5. Axel

5

AXEL

O ne month later…

Families change. For instance, three years ago I thought of myself as a distinguished Dubow from a long line of leaders. I was proud of my heritage and wanted to be exactly like the other Dubow alphas who came before me.

Today my family looks quite different.

Ansel enters the summer quarters pushing a stroller with four chicks in tow. We watched the smallest two chicks hatch over a month ago because Ansel got too excited when they started pecking at their little shells and invited all of the penguin/polar bear shifter families over.

Ben throws his arms around Ansel. "You're here!"

"Of course I'm here! I wouldn't miss it for the world. Daniel's coming, but he insisted on bringing food for everyone, so he's juggling all of the bags."

Ansel grins at little Tana, who's peering up at him from my arms. She's still waking up from her nap. She doesn't know yet that the small eggs she likes to cuddle with are in the process of hatching.

"You are too adorable. I can't wait to meet your siblings. Are they in the bedroom?" Ansel asks Tana, like she's going to tell him.

"Yeah. Head on in. Lewis and Todd are already in there with Jade and Jordan," Ben says.

Daniel rushes in next with at least ten reusable grocery bags hanging from his arms and hands. Ansel smiles and leans in to kiss him. "They're in the bedroom. I'm going to take the chicks inside. Don't get too overzealous with the vegetables, okay? We just ate lunch."

"I just thought it would be nice to celebrate. And I wasn't sure if they had healthy food on hand. They're not going to want to leave the house for the next few days."

Ben throws his arms around Daniel, which is a feat with all of the groceries involved. "That's so nice of you. Thank you!" Ben is still ecstatic about having a family. Spending time with other penguin/polar bear shifter couples makes him glow.

Ansel pushes the stroller toward the bedroom, and Ben follows him.

One more person walks through our front door. She's a big alpha with tattoos down her arms, including a pair of penguins on the wrist of her hammer hand. She's the woman who introduced Ben to his mother. The woman who insisted the Academy give Cy a chance. And she's the woman who not only saved me from the Slope, but taught me how to save mer babies.

She was the perfect namesake for our little cub.

I give her a side hug. "Thank you for coming."

Little Tana holds out her paws for the woman she's grown quite attached to over the last month. The adult Tana nuzzles the fire insignia on her forehead and takes our little cub into her arms.

Our bedroom is packed with people. There's Cy's omega mother, who recently moved in with us to help care for the babies. She's sitting on the bed next to Cy, who is watching the eggs closely. Todd and Lewis are relaxing on chairs they brought in from the dining room, with Ansel's new chicks in their arms. Ben and Ansel sit on the other side of the bed. Ben has his phone out. He's taking another short video to send to Lu, who is still recovering from his pregnancy, so he couldn't make it. Jade and Jordan are crouched on the floor next to them, petting Scooch.

Thankfully, our bedroom is no longer packed with pets. Ben admitted that a pet scorpion was probably not a great idea with small children in the house, and we found homes for every single one of his unusual pets.

It turns out Scooch's eggs weren't fertilized, so we didn't have to find homes for them. This came as a great relief to Cy, and a great disappointment to Ben. I stayed neutral about the whole thing. I have to admit, the ornery tortoise has grown on me a little bit.

Tana walks over to her grandkids, and Daniel rushes into the room with a veggie platter. Everyone is talking and laughing as they watch our little eggs twitch.

While they watch the eggs, I watch Ben. He's completely in his element—joking around with Ansel and chatting with Lewis's kids. You would never guess that less than a year ago he was wandering around Anchorage in a wrinkled Tuxedo, all alone.

I grab Ben's polaroid camera from the top of our dresser and snap a photo of him. I'll put it in my work backpack later, so his mother can see how happy he is.

A small hole appears in one of the eggs. The room goes quiet.

Slowly, the hole becomes bigger then turns into a crack down the side. The second egg cracks too. We all wait in silence while the cracks become wider and wider. A very wet and gooey chick wriggles out of the first shell.

Lewis gestures to his children, and they walk out the door of our bedroom. Ansel and Daniel follow, with Cy's mother and Tana trailing behind them. She hands me little Tana on the way out.

When Ansel's eggs hatched, we left them alone with their new chicks for the first few minutes and socialized in the living room until they were ready to bring the chicks out.

Now I understand why.

The urge to shift into my bear form is overwhelming. I set little Tana on the bed before stripping off my clothes and allowing my body to expand. Tana coos at me. She's always preferred my bear form.

Ben is already waddling across the bed with his wings behind him. He picks at the remaining pieces of the first chick's shell, before walking on top of our chick and sitting on them. The chick lets out a little cheep , but doesn't try to move.

The second chick breaks free. I climb onto the bed with Tana in tow and set her down next to her sibling. She rolls to her side and holds out her tiny paw in front of the chick's beak. The chick peeps at Tana then grows slowly, their dark feathers turning to white as they shift into a white cub less than half the size of Tana. They stare at one another in awe.

Not to be left out, the other chick shifts too, while still underneath Ben. He topples over.

Cy's now in his bear form too. He sweeps all three cubs into his arms, giving them generous licks. Ben waddles toward Cy and is picked up along with the cubs.

He doesn't seem to mind.

Cy lays down on his side, keeping our cubs and Ben cuddled close. Now that we have a king-sized bed, there's plenty of space for me to lay beside them.

Outside our bedroom I can hear Ansel's laughter and the clinking of glasses. Inside our bedroom it's quiet except for a little grunt coming from one of our little ones.

I wrap my arm around Cy. Less than a year ago, he never would have let me do that.

We've all changed so much. Even me.

I don't hate myself anymore. I shouldn't have lost my temper four years ago, but I haven't had any trouble controlling my rage. The Guild is wrong about everything. Ragers aren't a lost cause. They just need someone like Tana to believe they have something meaningful to contribute to the world. They need someone like Ben to love them. And they need someone like Cy to remind them of who they are.

Maybe sometimes we have to be nudged in the right direction. Like the piece of furniture Scooch is dragging across the floor in the other room.

Cy rolls his eyes.