Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I guess I couldn’t expect any backup from Matti or Sienna on this.
I cleared my throat. “To have a baby, the baby has parts from the mom and the dad. Like maybe you have your dad’s eyes but you’re funny like your mom? Because most beings can’t have babies without someone else sharing part of their… bodies?”
Pascal frowned at me like I didn’t make sense, and let’s be real, it didn’t really, but how did you explain biology and cells to what looked like a seven-year-old? I sure didn’t know. I wouldn’t even know how to explain the birds and the bees using the birds and the bees analogy. I hadn’t understood the concept when I was thirteen, and I still didn’t understand it now in my early thirties.
And I was not going to be the one to explain a daddy’s pee-pee going into a mommy’s privates. I would throw myself out of the truck first. “But Duncan is my pup. I take care of him, he takes care of me, and I love him,” I told them before they could nitpick my BS explanation.
“Does he love you?” the werewolf child asked in a way that kind of sounded innocent but also pretty judgy.
I glanced at Duncan, who still had his attention on me, and smiled. “He does.” I didn’t doubt it for a second.
“My aunt says that moms and dads are great but other people are just as good as they are,” my friend Shiloh butted in, wise beyond his years.
“Your aunt is a genius. As long as someone loves you, it doesn’t matter.” I paused and thought about something. “Do you want to call your parents?”
I’d never seen anyone go from being okay to looking like they wanted to throw up so fast.
Agnes decided right then to start growling again, and Shiloh had to scold her, which then led to the three of them arguing about whatever it was they were arguing over. Getting in trouble? Getting busted? The boys were talking over each other so much it was hard to tell what each one of them was trying to say while the white wolf pitched in her own thoughts through low grumbles that made me want to giggle from how adorable they were.
I guess nobody wanted to call their parents. If we weren’t so close to the ranch, I would’ve insisted but…
I focused on Duncan then, grateful that he didn’t talk a lot. Those red eyes were bright and attentive. I had already told him multiple times what we were doing and where we were going, and my gut said he understood, but I lowered my voice and palmed his back. “Do you remember where we’re going? I’ll be with you the whole time. Nothing is going to happen. This place smells so good, and I think you’re going to like it. If you hate it, it’s okay. You just have to tell me, all right?”
His “yes” was a touch to my soul. I could eat his telepathy with tortilla chips, I loved it so much.
I stroked the fur between his head and the base of his tail, then I did it again, trying to keep my thoughts on him. If I didn’t focus on how this meeting was actually about to happen—how our future hinged on how it went—my body wouldn’t react to the worry that came with it, and the exceptional noses in the truck would never notice I was ramping myself up.
Regardless of whatever happened, we were going to be fine. Duncan and I would figure it out. Matti had said something about Alaska, hadn’t he?
The truck slowing down brought me back to the moment as Matti turned the wheel a hard left. Through the rear passenger window, the only things visible were massive trees and a fence taller than the one we’d jumped. The difference now was that there was an imposing iron gate ahead. Multiple signs were posted, claiming PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING, NO SOLICITING, NO POACHING, YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW, and YOU ARE UNDER VIDEO SURVEILLANCE.
They weren’t screwing around. Good.
We slowed to a stop, and the driver’s side window rolled down. There was an intercom-looking thing to the left. Leaning out of the window, Matti pressed a button on the keypad. It beeped. “Hello?”
Nothing.
He glanced at Sienna, who shrugged, before he leaned out the window one more time, making the intercom beep again. “Hello? This is Matti. I used to live here….”
Nothing.
The side mirror reflected his frown.
He did whatever he did to make the intercom beep for the third time. His mustache was flat across his upper lip. “It’s still Matti. My cousin is Henri Blackrock. I found three of your children and have them with me—oh, the gate is opening now,” he muttered in a voice that cracked with irritation.