“Sorry. I couldn’t help it,” I said, ducking my head as my tail wagged.
Viol crouched down to my eye level and ran his hands through my fur. I closed my eyes, whining softly at how nice it felt. His hands were so big and warm... His touch made me feel safe in any form I took.
“You’re so damn cute, you know that?” Viol mumbled. “The cutest wolf in the world.”
I shuffled my front paws, embarrassed but pleased at his praise.
He scratched beneath my chin, then stood back upright. “Wanna grab breakfast?”
“Yes!” Then I paused and flicked back my ears. “Oh, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can shift back right now...”
Viol shrugged. “Who said anything about shifting? Human, wolf—I love you in every shape, Poppy.”
My pelt rippled as every hair stood on end. Whimpering again, I rubbed against Viol’s leg, thumping my tail back and forth. He chuckled and smoothed a hand along my flank.
“Besides,” Viol went on, “you can stillwolfdown a stack of pancakes.”
I laughed at his silly joke, which made him grin wider. Viol tended to hide his goofy side from his family, so I felt special when he shared it with me.
Still bursting with fuzzy joy, I padded alongside Viol as we headed down to the kitchen together. Even before we reached the main floor, the casual sounds of family life floated over to my ears. It filled me with warmth and comfort, like sipping hot chocolate on a chilly day. It put a spring in my step as we approached the kitchen.
A few couples were scattered around the breakfast bar. Cobalt and Crimson were cooking together while Muzo and Taylor watched the kids. Alaric and Jade sipped their teas at thecounter. Rorik and Saffron seemed to be overseeing the cooks—Rorik was watching the chefs’ technique closely, while Saffron prepared to sneak the first bite of any given food.
As I stepped inside, Rorik’s nose twitched. He swung towards me. “Poppy?”
My tail wagged and I rushed forward to greet him. “Good morning, Rorik!”
He hesitated before leaning down to pet my head. My friend’s expression was confused, but relaxed.
Beside Rorik, Saffron grinned down at me. He was quick to bend down and join his mate in petting my fur.
Normally, it was considered awkward or rude for one shifter to be in a different form than their peers, but in this case, it felt natural. Nobody seemed judgmental, only curious. Not for the first time, I was deeply grateful that the Chromatimaeus family had always accepted me.
“Hey, this is kinda fun,” Saffron remarked, ruffling the fur on my withers. “Guys, should we get a dog?”
“No,” Cobalt, Crimson, Jade, and Alaric said simultaneously.
“Why not?” Muzo asked, oblivious.
Taylor stifled a laugh while Viol snorted in amusement.
When I glanced back at Viol, he still looked as content as he had in the bedroom. The dark aura he usually kept wrapped around his body was gone, and in the kitchen’s morning light, he glowed like a sunlit shard of deep purple fluorite. Seeing him happy kept my tail—and my heart—beating fast.
As everyone returned to their rhythm, my omega friends flocked around me. We drifted towards the couch in the babysitting zone, but before we could all sit down, something unusual happened. Namely, Viol wordlessly took a seat beside me as I hopped on the couch, and looped his arm around my shoulder.
Taylor and Rorik stared in wide-eyed silence. Alaric’s jaw dropped so low it nearly fell into his tea. Muzo had no idea what was going on. He slipped into his jackal form and leapt onto the cushion on my other side, brushing Viol’s hand as he nuzzled up to me. Muzo had always been fond of Viol, and never frightened of him, so it filled me with fuzzy joy to cuddle up against both my friend and my mate.
A shiver rippled beneath my pelt.
Violwasmy mate, wasn’t he? He’d said so himself last night...
Warmth rushed to all corners of my body. I felt like I couldn’t think about it for too long or I’d get overwhelmed with emotion. Heck, I was already so keyed up that I couldn’t shift back to human form. If I became any happier, my fur might explode.
“So,” Alaric drawled, his odd eyes darting back and forth between Viol and me. “You two seem... different this morning.”
Viol smirked. He relaxed deeper into the couch, stroking my chest fur languidly with his fingers. “Yeah? How so?”
Alaric arched a thin brow. Even he seemed at a loss for words, which was highly unusual for our resident chatty cat. He cast a probing glance at Taylor and Rorik, but the two stoic omegas remained silent as they stared at us, as if unable to believe their eyes.
