But a good one!
NINETEEN
BEN
It Takes a Village
I hadn’t been surrounded by so many shifters all at once since I’d massacred Charles and his gang, so it was definitely doing a number on me. Not enough to give me a panic attack, but I was suddenly far too cognizant of myself and my body, which made me hyperaware of everything, including my breathing.
I was tempted to go steal Giselle back, as her presence was always a balm to my soul, but that would be selfish. Besides, I didn’t feel like I was about to be overwhelmed or swallowed up by the abyss. I was just a little… uncomfortable.
And like my therapist said, being uncomfortable wasn’t harmful most of the time. All I needed to do was breathe and stay in the moment.
“Hey, Daddy, do you wanna play frisbee with some of us?” Benny asked, popping up beside me quietly. Not quiet enough to startle me, but it came close.
“Who’s us?” I asked, like there was any situation where I would say no.
“Mostly us kids, but a couple of grownups in their wolf forms.” He gave me a hopeful sort of look. “Wouldyouwant to be a wolf?”
Hah, my son wasn’t quite as slick as he thought. As far as he knew, I hadn’t shifted since I’d come back from my vengeance quest. I could have told him about Melton and the fight that had exposed Giselle to the shifter world, but I hadn’t. My son was healing, thriving even, and I didn’t want to disrupt that by reintroducing boogeymen to his world. Especially since Melton wasn’t going to be an issue again.
Supposedly.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Benny said quickly, and I realized I had gone quiet again. I hadn’t realized how much my social skills had lapsed—not that they’d ever been that amazing to start with. While I had been alpha of my pack, I’d navigated diplomatic situations fairly capably, but when it came to the everyday, nitty-gritty stuff, I’d followed Millia’s lead. After she was gone…
Well, eighteen months of pretty much total isolation outside of my two children and Natalie had certainly done its number on me.
“No, I want to,” I said as I stood. “Let me just text Giselle so if she comes back while I’m gone, she won’t be concerned.”
“Where is she? Did she go to the bathroom?”
“No, she’s off socializing with Mrs. Hayashi.”
“Who’s that?”
“You remember her. She’s one of the matriarchs of the shifters who live in the city. A kitsune.”
“Kit… kit… wait, the fox lady?”
“Kitsune,” I corrected gently. “It’s important to use the proper terms.”
“Why?” Benny asked. While some parents might view that as him challenging me, I could tell he was genuinely curious.Besides, if I couldn’t explain a rule in a way my kids could understand, then it probably wasn’t a rule worth making.
“Throughout history, shifters haven’t always been able to be ourselves, it just wasn’t safe. Even now, we have to pretend to be human more often than not. So, when we’re together, we respect each other by recognizing each other’s identities exactly as they are. It’s why we call kitsune, kitsune.Why we call selkies, selkies, and why other non-pack shifters still recognize me as an alpha.”
“So, it’s a respect thing?”
“Yeah, it’s a respect thing.”
“I think I get it. It’s like me wanting to be called Benny instead of Junior. Junior isn’t wrong, but it’s not right, either.”
Was I this smart as a kid? I didn’t feel like it. For all that people complained about the coming generation being socially inept, I was pretty sure my son had a high EQ.
“Yes, exactly like that.”
“Cool. So… frisbee?”
I laughed as I sent the text and pocketed my phone. High EQ or not, Benny was still a kid with a frisbee. “Lead the way.”
