties of my pants, mumbling at himself to be careful. In no time he pulled the ties, to loosen them and jerked my pants hastily down my hips.

"Someone might see." I sounded more breathless with anticipation, excited, than truly worried about getting caught.

Trying to get my bearings straight, it was kind of hard to tell where we'd ended up at this point. The dark wasn't helping matters any.

"My Jo no secret panties," he growled out happily, bending his tall frame to hunch over me. Sharp teeth nipped my ear as he grabbed me by my hips to lift me clean up off the ground, shoving his thick thighs between mine as he lowered me back down, he dipped into a kneeling crouch to impale me on that insanely thick monster he calls his dick.

I was wet, wanting. There was little resistance, despite how long it's been since I'd taken him.

My fingers dug into his hands, gripping them where his thick claws were digging into my hips.

I was worried I might be the one-pump chump of this interlude as one of his hands slid up my torso beneath my shirt and cupped one of my breasts. Thick fingers pinched my nipple as his other hand slid down my belly to play with my clit.

His hips rocked me on his turgid flesh, urging me to move freely. Taking him up on it, I gripped his knees and fought to move. Soon I was bouncing up and down on his length, his hands on me torturing me in time to the rhythm I'd set.

"My Jo," he choked out, over and over again as I worked his length, until we were both riding that edge, about to tip over at any moment.

"Bite me," I whispered, reaching up to slide my hair off of my shoulder and tug my collar out of the way, exposing flesh.

Odix didn't need to be told twice.

His teeth sank deep as he drove hard up into me once more.

A sharp cry left me as I came, writhing on his pulsing length.

Odix growled around his fangs buried in my flesh as he came.

He continued to rock into me as his length swelled. With a satisfied rumble, he removed his teeth from my shoulder to lap at the spot.

Like the world was out to fuck with my head, I lifted my head and my eyes fluttered open at a noise to our right.

Rek stood there, hands fisting and unfisting at his sides, swallowing thickly. He looked like he wanted to beat Odix senseless but was also too fucking happy to see me amongst the land of the living, but also still very much wanted to murderlize Odix.

Panting, breathless, I turned to Odix as if Rek wasn't even there. Odix growled softly as my mouth met his. The taste of iron tipped my lips as his tongue tangled with mine.

Bracing himself on the wall with one hand, the other cupped us where we were joined and he jerked my hips into his as he pumped into me. Locked together like this, moving just the right way, I knew I'd come again if he kept it up.

He kept it up, lifting his head to stare over his shoulder with a snarl as I broke apart in his arms.

When the heat of the moment had ebbed, I lifted my head, searching out shimmering green eyes, but Rek was no longer there.

It wasn't until we'd dragged our happy asses to Odix's house and he'd stripped me down to pin me down to his bed for rounds one and two, then three up against the wall when I'd jokingly tried to escape Mega-peen, as I'd so lovingly dubbed his monster with zero quit in it, that he told me of his previously made plans.

Snuggled up in his arms, resting my head on his chest, I shrugged. "You had this planned out. You have to go."

"No want," he grumbled, sounding so petulant it was actually cute.

"I'll be waiting for you when you get back," I murmured, to a firm shake of his head.

"Odix just got my Jo back. No want go." Rolling, forcing me to move or be crushed, he flipped me and jerked me into his chest, his big spoon to my little spoon. Taking my hand in his, he kissed it as I laughed at his manhandling. Then he smacked my hand to his ass, urging me to give that nice slab of cake he was packing a squeeze. "No want go. Doogie and Bia no' make Odix."

"You're right," I said reasonably, " they can't."

Odix growled at the small, self-assured smile pursing my lips.

"But I bet I can…"

???

"B e careful," I fretted, fussing over him as he finished loading his pack. "Don't let anything eat you."

"Odix eat Jo… Jo lets Odix stay," he mumble-muttered under his breath.

Mina, picking up little bits here and there, cracked up at Odix's little boy frown. "He doesn't want to go either, but it's like a tradition from when they were growing up." Mina grinned as she mockingly pointed at Bia.

Bia snatched her hand up and acted like he was going to bite it. Mina jerked her hand back, holding her belly with her free hand as she cackled her butt off at her mate. "Wouldn't be half as fun if they didn't resist at first," she admitted.

Bia paused at that. "You mean to tell me that if I'd pretended I wanted to actually go, you'd have been fine with me not going?"

"Fun how that works, isn't it?" I teased.

Now Bia was frowning at both of us.

Odix let out a warning rattle aimed at Bia, telling him to stop frowning at me.

Bia just rolled his eyes.

"Ready?" Noyel asked, looking more prepared than the rest of them.

"Gopher not here," Doogie muttered. "No know he go this one." Cupping his hand over his eyes, Doogie squinted into the distance.

Already having been brought up to speed on everything, Odix nodded knowingly. "Famlied ‘mergency." They'd stalled their expedition a week to give Gopher more time. Odix had insisted it was for himself so he could spend time with me, which wasn't exactly a lie. While on the one hand I was worried about Gopher, on the other, this time with Odix has been more than memorable.

"It's okay. Go' can catch the next one," Mina said with a shrug as she patted Bia on the back.

Celuk has yet to return with Tokre, but I'd expected as much. It was a sort of deep woods fishing expedition, kinda like Odix, Doogie, Bia, Noyel and Gopher planning this foraging foray. Some healing herbs don't grow well in the village. They need the much colder climes near the base of Mt Creepy, as I've generously dubbed the big, pointy mountainside with a rock face that looks like the mouth of a monster. Apparently, some of the best healing shit is found right there at the toothy-rock-formation mouth of it.

It was far too cold for a human. I'd have to sit their unofficial guys' trips for weeds out.

"Bia and Noyel aren't bringing enough gear for a weeks long trip," I murmured to Odix, glancing around at the lack of shit packed on their backs.

Odix glanced to Doogie, who was loaded down, exchanged a look with him, and they turned to frown at Bia and Noyel together.

"Ey! What you know?" Doogie barked at them. Narrowing his eyes at them when they lifted their hands and their eyes widened innocently, he bared his teeth at them and aptly corrected, "What you do?"

Bia and Noyel exchanged overdone wide-eyed looks. "What do you mean?" Bia shrugged his shoulders.

Noyel copied the motion.

"They lie. Make reasons." Odix gave a grunt. "No go now."

"Who bring plants for healing, then?" Doogie pointed out. "We say we go, we go."

Odix made a groaning noise.

Reaching out to him, I gave his arm a comforting pat. "It's okay, big guy. Dingus Two and Dingus Three will go and get their shit, and maybe Goph will pop in at the last minute, then you'll go, grab a bunch of weeds, and be back before you know it."

"They aren't getting weeds." Mina snorted at that.

"Plants. Roots. Petals, stems. Souls of a thousand virgins. Whatever." My hand lifted to airily wave that ish off.

"Why thousand souls of virdgrens?" Odix asked, glancing my way. When I laughed and the others did too, Doogie rumbled something at him in Lo deanaii. Odix shrugged his massive shoulders at, reeled me in, then pinned me to his big, cuddly dad bod to sniff at my hair. "Nope. No ‘llect my Jojo. No' virdgren here."

"Bah!" A bark of a laugh left me.

"He's got the jokes." Mina held her belly as she laughed. She was carrying low and that bump full of I didn't dare ask how many, was probably playing water polo on her bladder.

"Odix has the Joadnee," Odix purred. Nuzzling the top of my head, he rubbed his hands comfortingly up and down my back. I was a nervous wreck. It was more than the trip and everything being in limbo with Celuk and all of Tor's sides still.

I'd thought I'd seen… but no. No way. Odix had checked both times I'd thought I'd seen a Krampus. A part of me was worried I might be hallucinating these sightings or someone was playing a very cruel prank on me.

All Odix found was the dust of shame stink lingering in the spots I'd indicated and nothing more.

There was no one around here that I thought could be that mean spirited.

Unless… No way. That would just- For any reason, that would just be heartless! Yet the thought persisted…

"Ey!"

"He has arrived!" Mina crowed, clapping for Gopher as Bia groaned at her back, snuggling her and her baby bump, his hands roving over the small bump so sweetly my teeth ached to watch it.

I'd never been so jealous of morning sickness in my life. Baby fever was taking me for a spin. It was bordering on green-eyed jellies, wondering if it just wasn't meant to be for me. Only time and a lot of bumping uglies would tell.

Odix insisted I was going to be ready to put a baby in soon, as he so lovingly informed me. I was fertile. It would happen. I just had to grow some patience. Long story short— I'm impatient, I don't wanna wait, I wanna scream cry in preggers happiness— fuck me.

Trying to wriggle free of Odix to see Gopher's arrival, he grunted and held on tighter for a long moment. Slapping at his thick arms banding around me, I gave him a look. "What gives, my big hairy butt of a beast?"

Odix grinned down at me at that, like I'd just given him the sweetest nickname. "Only call Odix this," he warned me sternly.

Saluting him sarcastically, having to loop my arm over his to manage the feat, I promised him, "Only my hairy butt for you. On this, I swear."

Plucking me up to take my lips hungrily, he growled against my mouth, "Goot."

"I'm beginning to see why we're told we're gross, cute, and weird to watch all at once," Mina told Bia conversationally.

Bia chuckled. "Because we are. I've seen you with Kirch." Bia made a mock shuddering sound I was sure accompanied some sort of ick face.

The sound of Mina smacking at Bia softly, playfully, at my back, had my lips tipping up.

Odix's eyes narrowed at the humor in my eyes. "We not gross weird," he grumbled against my lips.

"Of course not, my hairy butt," I assured him, our lips still mashed together as we spoke.

He let out a grunt, gave me one last whammy of a liplock, to release me, wobbly knees and all, and turned us to face Gopher.

Gopher and a small mob of younger females at his back approached. In the middle of it all, was the biggest Lo denaii I'd ever laid eyes on, but he was sitting in a wheeled chair made of local materials of the likes I'd never seen before. Several very tall, thick Lo denaii males with one short, plump, dark skinned woman in the middle of them, her hand on the shoulder of the male in the chair, appeared to be leading this parade of people.

"Hold up just a minute there, boy!" A middle aged man with a thick thatch of grey shot brown hair, decked out in similar duds as Amee-lee had been, broke from the group to rush up to Gopher. The worn, tattered, ancient looking cowboy hat in his hands and the jingling of spurs on his boots had my eyes widening as I took him in.

His accent was thick but I was shit with accents. Hell if I could try and place it. Basically, he sounded like a cowboy in the movies and looked like he'd just stepped out of an old western.

Gopher turned to him as the movie cowboy guy glanced over to where Odix and I were standing.

Whatever he said to him, Gopher glanced down at his empty hands and nodded.

"Celia, darlin'?" the man called out and a small little girl, a small little human girl of no more than twelve, who favored the cowboy and the woman, broke from the group to come dancing forward.

"Here you go, Bibo!" Celia chirped happily, handing over a little bouquet, to give her big brother a hug, nod when her father, I presumed, motioned for her to rejoin the protection of their group, and danced over to Amee-lee and Elle, who seemed to be watching over the little ones.

Clapping him on the back, the man told him, "Now go on and do this right, son."

Gopher looked so happy he could cry as his father placed something in his hand and stepped back as Gopher approached us.

Glancing at the item in his hand, he gaped. Whirling around, stopping mid-stride towards us, he turned to the woman and spluttered, "Mamma?"

Mamma smiled and nodded encouragingly. She spoke French at first but switched to English to tell him, "Now it's your turn. Be happy, my heart."

Gopher rushed her, making the cowboy and the Lo denaii surrounding her chuckle.

"He has asked, yes?" the seated Lo denaii called out loudly.

"No Bapa. Not yet," a little Lo denaii human hybrid close to Celia's age with dark fur and brown eyes leaned in to tell him. "Mamma has given him the ring and he has the flowers."

He nodded approvingly, his eyes squinting in the distance, and made a gesture that said, Well, get on with it then. What are we waiting for?!

Gopher laughed, hugged his Mamma, then his Bapa, the cowboy, who he called Papa, and the rest of his Bapas, as he called them.

Gopher had a sea of sisters. There had to be at least eleven all together. I cringed in sympathy for his Mamma.

Nearly tripping over his own two feet in his rush back to us, he quickly got down on one knee in front of his entire family, I presumed, and asked, "Joanie, be my bride? Marry you Gopher?"

He fumbled for the ring to hold it out to me. I caught it before it fell and practically tackled him as I screeched, "Hell yes, I will!"

His bapas clapped and growled approvingly, while his Mamma and Papa laughed at our ridiculousness and hugged. Bending, his Papa reeled his Bapa in their wheeled chair in for their hug and plopped his cowboy hat on the Lo denaii's head.

Gopher's gang of sisters shrieked and cheered. More than a few winced and grimaced at their ear piercing theatrics.

Gopher was too busy sucking the lips from my face to pay any of it any mind.

A heavy hand clapping him on the back, sending him jolting and catching himself, forced us to break our liplock. Gopher bared his teeth, looking ready to snarl at whoever had intruded upon our special moment, but Odix, the back clapper, grabbed us both up in a hug. Gopher yelped, then spluttered when Odix butted right in, bumped foreheads with Goph affectionately, then stole a kiss from me right under Gopher's sputter-laughing nose.

I laughed like a loon. It was too funny not to, and I was living in this moment, too happy for words.

Releasing us, Odix proclaimed, "Now Goph kiss my Jo. Make the smoochies good," then ditched us to greet Gopher's kin.

Gopher cuddled my snort-laughing ass close, grinning as I lost it all over him. My fit of the sillies tapered off into this weird mishmash of giggle-crying.

"My Jo, what this for?" Gopher brushed a finger down my cheek, catching a tear drop as it rolled down my face.

"I'm- I'm happy. These are happy." Holding out the ring to him, I waggled my fingers. "I don't know if it will fit any of my sausage fingers-"

"Grandmamma ring fit. BapaChii see it fit. Gopher see on him hand, match Jo ringed finger," he murmured softly, looking as taken in the moment as me.

"I- You did? How…?" How the hell had he managed that?

Gopher wrapped his index finger around the pinky of the opposite hand, then lifted my hand to show that he could do the same with my index finger.

"But how?" I blurted.

Grinning, he dropped my hand, then wrapped his fingers around the ring finger of my left hand, just like he had before he'd left the other day. It hadn't clicked that he'd done that, he's played with my fingers so many times before as he'd held my hand. I'd thought nothing of it.

"Slick, mister," I muttered, reeling him in for another hello, honey kiss as he slipped a rather sparkly, vintage looking ring onto my ring finger. The fit was perfect.

Holding the ring up to the light, I shook my head. It was silver, with little rainbow shimmering dark stones set in it I'd never seen the likes of before. "It's beautiful."

"BapaGaroph put new gems in. Old ones fake anyway, Mamma say." He looked so pleased to see such a priceless family heirloom nestled on my finger, I had a mini moment of panic realizing I'd shit myself if I ever misplaced this ring.

"I'll never take it off," I swore.

I got an even hotter smooch for that one, bordering on a PG+ rating.

"Get a room!" Bia jokingly called out.

"Who need room?" Gopher's Bapa in his wheeled chair called out.

"Look like they ‘bout to try and make babies right here," Chloe sarcastically informed him.

He let out a loud grunt as their Mamma tutted and chastised, "Chloe! Be a lady!"

"They're just happy, quiet you," their Papa chastised Chloe gently, then ruined it by tossing her a wink that made her giggle and quiet down.

With one last rib cracking hug, Gopher released me to take my hand. "Come. Meet Mamma, Bapas, Papa, seesters," he entreated.

Like I had a choice? He practically dragged me over to them, his chest puffed out, strutting towards them like a peacock.

Elle and Amee-lee quietly snickered at his display but they were grinning along with the rest of them.

"My Jo, Mamma. Mamma, my Jo," Gopher eagerly introduced us.

Mamma immediately embraced me in a hug, murmuring as she pulled back, "We've heard so much about you. Treat my boy right." She kissed one cheek, then the other. "He is special, and I am a bear," she informed me.

Understanding a mother's prerogative, I grinned at her quietly whispered threat.

Gopher heard her, though, all the same. "Mamma!" Frowning, he grumbled at her under his breath.

She reached up, all smiles, and pinched his cheek, then gave it a clap of a pat. "No sass. She understands. She's a good one." Another harsh cheek pat. "Respect her or I will make you."

Papa cracked up at his firecracker of a mate. "That's my girl. Tell ‘em, sass," he said happily as his fellow mate-husbands rumbled along with his comment approvingly.

"This is my Gideon but you will call him Papa," Mamma introduced Papa.

Papa's grin widened as Gopher glanced repeatedly between me and his mother, as if he was nervous about introductions.

"Papa, it's nice to meet you," I smilingly greeted. Gopher's father hooked his fingers on the waistband of his soft, animal hide pants. I noted the empty gun holster at his side, then.

"Nice to finally meet the woman who's won over our boy." Gideon, or Papa, dipped his head and tipped his hand as if he was tipping his hat to me, the hat he was not currently wearing. "Beginning to wonder if he'd ever find himself a woman out here." Hooking a thumb over his shoulder, he made a face. "Now's the hard part. Findin' fellas crazy enough to take on all these sass monsters and treat ‘em right."

"Or else," Gopher's Bapa in the special chair grumbled in agreement.

"Aint that right, Fuz," Papa chortled out as he patted Fuz, as he called him, on the shoulder.

"Fusazar. BapaFuz." Fuz held his right hand out, palm up. Something was wrong with his left arm. It was mottled and hairless, an odd green tint to the skin.

"BapaFuz," I repeated, then reached out to clasp his forearm, settling mine in his, and gave it a gentle squeeze. He squeezed back, a genuine look of warmth suffusing his features as he smiled and nodded. His eyes had an odd, green haze over them clouding his vision.

Hooking a thumb behind him, BapaFuz rumbled, "BapaJo, BapaGof. Ugliest with tiny head BapaLuf."

BapaLuf, I assumed, was the one to bare his teeth at Fuz and grumble, "Always know Fuz. Denaii with fattest head. Never lose in crowd. Too tall. Always hit fat head on things, it get bigger, bigger, ‘til head melon all see now."

Fuz barked out a laugh at that as Mamma fussed at them. "Quiet now, before she sees you are all silly and thinks her male is as silly as you are!" She laughed all the same along with them.

"I can't believe you all came out here," I blurted, before I'd thought better of it. I honestly had no flippin' idea why his big family that he'd kept a secret for so long had just up and decided to come to our village.

"Go' wants stay with Jo. Girls want mates. Stubborn Bapa Fuz only gets worse. Needs help, like Go' says." Gopher growled as he gave his father a look but his words were full of caring and affection.

"Our boy swears by you all. Says you're good folks. We all know of Dorothy and her mates, good folks, from when we brought our boy into town to trade when he was young. We've seen firsthand y'all have good people residin' here. And, well, we ain't gettin' any younger, the girls are all getting older and wantin' to meet with the local menfolk, search out a mate. Go' brought some of your sheriff type town heads for a meetin' with us the other day and we've been offered huts for the oldest to stretch their wings, and another big enough for the rest of us. Have their word our girls'll be safe here. They'll have the choice," Papa stressed, pausing for the group's agreement before continuing. "We know Mamma would like nothin' more than to have us all together, close, see our boy marry and be happy and whatever might come along. About broke her heart to hear he wanted to venture off on his own, find his own way and decided to settle here."

Mamma smiled, tears in her eyes, and clapped her hands together. "Now we can all be together and Fuz has no choice but to see a healer."

"Fuz has choice," Fuz grumbled.

"No, you don't," Papa and Mamma, the mouth pieces of the group, barked at him in unison.

Gopher's slim but tall, silent type daddies at the back who made me think of him, reining all the wayward kids in and keeping everyone together, grinned simultaneously in an odd, triplets in sync fashion, flashing fang, at their sassy, smaller, vocal human counterparts.

"Are they married-ed yet?" a veritable clone of brown eyed Celia but for her hazel eyes like her Papa, and her hair styled in twist braids similar to her mother's burst from the group to ask her BapaFuz, taking his hand in her much smaller one to cuddle into his side.

"She say yes. They kiss," her BapaFuz informed her.

"Can we dance and eat cake now, like you did with Mamma, Papa, and Bapas?" she squeaked out hopefully, looking like she might explode if she withheld her excitement a moment longer.

"I don't- We don't have any cake or anything," I murmured with a wince. If there was one thing I absolutely hated it was crushing a kid's excitement. I'd been that kid so many times as a child, I felt that secondhand disappointment like it was my own. "I have music on my phone… and some cookies?"

"Oh- Are we late?! Did we miss anything! Oh- Hurry! Hurry!"

Everyone craned their heads along with me to stare off to my right. Dorothy was hurrying up the way, a basket overflowing with flowers in her arms.

Glancing from her flowers to the ones still in his hand, Gopher sheepishly held them out to me.

"Thank you, Tall N Fuzzy Wuzzy," I whispered, then gave him a kiss.

Gopher's purr fought with the happy rumble rattling his chest.

His fathers exchanged knowing looks, glancing to their mate, and smiled.

"I forget the one times," BapaFuz grumbled.

Mamma leaned into him to rest her head on his and take his hand. "And it's just as sweet to watch our boy do it as it was to live it with you," she told him. A rusty, rattling purr that made him cough rumbled to life in Fuz's chest.

"We here!" Mosau and Lukar called out, right behind Dorothy.

Two by two, marching in, beings and food appeared, like magic.

Rosa and Zhuii and the kids popped up, bringing up the rear. Noyel walked up with them, holding the boys in his arms. Kehko held hands with Rosa, flowers in her free hand and a flower crown in her hair. She pranced over to us wearing the fairy dress I'd made for her upon request.

"Aunie Jojo-mine!" she shrieked, giving Gopher's sisters a run for their money.

The girls peering at her from the safety of their group smiled as she danced up to me and thrust a wild bouquet up at me with an adorable grin. "Mama said you gots married and Odd-hits and God-fur are your mates!" A small frown puckered her blue furred brow. "Does that make them my unkrels now?"

A soft gasp and a, "Mamma! Look! She's so cute! Can I go and play with her?! Please-please-please!"

"Yes! Can we?!! Please! They have little ones smaller than us! Can we play with them?!"

"Can we hold them?!"

"Me first!"

"I asked first!"

Celia and her… one, two, three mini dopplegangers, triplets, all proceeded to argue over who was going to get to fawn over and hang with Kehko first.

Kehko's eyes widened and she quickly scurried behind me. Tiny claws pricked my leg as she ducked between me and Gopher to steal peeks of his sisters. "Who that, Aunie Jojo-mine?" she whispered.

"Aunie Jojo has lots of sisters now," Gopher told her, dipping down to talk to her.

Kehko glanced between us, then looked to her mama for confirmation. Rosa smiled and nodded. "It's okay, baby. They're family now." Rosa glanced from Gopher's parents to us.

"Cousins," Mamma offered.

"Cousins family," Kehko whispered, like she'd just been given a most marvelous gift. Her lavender eyes darted towards the gaggle of girls of varying ages, zeroing in on the youngest. "Can I go and play with them?" she asked.

"I take?" Gopher asked her, holding his hand out to her.

Kehko once more glanced to Rosa, then Zhuii and Noyel, who all nodded their okay.

Her smaller hand slipped into his and he escorted her over to his siblings. I grinned at his warnings for them to be nice to her, the or else tacked on growl style.

"Odix has the greened jellies," Odix admitted, coming up behind me to wrap his arms around me and brush the side of his face along the top of my head— I would lament the fact I'll never have hair that doesn't look like someone's just rubbed a balloon all over it but I was too jazzed to care.

"Why is that, my hairy butt?" Twisting to meet his gaze, I grinned at the little pout of his thick lower lip.

With a long suffering sigh, he muttered, "Gopher marriaged my Jo and it special and Odix didn't think it first."

"I believe this is OUR wedding," I told him. "Gopher mighta stolen the show there for a minute, but I believe this day belongs to all of us."

"Odix special day with Jo too?" he rumbled out softly.

"It is to me," I murmured as I cupped his face and kissed him softly, sweetly.

Odix's deep, revving rumble had me pulling away with a smile.

"As will our honeymoon be, for all of us three," I teased as I booped his snoot, causing him to grunt and grab at his nose protectively, giving me the opportunity to slip from his arms and dance away.

Odix's don't tease me growl cut off abruptly, a garbled purr taking its place as my words registered.

Grinning, I tossed him a wink.

"Tease," I thought I heard him mutter as he spied Dorothy's males working to get the large fire pit at the village center going to put all the pots of food they'd brought onto it.

"Daisy and Red are coming, too." Rosa walked over and gave me a hug. "They're bringing the cake."

"Cake!" the boys happily echoed, dancing around their mama, full of boundless energy.

"How did you- I don't understand," I burst out, overwhelmed with gratitude.

"Gopher, Odix, Doogie. According to Noyel," Rosa spilled as Mal and her males and baby girls joined us, "Gopher made it back last week. He talked to Doogie about a surprise proposal and a meeting with the village big wigs, Veck and all them. Bia and Noyel were enlisted by Gopher and Doogie, and Bia asked Daisy's mates if she wouldn't mind making a cake after talking with Mina. Red's fellas agreed to help find a "wedding band" to play, something I must tell you was, I was told, easier to accomplish once all of your secret support group guys found out it was for you, then Noyel said it was a madhouse of who was going to get the honor. And now here we are and there are like twelve beasts that have been scrambling to learn to play a song from something you showed them on a movie or something that you said you loved, by ear, and here we are."

"They- what?" I spluttered. My mind, consider it absolutely blown.

Like I was in some kind of wild fairytale fantasy come to life, music started up as more beasts and their mates piled in.

My hand clapped to my mouth and I burst out laughing as the first strains of an instrumental version of Just Can't Get Enough filled the space.

"Oh, I love this song," Mal chirped. Coming in for a hug, she gushed, "Happy wedded bliss, bish."

"Thank you. Thank you guys so much." I dragged Rosa into our hug, making her laugh at my exuberance.

"You like it, then?" Rosa asked hopefully.

"Like it? You dirty bitch, you should know I love it!"

Mal and Rosa laughed and hugged me back.

Another song started and it clicked then. They were playing songs from The Wedding Singer. My all time favorite, ultimate comfort watch rom com. Perfection.

Taking Rosa's hand, snagging Mal up along with me, I gave them both a tug. "This is a wedding and these are my jams. Ladies, why are we not shaking it around enormous pots of food!" With another tug, I admitted, "This might be our only chance to hang tonight before Odix and Gopher wise up, and then I'm all theirs!"

Mal let out a raucous shout. "Let's do this!"

Rushing to the middle holding hands, we grabbed Dorothy and even Red and Daisy, until we had a chain with Gopher's sisters and Mamma joining in as well, and acted like complete asses dancing around the fire.

As foretold, Gopher and Odix claimed me after the first dance, taking turns slow dancing with me even if the songs were too fast for it. When Odix grew impatient for his turn, he latched onto my back like a clinger on and swayed along with me as Gopher slow danced with me in one spot.

When it came time to cut the cake, I had them both covered. In cake, that is. They never saw it coming. Odix scooped a thick chunk of icing off of Gopher's forehead and tasted it, announcing that it was really goot, before Gopher's shock wore off and he came gunning for me, fistful of cake at the ready.

"I'm the bride!" I shouted as he chased me around, to everyone laughing at our antics' amusement. Odix sat down with a fat ol' piece of cake and shouted pointers on catching me at Gopher.

"I'm supposed to look beautiful!" I shrieked. Passing Odix, I bellowed, "Quit helping him, hairy butt! What kinda groom are you?!"

"Hairy one with big butt but Jo likes the big butts," he said with a shrug around a mouthful of cake.

I was pretty sure Rosa was going to bust a vein in her face, she was laughing at the karmic justice so hard.

When Gopher finally caught me, I bribed him with kisses and he promised not to shove cake in my face if I allowed him to feed me my piece by hand.

True to his word, he fed me my cake, between toe curling kisses and mumbled sweet nothings. By this point many a little one was passed out or their parents had taken them home to tuck into bed, so, yeah, I felt a little less guilty for licking cake off his fingers in front of everyone.

Afterwards, as everyone begged off and we were left with the soft glow of the fire and a sky full of stars, they snuggled me between them as we rehashed the day and their wonderful scheming. I was rather proud of them for managing to surprise the socks right off of me like that.

Honestly, it would have been perfect with Celuk and Tor here to celebrate and be a part of this, but nonetheless, today was magical.

Best. Wedding. Day. Ever.

My night was spent making Jo sandwiches with Gopher and Odix, who were excitedly uncoordinated in the best way possible and kept me up until the wee hours of the morning.

After a week of blissful honeymoon nights and days filled getting to know Gopher's crazy, awesome family, the day had come for Gopher and Odix's trip.

Rosa said Celuk and Tokre were due back any day now, and I was still too chicken to muster up the balls to pick my way through the woods and try and track down Tor, hoping he came back well before it came to that. I was a heap of emotions today as I took turns wishing Odix and Gopher a good trip and hoping they'd comeback soon.

"Don't let anything eat Gopher," I advised Odix. "Go Griz on their ass, make them regret the day they were born."

"Odix protect Jo's little Gopher," he promised with twitchy lips.

Turning to Gopher, who was growling at Odix, I gave him a stern look he took as playful. "Don't let my hairy butt eat too many stink berries. You know what it does to him," I warned.

Gopher made a gagging sound and lifted his hand as if to wave away a bad smell. "Gopher know. No thanked you."

"Exactly," I chirped, trying to be chipper and upbeat when I felt anything but. "You two be good. Come home to me."

They both grinned, nearly bumping heads as they both closed in on me, squishing me to them in a hug I was really needing.

"Love you," I mumbled into Odix's chest as I stared at Gopher.

Their rumbling purrs in reply were as good as an I love you too as I needed. My smile was crooked and just shy of goofy as they said those three little words back.

Wiping the lint that had somehow gotten into my eyes away, I cleared my throat. "Alright. Go on. Git. Get outta here!" I jokingly tossed out, shooing them off.

"No cry, my Jo. We be back," Gopher promised.

"Odix stay," Odix rumbled at the last moment. He was a total mush pot for his mate with watery eyes.

"No." I shook my head firmly. "Dorothy and Rosa and Mal and I all have plans the next few weeks to keep my ass busy. I'll be fine. I'm just having a moment. Now go. Do your things and come back." Gesturing off towards Gopher's parents' hut, I waved my hand. "You saw how much BapaFuz is improving with all that magical juju the herbs you're collecting are capable of. This is important and they've tasked you with doing it. So," my hand clapped to Odix's well rounded booty in a playful swat, "go do the things and get that shit."

Odix jumped but glanced over his shoulder at me in the sexiest, I'm shy about shit like that but I fucking love it look with a little half smile as he blushed.

Gopher clapped him on the shoulder, said something that made Odix growl at him and slap his hand away, and they were off.

Rosa came over from where she'd just been sending Noyel off. "It'll be okay. They'll be back before you know it."

"Easy for you to say. You've still got blue dude at home," I mumbled dejectedly.

"He is rather good at the art of distraction," my cousin joked, tossing me a wink when I made a face at her. "See? I can do it, too," she singsonged.

"I just got Joanie-ed," I mumbled with a shudder.

Rosa laughed and waved farewell.

"Jo!" Elle called, Chloe and Amee-lee tailing her as she came charging up the path.

"Uh-oh." I knew that look. "Who is trying to catch who now?" Gopher wasn't kidding when he said some of his sisters of age had gone boy crazy. Instead of worrying about fending the boys off with a stick, beasts were fending off Gopher's sisters.

As they grabbed my hands and dragged me along, chatting a mile a minute, a silly smile tipped my lips. I went from zero siblings to a million little sisters in the blink of an eye. It was nerve wracking and crazy at times, but also crazy awesome.

I also had five dads now that acted like it and a very loving, attentive mom. I was theirs, plain and simple. That's how it was with them.

It was wild to even contemplate.

I had a family, a very large one.

I couldn't help but think, MINE.