Page 3 of Mating at Midnight: Book 1

Daddy grunts before saying, “Nyah, you really need to go and see how that fawn is doing out there by itself. With no protection it will probably die without its mother. Kenia talks about us being the superior beings, but we’re about to lose future meat because your mind was more on the victory than what I taught you in past training.”

“But, daddy,” I start but daddy stops me.

“No, buts Nyah. You were so eager for the hunt; you ignored the fawn. You were so eager to impress your big sister, you went against hundreds of years of tradition. There is no competition in this family, and we don’t go against the laws of nature. That doe should have never been harmed,” daddy reprimands.

“I’m sorry, daddy,” I whisper, lowering my head.

Daddy reaches over and grasps my hand. “It’s okay, Nyah. Sometimes we have to be reminded of the rules, okay?”

“Okay,” I reply, lifting my head with glassy eyes.

“Good, because tonight you will go out and find that fawn. Hopefully, it’s still alive. Bring it back here unharmed so I can take it to the wildlife preservation park,” daddy instructed.

“Yes, sir,” I replied.

We began to eat, changing the subject. Daddy asked Kenia how things were going with the outreach program, and she lit up like a Christmas tree, forgetting about how he scolded her in front of us when she first told him she was leaving.

She put on a strong stance as she said how amazing the program was doing, helping young shifters, and how much she was looking forward to traveling to Arizona to assist those there.

“Arizona, huh?” Daddy huffs, slicing into his meat, then forking it. He puts the cut of meat into his mouth and starts to chew.

“Daddy, I told you what was to come before I took the job. You were all right about it then, so why has your attitude changed now?” Kenia debates.

Daddy takes in the last piece of meat on his fork, before dropping it on the plate. “The thing you don’t understand is I’ve never changed. I love my children with all my life force. Nothing will ever stop me from worrying about my offspring.” Tears filled my eyes as they fell on Kenia.

Daddy continued, saying, “My wild child. I was so enthralled from the day you were born; I always wanted you to be free to see and learn everything our species never had the opportunity to do so. Don’t take my negative attitude for not wanting you to go because I do. My opposition comes from not having both of my children close to me.”

“And I understand that, daddy, but I promise after this last assignment, I will be heading back this way. I miss being at home, but I know what I’m doing for our kind will help those in the future.” Kenia relays, giving daddy a pleading look.

Daddy tapped her hand on the table before saying, “And that’s all I really wanted. Since it has become legal for Shifters to have the same rights as humans, there are still those that don’t think we should have it. I worry about you being far away from home.”

“I know you do, daddy, and I love you for that. I’ll be home soon and when I return, I want to build a clinic on our land for members of the Pack to be seen,” Kenia explains. “I know mostgo to the clinics in town, but we know those doctors don’t know how to treat our kind.”

Daddy beams. “I think that’s a good idea, Kenia. Our Pack would really benefit from that.”

The rest of dinner was spent eating our delicious meal and us talking about where Kenia should have her clinic built. We were all excited for her to take this new venture. Daddy was proud of the both of us; Kenia coming home and me, starting my new position at work. I just pray things go well tomorrow.

After dinner, Kenia was ready to go with me to find the fawn, but I told her to stay and clean up. She was worried about me going back into the forest in the dark by myself, but shit just like her, I knew every inch of our land like the back of my hand. When daddy didn’t object to me going alone, Kenia let it go. Daddy must have known, I wanted to do that on my own. It was my fault, the fawn was out there on its own, and it was my sole responsibility to rescue it.

When daddy and Kenia took the dirty dishes into the house, I stripped out of my clothes and shifted into my wolf.

It didn’t take me long to find the fawn. I went back to the area where I took its mother down and found the fawn hiding under some brush, shaking as it waited for its mother to return.

My heart breaks, knowing the fawn will never see its mother again. Inching up to the fawn, I try to keep my movements from seeming like I’m in attack mode. When the fawn notices me, it backs up into a tree. I need the fawn to trust me, so when I get closer, I rub my head against it. It takes a few moments before I have the fawn copying my actions. With the fawn’s certainty that I wasn’t going to harm it, I began to lead it towards home.

As the fawn frolics around me when we’re yards away from the house, my feet turn into cement blocks. The same feeling I had earlier when hunting, smothers me. My first instinct is to protect the fawn. Gently biting into the back of its neck, I lift thefawn off the ground. Looking around, I see the same yellow eyes glaring at me through a thicket of brush. What the fuck does this wolf want?

If the wolf wanted the fawn, then it was going to have to claw its way through me to get it. I take off in a sprint to get home. Looking behind me, I see the yellow eyes following me. As the lights of the house come into view, I let out a high-pitched whistle to alert daddy and Kenia. After doing that, the wolf cuts to the left as my family storms out of the house. Daddy, in his wolf form bellows into the air before tearing off where the black wolf was at.

Kenia comes to the side of the fawn to help me escort it into the barn. Once the fawn is inside of the stall, we shift back into our human forms. Kenia already had clothes there for us.

After putting on the clothes, I squat down to give what I now can see is a young male, some love scratching behind his ears and his belly.

Glaring at Kenia, I say, “I let out the call because the same wolf that was on the land earlier had returned. I don’t know if it had its sights on the fawn or the both of us, but my focus was on keeping the fawn safe.”

“And you did the right thing,” Kenia agrees. “This wolf doesn’t know the lines it has crossed. Twice,” she holds up her pointer and middle finger. “Twice, this wolf has been disrespectful and daddy being the Alpha of our Pack, he has every right to teach this asshole how we do things around here.”

Chapter 3

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