a gift easily handed to a stranger.
“I hate history homework.” Maddy rolled her eyes, then leaned close to whisper, “Can I hide out in your quarters so Dad doesn’t make me do it?”
Felix gently nipped the tip of her nose in answer, their familial hierarchy set in stone. She’d be his baby sister always. And he was her big brother. Making a face at him, she rubbed her nose, her lower lip quivering. He growled, used to her tricks.
She stuck out her tongue at him. “Okay, okay. I’m going home to read about history so ancient it should be in cobwebs.” Another wildly affectionate hug before she rose to her feet. “If I go missing, it’s probably because I turned into a skeleton myself. I’ll tell Mom and Dad you said hi and that you turfed me out without a thought to my wounded heart.”
Wolf huffing in laughter at her dramatics, he watched her make her way down the corridor, a graceful brunette girl in a short skirt, well-worn boots, and a slouchy sweater, a girl who hadn’t yet reached her full adult height—that pink denim skirt hadn’t been so short on her when she’d asked for it for her birthday. The same genes that had given him his six feet, three inches of height would, he was betting, take Maddy to at least five foot nine.
Smiling at the thought of how annoyed she’d be at once again growing out of her favorite clothes, he pressed his paw against the pressure switch to open his door. Once inside, he nudged the door closed and shifted back into his human form in a fracture of light and painful ecstasy. He stretched as he walked to the bathroom, more than ready for a shower.
As he washed off the sweat and grit from his body, he started thinking about scents. He wondered what he smelled like to a cat—probably of dirt and plants. Not sexy, but he was who he was . . . and Desiree seemed to see him, at least. The bonsai had been a thoughtful gift. Not only had she gone to the trouble of finding out that he loved—
“Stop it,” he told himself in the mirror after he’d dried off. “You are not getting into anything with her.” Dark-eyed Carisma had been a smart, sexy dominant, too, had courted him with gifts and affection.
The gauche eighteen-year-old he’d been had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
“Fool me once,” he muttered under his breath and, scowling, dressed in fresh jeans and a white T-shirt before heading to one of the common rooms to grab dinner.
“Felix! Felix!”
A deep smile creasing his face, he grabbed the little boy running toward him. Ben didn’t hesitate to hitch a companionable arm around Felix’s shoulders as Felix settled him on his hip and continued to walk. “You smell like soap,” the boy announced. “Did your mom make you take a bath?” It was a commiserating question.
Felix’s shoulders shook. “I was dirty from planting trees,” he said through the wolf’s laughter.
“I got dirty from falling in a mud pool two days ago!” Ben announced gleefully, his silky dark brown hair shining under the den lights that had segued automatically from simulated sunlight to a softer glow that told those within that night had fallen.
“Yeah?” he said in response to Ben’s story. “I bet you had to have a bath.”
“No! Hawke threw me in the pond to clean me off!” Ben’s excitement was infectious. “That was much better than a bath.”
Felix kissed the top of Ben’s head, his wolf already conscious the boy would grow up to be strong, fiercely so. It was easy to know with some of the little ones, even before they knew it themselves. Right now, however, Ben was still a very small boy, and like all the children in the den, he trusted Felix without question. Submissives had that effect on the most vulnerable members of their pack, the reason why they were tasked with evacuating the pups should it ever become necessary.
“Do your mom and dad know you’re out here playing?” he asked, aware Ben had a curious streak a mile wide.
“Uh-huh. Mama’s with Lara over there.” He waved in the direction of the common room where Felix was headed. “She made cake! And I got to eat the first piece. It was really big and it even spoiled my dinner, but Mama said it was okay this one time.”
Having reached the doorway, Felix saw that the cake was in the