“Oh, Son! No!” Trevor whined. “Now, Mommy will stick to me when she gives me a kiss.”
All of the kids laughed as Trevor tried to scrub his face clean with a napkin.
“Go wash your face at the sink,” I advised. “You know you can't wipe away baby-goo.”
“I'm not a baby!” Vero declared furiously.
“Young boy-goo,” I corrected and tickled Vero again.
“I want to be tickled too!” Lesya whined.
“Be careful vhat you ask for, Kotyonok,” Kirill warned our daughter as he swooped in and scooped her out of her seat. He pulled Lesya onto his lap and started tickling her mercilessly.
“She just ate, that may be dangerous,” I cautioned Kirill.
Kirill widened his eyes at Lesya and she giggled more. But he also stopped tickling her. No one likes to get peed on. Well, some people do, but I'm not getting into that.
“Who are these owls you keep mentioning?” Viper asked as Trevor returned from the kitchen with a clean face and a couple of plates of food.
“Here, Minn Elska, eat something.” Trevor put a plate down in front of me and one in front of his seat.
“You didn't get one for me?” Kirill asked indignantly.
“There's no meat for the lazy wolf.” Trevor grinned at Kirill. “Better get in there before it's all gone, Brother.”
“After all ze times I brought you coffee,” Kirill huffed and got up. “Now, he tosses Froekn sayings at me like cowboy.”
“To answer your question,” I said to Viper, “we don't know who the owls are. But, we did see one of them in human form and he looked Native American to me.” I glanced at my husbands. “What do you guys think?”
“Definitely Native American,” Re confirmed. “They must be a type of demigod.”
“Whoever they are, they helped us out so they can't be all that bad,” I said.
The men went quiet.
“Right?” I prompted.
“Hard to say,” Odin finally spoke. “From what I know about Native American legends, some tribes believe owls to be death omens or the minions of evil shamans while others think they're protectors who can heal the sick and injured.”
“Myths only tell us what magic they might have,” I argued. “They're not proof of bad or good natures. Luke is the perfect example of that.”
“True but myths are often based on the behavior of a god or race of demigods,” Odin argued. “Such as the Froekn, who inspired a lot of werewolf myths through their assassin work.”
“Fair point,” I conceded.
“But for now, I say we go with them being neutral,” Trevor suggested. “We don't know if they're allies but they haven't acted like enemies either.”
“What about that big, black, talkin' snake?” Austin asked.
“What's this now?” Viper asked next. “How much did I miss in deep-freeze?”
“A lot.” Kirill returned with two plates. “Don't run away again and you von't miss anything.”
Viper grimaced at Kirill but then Kirill set a plate down in front of him and Viper started smiling. “Thanks... Brother.”
Kirill lifted a brow at the title, considered Viper a moment, then nodded. “You're velcome, Brother.”
Aw, look at my guys getting along. I gave them both a tender smile.
