I put the cup down and pull off my shirt.I need to run, but then I remember the cookies.People will disappear after the run.It's better if I catch them now before they get into their fur.
I open my car door and reach inside."Listen up, everyone!"Right as I speak, another car comes up the road and parks next to the other.Five people exit.Great.More cookies sold.
"You're buying cookies."
Conan grumbles, so I growl at him."My kid is selling cookies for a fundraiser, and you're buying.Come on over here.Form a line."I hold up a pen and the paper.
Zahrah groans but walks up first--there is a reason she's my best friend.
"Your kid?"Elora pulls a face."You don't have a kid."
"I do now.My mate has a little boy."
"The human?"Atlas sneers, and I curl my fingers into fists.Atlas is a fucking idiot.
"You've got something to say, Atlas?"I peel my lips back, my teeth already shifting.
Atlas holds his palms up, but the sneer never leaves his face.When a warm hand curls around my bicep, I jump, and my attention snaps to my side."Mom."I wrap my arms around her."I didn't see you get out of a car."
She hugs me back."I came with Conan, but I needed to reply to some emails, so I remained in the car until everyone had arrived."She squeezes me harder."How are you doing in the city?"
I don't live in the city, but she's never lived anywhere central.If she can see her closest neighbor's house, she gets claustrophobic, so to her it is as if I've gone off to live in a concrete jungle--not that she's been by to see it.
"I'm okay.You should come for a visit."
She scrunches her nose."I don't know.I don't like all the scents and people nearby."
I shrug.Ten years ago, I would've been hurt, but she's rarely come to see me when I've lived in cities.She's always happy to see me and never tries to stop me from moving somewhere I want to go.
She looks into my eyes, her hand squeezing my arm a little harder."Are you okay?"
I nod.
"What about your mate?"
I shrug."Simon.He and Ira, his kid, came over for dinner yesterday."
She nods."And now you're selling cookies."
I grin at her and place a hand over my heart."Mother, my child is selling cookies."
She swats me, but there is a smile on her lips."I never believed I'd see the day when you uttered those words."
Neither did I, but things change.I grin at her before focusing on the line to the cookie form."How are we doing?Luna, are you done?"I see her trying to slink away, and I won't allow it.
She gives me the finger but goes to stand at the end of the line.Good.
Mom chuckles next to me."How old is the kid?"
"Ira?Eh...He's in school."
She gives me a disappointed look.
"I don't know."I throw my hands in the air."He's about this high."I hold my hand out at about the right height."Quiet kid, pretty scrawny, but maybe he's supposed to be at his age."
There is a tug at the corner of Mom's mouth."Why don't you bring him home one day?"
I nod.I have no idea how to get Simon to agree to it, but I will.One day.
