Page 8 of All Foxed Up

“That way Nat can’t start taking over and brushing us away,” Joe said. “And here she comes now.”

Nat was walking around the side of the car, hand in hand with Lars, her cheeks all flushed and her mouth swollen, but she looked so damn pleased about it. The dads launched into action, grabbing every damn thing out of the rear of the car, almost the spare tyre, until they realised what they were doing and when she saw what had happened, they sprinted off towards the picnic grounds.

“But I…” she said.

“You’ve had your hands full with preparing all this food. Least the old pricks can do is to carry shit for you, love,” Lars said, placing a kiss on her temple, but when we heard a loud shriek, we all spun around.

“Oh god…” Nat was pulling away, going into Mum-enator mode in 2.5 seconds, ready to tear apart anything that might mess with her babies, only to see that Thorn was romping around, pretending to be a bear, with the two boys clinging to his back.

“Oh god, indeed,” Lars grumbled. “He’s a bloody idiot.”

“He’s my mate,” Nat corrected, then placed a kiss on his cheek. “Just like you are.

“Oh my god…” I sighed dramatically. “Gag. Are all shifters as moony and obsessive as bear shifters?” I rolled my eyes. “Please, please tell me wolf shifters aren’t as soppy as you lot.”

“Holly has a thing for Taylor Lautner,” Nat explained. Lars just frowned. “Twilight?”

“Actually I’d have been very happy with all the hot guys from the Uley pack to be honest. You don’t happen to know any hot wolf shifter packs looking for a girl?” I asked, fluttering my eyelids.

The idea was ridiculous obviously, but Lars just got grumpy face again.

“Wolf shifters can be pricks,” he told me, like I was seriously intending to run off with the next furface I met. “But other shifters…” He shook his head slowly. “There are a lot of them that you don’t want to get anywhere near.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me. I like flying solo. I maintain full control of the remote, never have to tug the blankets back so I’ve got some, or listen to anyone else’s snores.” I smiled. “And I can drop everything and come and help my bestie, be free babysitting, which reminds me…”

When I turned around I saw the machine that was Nat’s support network had gotten to work, organising everything we’d brought to the park. The kids kept veering off towards the beach until Alaric picked them both up and sat them down at the table, him on one side, Koda on the other. I felt a pang of guilt then, because that was supposed to be my job. Look after the kids so their parents could actually enjoy themselves today.

“I better go.”

“Hang on, Hols.”

Lars let Nat go with a squeeze, just leaving the two of us next to the car and when I saw her tremulous expression, I moved closer.

“What’s up? You have a funny expression on your face. Do you have gas? Are you pregnant.” My eyes went wide and my hands moved to hover over her stomach. “Oh my god, you are, aren’t you?”

“I’m not bloody pregnant,” she said, slapping them away. “I got you something.” She pulled a small present out of her pocket and I just stared as she handed it to me. “I didn’t want to do this in front of everyone else, because you always get embarrassed when people make you the centre of attention and then you start cracking dick jokes or some other crap that would have the grandparents gasping. It’s not a monster dildo, but…”

She twisted her hand, making clear I was to take it so I did. I stared at the neat packaging, the pretty silver bow.

“Hey, good things come in small packages,” I said with a wobbly smile. “Except dicks. Dicks should come in monster packages. Like if they’re not as long as your arm—”

“Just fucking open it.”

That’s all it took. I tore the paper and bow off with all the gusto the kids had displayed, revealing a very pretty velvet box. I popped it open and that’s when I saw what my bestie had bought me.

“Holy crap, it’s beautiful.”

It was a fox head pendant, made from silver and enamel. The solemn face of the fox was coloured in broad stripes or red, brown and orange and its eyes were carved from precious stones.

“Moldavite?” I asked.

“I knew you’d pick it,” she said with a grin. “The lady in the shop said it’s the crystal that represents self-discovery and finding one’s path, which made me think of you.”

Shit like this set my heart alight and made me so bloody uncomfortable at the same time. Nanna Madden, she showed her love by barking instructions, belting you with the wooden spoon if you didn’t move fast enough and then a few grudging words of praise afterwards maybe, if you were lucky. I didn’t know how to do this shit, soppy shit.

“But I only got you a knife.”

“You gave me a lot more than that.” She moved in and gave me a hug and that seemed to settle me. “You knew I’d be melting down at Christmas time and you drove from one end of the state to the other to be here to help. You brought me one of your Nan’s fruitcakes.”

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