Page 26 of Kidnapping Their Third

Or maybe he didn’t know what was normal for humans. He’d grown up in a bear family that associated with mostly other bear and shifter families. His type didn’t know how to be reserved.Affection was freely given and received, there was no holding back.

Cora’s family could be typical for humans, which made him feel bad for humans. Who wanted to live without hugs and words of love?

Pike was startled when his phone rang and didn’t bother reading the screen before answering.

“Hello?”

“David, honey,” his mother, Tina, said with a relieved little laugh. “It’s good to hear your voice finally. It’s been three days since the last time we talked!”

“Did you get a hold of him?” Pike’s father asked in the background, his voice getting more frantic as he spoke. “Is he okay? Does he need us? Is it Kimble? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know yet, Mark,” his mother said back. “All he said so far was hello.”

“Tina, give me the phone,” Mark demanded. “I want to talk to him.”

“Mom, you should put me on speaker,” Pike said. They always argued over the phone and rarely remembered that there was a speaker function.

“Oh, yes, I’ll do that,” Tina said, and then he got to listen to them argue about what to push. He laughed and muted the TV while they figured it out.

“Honey, can you hear me?” Tina practically yelled into the phone.

“Not so loud, Mom,” Pike said with a slight wince. “You guys aren’t that old, why do you have so much trouble with phones?”

“It’s against nature,” Mark grumbled. “I’m a man of words, not electrons.”

Unwilling to get into a philosophical debate with his dad about modern technologies' effect on creativity, Pike was quick to change the subject.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call back sooner; things got a little busy.”

“I know you wouldn’t make us worry on purpose,” Mark said. “But three days is a long time.”

“It’s been a hectic three days,” Pike said. “I found my mate.”

There was absolute silence on the other end of the line before his mother spoke, her voice gentle. “We know, sweetheart. We’ve met Kimble many times.”

Pike chuckled. “I meant another mate, Mom. Her name is Cora, and she’s human.”

“Does Kimble want her too?” Mark asked.

“He’s desperate for her to join the flock,” Pike assured them. “I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s tiny but so very strong.”

“Put her on the phone,” Tina demanded.

“She’s at work,” Pike explained. “But I was thinking of bringing her over for dinner. Not this weekend because I’m going to a party to meet her family. Maybe next weekend?”

“Of course we can wait until next weekend,” Tina said. “It’ll give us time to make everything perfect.” She made a sound of concern. “You’re going to meet her family? Are they all human? Are you going to take Kimble?”

“They’re all human and don’t know about us,” Pike began, but before he could answer any more questions, his father started talking.

“I teach mostly humans at the college; do you want us to come to help? I can bring my collection of winter poetry and do a reading,” Mark said at the same time Tina gave instructions.

“You should bring them something humans enjoy, like Jell-O. It comes in all kinds of colors. Oh, and pudding. They like pudding too.”

“That’s a good idea!” Mark said. “We could both go and meet everyone too.”

The thought of his gentle parents mixing with Cora’s aggravating brothers made Pike wince. Better to wait until he’d met them and could get a feel for how to best introduce everyone.

“I love you guys so much,” Pike murmured.

---