4. Zander

Hand coverings.

What the hell was I thinking?

The hornets’ nest doesn’t turn out to be as bad as I thought. It doesn’t take me that long, but I realize after that there’s a little bit of dry rot around the nest. Already.

This place was literally just put up, and there’s already dry rot.

Darn mountain weather.

So, I need to fix that, too. I tell Mia that the porch is safe for children after the hornets are gone, which leads to the prompt appearance of not one, but four small children.

I beat a hasty retreat. It’s just a lot of children.

The next morning, I’m back before the sun comes up. I need to fix the little spot of dry rot…

Mia appears on the porch. “I thought you’d be back.”

I tilt my head. She’s really very pretty. Her riot of red hair is shockingly bright, but distinct. It wreathes her head in a kind of halo that reminds me of a crown.

That, more than anything else, is an accurate metaphor for Mia. She holds herself like she’s wearing a crown at all times. I hate to say it, but it’s kind of attractive.

She blinks, her bright green eyes studying me. “You hungry?”

“I could eat.”

I didn’t eat breakfast before I came over, and I’m definitely hungry.

“Come in then,” Mia says while turning.

I follow her into the cabin.

When the alpha set these up, he tasked Evander and some of the other enforcers with making ‘happy homes.’ For the most part, I agree with that. I didn’t work on this particular cabin, but I find my eyes running over all of the surfaces, just to make sure there’s nothing that needs to be redone.

It’s a little cold. I wonder if they put the right insulation…

“Who are you?”

I blink. There’s a fox kit, the same one from the other day.

“Zander,” I murmur. “Who are you?”

“Lana.”

She’s tiny. Barely comes up to one of my kneecaps. She has the green eyes that Mia and Josh also have, but her hair is a rich, coal black.

She frowns at me. “You made Mia mad the other day.”

Suddenly, this minuscule creature becomes very valuable to me. “Really? Why?”

“I dunno. She was just mad. Like this.” She demonstrates a sigh and frown combo that’s an impressively accurate impression of Mia.

“Does she do that a lot?”

The girl gives me a solemn nod. “Yes. But she cries more.”

“What does she cry about?”

“Lana,” Mia’s voice is sharp. “What have I told you about talking to strangers?”

“His name is Zander,” Lana says defensively. “And he’s my friend.”

Well.

I shrug as Mia glares at me. “She said it.”

“You can sit by me,” Lana says, tugging on my hand.

I grin at Mia. “I’m going to sit next to my friend.”

“You do that,” she mutters, glaring at Lana.

The table is pure chaos. There are two babies. One is in Mia’s arms, the other one is throwing pancakes onto the floor. I can’t keep track of how many children are present, as it feels like a thousand, and all of them get silent as I near. I don’t see the brother, but Lana sits me in a chair, then climbs up into hers before pointing at the pancakes on the table. “You should eat them fast, or Josh will eat yours.”

“He steals food from you?” I growl.

Lana shakes her head. “No. He’s just silly.”

I relax slightly. I watch as the children engage in their chatter again, until the only one still staring at me is the baby in the chair.

“Pancakes?” Mia doesn’t wait for me to respond before putting some down on the plate in front of me.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Coffee?”

“No, I don’t drink coffee.”

Mia pauses. “I thought you brought some the other day?”

“I heard you drink it,” I mutter. I take a mouthful of pancakes to avoid further discussion. They’re good.

I absorb the environment while Lana chatters at me. This is so… lively. My parents loved me, but with the three of us, meals were much more carefully organized. And much quieter.

I don’t hate it, though. There’s always something to see. I can see why big families are popular among some shifters. We are communal creatures, after all.

The pancakes disappear rather quickly, and one by one, the children disappear, too. I nod at Mia. “Do we need to take them to school?”

“No. Josh is driving them today. Briony gave us the van, and it’s good for him to practice.”

Practice? “With all of the children in the car? You’d let him practice? Surely he has a license, correct?”

“Yeah, sure,” Mia shrugs.

I stand. “I will take the children to school. Give me just…”

“I’m kidding, Zander. One of the older foxes is taking them today. Who has been driving for many years. And isn’t too old to drive,” she adds quickly.

I sit back down. “That was not a funny joke, Mia.”

“I think maybe you just don’t get my humor.”

“I think perhaps it just isn’t very entertaining.”

“Maybe my boyfriend would think I’m funny all the time.”

“Ha,” I say dryly.

“I think you’re the most funniest, Mia,” Lana chirps.

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Can I go play now?”

Mia looks down at the child’s plate. “Yes. You can.”

Lana hops down and runs off.

Mia hefts the baby up. “Here. You hold AJ, and I’ll start the dishes.”

I eye the baby warily. “How about I do dishes, and you hold that very small creature?”

She laughs. “Are you scared of a baby, Zander Black?”

“Yes,” I say without any shame. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to one.”

The baby in question, AJ, burps.

“Definitely dishes,” I say as I rise. I gather the dishes, and Mia works on putting the rest of the items away.

She follows me into the kitchen. “So. What are you here to fix now?”

“You had some dry rot where the hornets’ nest was.”

“Ah. What if I told you that one of the sinks was leaking?”

I pull back, my hands soapy. “Let me look.”

Mia laughs. “Relax. It’s not this one. But the kids have been hell on the bathroom.”

“Bathroom?”

She nods. “I share this cabin with the kids. The elders each got their own.”

“We did not build you adequate room,” I rumble.

“It was kind of a last-minute thing,” she shrugs. “Any roof is fine.”

“No. You are welcomed as part of the pack,” I say firmly. “You need what the pack has.”

“Zander, really. I don’t expect that.”

“It’s just fair,” I argue. The dishes splash as I somewhat aggressively scrub them. “You have so many kits to look out for. Our largest families are given large homes. It’s just how things are done.”

“I wouldn’t want to take more resources from the pack,” she says. The bitterness in her voice makes me look up.

“What?”

“You said that to me,” Mia says in a thick voice. “Remember?”

I blink. I might have.

“I… I didn’t know…” I stammer.

“Didn’t know that we would need more space?”

I didn’t know how much you needed help.

“I didn’t think about the words I was saying. I’m sorry, Mia,” I grunt.

I turn back to the dishes.

For a minute, the only sounds are the sloshing of water. The baby makes a delighted gurgle before Mia puts it down, and it crawls away.

“Thank you,” Mia finally says quietly.

“You shouldn’t thank me when I was being a jerk,” I respond.

“Still. It’s nice to know that you can apologize.”

I don’t respond to that.

We manage to clean up the kitchen and dining room, then head back out to the porch. I resume my work on the dry rot while Mia watches.

Once I’m done, I turn. I have an idea, and I need to ask her about it.

“We should go out to dinner.”

She sips her coffee, her eyebrows raised. “Dinner?”

“With the alpha. And the beta. And their mates,” I clarify.

Hopefully, being seen together will help solidify our dating performance. If the alpha and beta can believe us… I think we could pull it off.

“Why?”

“Why wouldn’t I want my girlfriend to come to dinner with my alpha?”

I stop what I’m doing to look at Mia. She’s blushing. The flush of red at her cheeks is unmistakable.

“What?” I ask.

“What do you mean, what?”

“Why are you blushing?”

“I’m not.”

I point to her cheeks. “I think you are.”

“It’s just hot out here.”

“Fifty-five degrees is generally considered pretty chilly.”

“I’m used to it being colder.”

“In New Mexico?”

She flushes. “We lived in the mountains. Near Taos.”

“Ah,” I nod.

I could be remembering geography poorly, but I’m pretty sure the Sangre de Cristo mountains have a similar climate to our own.

“What will we eat?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Does it matter?”

“No. But. I mean, you didn’t even ask. You just thought it would be a good idea, so we’re doing it. I want you to ask me,” she says with a little toss of her hair.

I take her in. She’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt that’s so thin, I can see the flex of her muscles through it. Her hair waves, teased by the wind. It catches the morning light, and the effect makes her look like she’s glowing.

A crown indeed.

“Mia. Will you please go to dinner with me?”

The flush on her cheeks turns a bright, brilliant red. I smile as she ducks her head.

“Sure, Zander,” she whispers.

When Mia meetsme at the alpha’s house later, I’m not prepared for how she looks.

She’s wearing… a dress.

I’m used to seeing her covered in children and dirt, with jeans and a shirt on. She’s pretty in that.

I’m stunned by her in a dress. It’s green. The same color as her eyes.

She looks hot in it. Really, really hot.

“Hi,” she says breathlessly. “Sorry. Briony let me borrow the dress, and I had a hell of a time getting out the door without everyone making a huge deal about it.”

“It’s a big deal,” I say without thinking.

“What?”

“The dress. It looks good,” I finish.

My honesty is rewarded with another blush.

“You ready?” I offer her my hand.

Mia stares at it like I’m handing her a snake. “Are you trying to hold my hand?”

“Yes,” I nod.

“Why?”

“Because I’d walk into my boss’ house holding my girlfriend’s hand.”

The blush is back.

Cautiously, Mia takes my hand. I squeeze, noting how small her fingers are in mine. They’re delicate.

She squeezes back, and I realize that her hand is strong as hell, too.

“Let’s go,” she whispers.

I let Mia lead me into Thorne’s house.

It’s a fine evening.I’m even pretty sure that we’re selling the whole dating thing, despite Evander’s persistent skepticism, until suddenly, there’s a problem.

The problem is Evander.

“I can tell that you’re really into each other,” he says as he leans back in his chair. “Because you can barely keep your hands to yourself.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

That’s not true. Mia and I have been sitting close, but not too close. We haven’t touched. At all.

“Aw. I remember that feeling.” Iris smiles. “You guys must be totally in love.”

“Yeah.” Mia smiles back. “Totally.”

Evander is not buying it. But he can’t force us to kiss or anything like that. “All right, well.” He stands. “I’m going to patrol tonight. Zander, I think you’re on the schedule, too.”

Am I? I don’t remember that, but I don’t question my beta’s orders. “Okay.” I also stand.

Thorne leans in to give Iris a kiss.

Evander looks at me pointedly, then moves to Briony’s chair and does the same.

Oh.

You rat bastard.

I have no choice. I have to kiss Mia, or it will be weird. We can’t just be three guys having dinner with our respective partners, then going to patrol, without kissing them goodbye.

Turning, I grab Mia’s shoulders. “Don’t move,” I whisper.

Her eyes widen, and her lips round in a little ‘o’ before I lean in.

And I kiss her.

The point of this kiss was to get it over with quickly, so that I could get Evander off my back. But pretty soon, I realize that this kiss is not going to end quickly. Mostly, because there’s no way in hell that I can end it quickly.

Despite the explicit order I gave her to not move, Mia moves. Her lips part under mine on a breathy sigh, and she melts into my hand, her smooth neck hot against my fingers.

I can’t help it. Instinct takes over.

Gripping the back of her neck, I tilt her head back for better access. My tongue moves into her mouth, and I want to groan. She’s so sweet.

Mia makes a little gasping noise that I want to swallow. My other hand threads through her wild hair, ready to tug her closer, when I hear a noise. Specifically, someone clearing their throat.

Mia pulls back first.

The loss of her is… It takes everything in me not to reach for her again.

Her pupils are wide. Her breasts are straining at the neckline of her dress, and I can’t think of anything else for a solid ten seconds.

Her cheeks are flushed. The blush covers her neck. The tops of her breasts.

I wonder…

“All right. Well. Maybe you don’t need to go on patrol tonight,” Evander says with a poorly disguised laugh.

Mia’s blush deepens.

Fuck him. “I’m coming right behind you,” I bark at the beta.

He puts his hands up and walks out. I look down at Mia, reaching forward to touch one of her curls. “You good?”

She just stares at me.