Nishiki
Kids were a lot of work.People always said that, but I didn't exactly realize just how much until I met my nephew. He had two speeds: crazy whirlwind, and dead asleep.
Zak had woken up from his nap and was now eagerly searching for things to do or people to annoy. Right now, his target du jour was me.
He tugged on my hair and giggled like he was playing with the world's most valuable and breakable toy, and he knew it.
I shot Nero a horrified look. There were many things I'd learned to deal with when it came to toddlers, but having my hair yanked on was not one of them.
"Nero?" I called, fear making my voice tremble.
Nero grinned an apology and carefully pried his son's fingers off my locks. "Sorry. He's used to doing that to Red, the babysitter in our pack who has long hair too."
The idea alone made my jaw drop. "And he allows it to happen?"
Nero snorted. "He's a little more… forgiving of children's crimes than you are."
I crossed my arms, feeling a bit offended. "Well, excuse me that I don't have a plethora of experience with toddlers and/or baby animals."
"I'm not saying it's a bad thing." He shrugged. “It's just who you are."
I frowned, but I didn't know why. I didn't like that Nero assumed I was inherently bad with kids, even though that was probably the truth. I had never been good at dealing with them—but then again, I didn't really have the opportunity to either. We didn't have any relatives growing up and nobody I had known trusted beautiful-but-not-so-smart Nishiki to watch their child.
My mood soured. Even now, when I had left my old human life behind and lived in the damn boonies—literally in a canyon with my mother, for God's sake—my past still followed me.
My tingle of irritation grew into a momentary resentment of my twin. Truth be told, I think we were always jealous of each other. I got more attention for my looks, so Nero got attention by acting out. But he always seemed to have truer friendships and relationships than I did. He was genuine and I was… me.
Aren't I genuine too? Isn't who I am good enough for anyone?
The worries piled on my mind. I didn't want to be jealous of my brother, but how could I not be? He had a wonderful partner and a beautiful child—not to mention he shifted into a shark. He had a hold of his life. He understood all this alpha and omega and shifting stuff. Meanwhile, all I had was a bare minimum knowledge. There was nobody with first-hand experience to teach me except him, and I didn't want to ask. It was embarrassing to be so behind on the things he apparently knew so well.
But what was I supposed to do? Go on some whirlwind adventure like Nero did? Sure I'd been the one to suggest the same thing to him, but he was always the type to do that sort of thing. The idea just didn't suit me.
I felt a heavy wave ofblahsettle over me, and I didn't like it. Why couldn't I turn off my feelings and just go with the flow like I usually did?
I turned to look at Zak, who was in his wolf form digging in the sand. I felt a stab of guilt. I didn't want to be in a bad mood while he was visiting. I genuinely enjoyed spending time with him. Forcing myself out of my funk, I got up and went over to him. I kneeled beside the hole and smiled. "Want some help?" I asked.
He let out a high-pitched bark that I assumed it meant yes. I scooped the sand with my fingers, catching the grains that fell into the pit. Zak enjoyed this, which was evidenced by his tail wagging nonstop. Playing with him eased my dark cloud of self-loathing, even just for a moment.
"Do you like being a wolf?" I asked.
Zak paused and slumped into a sitting position. He tilted his head. "Yeah!"
My smile widened. He couldn't speak much yet, but he was quite good at saying the words he already knew. It was fascinating and a little scary just how quickly kids learned and grew up.
I indulged an affectionate urge to ruffle his black and silver hair. The black came from Remington, Nero’s partner—fated mate, he called him.
As Nero came to watch us with amusement, I asked him, "Remington is an... omega, right?"
"That's right," Nero said.
"So that means what exactly?" I asked, a little more hesitantly. It wasn't like there was a convenient handbook about all this stuff lying around. Mother was more knowledgeable about this topic than I was, but it was an extremely awkward conversation to have with her, so I'd never brought it up. It was still awkward hearing it from my brother, but slightly less so.
"It just means that he can get pregnant," Nero explained. "And sometimes he goes into what are called heats, which basically means, uh..."
I stared at him blankly when he trailed off. "Means what?"
Nero leaned in to whisper in my ear. "He gets super horny and it doesn't go away until—"
