Monty jabbed a finger. “You’re proposing to me… to Kendrick… you love us!” he squealed, leaping at Rue, who was the one staggering back as he attempted to fend off a grubby Monty who peppered his face with kisses. “This is the best day ever!”
Rue sighed for show as he took hold of a wiggling Monty. “I haven’t proposed yet!” He didn’t deny the love when it would be a lie.
Monty held the sides of his head, transferring goo, and gave Rue a gleeful grin. “No, but you’re gonna.” He gave him a smacking lipped kiss, then wiggled out of his arms. “My otter has decided you’re ours already, you and Kendrick. And this morning he was thinking of biting you both.” Monty looked very bashful as he kicked at some imaginary thing on the ground. “He insisted I bring it up, so this is me bringing it up.”
Rue’s lower jaw dropped open, his heart racing so fast he felt a wave of dizziness when his rhino released an ear drum shattering trumpet in full agreement to the claiming. “I—”
Yes. The answer is yes.
Do you mind? I was trying to talk!
Monty peered at him, nose wrinkling adorably. “Is your animal being bossy?”
“Yes, he is!”
“So does he want to?”
There was so much hesitation in the words that Rue swept Monty up off the ground, uncaring he was spreading more mess, to look Monty directly in the eye when he answered, so there was no misunderstanding. “Marriage and mating, in my mind, go hand in hand. We do one, then the other will also happen. Clear?”
Monty pressed their foreheads together. “Very clear.” His lips twitched. “So when is the proposal happening? Would that be before or after my heat?”
“Which would you prefer?” He couldn’t have made himself clearer, what he was offering, and Monty kissed him with all the love that filled Rue’s heart until it felt bigger than the world surrounding him.
By the time he needed to breathe, Monty wore a flush of desire with a dreamy expression. “I’ve some thoughts on that.”
“On what?” Rue’s brow wrinkled in confusion.
“You’re so good for my ego.” Monty giggled in delight. “Kendrick. And how we approach things with him.”
“You do?”
His grin matched the mischievous one Monty sported. “I do…”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Kendrick
“How did the pool date go?” Trey’s inquiry brought Kendrick’s attention to his friend from the cash register. He was leaning his hip against the counter at the back of the bar, staring at him with interest. The Sunday lunch crowd had ensured Kendrick dived right into work, which prevented him getting twenty seconds to chat with Trey. It helped stop him grumping at having to come to work, a state he’d only been in since his return from vacation.
“Monty is so fucking cute and playful in his shifted form.” Kendrick had gotten Trey to reach out to Thorn Vaughn to ask about using the pool privately as a surprise introduction for their animal sides.
“And Rue?”
Kendrick motioned for Trey to wait while he went to give the customer their change. He checked to see if anyone else needed serving. Seeing no one, he walked back to Trey and mimicked his pose.
“Huge and playful, it turns out.” Kendrick had been amazed at just how playful. His bear's side was cheeky, but so was Rue’s rhino. The man was far more serious, not that Kendrick minded at all. Monty balanced things out.
Trey laughed and slapped him on the shoulder playfully. “I can see your bear loving that.”
“Of course…” Kendrick frowned, recalling Dacian’s behavior and what his bear didn’t love. “Peculiar thing when we got there, though. Dacian came to greet us and got all up in Monty’s space.”
He hadn’t really talked with Rue about the way Dacian had acted, bar mentioning it when they entered the pool area. He’d set it aside after seeing Monty in the pool, but that didn’t mean he was going to let it go. Kendrick planned to go back to the winery without Monty or Rue and make a point that both men were taken, even if Dacian seemed more interested in Monty. There was no harm in laying it out so there was no misunderstanding.
“He did? I find him a bit more reserved around folks. You know, distant, though he’s friendly enough when you talk to him.”
“He took friendly to a whole new level this morning with Monty! Do you know what kind of shifter he is?”
Trey shook his head. “Never figured it out. The brothers don’t have a scent that gives any clues.”
