Tonight, we were doing a Clan game night, playing Mario Kart. Roarke and Emrie were here as well, and we were all packed into the games room. Everyone had just pulled up a chair, beanbag, or bit of floor space, but I was one of the lucky ones who’d gotten here early enough to have my own recliner. And of course Emrie got the other one. Her husband was on the floor at her feet, leaning against her legs.
There were too many of us to play at the same time, so we had to do it in groups of four. Right now Roarke was facing off against Matteo, Riggs, and me.
“Matteo, if you send one more red shell after me, you’re not going to like what happens,” Riggs threatened darkly.
I smirked, because I’d sent the shell at him.
“It wasn’t me, Alpha!” Matteo protested.
“Roarke?”
Roarke scoffed. “I don’t need a red shell to beat you.”
He probably didn’t. He’d won almost all of his matches.
“It’s because you’re using Donkey Kong,” Emrie said. “His kart always goes faster.”
“Is that true?” I shot off a ramp and somehow ended up going the wrong way. The little cloud eventually had to come straighten me out, and I zoomed back onto the track. I was getting lapped, and it was ticking me off. I guess I should have spent less time working and more time playing in my life, then I wouldn’t be this lousy.
“You’re going the wrong way again,” Roarke gently said.
I shot him a glare. “I don’t know how you guys keep everything straight. It’s moving so fast!”
“Practice,” Mathan said, crunching on a Dorito. “You’re brand new. All of us were terrible when we first started.”
“You got the star, you got the star,” Emrie squealed.“Go, go, go!”
I gunned it, trying to find as many of my opponents as possible so I could bump them off course. I zoomed around a corner and saw Riggs up ahead of me. It didn’t matter, really, because he was on lap four and I was on lap three, but I bumped him anyway, making him go off a bridge.
“It’s like that, huh?”
I laughed and tried to get as far away from him as I could on my star power. Then, a few seconds later, I got another star, and Emrie was cheering me on while Taco was doing some kind of funky star dance behind me.
I lost, but I lost while cracking up, which, in my opinion, is the best way to lose.
Next, Taco, Emrie, Alistair, and Akeno went, and I swear, I didn’t know if it was because Akeno was always going a mile a minute or what, but he smoked them. Emrie threw popcorn at him, and he grinned, picking it off his shirt and eating it.
“How do you do that?” she complained. “Do you have the courses memorized?”
He shrugged. “I play a lot with the kids.”
Emrie pouted so much that her husband kissed her, finally making her laugh. She wasn’t all that competitive anyway.
We did several more matches until Emrie got too tired, then she and Roarke left for home, and everyone else did too. Or in the officers’ cases, up to their rooms.
Matteo was doing much better now. He still wasn’t fully there yet, but he was moving a lot more easily, looked healthier, andwas able to do most of his daily Clan duties without tiring too badly. He was still taking potions Rhys made for him, but would hopefully be completely healed in a few more months.
Eventually, as everyone cleared out, it ended up just Riggs and me in the room. One of the mates had taken Alanna and put her to bed for me, and Riggs had round-the-clock enforcers who were assigned to her protection, so I tried not to worry about her.
“Your first Mario Kart night. Did you have fun?”
I settled back against the chair cushion and drew my knees in, chuckling as I remembered Taco’s star dance. “Yeah. They’re a great group of people. And they’ve accepted Alanna and me, which says a lot about who they are and your leadership.” My tone turned teasing. “Except when you send them to pull weeds like they’re little kids.”
He laughed, rubbing his chin. “Taco is fun. He has a lot of great and wonderful qualities, but he tends to act first and think last. He’s mouthy too, and I’ve had to settle disagreements between him and other members of the Clan on what seems a monthly basis. His closest friends get him, and they aren’t bothered by him, but…”
“But you’re in charge of the whole Clan, and Taco has to learn to think before he acts,” I finished for him.
He shrugged. “Yes, in a way. I know he’s an adult, but a clan functions best when everyone gives a little, and everyone works to get along. That means some changes have to take place. Not everyone is cut out to live in a clan.”
