3. Sergey

3

SERGEY

W hen I first saw Heller, I assumed he was a penguin shifter. He has that cute button nose and big brown eyes so many penguin shifters do. But I should have known better. His sweater hugs his slight frame like a glove and his jeans are tight enough for me to see a clear outline of his round ass as he struts away from me.

No penguin shifter moves like that.

After he leaves, I turn back to Cy. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. For the record, Heller isn’t a thief. He was nesting,” Cy says dryly.

“But he…” I trail off, not sure how to describe what just happened between Heller and me. I thought he was giving me his number because he wanted to hook up or go on a date. My omega dad warned me that a lot of polar bear shifters have open relationships in Anchorage. Has that caught on with penguin shifters, too?

“He’s single,” Ben explains.

So Heller is both a penguin shifter and a single dad. That’s unusual.

“But he’s a great guy. Very successful, good with kids, a wonderful friend,” Ben says, counting off Heller’s attributes on his fingers.

“You don’t have to talk him up to Sergey. Heller doesn’t date. He just wants to—” Cy looks over at where his kids are spinning in their flowing skirts. “Do adult things,” he finishes.

“You don’t know that,” Ben says. “Maybe he’s changed his mind.”

“There’s nothing wrong with casual… adult things,” Cy argues, glancing at the kids again.

“You’re right, but this person I know said they only wanted casual adult things, but it turned out they actually wanted legos, so…” Ben shrugs his shoulders.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, but it’s probably related to the lego necklaces they’re both wearing.

“That was different,” Cy tells Ben. “I was already with Axe. That wasn’t casual. And then you showed up with him at Anchor, and you were adorable. What was I supposed to do?”

Ben’s lips quirk up into a cute self-satisfied smile and he wiggles his shoulders a little bit. “Sometimes adorable penguin shifters change a guy’s mind about what he wants. What can I say?”

“Sergey isn’t an adorable penguin shifter,” Cy says, but Ben raises his eyebrows in question. “I mean he isn’t adorable. He’s too big to be adorable. He’s a big, hulking, welding man.”

Ben shrugs. “Maybe that’s what Heller secretly needs to change his mind.”

“But Heller’s already f?—”

Ben’s eyes widen before Cy can finish the word.

“Heller’s already done casual adult things with men like Sergey.”

Ben folds his arms across his chest. “Not half penguin shifter men.”

It’s funny. They’re a lot like my dads. My alpha dad is the hopeless romantic penguin shifter, and my omega dad is the cynical polar bear shifter. It’s wild to think my dads aren’t the only polar bear/penguin shifter couple in the world. I’ve been operating under that assumption for so long.

“Are there other couples like you?” I ask, before I remember they have a third mate. “I mean throuples. I mean… are there other polar bears who’ve bonded to penguin shifters?”

The two of them smile at each other.

“There are six couples and one other throuple. Well, they’re not really a throuple. They’re also with these two puffin shifters, so I think that makes them a quintuple?” Ben starts counting on his fingers again, trying to figure it out. “No. We’re a trio, but they call us a triad. So that would mean they’re a quintad?”

“You just call them a polycule once that many people are involved,” Cy says.

Six couples, a triad, and a polycule. Wow.

“Do any of the others have children?” I wonder aloud.

Cy rolls his eyes. “Do they ever. Ansel won’t stop popping out eggs. It’s insane.”

“No, it isn’t. It’s beautiful. Daniel always wanted lots of children.”

Cy winds his arm around Ben and pulls him close. “You’re right, baby. I’m sorry.”

Yep. They’re exactly like my dads.

“They would definitely want to meet you,” Ben tells me. “You’ve already met Heller. His kid is half polar bear shifter. And you tried to meet Dominic Ivanov. His mate is a fairy penguin shifter?—”

Ben rattles on about the other couples in Anchorage, but all I can think about is flirty Heller, who has a kid who’s half polar bear shifter. That must mean Heller dated a polar bear shifter. Did he leave Heller after their kid was born? My alpha dad once told me that he was afraid my omega dad would leave him in the beginning. Polar bear shifters don’t mate for life.

I want to, someday. That’s why I’ve never had much interest in polar bear shifters. At least not the full-blooded ones.

Most of the polar bear shifters in Albuquerque are pizzlies—half polar bear shifter, half grizzly shifter. Grizzlies don’t just bond for life, they usually bond to their high school sweethearts. They say a grizzly heart doesn’t fall in love more than once.

Pizzlies usually aren’t that extreme, but most of them do end up in life-long bonds. Those bonds sometimes include a little swinging or the addition of a third over time, but they still last.

I wouldn’t mind a bond like that.

“How about we get together with everybody Saturday night?” Ben asks.

Too late, I realize he’s moved from describing all his friends to making plans.

“We can have a party!” He claps. For a fully-grown man, he claps a lot. I find that very endearing.

“Would you be willing to invite Dominic Ivanov?” I ask. “I don’t want to make this about work, but I really need a place to run my business here in Anchorage.”

Cy thinks about that for a moment. “Dominic won’t claim the Ivanov estate. He hates it more than I do.”

My heart sinks. The moment I found out Cy’s kids were polar bear/penguin shifters, I assumed he would help me. I’m not trying to do anything illegal here. I just want to make prosthetics for little kids. Why is this so hard?

Cy sighs. “I’ll have to claim the damn estate.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Ben asks.

Cy leans over and presses a kiss to Ben’s forehead. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I want to see Sergey take over the forge where they used to make fidelity necklaces and weld magic medical devices with it instead.”

Ben gives him a sad smile. “Yeah. That would be good.”

I never thought about it like that.

Their kids run toward the back door and open it, escaping out into the winter night.

Ben turns to watch them go. “It was nice to meet you, but I should make sure they’re running to our house, and not the neighbor’s. Saturday night? Seven o’clock?”

“Oh, shoot. I forgot my flight leaves that night.”

“Okay. We’ll figure out something. Get my number from Cy, okay?” He gives me a quick hug and runs out the door.

“You said you found him at a place called Anchor?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Cy says. “But don’t go there looking for a sweet penguin shifter like him.”

“Is Anchor rough around the edges or something?”

Cy chuckles. “No. It just might not be your kind of place. Why don’t you meet me and my mate Axe at Ice Bear Pub tonight? We can introduce you to a few welders in the area and talk a little bit about how things work around here without saying code words like ‘casual adult things.’”

I laugh. “That would be great. Thanks. What time?”

“Ten. The bar will be empty before that.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.”