“Looks like the holidays are going to be a lot busier from here on out,” my dad said as he parked.
“When they said they came from large families, I thought maybe they were exaggerating, but now, holy shit, this is like a ginormous gathering on a near festival level,” I said as I caught sight of the grills on the massive covered patio along the side of the house and the crowd of cooks moving seamlessly between them as they tended to the food.
“Pretty sure we’re the only ones showing up in coats,” Pops said as we got out and joined Briar and Maverick, who seemed to have instantly clicked with them.
At one point, back at our new house, I’d walked into the den to find my pops and Briar discussing an upcoming fight card, only to learn yet another new thing about my mate. He was a huge MMA fan who’d grown up watching my pops fight before he’d transitioned to being a trainer. My alpha mate was fanboying like a teen as he peppered my pops with questions about his three-bout series with Dominick Fuentz and his epic five-round championship match with Crowley Davies. Clearly, they’d forgotten what they were supposed to be doing, moving things, because the boxes they’d brought in were resting beside their feet as their hands gestured animatedly as they described some of the key moments of the fight.
“Brace for chaos,” Briar said as he shoved the door open to a dull, rumbling roar that grew louder as a cheer went up.
If I’d thought the last week was a blur, it had nothing on the moments to follow, as my dads and I were hugged and had our hands shaken, while my pops was bombarded with questions from other MMA-loving family members who immediately recognized him and crowded closer. It seemed like it took forever to move just a few feet deeper into the house, but their excitement was infectious, and their well wishes meant the world to me. It was like being at the gym or the firehouse—totalacceptance. I was their loved one, mate, and that was the only thing that mattered to them.
Somehow, we finally managed to make our way into the living room, where several elders sat rocking in a variety of different-style rocking chairs, from the old-school wooden type to plush overstuffed ones that glided more than they rocked. Pretty sure one was even electric, because the feet of the little old lady who sat in it didn’t even touch the ground.
A few were knitting, while others crocheted or sat sewing squares together for quilt tops as they chatted. The conversation ended as we entered the room, though, so Briar and Mav could make introductions.
A silver-haired lady who looked like she’d been around since the beginning of time stood and, leaning on her cane, took the four shuffling steps towards us as Maverick let go of my hand to hug her.
“Nana Tilly,” he said as he bent to wrap her in his arms. “I’ve missed you.”
“Oh pish-posh, I doubt you’ve missed anything when you’ve been holed up in a cabin with two handsome mates. I know I wouldn’t.”
Everyone around us chuckled, snickered, and snorted, including my dads. She smooshed Maverick’s cheeks between her hands, peered into his eyes, and then let out a hoarse chuckle.
“Oh, mating has suited you, my boy. I’m going to have to get to work on a whole new stack of blankets.”
“Huh?” Briar muttered, while I just stood there struggling to process her words.
“Now, how about you introduce an old lady to your handsome new mate?”
“Err…ummm…” Maverick looked as shellshocked as I felt, unable to say anything in response, so she just tsked and steppedaround him, her movements slow but sure as she approached me.
“Oh, you’re even more breathtaking up close,” she said when she reached me. “I’m Maverick’s great-great grandma Tilly, which just means I’m older than dirt. I’m also the official matriarch of this rowdy group of miscreants and malcontents on account of outliving damn near everyone else except old Jebediah over there, and he’s on Briar’s side of the family, the old coot.”
The old man in question waved from where he sat knitting with surprisingly nimble fingers for a man his age. I guess those shifter genes were no joke.
“Welcome to the family,” he said in a rich, deep voice I’d hardly expected from a man of his years. “We’re a harmless bunch, mostly, unless someone messes with one of our cubs.”
“Then it’s all claws on deck and no mercy for whoever we sink them into,” Grandma Tilly said, finishing the sentiment for him. “You’ll find out soon enough, when your cubs come this fall. Late September is the perfect time to give birth to little ones, though those summer months are going to kick your butts unless your hotshot alpha can think of creative ways to keep the two of you cool.”
She peered around me to look at Briar and just shook her head.
“Boy, you swing for the fences when you play, don’t you?” she said. “What did you do to these poor boys, pin them down side by side and keep them there until you were certain your first cubs would be born within days of each other?”
“First…” Briar sputtered.
I turned in time to see him blink and start swaying.
A couple of those big uncles of theirs, along with my pops, helped them lower him to the ground.
“Oh my,” Grandma Tilly said, shaking her head. “Was it something I said?”
She was the picture of sweet, frail innocence as she looked around at everyone. Several people chuckled as a few people waved napkins at Briar, trying to bring him around.
“Ya know,” I said as I knelt beside my mate and stroked his cheek until he blinked and focused on me. “Fainting is becoming a real theme in this relationship.”
He grinned a goofy, lopsided grin I hadn’t seen yet from him, then tugged me into a kiss.
“So, you’re about to go and make us grandpas already?” Dad asked.
