Reed (Nano Wolves #4) - Donna McDonald Page 0,15
charge tickets and make money.”
“You’re joking about the zoo, but I’m still debating where to put the monkeys. They’re great at Intel, but they’re incredibly messy and like to party a little too much. Reed’s got his plate full with accepting the bears. I’m thinking hybrid monkey shifters would send him over the edge.”
Katarina stopped eating to stare. “You shock me again. Who made monkey shifters?”
Brandi stopped eating too. “I can’t tell you that because it’s super classified, but I can tell you what the cats told me when I asked them the same question.”
“Because cat men are smart like Stewart?”
“No,” Brandi said with a grin. “My son is smart. The cats are smart-asses. Totally different skillset.”
When Katarina laughed at her joke, Brandi’s grin widened. “The cats told me that turning humans into monkeys was reverse engineering and easily done. After that, I stopped asking questions about the new shifters I met.”
“Reverse engineering,” Katarina repeated, chuckling as she shook her head. “Makes good plot for horror movie.”
Brandi nodded as they both put their entire focus on their food.
“I need a favor,” Brandi said, nodding to the smiling Terra before focusing on her son who was sitting very close to Jon’s charming daughter. She’d never seen her shy son sit that close to any female except her and Aggie.
“Sure,” Stewart said, sliding off the picnic table to stand.
When the boy ended up eye-to-eye with her, Brandi sighed and dropped her gaze to the ground. “Whose clothes are you wearing?” She didn’t know whether to be proud of him for accepting help outside of his family or be appalled that he hadn’t felt he could tell her he was growing again.
Stewart shrugged. “The shirt’s mine, but the pants belong to Terra’s brother, who’s eighteen. I outgrew my clothes again. Nothing I brought with me fits now. I knew Dad’s clothes would still be too big.”
Brandi nodded, dropped her head, and sighed again herself. It made her wonder what was happening to the other two. Ryan’s parents might say nothing because they adored the kids, but surely Ryan and Heidi would call her.
To ease the moment, Brandi shoved her son’s shoulder and laughed at his shocked expression. “I knew I should have bought the next two sizes up when we went shopping. You’re growing so fast I can’t keep up. At least slow down until we get home.”
Stewart chuckled at his mother’s teasing. It relieved his mind to know she wasn’t mad about his recent changes. “Everything important is covered now. No one’s seeing my… ankles.”
Brandi’s eyebrow lifted at his snarky joke. “And it better stay that way, Stewart Longfeather. Nobody better be seeing your ankles but me and your father.”
Both of them turned to look at her when Terra laughed loudly.
“Sorry. Sorry,” she said, covering her mouth. “It’s just really nice to hear how normal you both sound.”
“Normal? Us?” Brandi and Stewart said at the same time.
Then they looked at each other and laughed. Their family was the most abnormal one in the world. None of them minded, but others typically freaked out. But then, most teenagers didn’t regularly watch their father turn into a giant bear.
“Terra has a unique outlook,” Stewart said to his mother.
“Which she likely got from her extremely unique parents,” Brandi replied, patting her now snickering son’s shoulder.
“What’s the favor?” Terra asked, sliding off the table and dusting off her shorts with one hand.
Brandi watched Stewart paying very close attention to Terra’s brushing hand. Her mouth twisted as she remembered Katarina’s comment about Stewart needing ‘the talk’ soon. Swearing wouldn’t change anything, so she didn’t bother. Gareth could handle this parenting hurdle, at least with the boys.
She smiled at both of them. “Katarina went off alone somewhere. We’re trying to nail down final plans for relocating, but Reed’s head is not where it needs to be. The man’s distracted because he keeps watching for Katarina to return. Can you find her and ask her to come join us? I’d go look for her myself, but I need to be in the meeting to keep Reed on track. We’re only on a quick break.”
“Sure,” Stewart said. “I’ll go find her.”
“What am I? Invisible? We’ll find her,” Terra corrected with a smile as she punched Stewart’s arm.
How sad was it that he was getting used to being punched by females? In Terra’s case, he even sort of liked it. Hopefully, they weren’t leaving bruises.
Stewart nodded even though he’d mapped out the entire camp in his head yesterday. With minimal effort,