Page 58 of Homecoming

He takes the dishtowel from the rack, wraps up the kitten and drops her to the floor.

“Stay there!” He sneers. The kitten doesn’tmove as she watches Darius transfer milk from the dish into a small saucer. “Now drink.”

This time, the kitten does as she’s told and laps enthusiastically from the smaller saucer placed in front of her.

“Much better.” Darius turns his attention back to the microwaveandtaking the warmed bottle from inside, he replaces the teat and shakes it up. Then, and though he’s not sure why, he splashes some of the milk onto the back of his hand. He remembers watching Digby do this all the time when Lukas was small. “Okay kiddo… I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing here, but we can give it a go. Feels okay to me, so here goes. I hope you’re going to like this because I have nothing else to offer.” The milk feels warm on the back of his hand and as he sniffs it, the scent of Kat overwhelms him. He tips more into his hand and licks it. “Mm… tastes just like your mommy.” He coughs in embarrassment. “C'mon, I’m sure together we can work this out.”

He scoops the pup into the crook of his arm and then sets off back to his office. As he does, the kitten follows behind.

“Hey, no. No, you’re supposed to be going outside. You need to go out and play with... with something.” He hesitates and again the kitten sits down and stares at him. “Oh, very well... come on then. I guess you can stay a whilelonger nowI’ve gotten used to your stink. Just stay across the room away from me and we’ll be good.” Grabbing the ginger kitten by the scruff of her neck, he drops her at arm’s length onto the wing-back chair in the corner of his office.

“Stay there and don’t you dare move,” he sneers with a growl. The kitten sits down and curls her head under her legs and closes her eyes. “Okay, we’ll just sit here. So how do you want this?”

With the pup on his lap, he holds the bottle angled downwards and lets her suck from the teat. He then leans against the back of the chair and strokes his finger gently across the top of her head. The softness of her silver-white fur feels nice. “You know, I can’t believe how much you look like your mommy. You really are going to be a beautiful wolf.” He smiles hesitantly. “You do I can’t be your daddy though? Evelyn, I'm not like other wolves and so it’s better for usallthat we don’t get attached to each other. Do you understand that? No, of course youfuckin’don’t, you’re much too small. Just trust me, I’m doing this for your benefit. This is the best thing I can do for you as a father.”

The wolf sucks hungrily on the milk until it’s all gone and Darius then places the empty bottle on the top of the desk and wipes the fur under her chin. “Was that good?” he smiles.

The pup crawls close against his chest. Hereyes look up and as Darius holds her tight, she licks at the back of his hand.

“Oh no. No baby, don’t do that. That’s not good.” He frowns, wiping the bleeding scratch of the kitten’s claws. “Come here,” he cradles her in the crook of his arm. Finally settled, she yawns then closing her eyes she readies for sleep.

Watching as she drifts into a milk coma, Darius swivels the chair and stares out from the window. “Okay, I guess we can have five minutes before we take you back to your mom.”

“Hey,Tyler,it’sreallynice to meet you. Let me introduce you to Amy, my fiancée and her… Oh my God…” Riley breaks from the conversation. “sorry… Uh, Amy, do you want to finish the introductions? My mom and pop just arrived, and I need to…”

“Sure baby, you go.” Amy turns and smiles, “Rosie… Tyler… let me introduce you to my mom and dad. Maybe we can get you a glass of the champagne Rhys kindly donated for the party?”

Tyler smiles as he acknowledges Rhys and Klaus. Their designer suits and expensive sunglasses make them a hot topic of conversation for the rest of the party guests. “Boss… How are things going?”

Rhys grins with a frown. “So you and Rosie, you’re a full-on thing now?”

“Uh… yeah. Yeah, I guess so. This our first public outing today, so I guess that means I don’t have to keep sneaking around up here now,” he smiles, kissing Rosie gently on the cheek.

“Oh… but it was so much funhavin’you creep around to see me.” She giggles a laugh, looking at him adoringly. “He’s so handsome, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, can’t say he’s really my type,” Rhys sighs as he finishes his fourth glass of champagne. “Though I gotta say Riley’s mom is one hotfitty, for a shifter-girl. Damn shame she’s married, or I might’ve been interested myself. Still no harm in me saying hello is there.”

Tyler and Rosie turn aroundandstaring across the lawn, they watch as Riley meets with the blonde-haired woman and a tall man in glasses next to her.

“Matthew, will you please stop fidgeting?” Alana sighs as she adjusts his collar.

“This new shirt is itching me. I don’t know why I couldn’t have worn my old blue one.”

“You can’t because this is Riley’s special day andanyway, itwas about time you replaced that old shirt. Now smile because people are watching us.”

Matthew sighs as he looks around. “Oh man, why do I feel like I’m prime beef on display? You know, if you’d told me a few years back we’d be standing at a party surrounded by wolves, I’d have prescribed you some strong medication. But now here we are, doing exactly that. Crazy, right?” He, too, can see they have suddenly become thefocusof everyone’s attention. “Oh good, they have a well-stocked bar—maybe I can just drink my way through this ordeal and blot it out.”

“They’re wolves… of course there would be a bar. You think they’d be able to go all day without drinking? Add in at least one fight and some huge but trivial drama—it’s just what wolves do.” Alana laughs as she leans forward and kisses her husband. “Baby, just relax and remember why we’re here—for Riley.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s just a shame he couldn’t get a more 'normal' girlfriend and not some freaky wolf type.”

“Matthew Jacobs!Wow… You know, I can not believe you just said that. Afterallthe name calling Riley’s suffered in his life and here you are, judging other people?”

“Relax… I’m justjokinwith you. I'm winding you up.” He grabs her around the waist and tickles her. “And it looks like it worked. Alana, I don't think I have ever seen you so on edge before. Honey, it’s going to be fine—I’ll behave myself, I promise.”

“I know, I’m sorry. But please don’t crack too many jokes around here. You know what wolves are like and I still want to be alive at this end of this,” she laughs.

“So, ishehere?” Matthew surveys the lawn, his mind singling out each of the male alpha wolves one by one. “You know, Mr. ‘Tall-dark-moody-broody’, is he here?”

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