Page 5 of Outnumbered

“What about me?” a smooth male voice asked beside us.

Leona looked over her shoulder as I turned to see who it was.

Silverowl, one of Leona’s mates, Prince of the Elves, and Fox’s brother, smiled at us. “I apologize for interrupting your day, but my lovely mate mysteriously vanished from our house and I was worried she might have been dragged into mischief by a certain princess.” His eyes darted to Jolie and his smile widened.

“I think today really is pick on Jolie day,” she muttered.

“What about you?” Leona asked Silverowl.

He walked around to her right side, kissed her cheek, and said, “I can teach Ember to shift.”

“You want to teach her?” Leona asked, blinking rapidly.

“I feel like I haven’t been holding up my end of this relationship. I am Caleb’s uncle and I should assist with training his pack just like the others have been.”

All of Leona’s other mates had been helping train us in some aspect, so his statement did make sense, but we all knew he was the busiest of them.

Setting my drink down, I smiled at him. “I appreciate your offer, but I wouldn’t want to take up a lot of your time. You are running like four businesses and have duties as prince, too.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Leona said. “He needs a break from some of the businesses and he’s better at teaching than Fox.”

“That settles it then. I’ll meet you tomorrow morning after your fighting training is completed,” he said with a nod.

“Okay.” Now that we were doing it, I felt nervous. What if I couldn’t shift?

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“EmberRew,” Leona answered for me. “Isn’t it adorable?”

“EmberRew, how interesting,” he said and tapped his chin in thought. “Most times we don’t pick a name so specific as to the color of the animal.”

Picking my mimosa back up, I let my mind wander to thoughts of next week, when we’d not be training. Would we just hang out? Go somewhere ourselves? I really wanted to travel. To see more of the world.

“Ember,” Silverowl said, drawing my attention back to him. “I have homework for you.”

I blinked. “Silverowl, I’m twenty-eight. What do you mean homework?”

He smiled. “It’s simple, promise. Before tomorrow, I want you to make a list of ten reasons why being a rabbit shifter is actually an advantage.”

“Really?” I asked. “How is that going to help?”

“Just trust me, please,” he said.

“Fine,” I exhaled.

“Alright, I’ll leave you three to your day.” He set Leona’s phone on the table beside her, kissed her cheek, and left.

“Now that he’s gone, let’s talk about next week,” Leona said.

“Next week?” I asked.

“While Jolie and her men are gone, how would you feel about coming to my house for a sleepover? You and your entire pack.”

My mouth dropped and I gasped. “Really?”

She nodded. “I think it’ll be good for you to see how a group like mine interacts, plus it’ll give me more time to truly assess your siren abilities and see if you need training in other areas I don’t notice when we only have a few hours a day together.”

“Sounds great,” I said with a smile.

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