What does that even mean?
Fox rushes to catch up to me and sticks close to my side.
“Kat?”
I stop dead, appalled, squeezing my eyes closed, trying to hold back an exasperated laugh.
“Really, Fox?”
“It’s cute,” he whispers, nudging my shoulder. “I like it.”
“No, we are not calling me Kat.”
“Aww.”
“Fox, no.”
“But, baby, it’s so cute, and I love it, just like I love you-”
I kiss him hard and thoroughly until he’s forgotten the whole subject.
“Are we going to be a good boy?” I croon.
He inhales shakily; he looks delightfully tousled. “Yes, we are.”
“Good. Let’s get this meeting done and go and harass Yolanda for something tasty for you to eat, hmm?”
Fox threads his fingers through mine and walks by my side, where he’s been since we met when we were just fifteen years old. Best friends turned to lovers, turned to pack mates, andthough I won’t ever acknowledge it out loud to anyone else, to soul mates.
He is my everything, and he is enough.
We get down to the beach where very few people are. The waves crash onto the sand; the wind is cold. The sky is silver-grey; it is lovely. I am entranced by this town, even when I don’t want to be.
I press the link to the video call and wait. Fox rests his chin on my upper arm and hums under his breath.
The screen comes on, showing an older version of myself. Thick black hair, mercurial ice-blue eyes, and a deep and powerful, calm aura that comes from the very intense natures of our alphas.
“Father.”
“Katsu. You look well.”
“We are. It’s beautiful here.”
“And how is my delightfully adorable, beloved son?”
I brought Fox home and, with the same adoration he gets from animals, my parents fell for him, hook, line, and sinker. They have been our biggest champions and have supported us in everything we wanted to do, even when Fox’s family have tried to make it impossible.
“I’m good, Pops.”
Even I am not allowed to call my father Pops. But Fox can. Perhaps we spoil him, but there’s a softness in my alpha that needed nurturing the way a dying plant needed water.
I aim to provide whatever he needs. If he wants me, he’s got it. If he needs my family, they are his. Whatever my love desires.
“Can I assume you won’t be home for a while?”
I glance at Fox, then look back at Dad. The problem was that while the notoriety of being some weird couple from a fictional novel didn’t bother me, it deeply distressed Fox. I promised him I’d find the author and see if we could get the names changed orremove the books from sale or something; hell, anything would do to stop the distress that’s been riding him.
“We’ll be here as long as it takes.”
