20
Gabriel
“Come here,Noah. C’mon! That’s it, get your little baby buttoverhere!”
Ryu sat on the other end of the room, on all fours, tapping the rug encouragingly with his hands. He was wearing a paper party hat - just like the rest of us - and looked ridiculous in anendearingway.
Noah bunched up his lips in a pout and trundled over to Ryu with his stumblingcrawl.
“Look, look he’s doing it!” Ryucried.
Dante chuckled as he watched the madness unfold. He was the one who arranged this party, along with our family and friends. A mini-celebration for the birth of our child was absolutely mandatory, he’d said. I couldn’t refuse. He just seemed too excited. I practically had to beg everyone not to bring any gifts, though, since we were already drowning in his dad’s collection of stuffedanimals.
Dante leaned back on the wall, swishing his glass of orange juice with one hand while the other draped over my shoulder. “At least his uncle has a lot ofenergy.”
Meanwhile, Lorenzo was on the other side of the room, sporting an intense frown. He looked similarly ridiculous as he smacked the floor repetitively. “No, Noah, come this way! Come to your real biologicaluncle!”
Ryu grinned and shifted into his dragon form. His long whiskers flowed through the air. “Noah,look!”
Instantly, Noah’s eyes lit up. He crawledfaster.
Lorenzo groaned. “No fair! If I shift here, I’ll break theceiling.”
“Go, Noah!” Anton encouraged. I hadn’t seen Dante’s dad stop smiling once since the baby was born. It made me deeply happy to know how lovedNoahwas.
“C’mon, bro,” Dante said, elbowing Lorenzo, who had stood up now. “You don’t need to shift to get the baby’s attention. Do somethingfunny.”
Lorenzo thought for a moment, then raised his hands in preparation - a magic-casting stance. In a small flash of light, he created a translucent silver dragon out of clear magic in between Noah and Ryu. It shimmered like a soap bubble. Noah’s mouth fell open. Gurgling, he reached for the magic dragon shape with his littlefingers.
Lorenzo grinned. He turned the image around and moved it closer to him so that Noahfollowed.
“Hey, no fair!” Ryu complained. “No one said we could usemagic.”
Lorenzo chuckled. “No one said you could shift,either.”
“Can you believe these two?” I muttered to Dante, who looked like he was having the time of his life watching his brother make a fool of himself overababy.
“No, actually.” Dante crossed his arms in delight. “I never expected my brotherorRyu to be such babylovers. Hell, they’re not evenomegas!”
“Hey, you don’t have to be an omega to enjoy children,” Lorenzo grumbled to his younger brother. Then he flashed a big smile at Noah. “That’s it, Noah. Keepgoing.”
When Noah had almost reached Lorenzo’s arms, something black in the corner of the room fluttered. All of our attention - including Noah’s - was instantly on the little black shape. A raven hopped in front of Noah, up and down, and instantly his full attention wasonher.
“Ruby!” Lorenzogrowled.
Ruby just laughed. “Sorry, Lorenzo. I couldn’t let you win when I didn’t even have aturnyet.”
He and Ryu both sighed in defeat as Noah squealed with laughter and wrapped his hands around Ruby’s raven form. He pet her sleek black feathers with clumsy fingers and curiously tapped on herhardbeak.
“Noah,” she saidtohim.
Hegurgled.
Everybody in the room couldn’t help butsmile.
“Say,” I began, turning to Dante, “when do you think he’ll be able toshift?”
Dante shrugged. “Who knows? It could happen at any time. Although, you have to imagine all the trouble he would get into if he had four paws. Or worse -wings.”
