Page 54 of Bad Blood Panther

“All the guys will be here,” he said. “It’s not like I’m on my own.”

He finally talked her into it. On Saturday morning he sent her off with the other girls, shoving an extra wad of cash in her bag while he distracted her by giving her a toe-curling kiss goodbye. Hopefully Lissa would convince her to spend at least some of it. Once Lissa had gotten used to having money, she’d turned into a champion shopper.

Now, all he had to do was manage to have a perfect day with his kid. Then Jenny could see what a good dad he could be, even when she wasn’t backseat driving. Or driving the whole damn train.

At first, he did great. Diaper changing, check. Playing trucks in the beach sand pile, check. Cannon balls into the kiddie pool, check. Brandon had only peed in the pool a little before Xander got him out. Who was going to know?

Squirrel-chasing, check. Lunch with the guys, check. Nap, afternoon snack and juice box, check. Brandon only spilled the juice box because a chipmunk ran by, and that red drink would totally come out of that romper thing he’d been wearing. Probably.

Xander had only turned his back for one second, when he was putting the romper thing in water and something called enzyme pre-soak, which sounded stain-removery.

And then he turned back around, and Brandon, who couldn’t run through the living room without his feet pounding the floor like little jackhammers, had somehow managed a ninja stealth escape.

Shit.

Xander went after him, calling his name and following his scent, wondering how dads who weren’t shifters managed to find their kids. Probably they didn’t lose them, he reminded himself. Because losing the kid was definitely an epic dad fail.

He found Brandon’s diaper at one point, which told him he was on the right track, and also that his kid was running butt-nekkid through the woods. Awesome. He was going to be all scratched up, which meant Xander was going to have to not only live with the shame of his dad failure, but ‘fess up to it.

He caught up with Brandon a few minutes later. He’d found a big pile of bear scat—probably fucking Tank’s, from the size of it—and was sitting in the middle of it.

Smearing it all over himself.

He clapped as Xander ran up with his useless discarded diaper.

“Hi Daddy!” Brandon said brightly. He squished a handful of shit through his fingers and announced, “I found poop!”

Xander looked at his poop-covered son, happy as…as a baby panther in shit. Brandon looked up, beaming, a miniature mirror of his own face looking back at him.

He should be pissed. He should be appalled. Jenny was never, ever going to let either of them out of her sight again. But it was so…

A bubble of laughter welled up inside him. Ah, hell. It was so damn funny. Xander pulled his phone out of his pocket and took pictures. Then he sat down in the middle of the woods, discarded diaper in hand, and laughed his ass off.

Sloan and Tank found him there a few minutes later. They both stopped in their tracks, staring at Brandon.

“Holy…um…shit,” said Sloan.

“Oh, man, that’s not good,” Tank said. “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to let them do that.”

“Ya think?” Xander said. “And I’m blaming you, Bib Bear,” he added. “Because the only bear who’s bib enough to leave a pile of shit that size in the woods is you.”

Tank refused to dignify that with an answer.

“That is a big fucking mess,” Sloan said, sounding awed.

“Bib fucking mesh,” Brandon agreed.

Xander sighed and climbed to his feet, stripping his shirt off and tossing it to Sloan. No point in getting it shit-covered.

“Come on, you bib fucking mesh,” he said. “We’re gonna have a bath. Possibly two baths. Or maybe a shower and then a bath.”

He hoisted his sticky, disgusting, shit-smelling son into his arms. “Your mother is never going to let me take care of you again,” he added. “Not until you’re eighteen, at least.”

“Bad Daddy?” Brandon said, frowning.

“Undoubtedly,” he said. “But I love the hell out of you, buddy.”

“Undobbaly,” Brandon said, smearing bear poop into Xander’s hair.