Zak, who if I recalled was Orpheus and Remington’s son, was especially excited to see me in my bird form. He giggled and reached out for me with his little hands, brushing my feathers. I let out a happy chirp.
"What about Uncle Nishiki?" Ash said, squinting at my mate’s disappearing figure.
"You still want to sneak up on him?" I asked mischievously. "Luckily for you, he's not an osprey."
They all seemed excited at the prospect of fulfilling their playful ambush after all.
I glanced back towards the grove. If the parents knew where their kids were and knew they were probably up to some kind of game, then they wouldn't snitch on them to Nishiki. That gave me an idea for a strategy to help them out.
I kneeled closer to them, keeping my voice hushed. There wasn't anybody around to hear us, but it added to the sneaky atmosphere.
"Since he's going to approach the grove head on, you should go around the side," I told them. "He'll probably be too distracted saying hello to everybody to notice that you're not there, at least not right away."
Leverett nodded seriously. "Let's get him."
The kids shifted and piled out of the bush in a comical furry mass. To be honest, it was difficult to think of them as anything but conspicuous, considering the fact that most of them were different species of animals of greatly varying sizes. Ash was a fawn with long legs who towered over the rest of them; Lupa and Zak were wolves, though Lupa was older and larger; Leverett was a lanky hare; Starry ran after them on huge mountain lion paws; and finally, of course, Quinn tumbled after them in a reddish-brown ball of fur.
I smiled to myself as I watched them try to remain unseen in the open field, hiding in long patches of grass and weeds. I wished them nothing but success in ambushing my mate.
Speaking of my mate,I thought,I should probably get back to him.
I returned to Nishiki’s side quickly. As I thought, he was too distracted by the huge greeting the pack was throwing him to notice I was missing for too long. Nero caught his brother in an affectionate headlock, ignoring Nishiki shoving his palm and his face to stop him from tussling his hair. Nero eventually let go, laughing, but he was replaced by Remington, Xander and Sage, who all had helped Nishiki back when he first awakened to his shifter abilities.
"Took you long enough," Nero said, grinning.
"Well, we had to make a few stops along the way," Nishiki said, flicking his brother.
"I'm soooooo glad to see you again!" Sage cried. He was still hanging on after Remington and Xander had let go. Remington snorted a laugh while Xander sighed.
"Hey, I wasn't done with my hug!" Sage complained as Xander pried him off.
"Nishiki looks pretty done with the hug to me," Xander said.
Nishiki tried to look like he wasn't desperately smoothing down the hair that Sage had ruffled. I smiled to myself.
I noticed Orpheus standing off to the side with a grin, as if appreciating the work he’d done in reuniting us. I went over to him and gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder. He returned it.
"Glad you made it," Orpheus said. "And, uh, sorry for the inconvenient timing on our first meeting."
"Don't worry about it. It happens."
Orpheus put his arm around a lithe man with long red hair. It wasn't hard to remember that his name was Red.
"You two must be Quinn's parents," I said.
Red scoffed in amusement. "That's us. Is he still hiding in that bush?"
"He's conducting very important business," Orpheus chided his mate.
"Well, he better get a move on before Nishiki notices all the kids have mysteriously vanished," Red said. He grinned at me. "I guess the child ambush didn't work on a bird of prey, huh?"
"Child ambushes tend not to," I remarked with a laugh.
Back with Nishiki, the rest of the pack was welcoming him to stay as long as we wished. Hugo and Dax, the two alpha wolf shifters who were Sage's older brothers, seemed serious but kind. But it was their fated omega mates I was drawn to; Len, the hare shifter, and Morgan, the buck deer. Since their children were the oldest ones, they had the most experience being parents. Morgan in particular was the oldest omega in the pack so I was deeply interested in hearing his experiences, since I was an older omega myself.
But before I could delve into any conversations, the grove came under attack.
A furry swarm leapt out from behind the trees, announcing their presence with loud, high-pitched battle cries. Lupa led the pack, barreling towards Nishiki and headbutting him in the leg. Ash kept pace with her with his long legs, knocking into Nishiki's midsection with his nonexistent antlers. The smallest animals came last; Starry, Zakariel and Quinn gnawed playfully on Nishiki's ankle. I noticed Leverett wasn't part of the attack squad. He stood off to the side and let out a cackle.
