"Thanks. I'll think about it, buddy."
Lupa practically bowled the boys out of the way as she went to check on my arms. If Red didn't watch out, she was going to usurp his position as doctor soon. "Do you feel good? Can you fly yet?"
"I feel better," I told her. "As for flying, I haven't tried yet. Why don't we go check it out together?"
"Yeah!" Lupa and Ashe cried.
Leveret was quieter, but he looked just as excited as his twin and cousin. All three of them ran outside.
Just as I was wondering where the other two were, Red showed up in human form holding a toddler in each arm. He looked like a zoo wrangler with a mountain lion kitten curled up against his chest and a black and white wolf pup gnawing on one of his long red locks of hair.
"Back on babysitter duty?" I asked. I reached over to tickle Zak, who immediately lost interest in Red's hair and begin batting my finger instead.
Red grinned. "Thanks. If you hadn't distracted him, he was going to make me bald. And babysitter duty never ends, not when we have this many furballs running around. Want to hold one?"
I couldn't keep the hopefulness out of my voice. "Can I?"
"Sure, if your arms are strong enough."
I tested them out in front of him. There was barely any weakness left at all. "I'm all good, doc."
"Then here, take a kitty," he said as he plopped Starry into my arms.
She had been dozing off, but roused now and stared at me with big blue eyes. Her kitten coat was incredibly soft and she had dark spots all along her back, which was where I assumed her name came from. She was utterly adorable. My heart gushed and I couldn't stop smiling as I held her.
I smiled wistfully down at her. There was a weight in my chest, almost like a kind of heart ache. With Red in front of me and a baby in my arms, it almost felt like I had everything I wanted in my grasp. My perfect fantasy come to life.
But obviously, Starry was not my baby, and Red wasn't my mate.
Even though the thought of him as such sent a strange jolt down my spine.
"Uncle Orpheus, you're too slow!" Lupa called from ahead on top of the nearby hill. “Hurry up!"
I chuckled and asked Red, "She always been like this?"
Warmth sparkled in Red’s eyes. "Since the moment she was born."
The deep love Red held for each one of the pack’s children was crystal clear. I knew he would do anything for them, and I'd be damned if that wasn't the most attractive thing I'd ever seen.
We joined the three older kids on the grassy slope. I handed Starry back to Red so I could oblige the wishes of the gathered crowd.
"All right," I said, cracking my knuckles.
"Ew," Leveret grumbled. "Yucky noise."
Red leaned over to me. "Lev is sensitive to certain sounds."
"Sorry, buddy," I said to him. "I won't do it again. Let me show you something fun instead."
The frown was wiped off his face the moment I shifted into my raven form. As my arms spread, I felt the familiar pinprick sensation along my skin as feathers jutted out of me. I shrank, my body compressing into a light, airy form. My bones hollowed out, like I was weightless, and talons grew from the ends of my feet.
Everyone watched in awe, including Red, who had already seen me shift before but watched with glee as if he was seeing it for the first time. The three older kids got so excited that they shifted into their animal forms as well.
"You're so small," Ashe remarked with amusement. As a faun, he towered over the rest of us on his spindly legs. He was going to be a magnificent buck when he grew up.
"That I am," I said. "But can you do this?"
Thousands of years of instinct took over. Shifting was a kind of ancient magic, but flight itself was magic too. Spreading my wings and bunching up the muscles in my legs, I sprang. The wind caught in my feathers and carried me up. I flapped a few times to become airborne. The air seemed to welcome me back with open arms as a warm thermal lifted me a few feet higher.
