“I keep forgetting you’re all triplets and technically all the same age,” I muttered
“Elm still oldest,” Elm rumbled.
“Cy second,” Cy rumbled.
“Only because Cy’s fat butt shove Birch out of way,” Birch called out, and on the taunting and teasing and love mixed in there went on.
Kehl, luckily, was thoroughly amused by the Trees and their goofy family dynamic.
By the time we’d reached the village, Cy had all but claimed Kehl as his own personal beastly shield/friend, chatting him up about what to expect when we reached the village.
Elm was forced to give me over to Cy, who was a rumbling, stumbling, needy mess, stealing kisses at every turn. He nearly walked us into a tree, he was that happy to see me.
We were traveling at a slower pace for the cart, so all those who had raced to help with the Krampus battle were now back at the village.
By the time we made it back to the village, it was almost completely dark.
Dorothy and Red were waiting for us with two of their mates each, a makeshift triage center setup where the market place had been.
Kehl allowed Dorothy to manhandle him over to Lukar, but Cy and Elm refused, choosing to stay glued to my sides.
“It’s okay, I’ll just-” That sentence was met with swift growls ofLike hell.
I figured I could try and doctor them up myself seeing as the cuts on their arms didn’t look too deep.
One of Red’s mates was pretty beat up. He was missing part of his ear, an arm, and was, I hoped, having himself a veryhealing nap. Red fussed over him, her eyes red rimmed and puffy.
Assuring Cy and Elm they were in good hands, I left them hovering over Kehl, frowning as he gamely allowed them to study him getting his wounds tended to, I walked over to Red. “May I sit with you?”
Red barely glanced up. “Daisy needed to go back home. Her youngest isn’t even one yet. They needed their mama.” Sniffling, she went on. “He wanted another one but I swore I was done having babies, you know? I’ve already got my hands full.”
With a growl in her voice, she muttered, “Come back to me, you stubborn old coot, and I’ll give you one more chance to knock me up, you hear me?”
The male’s chest began to rumble softly.
Red cried out as his eye slowly opened, leaned in and kissed him hard on the mouth.
“This way my Red greets her mates. Cix should go fight Krampus more often.” Her death glare made him grin.
“Don’t even think about it!” she hissed at him.
He just scooped her up with his good arm and silenced her protests.
Feeling like a weird lookie-loo, I made my way back to Kehl.
Cy and Elm fidgeted in the spot Kehl had just been, sitting side by side as Dorothy looked over Elm and Lukar looked over Cy. Kehl stood watch, his thick arms folded over his chest.
Walking up to Kehl, I wrapped my arms around him and leaned into him.
“Today was one of the worst and best days of my life,” I admitted.
“I believe that,” Dorothy mumbled under her breath.
Thinking about things, I muttered aloud, “Sunny and Forest could take over my old place until they figure out what they want to do.”
“Cy and Elm comes home,” Kehl rumbled out in answer for me. Smiling up at Kehl, I gave his middle a squeeze, careful of the poultice and dress on his side.
Cy and Elm rumbled happily at Kehl’s announcement.
