“Okay!” Ashe cried. Happy to be doing something, Ashe picked up the aforementioned stick laying nearby and ferried it to Xander, who rewarded him with a pet on the head.
“Good. Now, Lupa, watch me.” Xander raised the stick to his mouth and put it in so it pushed against the edges of his mouth. He bit down on it, then took it out to say, “Like that.”
“Hehe, you looked silly,” Lupa said.
“I looked silly because I was demonstrating as a human.” Xander grinned. “Hold this for me, sweetie.”
Lupa eagerly held the stick in her hands like it was an important item, then watched in awe as Xander shifted. His body became fluid and muscular, thick-furred and rippling with power. He was bigger than a mute mountain lion, and as an alpha, he was even larger. He absolutely dwarfed Lupa.
But she wasn’t scared of him. She thought Xander was the coolest thing ever. And honestly, I did too. He was amazing and every moment I spent with him made me glad he wasmymate.
“I wanna be a mountain lion!” she cried.
He licked her cheek, which made her giggle because of his rough tongue. “You’re a wolf, but I can teach you to fight like a mountain lion. How about that?”
“’kay!”
“Now lift up the stick and watch your fingers,” Xander told her.
She carefully raised it long enough for Xander to open his impressive jaws and take the stick lengthwise into his teeth. It looked a lot less silly now. With Lupa’s fingers safely away from his fangs, Xander bit down hard. The stick splintered with a loud crack and fell into pieces when he opened his jaws.
“You add more strength to your bite the deeper it is,” Xander explained. “You get it now?”
“Yeah!” Lupa cried. “Where’s a stick? I wanna try.”
Ever helpful, Ashe went to fetch another stick for her. He managed to find one that wasn’t as big, which I’m sure Lupa found disappointing but it was probably better for her teeth. Xander held it while she shifted and prepared to bite down. With a growl, Lupa did as Xander instructed and bit down on her own stick hard enough to break it.
“I did it!” she exclaimed, bouncing up and down. “Thank you, Uncle Xander!”
She nuzzled his chest and he licked between her ears.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I’ll teach you again sometime, okay?”
“Okay!”
Xander came over to me with a satisfied smile. “How’s that braid looking, Sage?”
I glanced down at my handiwork. Leveret’s braid looked like less of a braid and more of a hair disaster.
“Not great,” I admitted, laughing.
“That’s better than I could do.” Xander kissed me on the cheek as I stood up, still holding Leveret in my arms. He was getting a bit big to carry but he still enjoyed it, unlike his free-running sister. “But it’s not so bad. How do you like it, Lev?”
Leveret nodded, even though he couldn’t see most of it. He tightly grasped the end in his hands. “I like it. Don’t undo.”
“Okay,” I said, pleased that he enjoyed my handiwork.
Leveret grunted like he wanted to go down. When he was on the ground, he ran after Ashe and Lupa, who had already gone ahead.
I nudged Xander, who was watching them with a smile. “Look at you, mister dad-in-training.”
He blushed. “What?”
“You’re so awesome with the kids.” I leaned my head on his shoulder and wrapped myself around his arm in a clingy way. “I like it. It makes me excited to have our own.”
The embarrassed look on Xander’s face melted into one of warm happiness. He pulled me closer. “Me too. It won’t be long now.” His voice softened. “Are you worried about delivering?”
I thought about it. I didn’t like pain—who did?—but I wasn’t as scared as I thought I’d be.
“Not when you’re here with me,” I said honestly. “With you, Xander, I feel like I can do anything.”
And that was the truth.
