Kat’s face softened at the mention of their names, and I caught the flicker of warmth in Durge’s expression, too.
Matebonds truly made families, and I loved seeing it in action.
“Okay, enough about mates!” Kat’s face turned red. “Let’s talk about the Cat-tuary.”
Durge’s lips twitched. “The what?”
“The cat sanctuary she and Skel built,” Nelson explained, chuckling lowly. “Such an interesting name.”
Kat grinned. “You have to say it properly.Cat-tuary.Emphasis on thet.”
Durge gave her an amused look. “Of course.”
“It’s basically just a giant rock arch with awesome cat supplies for stray cats to live without fear of predators or starvation,” I explained. “I guess theyaren’tstray anymore after calling it a home, but it will always attract more strays. The runes we put on it makes that a promise.”
Kat snorted. “Comet is still my favorite.”
“Only because Comet is the only one you’ve been able to spend time with.” I giggled. “You’d love them all.”
“Comet is an agent of destruction,” Skel corrected his sister. “Swipes food off counters, knocks over expensive things, terrorizes poor Gumdrop and Nebs?—”
“Finally, someone gets it,” Nebula commented from my bag.
“And yet you let her stay,” Kat pointed out.
He sighed dramatically. “We’re weak to her cuteness.”
Nelson, who had been listening to us with amusement, stood then. “Speaking of old memories…” He left the room briefly and returned with a thick, well-worn scrapbook. “I thought it might be nice for your mates to look through this.”
Skel stiffened slightly as the book was placed on the table, but he didn’t object.
Kat’s eyes lit up. “Is that our scrapbook?”
“The very one.” Nelson smiled at his kids. “I may not have been able to document everything, but I did my best.”
I leaned in as Skel’s dad opened the cover, revealing the first page—old photographs, slightly yellowed pages at the edges, filled with snapshots of Skel and Kat’s childhood.
There was a photo of Skel and Kat as kids, Kat in cat form sitting on a tree branch while Skel stood below, arms crossed, glaring up at her as if she was an absolute menace.
“Oh my Fates,” I laughed, pointing at his expression. “You were so done with her.”
Skel rubbed a hand over his face. “Yes, yes I was. She kept pouncing on my head.”
Kat beamed. “Never stopped me, though. He never was really done with me. He always kept playing through the torment.”
Another page, another memory of my mate’s—Skel was maybe eight years old, sitting on the floor with a tiny, fluffy black kitten asleep on his lap. But that kitten definitely was not his sister in cat form.
He stared at it for a long moment.
“…I forgot about him,” Skel admitted quietly.
“Me too.” Kat’s voice softened. “Midnight. We used to play a lot together.”
He nodded slowly. “We did. What ever happened to him?”
“He ran away,” Nelson told them with regret. “We never could find him.”
“I still think that old man had something to do with it.” Kat crossed her arms. “Hehatedcats. Why do you think I tormented him so much?”
