Chapter One

Ryan

"Ryan, can we go out and play?" Sally tugged on my shirt. She was getting too old for that now, but I wasn't going to say anything.

She and the other five who came here with me, they'd been through a lot. And while this was a wonderful place, and they were receiving the love and the pack feel they needed—they never went hungry, they were being educated—none of that could compensate for the horrors they had seen when they were younger. Nothing could. And if that meant I let them stay as little as they wanted for as long as they wanted, so be it.

I squatted down to their eye level. "Sure. What do you guys want to do? Should I grab the bubbles?" Bubbles were always a winner around here, even for the teens. Something about the soapy orbs bouncing in the air brought sunshine.

"No. We want to play with your bear."

That worked for me because he'd been kind of a pain in the butt lately, and I wasn't really sure why, but letting him out seemed to help. And being around the kids? That was his favorite time of all.

Ever since my birthday drew near, it just got weird between my beast and me. A few times, I thought maybe I should to talk to somebody about it. But there was so much work to be done here, and trying to figure out why my bear and I weren't quite getting along didn't seem worth taking from that time. That and discussing it would open a can of worms I wasn't ready for.

"Are all of you coming, or are some of you staying in for story time?" Story time was another of the popular activities around here, but the current read-aloud was geared more toward the upper-elementary-age cubs, so I wasn't surprised if the younger kids opted out.

All six of them bobbed their heads. They had friends here, lots of friends, but the six of them tended to stick together. I got it. They might not have started out as family, but they were family in a way.

"Okay, well, grab your shoes, and we'll go on out."

It was a gorgeous day, and I went out ahead of them, stripping my clothes and taking my bear. He roared like a lion—one of the other weird things he'd been doing lately—and dropped to the ground with a thud.

You need to get rid of all of that energy before those cubs come out here to play.

I didn't know why I was warning him. He'd do anything for those cubs, anything at all. They might not be my children, but they kind of were. I preferred to think of myself as their uncle because really, I was far too young to be a dad. They called me Papa, though, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it. I couldn't see loving or protecting my own children any more than I did for them. They owned my entire heart.

Sally, Becca, Ruthy, Michael, Jake, and Harry came running out, already giggling at my bear.

Sally was always the leader when they played, a role she took on naturally. At first, I tried to thwart it—she didn't need responsibilities, and, in a way, it felt like she was shouldering some—but then I realized she was just being bossy. And if the others let her, and it made her happy, I was going to let it go some of the time. And playtime was one of those times.

She had them playing a sort of ring-around-the-rosy type game she'd made up where they held hands and skipped around me, and then, as the song ended, it was a race to see who could get on my back first. The winner got to go for a run with me. Over and over and over again, we played, and I made sure to be angle myself so that everyone had a turn.

After they were all finished, they decided it was bubble time. No surprise to me. I shifted and threw on my jeans. "I'm gonna go grab the bubbles. Don't wander too far. We're gonna be called for dinner soon." I wasn't sure how long we'd been playing, but I could smell the chili, and that meant it was nearly done.

I jogged inside and into the supply room, where I grabbed the huge tote of bubble supplies. King had donated them. They had all kinds of wands and blowers and different colors. If it was bubbles, they were there. It was sweet that he had brought them in, and they were some of the most used recreational items we had.

I didn't pretend to understand King. Sometimes, I thought maybe—maybe he might be interested in me. Or maybe that was just me being interested in him. But it didn't matter. I had no time for dating. And honestly, if he was my mate, I'd know, right? And he would too. So entertaining such silly notions wasn't good for either of us.

Just because he was hot and sweet and cared about the cubs—that didn't mean we were compatible. Spending time thinking about it was only going to lead to disappointment. Besides, he was a lot older than I was. He probably thought of me as a kid. I came here as an adult, but I'd been malnourished and didn't look the part. It was best to not even think about such things.

I plopped the crate down, opened the lid, and passed the bubbles out, taking the unicorn bubble blower for myself. Before I knew it, nearly all the cubs from the house, both younger and older, joined us, and we were having a blast. My thoughts of King and my struggles with my beast were forgotten for a few glorious moments.