Starry yowled in her mountain lion kitten form. She hooked her tiny front claws into the grass with excitement, like she wanted to rip into a meal. Guess she had sushi on the mind.
“No, Nero’s a shark,” Ashe said, crossing his arms. “It’s different!”
“No, it’s not!” Lupa argued.
“Yes, it is!”
Before the fawn and pup broke out into a war, I held up my hands. “Hang on, guys. Why don’t you ask me? I can teach you all about it.”
They faced me. “Tell us, Uncle Nero!”
My heart felt full to bursting. I’d only known them for a week and they were already calling me their uncle. Damn, these kids were cute as hell. How could I ever say no to those faces? If my kid ever misbehaved and needed disciplining, I’d have to make Remington play the bad cop because I didn’t think I could do it.
I cleared my throat. “Well, children. Sharksarefish. But they’re a special kind of fish. Not like the ones from the river you’re probably used to eating.”
Lupa blew an I-told-you-so raspberry at Ashe, who looked like he wanted to grow antlers faster so he could headbutt her with them.
“Uncle Nero?” Leveret asked, ignoring his sister and cousin.
“Yeah, Lev?”
He stared into my eyes without blinking. “If a shark eats a fish. Is it kernel-balism?”
I choked and quickly muttered to Remington, “How does he know what cannibalism is?”
Remington tried to stifle a snicker. “He reads a lot.”
“What the hell is he reading?Silence of the Lambs?”
He laughed. “No, it just comes up in nature books sometimes, so Len explains it to him in a way a kid his age can understand. Like how shifters shouldn’t eat other shifters. Anyway, Leveret’s a little ahead on concepts like that. Just go with it.”
“Geez, parenthood is more complicated than I thought…” I cleared my throat. “So, er, to answer your question, Leveret, it’s not. Sharks are just one kind of fish. Like how a hare is one kind of mammal. So it’s okay for me to eat other fish. Does that make sense?”
“Ohh,” Leveret said, nodding intently.
“What’s Kiernan-ballistic?” Lupa asked.
Our controversial Q&A session was interrupted as a red fox popped up seemingly out of nowhere.
“Man, what kind of lesson is this? I leave you alone to babysit for five minutes and look what happens,” Red mumbled.
I blushed. Even though he was half-joking, I felt embarrassed that I’d disappointed him. “Sorry. I swear they were behaving a second ago.”
Red nudged the kids along with his snout like an antsy mother hen. “C’mon, kiddos, let’s go take a bath, shall we? I’ll let you guys play Chase-the-Fox.”
“YAY!”
I assumed this was their favorite game because they all lost interest in us immediately and ran after Red.
I snorted in amusement. “I forgot kids have an attention span of a crumb.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” Remington said, running a finger down my chest and making me shiver. “Now I have some alone time with you...”
Just as we leaned in to kiss, a lanky wolf pup manifested between us.
“Lupa!” I said, startled. “Why aren’t you with Red?”
She wagged her tail. “I’ll go back in a second. But I got another question. How come you’re never with your twin? ‘Cause me and Lev are together all the time.”
