“Very good, Liv.” She’d managed to sneak up on him. Not many shifters could accomplish that so his pleasure was very real. The Great Spirit had chosen his other half very well. He circled her with his arms, pulling her in for a kiss. Breathing deeply as her lips moved under his, Micah decided he now knew what made Tony and Malcolm smile the way they did.
I am in love.
“What’s got you so happy, Micah?” Olivia ran a hand through the hair he’d left unbraided. Her fingers tugged, gently pulling his hair and arousing him more than he thought possible. Pressing his urgent need against her, he shook his head.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out, sweetheart. Now go over there and set the table before I forget that Talia and Gareth could be in here any minute!” Swatting her ass, he noted that she could stand to gain a few pounds.
As if on cue, the two he mentioned came into the kitchen laughing. Anyone would think they’d been friends forever the way Talia swung on Gareth’s hand. Micah noted the look of peace on his friend’s face and knew he had to do something about Gareth. He needed a child of his own to make him look that way all the time.
Love is turning me into a matchmaker already.
Micah pointed at the two.
“So tell me about your day, Talia. Where did you go?”
Talia’s story began with Gareth taking her to the reservation on a snowmobile and had his name peppered throughout. She talked nonstop until Micah put the food on the table. The meat disappeared quickly with even Olivia eating her share. As the dishes were cleared, Gareth excused himself. Micah didn’t have the chance to pin him down about the Gathering the next night.
Turning to the shorter of the two blondes in his kitchen, Micah tipped his gaze down to her.
“So, short one, would you like to have your dessert in Olivia’s room? I thought the three of us could make s’mores.”
Talia’s eyes lit up as she danced around the kitchen clapping her hands. “Yes, yes, yes! Are we gonna roast the marshmallows and everything?”
Working as a team, the three of them gathered up the necessary fixings for the treat with Micah grabbing three metal skewers on the way. They settled in Olivia’s room where Micah let Talia be in charge of roasting the gooey globs of sugar.
“Micah, is it wise to feed her this much sugar this late?” Olivia made him proud, sounding like such a concerned parent.
“Oh, it’ll be all right. It’s not like she has school tomorrow. Although,” Micah glanced at Talia, “I do need to set up something with one of the home-schooling moms around here. Can’t have her going without an education.”
Olivia leaned into Micah with a soft sigh. “I love how you take care of her. I can’t help but wonder if I had…”
Wrapping an arm around her, he finished her sentence. “If you’d had a guardian or a godparent? I’m sure you did, sweetheart. It’s pretty much a given in our culture. And I am still looking for your people.”
Her face pensive, Olivia nodded. “I know. It’s just that I can’t help but feel a little envious. She knows her place in this world and I am just beginning to figure mine out.”
Micah kissed the top of Olivia’s head, taking in her scent. Part of him wished she had known the life Talia would know. Another part of him recognized that he might not have met her if she had been given a proper shifter childhood. Words seemed useless, so he just lifted her chin up a bit to place a soft kiss on her lips.
She sighed happily as she burrowed just a bit closer to him. Talia brought them her perfectly done marshmallows. Black on one side and still cool on the other was apparently the standard in six-year-old marshmallow-cooking school. Olivia sat up to put together the pieces of the s’mores. Even though she insisted they not eat them on the bed, Olivia seemed to enjoy the time with Talia. Micah was happy.
All is right with my world.
As soon as Talia dropped into a sound sleep, Micah put her in Olivia’s bed. Turning to Olivia who sat on the floor in front of the fire, he cleared his throat.
“Liv, do you remember Pete asking you about tomorrow night?”
At her nod, he continued. “There are times when all of the local shifters have a get-together. As I told you earlier, we call it the Gathering and it’s a time to meet any new shifters as well as run with our kind. Will you join me tomorrow night and run with me?”
Blue eyes gazed at him for what felt like hours, then she nodded. “I’ll try, Micah. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”
“Good. What about going ice fishing in the morning?” She nodded her assent and they settled comfortably in front of the fire. With the warmth of the fire and the scent of the woman beside him giving peace to his heart, Micah felt his eyelids drooping.
He tried to rouse himself in order to take Talia to her own room, but the lethargy stealing over his senses wouldn’t even let him get to his feet. Olivia seemed to be having the same problem. A soft sigh from his side caused him to look at her. She slept curled into his body.
Knowing there wasn’t any way he would make it up the stairs, Micah managed to get slowly to his feet with Olivia in his arms. The distance to the bed felt more like a mile than just a few steps, but he laid Olivia down next to Talia. Turning back to the fireplace, he let a massive yawn split his face before he put another split log on the fire, pulled the screen shut then turned and crawled into bed with Olivia and Talia.
Neither of them stirred as he wrapped his arm across Olivia’s body and pulled Talia closer. Sighing deeply, he let his eyes close again, pushing aside any worry about Olivia’s reaction to a Gathering or the Pack’s reaction to her. They’d accept her, he knew that, he just wondered how many males he’d have to warn off.
Dawn hadn’t broken when Micah opened his eyes. He smiled to find Talia lying across both himself and Olivia. She’d pillowed her head on Olivia’s stomach while he had her feet just under his ribs. Moving slowly, he got out of bed to stand at the side, watching his mate and his child sleep. Contentment filled him along with a sense of sheer wonder.
How could he ever put words to this joy? The entire world needed to know about this feeling. Explaining shifter mating rituals to Olivia would be interesting, but it was a task he looked forward to. For now, though, he’d get his “girls” up-it was definitely time to go ice fishing.
Micah leaned over and kissed Olivia awake. She opened those gorgeous eyes and smiled at him then looked down at the child sleeping so trustingly on her stomach. A look of surprise followed by longing filled her face and she looked back up at Micah.
“Good morning, Liv. I promised to take you ice fishing, right?” Micah tickled Talia until the child squirmed and woke laughing. She hugged Olivia then turned and raised her arms to Micah.
“Uncle Micah, what are we going to do today?” She asked no questions about waking with them, so Micah assumed Shelly had let the child sleep with her on occasion or that Jane’s family frequently shared a bed. It wasn’t an uncommon practice in Pack-reared shifters.
“We are going ice fishing, but you have to get up and get dressed quickly. We need to be out on the lake soon. I’ll go down and make us some breakfast sandwiches. You and Liv need to dress warmly. There are some ice skates in the closet downstairs too, if you want to see if you can find some in your size.”
“Yay, yay, yay! Ice fishing and ice skating. Hurry up, Olivia!” Talia jumped up and down on the bed before making a mad dash for the door. “I have to get dressed. Hurry, hurry!”
Micah laughed as he turned back to Olivia. “I think she’s a little excited. Now for a proper ‘good morning’.”
Kneeling back on the bed, he gathered Olivia into his arms, watching as her lips curved into a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and welcomed him back against her body. Micah kissed her with all the love he felt for her, stroking across her tongue with his, holding her close against his chest and feeling her fingers tangle in his hair.
He broke the kiss with a soft groan. “If I don’t go downstairs right now, I’m going to make love to you again and that might be awkward with Talia being so excited about the day.”
“I know.” Olivia smiled a very female smile at him. “Micah, we have tonight. I want you in my bed tonight.”
“Liv, don’t say things like that to me.” He put his forehead against hers and sighed heavily. “I want you.”
“I can tell.” She ran a hand between their bodies to cup his cock. Micah took a deep breath and groaned softly as she stroked him. He wanted her hands on his body, her mouth on his cock, his cock in her body-he wanted it all.
“Stop, sweetheart, we have to get up.” Micah rolled over, pulling Olivia with him so that she lay on his body. She rubbed against him with a truly wicked smile.
“Just a taste for later, Micah.” Olivia kissed him this time. Kissed him as though they were the only two people on the planet and they had an entire lifetime to enjoy one another. She raised her head to stare at him. Micah saw confusion in her gaze, but she shook her head as she slid seductively off his body. “Until later.”
He let his head fall back on the pillow with a groan as she waltzed into the bathroom. Getting to his feet with his cock at attention took some effort on his part. Only the thought of Talia interrupting them kept him from joining Olivia in the shower.
Resigned to dealing with a painful erection for a while, Micah limped toward the door and headed for the kitchen. He heard Talia singing from the third floor and laughed as he walked down the stairs.
Life is definitely good.
He had reason to rethink that after some time on the ice. Olivia and Talia had laughed as they walked out onto the frozen lake. They’d both wondered if the ice would break under them because of the cracking sound it made as they walked on it.
They’d liked watching him bore holes in the ice with his auger. Olivia hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him and Micah had been very grateful for his coveralls as they hid a multitude of sins, including his body’s immediate reaction to her gaze.
However, sitting on a short stool and watching the girls shiver as they sat around the holes waiting for the elusive fish to bite wasn’t much fun. Apparently today would not be a good day for ice fishing after all.
Gareth had mentioned the possibility of purchasing or building an ice-fishing house and Micah had dismissed that idea until now. Watching Olivia and Talia, seeing how little they were enjoying this particular experience, he wondered if being inside a cozy, warm ice house would have made a difference.
“Okay, that’s enough. I don’t think we’re going to have any luck with the fish today. Did you find skates to fit?” Talia jumped up, dropped her pole and ran for the sled Micah had used to cart their supplies out onto the lake.
“Yay! Skating.” Olivia and Micah followed more slowly. He took her gloved hand in his and even though he couldn’t feel her skin, he smiled.
“Can you ice skate, Olivia?”
“Me? I don’t know. I’ve never tried.” When she smiled up at him, he chuckled.
“This could be very interesting.”
Olivia wobbled as her feet hit the slick surface. If Micah’s arms hadn’t been around her, she knew she would have been on her rear. His rumbling laugh pulsed through her as he coached her on how to best navigate on the blades. Talia dashed across the ice as though born to it.
“The last foster family had a budding competition ice skater so they were at the rink a lot. Looks like Talia has some natural talent as well.”
Watching the child take the ripples in the lake ice in stride, Olivia didn’t even notice when Micah pulled away from her a bit. Suddenly she looked down to see her own feet gliding.
“It’s a little like cross-country skiing, isn’t it?” Turning her head to Micah, Olivia lost her balance and went down hard.
“Yes, but the ice isn’t as forgiving as the snow. Are you okay?”
Narrowing her eyes at his obvious difficulty in hiding a grin, she took his hand. “Fine. I think you need to hold my hand until I can get my ice legs as it were.”
His eyes softened as he squeezed her hand pulling her up. “Liv, I don’t want to ever let go of your hand. You are so important to me.”
Her heart tightening in her chest, Liv changed the subject to Talia. She didn’t want to hurt Micah, but she didn’t know how to deal with this emotion she felt. Seeming to understand, Micah let her lead the conversation away from the idea of forever.
Soon she felt like she had the skating thing down but she didn’t let go of Micah. Talia joined them to grab his hand while the three of them zipped across the edge of the lake. Even the occasional snowdrift or ice wrinkle didn’t take Liv down. She had so much fun that when Micah said it was time to head back to the lodge, Olivia considered joining Talia’s whine.
“Talia, tonight is a Gathering so Liv and I need to nap as much as you do.” He flicked where her nose would be on her face mask. “And you get to go hang out with the other cubs at Margie’s. I hear there will be pizza and movies and no bedtime for you guys.”
The child’s face brightened at the thought of going to see her new friends again. Olivia’s stomach roiled at the idea of meeting all those strangers in four-legged form.
Can I do this and not embarrass myself-or worse, Micah?
The snowmobile ride home didn’t help her anxiety. As the trees whipped past, fear after fear piled up until she knew it wasn’t just the motor making her shake.
Why am I such a coward? Olivia Marie, get it together right now. Micah will be with you. It will be okay. Nothing bad will happen.
With the lodge in sight, Olivia breathed a sigh of relief. Talia leaned against her so heavily that when she looked at the child’s face she was not surprised to see the six-year-old sound asleep.
“Apparently snowmobile rides are a lot like car rides.” The tenderness in Micah’s voice along with the gentleness he showed as he scooped the sleeping child up made tears well up in Olivia’s eyes.
He makes such a good parent.
Once Talia was tucked in bed with Olivia assisting Micah in making sure the covers were snug around her, the two adults turned as one to head downstairs. Olivia led the way with her hand tugging Micah along behind her. She wanted to spoon into him and let the tiredness that the activity brought on-and the fear it enhanced-melt away.