this? Does it work for you too?” I ask, wanting to double-check that my elation hasn’t caused me to miss anything or overlook any of their feelings.
“I couldn’t dream up anything better,” Toreon announces, while Ire and Vudu both nod and grunt their agreement.
“Okay then, it’s official. We have a home,” I declare, a little squealy with excitement as I toss my arms around them. I can’t reach around all three of them, but their hands come down to my body to hold me, so I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss each of them, immediately thinking about how much fun we’re going to have christening the rooms of this house. But that will have to wait, because whatever Mrs. Bell has been cooking smells like heaven.
We clomp down the stairs and find everyone else already sitting at the long table. Well, everyone except Delta and Tazreel, that is. Mrs. Bell ushers us over to the table, and she starts setting down dishes that are overflowing with all kinds of food, and we start digging in.
Before I’ve even taken my third bite, I hear Delta scream outside.
There’s a half second of pause that happens with everyone at the table, and then, chaos.
Chairs scrape, people bolt up, Delta’s mates just up and disappear as they shift outside to get to her fastest. My heart pounds in my chest as I scramble with Medley and her parents to run out of the house and out the back door, my hand already opening as I call to my scythe while my sister does the same, just as another one of Delta’s screams peals through the air.
But my racing steps grind to a halt at the sight before me in the open back yard.
Because there’s Delta up in the air, straddling her scythe like it’s a broomstick, and she’s struggling to fly around in a low-to-the-ground circle while a damn alligator chases her.
“What the fuck?” Jerif exclaims.
Taz is off to the side, soaking wet, a wet hose still in his hand. He frowns and tries to shake the hose to get water on the alligator every time they loop back around toward him, as if it’s a naughty kitten and Taz is just gonna spray him away from the couch cushions.
“Fucking help me! I’m being attacked!” Delta yells at everyone, just as the alligator comes up in a very impressive leap that I didn’t even know this animal was capable of, its teeth snapping and nearly snagging her feet.
“AH!” Delta screams again, her wings going all shifty as she tilts to the side, her hands desperately holding onto the scythe as she tries to steer with it.
Beside me, Medley pinches the bridge of her nose and then shoots her father a glare. “Daddy! Please tell me you did not make those imps shift in Todd?” she demands.
Mr. Bell fidgets on his feet. “He wanted to come, honey girl.”
“Oh my good Lord,” she exclaims before she goes stomping over there. Flint is cracking up so hard that he has his hands braced on his knees while he struggles to breathe between laughs.
“Todd! You stop chasin’ my sister right this second, you overgrown gecko!” Medley calls, and to my great surprise, the alligator actually stops and turns to her.
“What is happening?” I ask in disbelief.
Alder grins over at me, looking as cool as a cucumber, not at all worried that his mate is marching over to the massive reptile. “Todd is the Bells’s pet gator.”
I blink in surprise, my gaze swinging back over to Medley, but instead of her getting things under control, now it’s she who’s squealing, because Todd jumps up and snaps his huge jaw right onto her scythe and darts away before Medley can snatch it back.
“Todd, you scaled little shit! Get back here right now!” Medley calls, trying to race after him, but I’ll say this for him, he is quick.
“Medley Bell, you know I don’t like that swearin’ in front of guests!” Mrs. Bell calls, and now it’s my mates who start to lose it.
“Mama!” Medley calls back, exasperated. “I’m a grown ass woman!”
With Medley now distracting Todd, Delta makes a break for it and flies as fast as her shaky wings can take her until she lands between Crux and Echo, while Jerif and Rafferty move to go in front of her. “Why didn’t you just Annulus-dome yourself?” Jerif asks teasingly.
Delta glares and points the tip of her scythe at him. “Don’t make fun of me. Alligators freak me