Chapter 101 TRIVIAL THINGS
GALLAHAN’S POV
Excitement rang clearly in Calisto’s voice, and when my gaze flickered to his direction, I saw how his round eyes glimmered with eagerness and hope.
The ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips was quite endearing, and I couldn’t help but mirror it.
Even then, I said as gently as I could, “I don’t know, bud. I think you better ask your Mommy. She’s the boss.”
Calisto quickly diverted his attention to Willa. “Mommy, we’re going, right? Right? We have to go on a run tonight. Please?”
Willa huffed, closing her book and tossing it aside. But there was fondness in the way she regarded our son, sending a warm buzz beneath my skin.
She was a good mother to our twins, and every time I saw things that proved it, no matter how little or trivial it might seem to others, I would always end up feeling so full of affection for her that I often felt that I might just combust on the spot.
“We’re going. After all, the full moon is the opportunity for you and Gillian to shift until you’ve learned to actually be one with your inner wolf,” she said indulgently, running her fingers through Calisto’s hair in a tender manner.
But Calisto whooped in joy, jolting on his spot and raising his arms in the air in celebration. This reaction cut Willa’s gesture short, but she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the expression on her face just grew a whole lot fonder.
“But remember our rules,” she reminded firmly.
“Yes, yes,” Calisto chirped immediately, but he almost sounded a little too blase, making Willa shake her head.
“Relax,” I drawled as I lifted a hand to poke at the forming crease between her brow. “We’ve done this a few times already. They know the drill. It’s basically etched in their head already.”
Willa’s lips parted, ready to argue with me. But I brought my head up and stole a kiss from her. “Besides, we’ll be right there with them. We’re going to look after them together, yeah?”
Willa pressed her lips together as though she was fighting off a smile.
“You two are gross,” Gillian suddenly piped up, snatching our attention.
I swiftly heaved myself up into sitting properly on the picnic blanket, then I wrapped my arms around my little girl, pulled her onto my lap and began to attack her with tickles.
“Oh really?” I challenged while Gillian burst into shrieks and fits of giggles.
“Y-yeah!” Gillian retorted unrepentantly before shrieking again. “Daddy, s-stop! It’s… it’s so ticklish.”
“Not until you concede and say Mommy and Daddy are the best.”
Another bout of giggling erupted from her as I continued to tickle her sides. She tried to wriggle herself free from me, but Calisto joined the fray and started tickling her too.
“T-traitor,” she wheezed out in between breathy laughter. “M-mommy, help!”
Willa puffed out an amused chuckle, and then there was a gentle hand running through my hair. “Alright. That’s enough. Gillian has learned her lesson, I believe.”
And like a well-trained dog, I ceased the playful punishment I had bestowed on our daughter. Calisto did the same with a wide grin on his face. Meanwhile, Gillian was swift to take the opportunity to flee from me and her brother, crawling towards Willa and taking claim of her mother’s lap.
“Please finish up with the snacks, so we could end this little picnic and start preparing for tonight.”
“But Mommy,” Calisto began to whine, but he ended up shutting his mouth again when Willa arched an eyebrow at him.
“Cal, I have been a pup just like you. I know how shifting can be quite taxing on one’s little body. So we’re not skipping the salve rub.”
“But it’s so sticky,” Gillian grumbled under her breath, picking up a broken pretzel piece from one of the charcuterie boards.
Calisto nodded in agreement, and his vehemence was apparent in the exaggerated motion, drawing out a snort from me.
“Take it or leave it, kids. Either you grit your teeth and let your mom slather you with the salve, or you don’t get a smudge of it on your limbs but we’re staying inside tonight.”
“No!” Gillian and Calisto exclaimed at the same time.
“We’ll have the salve, Mommy,” Calisto declared as if he hadn’t been entirely against it just seconds before.
“Why do we even need the salve?” Gillian muttered with a frown as she mindlessly broke an innocent pretzel.
“It’s because,” Willa began to explain, taking away the pretzel from Gillian with a disapproving shake of her head. “Your body is not yet used to the shifting process. So it leaves your body sore once you transform back into your human form.”
“And,” I chimed in as I poked Gillian’s cheek. “Your body is continuously growing, so that makes the change a bit… painful. But the more you shift, the more you help your body adjust to the process. The pain and the after-soreness will gradually lessen over time.”
“Ugh. How long do we have to use the salve?” Calisto whined, taking a big space on the picnic blanket by splaying himself like a star.
“Well, if you manage to tame and befriend your inner wolf and get attuned with it, your inner wolf will help in making the shifting a whole lot easier for you.”
Willa’s reply caused the twins’ eyes to sparkle with so much hope. But then Willa ended up dashing it out as she said, “But that’s not to say that it’ll magically make the pain and the after-soreness disappear completely. It just helps.”
“Ugh,” Calisto bemoaned.
I couldn’t help the chuckle that went past my lips.
But as amused as I was at their little problem, there was a tint of bittersweetness swirling in my gut.
After all, I didn’t get to experience much innocence in my childhood. To bemoan and go whinging about little things such as applying a soothing but sticky salve for shifting pups.
My childhood was just loaded with trauma and pain that up until now I was unable to fully shed. Still, I was glad I got to see and make sure that Calisto and Gillian did not experience the same.
Willa must’ve sensed the hint of melancholy in my chuckle, though, because she gazed at me with mild concern and a tinge of curiosity.
But I pretended as if I didn’t notice it, opting to grin at our kids and say, “It’s not that bad. Come on. Let’s all get you ready for tonight.”