Backstage at the Freak Show (Harem of Freaks #7) - Crystal Ash Page 0,49

trying their best to hold in their giggles as they dangled off of him.

“Hm, wonder why that would be.” I mused, stealing popcorn kernels from my daughter, who growled at me.

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Arjun sighed. “Well, I’m off to shower—”

“We’re right here!” Bella cackled, unable to contain it anymore.

“What?!” Arjun feigned shock as he made a big show of looking down at her, then at Riley clinging to his other leg. “Are you the reason why my legs are so heavy?”

“And Joey’s on your back,” Bella informed him.

Arjun whipped around, making Joey laugh and scream like he was on the rollercoaster of his life, until Arjun slowly slid him down.

“Can we ride on Arjun too?” Rinna started climbing over the back of the couch.

“Not tonight, honey.” I pulled her back down. “Let’s watch the movie.”

“Tomorrow, my little wolfling.” Arjun bent over the back of the couch and kissed her forehead. “I’ll need your help with my deadlifts.”

“Okay!” She plopped back down happily, narrowly missing the bowl of popcorn.

“Can we be wolflings too?” I heard Joey ask behind us.

“You’re my tiger cubs!” Arjun answered without missing a beat. “You’re big and fierce like tigers, grrr!”

He chased them around the room, encouraging them to growl and snarl like him until they collapsed on the far end of the couch.

“You guys want popcorn?” I passed the bowl down to them.

“They’re exhausted,” Raz chuckled. “Probably need something to drink. Arj knows how to tire them out.”

“Already got it.” Connor walked in, somehow carrying Mason, Mason’s food, a beer, and three child-sized plastic cups which he set on the coffee table in front of the TV. “Have some juice, kiddos. And help yourselves to popcorn.”

Bella, the bravest of them, slid off the couch first and grabbed a cup to drink from, followed by Joey, who helped Riley, the youngest. Arjun took off to shower, so us three guys all exchanged a satisfied look. We knew Mel’s youngest siblings wouldn’t be affected by their old home life as much as Mel and Jeanie. There may even come a time where they barely remembered it. But it still felt incredible to see them coming out of their shell, hanging out with us and trusting us a little more, bit by bit.

They trusted Connor the most, since he was the one who took them away from the shelter, once Jeanie escaped with them from the trailer park. After Connor, they gravitated most toward Arjun, and seemed most wary of me and Raz.

“Thank you for sharing your popcorn,” Bella mumbled shyly.

“You’re welcome,” I beamed. “I’ll make another bowl if you want.”

Roo leaned across Raz’s far side. “Do you want to watch a movie with us?”

“Yeah!” Riley was already crawling across my and Raz’s laps to sit next to him.

I swelled with pride and Raz acknowledged he felt it too with a light brush of his hand on my leg. My pups never had any other kids to play with until the littles came to live with us. I was so proud my kids were doing their best to include them in our family. Our pack.

The kids finally settled on Zootopia while I got up to make a second batch of popcorn. Just as the movie was winding down and most of them were nodding off, four cell phones went off at the same time.

“That’s probably Mel,” I whispered, not wanting to wake Bella asleep on my right side, nor Joey on my left.

“Mm-hm,” Conner confirmed, his face lit up with his screen while he cradled Mason on his shoulder. “Look at our girl.”

He turned his phone to show Raz and I. Mel had sent a selfie of her, Jeanie, and Miriam—all beaming beautiful smiles and their heads tilted toward each other.

“Did she say anything?” Raz asked. The two of us were pinned beneath sleeping children and couldn’t reach our phones.

“She’s on her way home.” Connor’s thumb swept over the screen as he wrote out a reply to her. “Say cheese, guys.”

He angled his phone up high to take a picture of us. It was easy for me to smile. I knew Raz wore a similar one as he propped his chin on my shoulder. Connor snapped it and sent it to her, then all of our phones dinged with an immediate reply.

“She says, ‘oh-em-gee, my babies are the cutest. See you soon, heart-eyes-emoji’.”

“You’re such a fuckin’ dad,” Raz snorted.

I couldn’t bring myself to scold him for swearing in front of the kids. It had been a simple,