Favorite Time of Year

Delores

"Seriously? We can't leave you alone for a couple of hours without finding a pile of sweaty idiots sticking to the couch."

Rennie's chuckle makes me look up from under my hair, blowing strands out my eyes. I squint at him, wrinkling my nose as I pout. "Don't be mean. We were… calming Fitz down."

"Yeah, clearly it worked, even though it took four of you," Aubrey snorts as he arches a brow at me. "How long have you been melted to our furniture?"

Felix grunts, peeling himself away from my back and rolling to the side. It always amazes me that none of them give a shit who's around when they're butt naked, despite living with ‘normal' shifters for almost two years now. He winks at me as I stare and I duck my chin.

Sue me. I'm getting bolder but sometimes I still get blushy when it's not mid-sexy times.

"You fuckers are just mad you weren't here to join," Fitz says as he yawns. "Which is your fault because you insisted on sneaking out to go do whatever the fuck you do to eat without us."

My brows furrow as I look at them. "Are you guys… covered in snow?"

Rennie shakes himself, sending droplets and flakes flying. The cold water hits all of us on the couch, garnering grunts and whines that he soaks up like the chaos gremlin that he is. "Very perceptive, ma petite . During our flight back, the sky opened up and sent a flurry of tiny ice crystals our way. It's still going outside, by the way."

"How odd," Chess says as he looks up from Fitz's chest. "It was supposed to be cold this week, but nothing like this. I wonder if that will affect their plans to re-open by mid-January."

The grumpy library dragon gives him a sour look. "I sincerely hope so, Chester. The attacks at the Yule Ball haven't been properly investigated, nor resolved. Re-opening this school without figuring out how to defend the students if magic users breach the perimeter is dangerous. Right now, everyone is locked up and on high alert. When classes resume, that won't be the case."

My lips curve up as something occurs to me. "Maybe they'll leave us until the end of the month. I could definitely enjoy a month of time with you guys."

Fitz reaches out, yanking me across his body with a low growl. "Good thing I got the Spicy Salamander that Kama Sutra-A-Day calendar for Yule. We can use it to plan a whole month of fun."

I look around, but all I see are interested expressions. "Guys, I will not survive thirty days of all five of you trying to bend me like a pretzel. Don't be ridiculous." Even Aubrey pouts and I have to cover my giggle. "Besides, we don't have nearly enough lube for that. I mean, like not even close."

"Put gallons of lube on the grocery list, Chessie," Fitz says as he waves his hand. "Voila, Baby Girl. Problem solved. Shall we start with lotus or…?"

"You're not even using the calendar, you perv," I mutter as I grab my pajamas. "Besides, some of us are desperately in need of a shower."

Before I can say another word, Fitz scoops me up in his arms, rising to stand on the couch with a crazy grin. "Excellent idea, Baby Girl. Last one to shower picks up the soap!"

My eyes widen and he takes off with me in his arms, leaving the others to stare in our wake.

Okay, I could definitely die happy if a month of this killed me.

Luckily, only Chessie joined us in the soapy adventure because I'm pretty sure we would have been in there all damn day and I'd be walking funny. Not that I'm complaining about that possibility, but I haven't eaten yet and the more in tune with my bunny I get, the more fuel I need when I expend a lot of energy. According to the guys, it's normal, but they're not the product of an evil, sociopathic mother and female diet culture.

I like to eat and I feel bad for it because I worry about it, then I get mad at myself for worrying about—it's a vicious cycle .

" Ma petite, stop letting the cats distract you! It's time to eat and I will be very cross if you let my crepes get cold."

Chess blinks at me, mouthing the word ‘crepes?' at me and I shrug. "You know he's full of surprises. Maybe he didn't want to encroach on your kitchen thing."

"Who cares? Mopey Mozart came through with shit that smells delicious and I do not give a single fuck why he hasn't cooked for us before," Fitz says as he turns to me and pats his back. "Hop on, little bunny. I'm starving."

Grinning, I do as he says, gripping his waist with my thighs as he runs for the living area with a whoop of joy. "C'mon, Chessieeeee…"

The looks we get from the glowering grumps waiting for us makes me smile. They pretend to get annoyed with Fitz and even more so when I encourage him, but I know they love the levity it brings to our dangerous lives. The gargoyle winks at me playfully, gesturing to the large island.

"We're not eating on that couch until it's cleaned off, you animals." Aubrey crosses his arms over his broad chest and grumbles to himself.

Felix gives him a dark look. "Hopefully someone cleaned the archives before we started using them again."

"Ha! You lose, Chile Chameleon. Felix yelled at you this time," Fitz taunts as he lets me down in front of the big spread on the bar. "Baby Girl, the Frenchie is spoiling you—look at this shit!"

Licking my lips, I run my eyes over the plates full of fruity, sugary, and savory crepes on platters for us. "Holy frosted goat balls, Rennie. I don't even know where to start. Tell me what you made."

"Here we go," the dragon rumbles with a smirk. "We're never going to eat before it gets cold now."

" Ferme-la, connard, " he hisses at him then turns back to the three of us with a grin. "Pumpkin-apple cinnamon, vanilla bean peaches and cream, Mexican taco, steak mushroom and onion, cheesy chicken, and because I love you more than culinary constructs, Fruity Pebbles and mascarpone."

I jump on my stool, clapping with glee. "Fruity Pebbles!"

"Of course that's the one she'd get giddy about," Felix says with a sigh. "I'm going to kill you for introducing her to that shit, Fitz. And now not only Chess is indulging her, Ren is, too."

Ignoring my boyfriend when he's wearing his ‘Pred Games Trainer' hat, I load my plate up. Fitz arches a brow at me and I pick up two more of the savory, knowing he's giving me shit about protein. "You're being a buzzkill, Raj. Rennie said he loves me more than fancy rules— that was the important part of that statement."

"I'll be damned," Aubrey says with a smirk. "You're right, lunchable. And he loves fancy fucking bullshit."

Rennie snorts. "If we're having an international tight ass competition this morning, you will win hands down, mon amour. Though, Felix will likely come in second."

"I'm letting them fight while we dig in. Everyone knows Fitz and I aren't winning any rule following contests." Chess grin as he offers me a bite of his peach crepe and I chomp it eagerly.

"Good plan. I, too, don't really pay attention to anyone's rules—even theirs. It's becoming my thing, I think." My eyes widen and I grin broadly. "Hey, I'm a rebel now!"

Fitz holds out his fist to bump and I oblige. Today has been the best day so far this week. It started with my lawyer calling about the crazy, narcissistic counselor trying to sell my life story in her tawdry erotica novels and got worse. Unfortunately, the bar is on the floor in hell and the people around me are working their damnedest to crawl underneath it.

"We should play that up a bit in the spring Pred Games," Felix muses. "Get Zhenga to help you rough up your uniform and maybe…"

"More ink!" Fitz grins, his eyes dancing as he beams at me. "I'll take you. I want to get some to accentuate these magical tattoo things that appeared when we all…" He makes a porno soundtrack sound and my head thunks on the counter.

"Fitz…" Chess says with a chuckle. "I don't think our angel is comfortable with porn noises yet."

"She was comfortable with railing him with a strap-on," Rennie says with a shrug. "That's a weird line, non ?"

My face is flaming when I lift it and I glare at all of them. Picking up my fork, I stab my sugary cereal crepe then point at them. "I cannot control what makes me embarrassed. I'm learning, but if you don't quit making me self-conscious, you can all play with each other while my door stays shut. Assholes."

Felix comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as his lips brush my ear. "Eat, Princess. They tease you because they adore you, but you're right to keep them in line. Plus, you're the only person who can keep my twin in line. It's good for him."

"Weird, bro. That's just weird."

Everyone chuckles and I put the bite in my mouth as I lean against the tiger king as the flavor bursts on my tongue. "Rennie, this might be the best thing I've ever put in my mouth."

"Hey!"

" Fitz! "

I blink as I look at both my crazy tiger and the guys who knew to admonish him before he finished speaking. "That was spooky, guys. Maybe we are spending too much time together."

"Never," Fitz says as he leans over and gives me his ‘stalker' look. "There's so much bullshit outside of our family and circle. Even with these dipshits, it's perfect when we're together."

"I loathe agreeing with Fitzgerald, but he's right this time, bite size." Aubrey gives me a fond smile as he pauses the devouring of his food. "My dragon despises being away and he's already a grumpy fuck."

"As opposed to you how ?" mutters Rennie and I almost spit my drink out.

This. This is what a family should look like. I didn't know until them.

Chess clears his throat, trying not to laugh as he scoops more food onto his plate. "Do you think it will keep snowing? It wasn't predicted and it seems fairly out of the blue. Is… is it possible this has something to do with the term supposedly starting soon?"

I frown, looking over at the resident magic expert. "Could that be true? I mean, water is an element and snow is frozen water. Do elementals or any of the others have magical weather abilities? That would be both cool and scary as hell."

My gargoyle sighs and leans back in his chair. "They do, ma petite lapin . Some more than others, but a random snowfall isn't out of the skill set of even the less threatening magic users. The same thing occurred to me as we were flying back with frozen asses."

"Not to sound dumb, but how the fuck would we know?" Felix says as he squeezes me closer. "It's not like someone sent a video with maniacal laughter to claim credit. Plus, it's just dusting so far. Global warming is a more likely culprit."

"Another reason to dislike humans." Fitz steals a strawberry from my plate, holding it up for me. Once I take the bite, he shrugs. "What? They've been useless from the beginning, but I'm not trying to exterminate them or anything. It's not worth my time."

I wrinkle my nose at him. "I have the least experience with them, obviously, but discounting entire species is never something good guys do. They're inconvenient to us, sure, and we have to stay under wraps because they make poor decisions. But I don't think it makes them all evil, just misguided."

"That's our girl, always defending the weak, even if they'd kill you the first chance they got." Rennie smiles softly as he reaches for my hand. "Don't let anyone change your soft heart, Dolly. You give grace to everyone and ask for nothing in return. That makes you special and it's part of why we love you."

My face turns bright red and I bury my face in Felix's chest.

What the hell am I supposed to say to that?