10. Oscar

Chapter 10

Oscar

When Daxton first asked me to go to a barbeque, I immediately agreed. I would go anywhere with him. It was being away from him that sucked. At the time I didn't bother to ask who was holding the event or where it would be. It didn't matter. It was Dax and me, spending time together. Period.

But then I discovered that it was a family gathering of sorts for a family that neither of us were part of, and it began to feel a bit weird. He'd mentioned River's Edge, said his friend from work, Willy, was from there. But the family of a friend I hadn't met was still a few steps outside my comfort level.

But also, I was excited because it was someplace important to my mate. He never said as much, but the way his face lit up when he told me where we were going, I knew. And I trusted him. If he thought this would be fun for us both, it would. I had to let go of my nerves, that was all.

I was under the assumption that it was probably other shifters, but I didn't ask. It had been a big deal for him to share who he was with me, and sharing other people's secrets? Yeah, I wouldn't ask him to do that, no matter how nosy I was. And really, I wasn't sure how much information they could or would share about that on their own. It was a pretty private thing and took a whole lot of trust.

The drive there was a little nerve-wracking, to say the least. It wasn't anything my mate said or did, either. it was one hundred percent me getting into my own head. I held onto my mate's hand as he drove, and that helped a lot.

He said his friends Willy and Otto were going to be there, and that was good. We'd been trying to get the four of us together, but they were parents, and that made social activities exponentially harder to plan.

I figured the worst-case scenario would be that I'd hang out with Otto in a corner somewhere. And while I hadn't met him yet, from everything my mate said, he was wonderful. If nothing else, he would understand what it was like to be new to this kind of thing.

Picking up our joined hands, I kissed my mate.

It was funny because when he first said it, the word "mate" felt odd, like it was about someone else. That was before I understood what it meant and how it was connected to my growing feelings for Daxton. Now, I found myself thinking about him as "my mate" more and more. My mate is at work, and I miss him. I long for him. My mate loves ice cream, so I'm going to pick some up on the way home— silly little things like that. It had become so ingrained in me that I now thought of him as my mate more than I thought of him as Dax.

"Here we are." He pulled off onto a smaller road.

We were meeting at a doctor's house, and I didn't understand the connection until we got there. When I saw the property, it all made sense. The house was right by the river and was set up for the picnic. Doc, as they called him, turned out to be an otter shifter. He had a son who was much older than my mate and me—Xander—who also had his own family and kids. He also had kids closer to our age. Looking at Doc, I'd have never guessed he was old enough to be a grandfather, but he loved the role, holding Xander's youngest in his arms when we arrived.

My mate wasn't kidding when he said it was gonna be like a big old family reunion—it really was.

"Hey, Doc, I have someone here I want you to meet."

"I see that." He gave me a nod, his hands full of baby. "Welcome to River's Edge. Let's get you introduced to everybody."

He took us around and introduced me to anyone and everyone we came into contact with. None of their names stuck in my head—there were just too many all at once—but they all remembered me, and if I walked past them again, they said my name by way of greeting. It made sense, remembering one new person was a lot easier than remembering everyone, but that didn't make it feel any less welcoming.

We ended up at a table set up buffet-style, where we put down the big bowl of pasta salad we brought. It was a recipe I got from someone at work during a recipe swap they tried to do once. The main office was all into those "come together, become a family" activities. When they realized we were all on the road too much and it wouldn't work, they didn't do them anymore. But I still cherished that recipe. It was a hit everywhere we went.

After filling up our plates, we went and sat near the fire pit. Children played in the distance, and people chatted here and there. For the first time, I truly felt like I belonged. There was no doubt—I belonged here. I relaxed into my seat and just soaked it all in. I wasn't just the new guy, which was what I had felt when I first arrived. I was part of this—part of these people.

The barbecue was a sprawling, lively event. The smell of grilled meat mingled with the scent of the river. I'd been doing that lately, noticing scents.

As we sat near the fire pit, the warmth of the flames was a comforting contrast to the cool evening air. The sound of the river flowing nearby added a soothing backdrop to the lively conversations around us. I watched as people laughed, shared stories, and passed around plates of food. The children, now finished with their games, were eagerly filling their plates with cookies. There was no way they were going to run out of energy anytime soon, not with all that sugar.

The sense of community here was palpable, and I realized that this wasn't just a barbecue—it was a celebration of connections, of bonds that ran deeper than blood. Was that what a pack was? I'd heard the word mentioned a few times but hadn't asked for more details, not wanting to break the spell that made tonight magical for me.

Instead, I was going to enjoy each moment for what it was.

"I'm going to go grab some cookies. Want any?"

"Not yet. I ate too much."

I planned on staying right here where the fire was keeping the bugs at bay. And as he walked off, I watched. I wasn't going to give up an opportunity to look at that ass.