by Connor Crowe
“Supplies?” I raised an eyebrow at Tristan. “Are you sure this playdate is a good idea? Aren’t the kids still a little young?”
“Never too early to have a good time,” he pointed out. “And besides, it will give us a chance to catch up with the guys. We’ve all been so busy we don’t get to hang out as much as we used to.”
Couldn’t argue with that one.
“I heard you two scheming in there earlier.” I clicked my tongue, wondering what kind of “supplies” they were talking about. “Are you gonna tell me what you have planned or do you mean to surprise me?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” James said with a coy wink. “Don’t worry,” he promised, “you’ll love it. And the kids will love it even more.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes, but it was all in good fun. I’d gotten used to this new normal. The three of us living together, picking on one another, looking after Luna, and generally sharing our lives. My two mates completed me in ways I never even knew existed, and our little Luna was the perfect cherry on top.
The knock at the door brought me out of my private love-fest and I rushed to answer it. Imagine my surprise when I saw not only one but all three of the couples we’d invited standing at the doorstep.
“Oh!” I said, stepping back to let them all in. “You’re all here at once? What, were you just waiting out here or something?” I looked around, just to make sure no other mystery kids would pop out of the woodwork.
“We ran into each other during breakfast,” Felix explained. “Decided to head over here together. Thank you so much for inviting us, by the way.”
“Of course.” I led them into the living room where they could sit on our new plush sofas. “It’s delightful to see you all.”
James entered the room with a tray of drinks, setting them on a table away from the kids and taking a seat next to Tristan and I. “So,” he said brightly, looking around at our friends. “How is everyone? I’ve got water and coffee on the table over there, but if I can get you anything else, let me know.”
“I’m good, thanks.” Lionel bent over to set baby Beau on the soft rug. He immediately started exploring, of course.
“I’m fine, too.” Kit echoed. “No one ever told me this parenting business was so much work, though!”
That had all of us laughing. Not so long ago, we were just friends. No, less than that even. Mere acquaintances, brought together by circumstance. Now we had families and mates and lives, all bound together by our commitment to Nox Bay.
I couldn’t help but notice that two of our friends were missing, though. “Where’s Markus and Arric?” I asked.
“Oh, they couldn’t make it today,” Elliot spoke up. “Monthly planning meeting for pack business. Boring, if you ask me—but they said they might come by later.”
“Well, we’ll keep the light on for them.”
His daughter Ivy had grown so much since I last saw her! She dug her hands into her daddy’s shoulder and swung her legs at his chest like she was trying to climb up and over him. I snorted at the scene.
“If you’ll take over for a sec, I’ll be right back.” Tristan handed Luna to me and hopped off the couch. I didn’t much mind, though. Baby Luna’s small, soft weight in my arms was the best thing in the world.
I guess it really was one of those things you didn’t understand till you had one of your own. Ever since having our girl, my life had changed completely. And not in a bad way, either. Having a baby in our life forced me to become a better man, a better father, and a better partner. It was hard work, yes, but at the end of the day she brought out the best in us.
Oh, and that ‘new baby’ smell I heard my friends raving about? So true. How did they do that?
“Who’s ready for playtime?” Tristan came back into the room with his arms full of colored jars. Under one arm he’d stuck a large roll of paper.
“Umm…what is that?” I had a bad feeling about this…
“We’re going to be finger painting!” Tristan announced with joy. The kids, for their part, looked absolutely delighted. Me, on the other hand…
“You’re what?” I blinked. “In here? Babe, we just got new furniture.”
“Yep!” Tristan agreed. “I’ll put down a cloth to catch any rogue paint if you’re so worried, but it’s super kid-safe and washable.”
“I…” I looked at James, still trying to process the amount of mess we were about to cause. “Did you know about this?”
James nodded. “And you would have talked us out of it if we told you beforehand, right?”
I sighed and rubbed a hand across my face. I loved my men, I did, but sometimes I swore they were gonna drive me mad.
“Oh come on, do it for Luna. Look how excited she is.”
Her eyes grew wide at the jars of paint and the large rolls of paper. James threw down a worn quilt over the floor and Tristan spread out the paper, using the tins of paint to hold down the edges. Already she was squirming and reaching toward the fun, her little hands opening and closing while she looked up at me with bright, brilliant eyes.
How could I say no to that face?
“Oh, screw it,” I muttered. I popped a squat on the floor, grabbed a jar of paint, and let Luna have at it.
Never underestimate how quickly four little munchkins can destroy a living room. Especially when there’s paint involved. It looked like a box of crayons barfed everywhere. On the floor, on the paper, oh—and on everyone present.
Don’t get me wrong, they had a ball. Luna especially loved sticking her hands in the goopy paint and smearing it into long shapes and lines. The paintings didn’t look like much, but I think she enjoyed the sensory feel of it more than anything.
Luna and Ivy took turns mushing the red and yellow paints together, scratching out wavy orange blobs. Beau and Loki got a little more “active” with their paints and decided to paint each other instead of the paper.
Once I got over my worrying and just gave into the moment, it was a lot of fun. All four of our kids shrieked with laughter and joy. The room filled with color and creativity and life.
For the first time in what felt like forever, we were just spending time like a normal family. No epic quests, no looming enemies, no natural disasters. After going through so much at a fast pace, I thought once things slowed down I might get bored.
How wrong I was. My men were here, my little girl was here, my friends were here, and for the moment, we were safe. I didn't even mind when Luna booped me on the nose with a paint-covered finger. I dipped my hand in the blue and got her right back. We sat there and laughed, all worries of the future forgotten.
We didn't have to run off and save the world. We didn't have to perform epic acts of heroism or bravery to be loved in their eyes. Just being here, just being their dad was the best gift we could give them.
Our littles needed us, and we'd learned along the way that we needed them too.
That was enough.
The Crimson Fox
A Bonus Nox Bay Pack Short Story
Connor Crowe
The Crimson Fox
Sometimes, it was still hard to believe this was my life.
I had a family. I had a mate.
And, I thought as I cradled my growing baby bump, I had a child on the way.
So imagine my surprise—and confusion—when I rolled over in our bed to find not my darling mate, but a folded up piece of paper, sealed with crimson wax in the official insignia of Nox Bay.
Odd.
Very odd.
I brushed the sleep from my eyes and stretched, rolling over on the bed to pick up the carefully folded note.
“What are you up to this time?” I muttered. Some might have thought that as the Pack Alpha of Nox Bay, Markus would be all serious all the time. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Since our mating, he had become much more light-hearted and playful, always coming up with new ways to make me smile.
I loved that man.
While he made an excellent l
eader, he didn’t let the stress of the job go to his head. Not often, anyway. And with a team of advisors and clansmen at his side, we were a force to be reckoned with.
We.
I smiled at that thought. Not so long ago, I’d been a captive of the criminal organization known as The Black Hands. I grew up an orphan on the streets, taken in by their leader when I was little more than a pup. My childhood was unlike most—a fact I learned too late.
I was raised to steal. To lurk in the shadows. To obey and follow without question.
But then, something had happened that they did not expect.
During the biggest heist of my career, I failed. I lost the prize. I caused a scene. I was captured.
And when I came to? My captor was the very one the stars had chosen for me.
My fated mate.
Just the thought of that brought a smile to my face and a lightness to my heart.
It was with Markus, and the rest of the Nox Bay Pack, that I learned what a real family was. That I learned what love was. And that I learned, through the trials of fire and water and ash, where my place was in the world.
With him. With my pack.
I turned over the letter in my hands, feeling the rough texture of the paper and the smooth wax of the seal. I slipped a finger under the wax and pried it open, watching as it unfolded before my eyes.
It was like one of those ‘pop-ups’ I’d seen some of the pack children playing with. It expanded into a small forest, each of the carefully-cut pieces of paper falling into place.
At the base of the trees was Markus’s familiar handwriting.
Wanna play a game, foxy? You’ll find your first clue in the spot we first met.
See you there ;)
I puzzled over the message. A clue? A game?
My heart beat faster and the old excitement of a new adventure rushed through my veins.
Heaven knew I’d been cooped up for what felt like ages. Markus, bless his heart, had turned incredibly protective when he’d learned of my pregnancy. While I told him over and over I wasn’t that fragile, he insisted on doing everything for me when he could. Was this his way of making up for that?
My ears tingled and the feeling spread down my neck to my fingers. I clenched at the sheets and threw myself out of bed. My fox had woken up to take notice as well, and he was ready to play.
If he wanted a game, I’d give him one. And I knew just where to find the first clue.
My heart still raced as I threw on my clothes and headed for the door. The tunics I’d been wearing were stretched tight across my growing belly now, and I made a note that I’d need new clothes soon. Not that I ever liked inconveniencing anyone—I’d learned long ago to make do with what I had—but it would be a nice change of pace.
As soon as I stepped out the bedroom door I felt a familiar thrum of energy quaking through my bones. I’d risen through the ranks as one of the most prized thieves in the Black Hands due to my ability to sniff out precious metals and gems, and now it was coming in handy for a whole other reason.
There was...something...out there. Something I hadn’t felt in months, and something I thought I’d never get the chance to feel again.
Treasure.
That excited me just as much as it did my fox, and it took all my willpower to keep from shifting and running toward it right then and there. First things first, I had to follow Markus’s clue. It was easy enough to follow—how could I ever forget the scene of our first meeting?
I turned away from the call of metallic energy and headed toward the Alpha chamber, the place where my fate had changed forever.
It was still early. The sun rose over the horizon as I made my way through the village, casting the land in its welcoming orange glow. A soft breeze whispered through the pines and rustled the dry grass, picking up a few fallen leaves in small flurries of color.
I didn’t meet anyone on my way to the Alpha chamber. Didn’t much expect to, with it being so early, but usually I would have seen someone out and about. I tried not to think about it, though, and I kept my eyes (or my nose, as the case may be) on the prize.
The first sign of life I came across was a guard standing watch at the door to the Alpha chamber. His watchful eyes scanned every direction for movement or threats, lighting up when he saw me.
A smile broke across the man’s grizzled, scarred face and he stretched out a hand in greeting.
“Thought I might find you here.”
“Arric?” I blinked. “Don’t tell you he got you into all this too?”
Arric barked out a laugh. “Wasn’t that hard to do, really. Red—er, Markus—wanted to do something special for his mate, and who was I to deny him that? After all,” he grinned, “if it wasn’t for you and your omega friends, I never would have met my mate.”
I nodded, thinking of Elliot. “How’s he doing, anyway?”
“Well right now, he’s sleeping. Ah, who am I kidding, he’s always sleeping these days. That, or trying to eat me out of house and home.” He winked and flicked a glance down at my baby bump. “Looks like you’ve been doing the same?”
I laughed. “Markus told me if I eat one more deviled egg, I’m gonna turn into one!”
“At least you’re not craving stinky fish.” Arric wrinkled his nose. “It’s the worst! He can’t get enough of that stuff—the smellier the better!”
It felt good to laugh around a friend. When we’d first met, I thought he was a little too stuck up for his own good. But mating with my friend Elliot had been good for him. They both evened one another out in the right ways, and now even Elliot had a little one on the way.
“So what’s all this business about games and clues? Markus up to his tricks again?”
Arric smirked. “Something like that. He told me to give you this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial. The early morning sun glinted off the metal lid and the golden liquid inside looked like lava. “Don’t ask me what it is or what you’re supposed to do with it. He assured me you’d know.”
I clasped the vial in my hands. It was warm, almost too warm. What’s more, the liquid inside bubbled and flowed with a mind of its own—like it was alive.
“Thank you,” I muttered to Arric, but my voice sounded far away to my own ears. Arric was right: I was entranced.
I tilted the vial this way and that, watching the liquid flow back and forth like the tides. The only problem was, I had no more of an idea what to do with it than Arric did.
What exactly was Markus playing at here?
“He mentioned something about the sun if that helps.” Arric shrugged. “Have fun.”
“Yeah.”
My feet knew the way before my brain did. My fox and my senses lit up at the warmth, the power, the pull of the honeyed vial, but whatever it was, it eluded my conscious mind.
Good thing I’d learned long ago to trust my instincts.
My feet led me down an old path behind the storehouses and toward the trees. The very place I’d first infiltrated Nox Bay.
It felt so strange now, being on the other side of it all. This time, there was no need to sneak around or stay quiet. There was no fear of being captured, or of compromising my mission. In such a short time, I’d gone from an outsider to part of the family.
As I grew closer, I spotted Nox Bay’s namesake stretching out past the pines and curling around the mountains to the east. The Bay was calm and serene this time of the morning, only a soft breeze rippling through the glass-like surface of the water. It stretched out and filled my vision in both directions, the murmur of moving water blocking out the buzz of concerns in my mind.
My feet squished across the ground toward the banks. Little puddles pooled up here and there in the wake of my footsteps, the ground long since saturated by the rains and the high waterline.
It was in one of these little muddy puddles though, that I stopped for a second look.
It was only a few feet away from the beach but when I knelt down to take a closer
look, the ‘puddle’ extended much deeper than I thought. The water, once crystal clear, darkened and held my gaze, swirling in on itself like some miniature maelstrom.
The weighty golden vial pressed against my hand, and again I felt that surge, that certainty that everything I wanted was just beyond this test. I glanced around. No one to be seen. No one to help me if I got stuck.
No matter.
I pulled the cork out of the vial with my teeth and spat it to the side. As if under pressure, a misty gas escaped and dissipated into the air, gone in a wink before I could get a good look at it.
Something was going on here.
Something...magical.
The spirit of my fox came to the fore, moving my hands over the still surface of the pool. The gold flecks glittered in the early light. They made a stark contrast to the swirling darkness of the waters below me, and yet somehow, I knew what I needed to do.
Whatever was calling to me, whatever needed me was in there.
I held my breath and tipped the vial, watching as the liquid light flowed like molasses into the pool. It swirled around, marbling the pool a brilliant display of black and gold, and then...
Light. It poured out from the tide pool and up into the sky, straight to the heavens like a rocket. Warmth flowed over me and nearly blocked out my vision, but when my gaze cleared, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
The water no longer gurgled a deep indigo, nor did it swirl with the golden light of the mysterious vial. It was clear, still, glassy like a mirror. And when I leaned over it, expecting to see my own reflection, I saw something very different instead.
My mate in his wolf form, standing atop the highest hill in pack lands. My mate, tilting his snout toward the heavens. My mate, letting out his peoples’ song.
I knew the spot. Had been there plenty of times. Had never seen Markus there, though. Had never seen him so regal, so powerful, as in this vision.
If that’s what it was...
I leaned closer, my nose almost touching the still pane of the water’s surface. And the image continued to change.
