Page 2

“Well, we’re going there to wait and see if my alpha shows up, Mister,” I said, leaning back in the booth now that my dad and Liam were gone. I closed the book and tried to imagine who the man I’d spend the rest of my life with might be.

“You better get your human stuff together. That’s a train ride and walk,” Pox said. “Bring lots of chicken hearts. I want to share them with my friends.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I swear, if chickens go extinct it’s going to be your fault, mister.”

“Eh, they lay so many eggs! Stop eating all the unborn for breakfast so I can eat their hearts later!” Pox said and bunted me with his head.

I loved him. Even with so much uncertainty hanging on the horizon like a full moon, being bunted by him soothed something deep inside my soul.

Chapter 1

Leopold

Heartville

Modern Day

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as Pox laid across my full pregnant belly. I was too pregnant for this shit. Way too pregnant. Yes, I wanted to put everything behind us before our baby was born, but Liam asked too many questions. I expected questions from my dads, but this was getting on my nerves.

“I can eat him,” my fox chimed into my thoughts.

My fox could not in fact eat Liam and it wasn’t just because he was a childhood friend of my sire or the fact that he was the First Mate of Heartville. Liam Moonscale-Hemlock was a dragon and neither my mouth nor my fox’s would open up wide enough to get a good enough bite of him to stop him from asking questions. It wasn’t even worth the energy of trying.

“Start from the beginning again,” Liam said. “I have to be missing something. It’s not making sense.”

I would’ve told him to go away and figure it out on his own. Only, it was his spirit board I ‘borrowed’ and the consequences affected others. I was too old to be a kid who refused to talk, but I was too pregnant to tell the story over and over again even with Arken’s help.

My alpha squeezed my hand and shot my sire a look that said ‘call off your bestie.’ My sire wasn’t pleased about Arken’s arrival. It wasn’t that the old man didn’t want me to be happy. It was that Dad thought he dragged me into more trouble than he was worth. I disagreed. I’d do it all over again every Halloween if it meant that Arken could stay here with me.

“Maybe we can cut into that Yule Log first,” my brother Vellox ‘Ox’ said, trying to buy me a few minutes to calm down. He’s ten years younger than me but at our ages it didn’t even matter anymore. He’d grown into a fox shifter that had our sire’s build. Hence his nickname. He was built like an Ox.

“Are you always hungry?” Liam snapped and his expression morphed into instant regret.

Ox wasn’t the one who dragged Philip and Canton into a mini warzone. That was me.

“Liam,” our sire said, a warning dancing on his words.

“Leo,” Bobby, the leader of Heartville and Liam’s true-mate said.

“Bobby!” Starry, my uncle, snapped.

“Everyone!” Philip snapped from the corner.

My sire, Liam, and Leo had all grown up in the GGB around Philip and Canton. They were grandfatherly figures in all their lives. For me and Ox too even if we grew up in Heartville. Hence, why Philip and Canton had gotten involved at all.

“Yeah, Philip?” Liam asked, trying to level out his tone.

“Let’s eat the dang Yule Log and give them a break. What’s done is done. It’s over. Been over for months. I’m here to deliver a baby and before anyone starts running their mouths about how they didn’t get the whole story, I told you what I saw. The man is pregnant. Let him eat some Yule Log in peace or you’re going to have problems with me and Liam, be nice to Ox too. Guy hasn’t done anything besides try to protect his pregnant brother.”

Liam only looked a little sheepish, but I was glad for the break more than anything. My baby was due any day now and I just wanted to sit back with my feet up and not think about what happened on Halloween. Arken, Pox, and I made it out alive. We added another furry member to our family. That was enough for me. Sure, I fucked up, but isn’t that what the true-mate response does? It makes you fuck everything up.

My sire perched on the arm of my recliner and Ox brought me a big slice of the Yule Log. I hated that Dad and Liam were fighting because of something I did.

“It’s not about what you did, Pollie,” Dad sighed. “It’s about how and when he’s choosing to find out more. The elves said that door would never open again, but Liam doesn’t believe them.”

“Do you?” I asked, almost dropping my fork at the new information.

“I do. Liam hasn’t seen anything about it. Earthside is safe from that door, but Liam’s nervous. He’s probably pregnant and doesn’t want to pee on a stick.”