Page 28 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

Chapter Fifteen

Ipaced around the house for most of the night. The kids remained asleep, and both Nico, Judge and Walker left to go to work. X lay on my couch, watching me pace, deciding not to go into work today. Who was going to call him out on it? Brody and Tex also stayed home, and I was pretty sure they both wanted to be close by just in case another shifter was needed. They could take the kids out in the daylight to play. Kids needed daylight to grow. They didn’t belong in a town filled with night dwellers.

On the other hand, they would grow up loved and so damn protected here it would be like getting past Fort Knox with a Dragon and a troll bridge. Impossible. They could visit Nîso with Brody and Tex and meet other kids.

I’d have to pass it by the Town Council, and I was worried they’d say no. I mean, could they say no to Nico if he said this was what he wanted? I didn’t think so. They were more likely to say no to Lucius remaining in the town's limits. Ugh. Problem part B.

Finally as the sun was just lightening the horizon, Christopher poked his head out the door. Judging it safe, he stepped out and his sisters followed behind him. They were all dressed in fresh clothes, and looked more like normal kids and less like orphans picked up from an underground skin market.

“Hey guys. Did you sleep okay?” I asked, and Christopher nodded.

“Yes. Thank you.” He was painfully polite.

I pointed to the couch. “We just want to have a quick chat with you guys and then we’ll take you to the diner for breakfast okay?”

Honestly, I was excited. I’d been testing myself in the early morning sun. If I went out in a big hat with huge polarized sunglasses, I could stay out for a short amount of time. It was a tiny thing but it felt like something monumental. Like a baby vampire taking its first steps.

I could be out long enough to take the kids to breakfast anyway.

They obediently sat on the couch, all huddled together. “So, we wanted to know how you guys are feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Enit looked up at me with blue eyes like her brothers, except hers seemed too big for her face. “I like my new dress.” Carmen put her hand on her sisters, but didn’t say anything. Enit just smiled at her and then back at me. “We’ve never had dresses.”

Ugh. Not gonna cry. Nope. Damn onion chopping ninjas sneaking into my house. “I’ll buy you some more. Do you have favorite colors?”

They looked at me like I was crazy. Carmen cocked her head.

Enit frowned, looking a little panicked when she couldn’t think of a favorite color.

“It’s okay. You can think about it. There's no rush.”

Christopher didn’t answer, but he did say, “Carmen likes black.”

Okay, tough crowd.

“Look, I’m going to level with you guys. We don’t know what to do with you. We want to give you a choice though. We are trying to track down some relatives of yours, so you can return to your family.”

“No!” Christopher snapped, then flinched like I would hit him. When no blow came, he straightened his shoulders. “No, thank you. No family.”

I lifted up my hands in the most non-threatening gesture I could muster as an apex predator. It didn’t hurt that I would forever look like a nineteen year old college student. We weren’t scary most of the time.

“Okay, I’ll tell Walker to stop looking. Are you sure you don’t have any family outside your old Pack? Cousins or something?” Christopher vigorously shook his head. Okay. I wasn’t going to make him return to them if he didn’t want to. They sounded like assholes.

“Option number two is that you return to Nîso with Brody and live with his Pack. They are Shapeshifters, not two-natured, so you shouldn’t have any problems. I’m the Alpha Mate, so I swear it on my life. You’d be safe there.” With this, Christopher wavered, and Carmen whispered something furiously in his ear. Still, he shook his head. “No packs. No family.”

Ah, that wasn’t the same out and out no. We’d work on that one. I looked at Brody and he nodded. We were on the same page. The kids needed other Shifters, so maybe we’d introduce them to Nîso slowly.

“Fair enough. Option number three is you live here with us. Me and Brody and Tex, but also X, Walker, Nico, Judge and sometimes Lucius. This town is filled with vampires, which is probably a little scary, but they aren’t like regular vampires either. Tex and Brody are the only shifters here. There aren’t any other kids or anything like that.” Shit, there were no schools. No nothing. How were we going to raise three kids in a town that had no infrastructure for children.

Christopher looked at his sisters, and Enit leaned forward and whispered in his ear. He nodded, and Carmen nodded.

“We want to live here with you. No family. No packs.”

I frowned, and looked at Brody. “That’s not technically true. Raine’s mates, we are all kind of a Pack. You would be joining us, and we are a family. But we aren’t the kind that would ever hurt you,” he said.

Christopher shrugged. “Enit likes you. That’s good enough for me.”

Well, okay then. I guess we had now adopted three kids. Just another Wednesday in the life of Raine Baxter.

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