Her Noble Owl (Marked By The Moon Book 4)

by Kestra Pingree

  Stella, Stella. Warm one second and cold the next.

  Cedric smirked at himself as he followed her. They stood in line for a couple minutes, looking at all the Christmas decorations until they made it to the front desk, and Cedric paid for their entry. He was in the process of finishing up when he turned his head and saw familiar faces. He had to do a double-take because he wasn’t expecting it. Sure enough, Terry and Opal had just entered the building.

  Terry was a pretty woman, average height, brown skin, and long straight black hair that went all the way down to her ass. Her eyes were a striking blue like sapphires. Her snowy owl was white with rather dense black speckles like all female snowy owls. She was what her parents had called, “A good specimen.” They were always impersonal like that, speaking about shifters and people as if they were objects rather than living things.

  Opal was five years old and getting bigger all the time apparently. Was she that tall last time Cedric had seen her? She was standing next to her mother, skin a lighter brown, blue eyes just as striking. But her silver hair was breathtaking. Photos didn’t do it justice. It cascaded just past her shoulders and glittered in the light every time she moved. This was his daughter, and he felt like he had never truly seen her until this moment. He had never wanted to see her or the silver hair that only reminded him of the Snow bloodline.

  And there was a man with them. Someone Cedric didn’t know, but someone Terry knew well. Her arm was looped in his, and she was leaning into him as they waited in line. He was another owl shifter of some sort. Cedric’s gizzard told him so.

  “Sir, your change,” the woman at the front desk said, interrupting his thoughts.

  “Thanks,” Cedric said as he took the money and hastily stowed it away so he could get out of the way of the next people trying to pay.

  “Cedric,” Stella said quietly as she pulled him off to the side. “Russel and I will meet you back here at noon. Okay? That gives you a couple hours.”

  Cedric couldn’t speak. His tongue wouldn’t work, so he nodded his head instead. Russel came up to him and squeezed his hand tightly before walking off with his mother. They stayed nearby though, entering the closest activity area. If Cedric knew Stella, she’d likely want to see how this played out. It would be a good way for her to learn more about him. It would be a good way for her to see if Cedric was the kind of man she wanted to put any faith in.

  He cringed at the thought and stepped back to watch Terry and Opal in line. It was obvious Terry had moved on. It was entirely possible she had been seeing this guy well before Cedric went missing. Was he angry about it? Not really. He was deflated. He had no ego left to lean on. He didn’t blame her. Then there was Opal. Five years old. Five, and he hardly knew anything about her. He wondered what she thought of him.

  The man with them stepped up to the front desk and flashed some passes they must have bought, and the three of them walked right in. Opal grabbed Terry’s hand and darted forward. They were coming in Cedric’s direction. It was now or never. They weren’t stopping. They didn’t recognize him. It was up to him to make the first move.

  Cedric stepped out in front of them, blocking their path. “Terry,” was all he managed to say before his tongue refused to work again.

  Terry raised a dark eyebrow at him and forced Opal back to her side and moved closer to the man with her. Then she squinted her eyes and nearly fell backward when Cedric removed his sunglasses.

  “C-Cedric,” she squeaked.

  Cedric put his finger to his lips for silence. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m here.” He put the sunglasses back on and gestured to a secluded corner on the ground floor, away from activities, toys, and people.

  “Terry,” the man beside her spoke, “what do you want to do?” His eyes were hard, accusing.

  “We can talk,” she said hastily. Cedric could sense the fear coming off her in waves. She always feared and respected the Snows as most snowy owl shifters did. She wouldn’t refuse him because of that. But Cedric hated it. He wasn’t trying to intimidate her.

  Opal glanced up at Cedric, sapphire eyes taking everything in, as they all moved together and clustered around that empty corner.

  “What’s the big idea, Snow?” the man demanded, though he kept his voice low. He was an owl shifter, but he wasn’t one who feared the Snows. Obviously. His hands were fisted at his sides, veins throbbing in his arms. He was ready to fight. Not because he wanted to fight. This was the reaction of a man who cared for Terry and Opal. He wanted to keep them safe. Cedric understood that.

  The man continued, “You made Terry and Opal suffer and worry about you, and now you show up here like it’s nothing. Did you get bored with your new woman? What game are you playing?”

  Cedric glared. This man didn’t know what he was talking about. He assumed Cedric left for some woman like the rest of the world. That rumor painted him pretty accurately as the good for nothing he was before. Cedric wouldn’t correct him. There was no point because he deserved this. He couldn’t even manage to glare anymore when he saw Opal’s little hand go to the man’s big one. She held on tightly, seeking security.

  Cedric had absolutely nothing on this guy. He had lost Terry and Opal to him because there was no contest. He was the man they deserved. Cedric was nothing. Really, Cedric should thank Ava for picking at his soul like she had. If she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have learned she was more. He wouldn’t have learned he was more. He would still be the piece of shit Terry and Opal left behind.

  It was a strange thought, but what Ava had done to him was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He was awake now, living for the first time. Snow or not, he had the right to carve his own path.

  “Cedric, forget what he said. I’m sorry. Please excuse him,” Terry pleaded.

  Cedric held up his hand just as the man was about to add to that thought. “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

  Terry and the man froze. They were in disbelief.

  “Do you love him?” Cedric asked. Because that was important. That was the one thing he needed to know.

  Terry’s lips quivered, and Cedric was afraid she’d lie, but she didn’t. “I do love him,” she said, voice steady. “Very much.”

  “Then I won’t get in your way.”

  “B-but what about your parents? And we’re married, mated. I—”

  “You’re not my wife or my mate. You never were.”

  “But it’s on paper, and we performed the ritual for mating.”

  “We’ll get a divorce, and I’m telling you right here and now that I release you as my mate.”

  “But your parents,” she tried again.

  “This isn’t about my parents. They don’t have a say in this. Besides, they don’t know I’m back yet, and I want to keep it that way a little longer so I can take care of some things.” Cedric glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Stella and Russel. Stella was looking back at him, but Russel was busy doing something on a table full of other kids.

  “Do you really mean this, Cedric?” Terry asked.

  “Yes, but I want joint custody,” he said quickly. No, Terry didn’t owe him anything, but Opal was still his daughter, his flesh and blood. He wanted to mend ties with her at the very least. And hopefully, he and Terry could get to the point of being friends.

  Cedric crouched down so he was closer to eye level with his daughter. She shied away by hiding farther behind the man she probably thought of as her father. God, it hurt. She was scared of him. The pain lanced through him. Terry didn’t deny or approve him on the joint custody thing, but that didn’t matter now. What mattered was that she heard him. And that he showed her he was serious.

  “Hi, Opal,” Cedric said with a little wave of his hand.

  She hid behind the man a little farther like she was trying to disappear into his shadow.

  “What’s your favorite thing to do here?” Cedric tried again.

  Terry answered, “Her favorite thing to do is color.”

 
; “Do you want to color a picture with me?” Cedric asked, trying once against to engage his daughter in some kind of positive interaction.

  Opal’s sapphire eyes lit up and she jumped out of the man’s shadow. She nodded her head vigorously and ran for one of the open activity rooms, a different one from Stella and Russel. The adults hurried after her as she claimed a table in that room, a coloring book, and a box of crayons.

  “May I sit by you?” Cedric asked.

  She nodded her head again.

  “You picked a unicorn, huh? What color is the horn?”

  “All the colors,” she said.

  “And the sky?”

  “Pink!”

  “What should I do?”

  “The tail!”

  “And what color is the tail?”

  “All the colors!”

  “You got it.” Cedric laughed. She was a spunky, bossy little thing. He liked that.

  Terry and her lover sat on the other side of the table, keeping mostly quiet, but interjecting and engaging in conversation here and there as they let Cedric have this. God, he was grateful they let him have this.

  All the colors made their way onto that picture of a unicorn, just like Opal wanted. The thing was more and more of an eyesore by the second, but that didn’t matter. It was also beautiful because it was the first picture he had ever colored with his daughter. And Opal was happy. At one point, she got frustrated with the two of them having to work around each other, so she migrated onto his lap, and that was the best part of all. She got over her previous shyness quickly and seemed perfectly happy with him now.

  He rubbed his chin in her hair, his day-old scruff catching her fine silver strands. She giggled in response and rubbed back. It was all owl affection, and he felt privileged that she returned it. He had missed so much time, but he would never waste another moment.

  In the end, Cedric and Opal’s unicorn looked like a rainbow had thrown up on it, but Opal was pleased, and that was good enough for Cedric.

  “Mommy, hold the picture,” Opal said as she held the rainbow unicorn out to Terry. “I want to go on the big slide now.”

  “Go with her,” Terry said, eyeing Cedric.

  “Is the big slide big enough for big people?” Cedric asked.

  “Yes, Mommy goes with me all the time,” Opal informed as she hopped off the bench and stole Cedric’s hand. She stole his heart, too.

  “We’ll wait at the bottom,” Terry informed.

  “This way,” Opal said as she held Cedric’s hand and tugged as she pointed frantically with the other.

  “Okay, coming,” Cedric replied, grinning.

  Opal led the way to an elevator, which they took to the fourth floor. When they got out, Opal weaved her way through the open play area to the leaf and ornament-covered canopy of the iconic tree inside of Kids Fun N’ Stuff. It was entirely synthetic, but they did an excellent job making it look like a tree. And huge. It looked like a monster. Its branches were a jungle gym, vines making the ropes of swings, and bridges. Some branches worked as monkey bars. Cedric could understand why so many kids liked it here.

  Opal wasted no time going right to an entrance in the tree’s trunk. They waited for another kid to slide down, and then Opal plopped down and waited for Cedric. He scooted in behind her and she grabbed his legs as he brought his arms around her waist.

  “Ready, go!” she screamed.

  Cedric pushed off and they wound down the slide and to the next floor. Then they went down again. Opal giggled the whole time, and Cedric couldn’t help but smile and laugh along. When they made it to the bottom, Terry and her lover were waiting. Terry had a soft smile on her face, and her lover didn’t seem on edge anymore.

  “We need to go, Opal. Remember? We have last minute Christmas shopping to do,” Terry said as she held out her hand.

  Opal was about to run to her, but Cedric caught her hand first and crouched down beside her to have a quick talk.

  “Would it be okay if I saw you like this a lot?” Cedric asked. “We can play and do all kinds of stuff.”

  “Okay, Daddy,” she said easily. “I’ll teach you how to color real good.”

  “Thanks,” Cedric said with a laugh. He quickly wiped at the burning sensation in his eyes. His body was filled with micro trembles, and he really fucking did feel like crying. “I can’t wait.”

  He let her hand go, and she ran over to her mother. She turned around and gave him a winning grin. Then she tugged on her mother’s sleeve. “Mommy, give Daddy the picture.”

  “You want him to have it?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Thanks, Opal,” Cedric said as Terry handed the eyesore of a picture off to him. “I’ll get it framed.” He seriously meant that.

  “We’ll see you again soon, Cedric,” Terry said.

  “Remember, don’t tell anyone I’m back. Please,” Cedric reminded.

  Terry nodded. “We won’t.” She studied him for a moment, looking him head to toe like she had never laid eyes on him before. “You’ve changed.”

  He didn’t have anything to say to that, so he waved. Opal waved back and they left. Cedric watched their backs until they were well out of sight.

  Opal called him Daddy. He couldn’t express how relieved and guilty it made him all at once. He was going to make sure he lived up to that name from now on.

  “Thank you, Opal,” he whispered. “I won’t let you down. Never again.”

  Chapter 12

  STELLA LOST SIGHT OF Cedric as soon as he walked off with his wife, daughter, and the man with them. She watched the whole thing. She listened too. Cedric wasn’t getting his wife back. It sounded like neither of them really wanted to get married in the first place. Apparently, Cedric’s parents were overbearing.

  However, Cedric did want to hold on to his daughter. Even with his wife… he let her go, but it was because she said she loved the man she was with. He asked her. He wanted to make sure.

  Cedric, Cedric, Cedric. What an unexpected man you are.

  Stella followed Russel around, participating in group activities and playing in that gargantuan tree. Russel was enthusiastic about everything, but his favorite activity was the simple paper planes he had learned to assemble. He liked watching them fly, and he even made more on his own, adjusting the wings so they would fly different ways. He was enthralled by the mechanics of it, and his eyes lit up as they glided through the air.

  “Do the airplanes in our room at the cabin fly?” Russel asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Stella replied as they made their way to the entrance. It was time to meet up with Cedric.

  “But those big metal ones in the sky fly. How do they do that? If my paper is too heavy, my planes don’t glide.” Russel was holding a handful of paper airplanes he refused to part with.

  “I don’t know. I’m not an engineer,” Stella told him. “I don’t design airplanes like you do, little man.”

  “One day I’ll make airplanes out of metal,” Russel decided.

  “I bet you will because you can do anything you set your mind to.” And she truly believed that. Without Tyler in Russel’s way, her son would be able to become anything he wanted.

  When Stella and Russel arrived at the entrance, Cedric was already waiting. He had a piece of paper in hand, and he grinned when he saw them. She couldn’t see his eyes with the dark sunglasses, but she could imagine a twinkle there. No coldness. No reservations. Cedric was opening up to them more each moment. Like how she was slowly opening up to him.

  “Have fun?” he asked.

  “Look at all these airplanes I made,” Russel boasted.

  “Whoa, did they teach you how to make that big of a variety?”

  “No, my boy learns fast,” Stella announced pridefully. She hated that she could never do much to stimulate that inquisitive brain of his, but he always had this habit of tinkering with anything he could get his hands on. He probably would become an engineer now that Tyler was out of the picture. He’d be able to use
his mind as much as he wanted.

  Tyler was out of the picture. When had she decided that was true? Just yesterday she was certain she had seen him in the forest stalking them. Maybe it was the constant warmth her Lunas Sigil was putting out today. It was hard not to feel… normal.

  “I used to build model airplanes,” Cedric informed. “They’re in the room you’ve been staying in.”

  “So that was your room?” Russel asked.

  “Yep, that was mine.”

  “Do those planes fly?”

  “No, but they do sell planes you can assemble and fly. Maybe we can find one and grab it on our shopping trip before we head back to the cabin.”

  “You mean it?”

  “Hell yeah, I mean it. It’s almost Christmas. You can have your present early.”

  “Mom! My first Christmas present. Oh, my God.”

  Stella grabbed her son and hugged him close. All this excitement was going to explode out of him. If she held him like this, maybe she could keep it contained.

  “Really, Cedric. You’ll spoil him,” Stella said, but her voice was soft, and she didn’t mean it. She was grateful.

  “He deserves to be spoiled. Have you seen this kid? He’s amazing,” Cedric praised.

  Russel’s face went red with embarrassment, but he was still smiling. He was flattered, ecstatic to hear that kind of praise coming from Cedric, a man he looked up to.

  Stella couldn’t agree more. She dared to look at Cedric, to try and glimpse behind the darkness of his sunglasses and see into his eyes. Maybe it was good she couldn’t. He probably would have held her captive there. Maybe she was starting to like him. The warning bells that sounded off in her head so insistently before were dull, almost gone completely.

  “Let’s hit the mall,” Cedric said.

  And hit the mall they did. They looked for clothes first since Cedric insisted they needed some clothes of their own instead of borrowing “badly fitted hand-me-downs.” Stella stayed mostly quiet. On the drive to the mall and inside. Russel and Cedric did plenty of talking without her help. She was more interested in observing Cedric. He really did handle her boy well.