Chapter 916 Chapter 916
As soon as she stepped into the house, she could hear Lisette crying. She was eight months old, and teething was not going well. Mikiah came into the kitchen carrying her. She looked exhausted and Marie felt bad for her. “I have to make up some packs and then I can take her.” She set the box on the table. “I haven’t looked in these, maybe they sent more teething gel.”
Mikiah untangled the baby’s tiny fingers from her cropped black hair and switched to hold her on the other hip. “I’ll unpack them.”
Going over, she got the empty packs out of the basket and set four of them on the counter. She could do this in her sleep now; she’d been doing it since she’d got here. She checked that the coffee pot was full and then went about packing snacks, meats, and proteins into the small packs.
Louann came in, carrying Tanji. Her long, curly, flaxen hair was pulled up away from sticky baby fingers. Tanji was one year old and had the chubbiest cheeks ever. She saw Marie and gave her a toothy grin. “I made packs for Bane and Orion.” She motioned to the two on the table.
Bane came into the room, went over, kissed his mate and daughter, and then turned and grabbed one of the packs. She noticed his hair had been trimmed again to his usual brush cut now that the cold months were behind them. His sculpted cheekbones made him look like a cougar, even in his human body, but she wasn’t going to speak that out loud.
“Where are you heading?” Cassius came in with the other two boxes.
Bane glanced over his shoulder when Orion walked in. “We’re going to do the full perimeter and sus out if there are any scents to be concerned about.”
“Pace yourself.” Cassius put the boxes on the table. “The ground is a bitch in some areas.”
Bane nodded and grabbed his jacket. “I know, but it’s faster than running through six feet of snow.”
Orion smiled at him. “Maybe you are too heavy.” He brushed his salt and pepper bangs out of his eyes.
Bane rolled his eyes. “Easy Wolfy, my cat can take you out without one paw.”
Orion snorted. “If he could catch me, maybe.”
Marie smiled. They were only teasing, and everyone knew that. Cassius had one rule - you never broke. Ever. No fighting in the group. You automatically lost your place in it if you did.
“Cahir will be bringing Chas by later. He's going to take a fly around and check all over.”
“Good.” Louann put Tanji down. “Nolyn sent more lessons, and he’s behind.”
Cassius looked around. “Is that where Arden and Sagan are? Lessons?”
Louann nodded. “Whining the whole time that it's so much work.” She shook her head. “It keeps them out of trouble.”
Cahir’s son was ten. His mate was killed last year, and since then, he hadn’t let Chas out of his sight for long. Marie didn’t blame him at all. It had been awful. Arden and Sagan were both eight. Their parents were also gone. Cassius had taken them in when they were both little, and they didn't even know what the boys might shift into. Everyone suspected Ardan was in the bear family because he was twice the size of Sagan. It was loud and exhausting when the three boys were together, but she always thought of it as they would have each other for the rest of their lives.
Orion reached around her and took a piece of the meat she was wrapping. “Don't want Sion to get fat.” He chuckled.
Marie cut another piece to replace it.
“When’s Bly and Cypher going back out?” Bane walked over and kissed his mate again.
“Tomorrow.” Cassius went over and grabbed two of the walkie-talkies and checked that they were charged. “They earned another day of downtime.”
They had been the only two that had stayed out during a crazy storm a few days ago. It was rain, snow, sleet, and the wind had made everything fly around. Personally, Marie thought they were doing things like that to suck up. They had been two of the men left behind to watch over the women and kids. For the most part, they had succeeded in keeping them safe. Except for her, there they had failed.
After finishing the packs, she went over and poured coffee into two of the small thermoses and capped them. Turning around, she set them on the table for Cassius.
He nodded to her and picked the packs up. “You okay now?”
She gave him a half smile and nodded. “I’m fine, yes.”
“I’ll be back this afternoon.” He took the thermoses and went out the door. The two men followed him.
Marie went over and took Lisette out of her mother’s arms.
“Did something happen?” Louann unpackaged some of the items from the boxes.
The only thing that stopped Lisette from whimpering was constant motion, so Marie bounced and walked on the spot. “Not really.” She sighed. “You know that big black bear I saw just after I came here?”
“Yes.” Louann grinned at Mikiah. “You went on about him for days.”
Marie felt her face warm. “Well, I’d never seen one up close before. I met the man version today. Webb.”
Mikiah pointed to her. “Isn’t he the supply master or whatever?”
“I guess.” She had no idea. “He’s really big and nice.”
“Sounds like he’s cute too, or you wouldn’t be blushing.”
She looked down at the baby. “He saw my neck and the look on his face—” She sighed and tugged at the collar of her sweater.
“Aw. Maybe he was interested and then saw the mark and thought—” Louann shrugged. “You know.”
She nodded and bounced more with the baby. It didn’t matter if he was interested in her, or any male for that matter. The hideous mark on her neck was a neon sign saying off limits in the shifter world.”
“Maybe you could get a tattoo to cover it,” Mikiah suggested.
Marie looked at her. “Do you think it would?”
“We can look into it.” Louann pulled out a small box. “Ah ha.” She held it out to Mikiah.
“Yes.” Mikiah took it and ripped it open. “Six tubes of numb gums. Thank you, Miss Rayne.”
“Rhogue.” Arden came in. He brushed his dark curls out of his eyes. “I don’t know what a siminim is and the video of Nolyn says we’re going to talk about siminim’s.”
Marie smiled, handing Lisette off to her mother, she walked toward him. “Let’s go find out what synonyms are.” She took his hand. The only reason she knew what they were was because of Cassius. He had made sure she, Averyana, Muna, and Shandi kept up on studying, even when they had no home. He said it was the only way they’d ever make it out there. She was grateful that he had made sure they had education, but surviving in their world was going to take a lot more than being able to read and add things up.