Toby opened his eyes and lifted his head once more. “You do?”
“Yes. How did you find us? Who tried to hurt you? Those are the main two, but I have many more.”
Toby planned on adding a few questions of his own, but a loud roar interrupted him. His heart, which had begun to steady, raced again.
Brooks leaned in and touched their foreheads together. “It’s okay. That was Nick ringing the nap bell.”
The words were strange enough to pull Toby back from the edge of panic. “The what?”
Brooks lifted his head and smiled. “You feeling up for a short walk?”
“Um… yes?” His curiosity definitely had the better of him.
Brooks threw back the covers and rolled off the bed. He came around and tugged Toby up as well. “This is something you have to see to believe.”
They walked outside, and Toby stumbled to a halt.
A big fricking lion walked nonchalantly down the center of the road to one of the bigger buildings. Sam stood at the door, holding it open, as a mixture of dozens of kids and animals skipped alongside the lion toward the building.
“Come on,” Brooks said softly.
He took Toby’s hand and led him toward the open door. Inside, he followed the line of kids to a large room where piles of pillows and blankets were scattered on the floor.
The giant lion was now plopped down right in the center, with kids and animals piling on around him. The lion let out a huff and closed its eyes.
“What’s happening?”
“Pack bonding,” Brooks explained quietly.
The brownie from earlier popped back into existence, startling the hell out of Toby. “The children are all present and accounted for,” she said.
The lion opened one eye. Even Toby could read the question in the glare the brownie received.
“Gus and Jett are with their fathers today, and Walt and Shelly have Ryan out grocery shopping with them.”
The lion huffed once more and closed his eyes again. Seconds later, he let out a snore.
“What am I seeing?”
Sam closed the door to the room. Toby stared through the glass panel as the kids began to settle. The youngest seemed to gravitate toward the sleeping lion, leaning against him and closing their eyes. Some of the older kids sat against the wall with tablets or books in their hands.
“Love,” Sam replied. “What you’re seeing is absolute, unconditional love.”
Toby chewed his lip as he looked around the cluster of children and animals. He couldn’t quite process it all. But one thought leaped to the front of the others. Toby paused and looked up at Brooks. “Where are the girls?”
Brooks grinned. “Right there. See the little gray furballs curled up against Nick’s left leg?”
“They’re wolves too?”
“Yep.”
“They’re so little.”
“They’re only pups,” Brooks explained.
“I have so many questions.”
Sam laughed. “I had a million as well. We’ll answer as many as we can. Won’t we, Brooks?”
Brooks nodded, even though he looked uncomfortable.
Sam grinned and grabbed the back of Brooks’s neck gently. It wasn’t the first time Toby had witnessed them doing the neck thing. He added it to the list of questions. He really wished he had his journal so he could start writing them down.
“Our Brooks isn’t exactly expansive with his words,” Sam explained.
“I talk,” Brooks complained. “It’s just that you Jerricks have a way of sucking all the oxygen out of the room.”
Sam laughed and glanced at Toby again. “He’s not wrong. I have six kids. They’re all grown now, but man, it’s still hard to get a word in edgewise at my house.”
“And what he’s not telling you is that his dad also lives with them. And my alpha’s parents and grandma live with our pack too.”
Sam shrugged. “What can I say? My family loves me.”
Brooks grinned. “It’s true. But they also love Nana’s cooking.”
Sam elbowed Brooks in the side. “Hey now.”
“What? Am I wrong?”
Sam huffed. “You’re not wrong.”
Toby had always wondered what it would be like to have such a large family. It seemed so foreign to him. He’d been an only child of only children.
As if that wasn’t enough, Toby’s parents had allowed him to skip a few years of school. He’d graduated high school at fifteen, and college by nineteen. Being so far removed from his peers had made it difficult to make friends.
“Why am I here?” Toby couldn’t help but ask the question. He didn’t fit. His differences couldn’t be more obvious.
Sam and Brooks shared a look that spoke volumes, but only to someone who spoke their language.