by Godiva Glenn
“Well.” Troy smiled crookedly. “Want to meet my mom?”
“Our mom,” Gabe called from across the room. “You’re going to love Sandra, and she’s going to love you.”
Chell glanced over to Valdus, who shrugged.
“I’ll skip,” he said. “I’d likely just cause confusion.”
Though Troy’s expression was nervous, Gabe’s was confident. Between the two, Chell felt at ease. “Of course I want to meet the woman who raised such fine men.”
Valdus’s mother loved Chell. Of course, being the clan leader came with certain perks, and impressing families was one of them.
Troy’s mother, Sandra, wouldn’t be awed by Chell’s presence, as she knew nothing of Nova Solara. At least, not yet.
“I just thought of something,” Gabe mused aloud. “We don’t have to pack clothes. You borrowed clothing here, meaning on Solara, they aren’t wearing jeans and hoodies.”
“Correct.” Chell followed Troy up the stairs to his mother’s apartment. “Zippers are convenient, but not common.”
“Are we moving to a world of leather pants?” Troy asked over his shoulder. “I feel like I should’ve asked this before agreeing to go.”
She lifted her brows at the mental image of Troy and Gabe in black leather. “Lots of leather, yes. If you don’t want to wear them, there are other things.”
“And you wear leather?” Gabe asked.
“Occasionally. It depends on the situation.”
“Would you wear leather for us?” Troy paused at the top of the stairwell. “Preferably with lots of fun straps…”
Chell stopped behind him and Gabe placed his hands on her waist.
“I’m sure if we ask nicely,” he said. “Right?”
“You may talk with my designers for anything you’d like. Though I don’t think I saw many leather wedding gowns.”
“No, the leather would be just for us. Valdus included.” Troy motioned down the hall. “We’ll talk more later. The last thing I need right now is that image in my head while hanging out with my mom.”
Gabe squeezed Chell reassuringly. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Chell breathed.
They walked down the beige corridor, their steps echoing loudly in the small space. Near the end, they stopped, and Troy tapped his knuckles on a painted white door. Shuffling came from the other side, then it opened to reveal a petite woman with Troy’s identical bright eyes.
“It’s about time,” she gushed. Reaching past Troy, she pulled Chell into the apartment by the wrists. “My goodness.”
Sandra Wexler stood about four inches shorter than Chell, but her smile seemed to glow and take up the entire room. Books and flowers and pictures of Troy and Gabe littered every nearby surface and somewhere a radio was playing low music. Chell tried to absorb it all and get a sense of the woman she was meeting.
“You’re going to shake her hands off,” Troy groaned.
Chell glanced down, not even registering the excited motions of Troy’s mom. The situation was overwhelming, to be honest. There was so much they wanted to tell her, yet Chell was hesitant to say a word. She didn’t want to upset the obviously joyful woman.
Sandra pulled Chell into a quick hug then led her to the couch. “I made cupcakes. Please tell me you aren’t one of those girls who doesn’t eat sweets.”
“I’ll eat them,” Gabe offered.
“I’d love one,” Chell said.
Sandra hummed and stepped through the nearby archway, through which the kitchen could be seen. Chell sat, flanked by Troy and Gabe. Troy rubbed her knee before Sandra reappeared with a glass tray of pink desserts.
“Troy hasn’t told me much about you aside from your name,” Sandra said while casting a disappointed look at her son. “I haven’t even been able to pry a thing out of Gabe, and he usually has no problem telling me whatever Troy is trying to hide.”
Gabe chuckled and shoveled an entire cupcake into his mouth.
“I thought you’d prefer to meet Chell in person,” Troy said.
Chell smiled in agreement and picked up the cupcake nearest to her. The sugary scent of the frosting was promising, and a far improvement from the last few nights of beer and delivered pizza.
“How did you meet?” Sandra asked. She sat down on the armchair across from them and crossed her legs.
“A matchmaker,” Chell said before taking a bite.
Sandra’s lips formed a delightful O while her eyes darted between them. “Thank goodness. I heard about some app named Tender. No, it was Flint or Ember, something like that, and Denise from work says it’s primarily used for…” She lowered her voice and continued, “Hookups.”
Gabe coughed into his hand. Chell glanced sidelong at him and suspected that he had some firsthand experience with the app Sandra spoke of.
“So, what do you do, dear?” Sandra leaned forward, face absolutely lit up.
Chell licked her lips and fiddled with the thin paper wrapped around her cupcake. They hadn’t come up with the best way to break the news—any of it—which meant they were ‘winging it’ as Gabe liked to say.
Her brow furrowed as she tried to think up the best assessment for her “occupation.” Nothing came to mind. “I am the leader of my clan,” she said simply. “What I do depends largely on what they need of me, whether that’s handling disputes or managing our plans for the future.”
Sandra’s smile didn’t waver, though she cast a frantic look to Troy. “I see.”
“Chell’s a bear shifter,” Gabe added.
“Oh… Oh! That’s exciting,” Sandra said bobbing her head. “Okay. Yes, you know, I work with a few shifters, though of course none of them are clan leaders. Could you imagine? A clan leader working at a temp agency?”
Chell could not, but mainly because she had no idea what a temp agency was. However, she was aware that many of the clan and pack leaders on Earth had what they called “day jobs” that were undoubtedly ordinary.
“My clan is my full-time obligation, as is standard on Nova Solara.”
Sandra sat back. “What’s a Nova Solara?”
“That would be Chell’s home planet,” Troy clarified.
“You’re an alien? I’m confused. I thought—”
“Not an alien. Just a shifter from another planet. A planet of shifters, actually,” Chell said. The conversation seemed to be rapidly sliding into a frantic mess. She put down the cupcake, which she’d worried into a pile of crumbs.
“And you’ve recently moved here, or…” Sandra’s words trailed off optimistically but the expression on her face was certain.
“We’ll be moving, actually,” Troy said. He squeezed Chell’s thigh and smiled at her before looking back to his mom. “She can’t leave her clan, but I can’t imagine being without her.”
“How soon?”
“A few days?” Gabe guessed.
“You’re going too?”
Gabe and Troy exchanged a look across Chell. She plastered a gentle smile on her face and waited to see how they intended to explain the next part.
“Chell’s sort of dating both of us,” Troy said.
“Well, marrying, really. We’re serious,” Gabe amended.
Sandra’s mouth opened, hung there a moment, then closed. Her blue eyes examined each of them on the couch before she smoothed her hands over her jeans and stood. “I’m going to get some sweet tea. You all look parched.”
Troy leaned forward, watching his mom disappear into the kitchen. They sat silently, waiting, but after a few minutes, it became clear that she wasn’t returning.
“That went well,” Chell whispered.
Troy gave her a peck on the cheek. “Leave this to me.”
Chell leaned against Gabe, who wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in. She couldn’t imagine leaving here without settling things. It wasn’t her goal to alienate Troy from his mother, especially since he was about to move across the galaxy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tr
oy
The kitchen was spotless with a hint of lemon cleaner lingering in the air, a scent that brought him back to his childhood and their weekly task of scrubbing the apartment from top to bottom. It had been a group effort, one that even Gabe participated in when he was around.
This was a different apartment than the one he’d grown up in, but the memories came all the same. He didn’t look forward to leaving it all behind but had accepted it as a part of growing up. If only he could make that clear to his mom.
She stood over a handled tray with a large pitcher of tea and four glasses stacked on it, which meant that she was trying to move past what she’d heard, even if she wasn’t succeeding.
“Mom.” He stood next to her and took her hand. Shaking it, he whispered, “Mom?”
“Are you happy?” she asked.
“Incredibly.”
She lifted her face and stared at the wall. “I can’t believe you’re leaving.”
“We’ll visit, of course.”
“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” She turned to him, and he was struck by the disappointment in her eyes.
“I wanted to, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was ready until a few days ago.”
“Ready for what?”
“Ready to say yes to such a massive commitment. To be with Chell, it’s permanent. That plus moving away… you know I don’t want to leave you.”
His mom sighed and brushed at the shoulder of his shirt, flicking away lint or something only she saw. “Then you are what… a throuple?”
He’d never even heard of the word and didn’t want to know where she’d heard it—probably from Denise. “Not really. There’s…” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes, mortified to be telling his mom this much truth in such a short span of time. “There’s three of us. Chell sort of had a long-lost fiancé that just came back.”
Sandra tapped her long nails against the counter. “And you’re happy still?”
“He’s a great guy. Saved our lives, actually.”
“Your life was in danger?” she asked sharply. “Just what have you been doing in the last few weeks?”
Now that was the tone he was expecting. “Shifter business, but it’s over now.”
She narrowed her eyes on him and seemed to be contemplating.
He rubbed his arm, glad he’d thought to wear long sleeves to cover the scratch extending from the top of his bicep to his elbow. He would come clean to things he couldn’t hide—but he could definitely hide a mating mark to save himself from explaining how he got it.
“I have to admit that it’s not surprising to see you and Gabe fall for the same woman.” She glanced toward the living room. “But it’s not fair to spring this on me all at once. You could have told me she was a shifter at any time. At least then maybe I would’ve expected some degree of… uniqueness to your relationship.”
“I know. It’s just that, if things hadn’t worked out, I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Look where that got you. I don’t even have time to throw you a going-away party. I can’t even throw a bridal shower. And it’s so sudden—OH my goodness is she pregnant?”
Troy held his hands up. “Whoa. No. Not that I’m aware of. That’s not why.”
“Okay.” She patted a hand against her chest. “I almost had a heart attack. I swear I taught you better than that.”
He simply nodded, not about to discuss protection with his mother. “Chell has a clan to lead. She can’t stay here for much longer.”
“But you’re completely sure that’s what you want?”
“I am. We’re happy and we work really well together. I know it’s different, but it’s just how things wound up.”
Sandra pursed her lips then released a sigh brimming with relief. “She’s very lucky to have both of you.”
“I’d say we’re the lucky ones.”
She scoffed. “She gets three men to obey her wishes. Do you know how many women would love to have that?”
“Mom!”
“I’m a woman too, silly. If I had three husbands, I could keep this apartment spotless and get a foot massage every day after work, I bet.” She scrunched her nose. “Or I’d be doing laundry twenty-four hours a day. It’s a risky fantasy.”
“Then you’re okay with this?”
“Will I get grandbabies?” she asked.
“Probably. Though they’ll be bears, I think.”
“Can you still Facebook from another planet?”
“I… think so?” It wasn’t a question that had come up, but given that Nova Solara had an intergalactic portal, he didn’t see why not.
“I want to see my little grandbabies. Furry or not. That’s my demand.”
He chuckled. “And us?”
“That’s a given.” She lifted the tray and turned. “I’ve wanted this day to come for a long time.”
“Yeah?”
“You’ll see what I mean. Raising you was never easy, and I never knew if I’d done a decent job,” she admitted. “I guessed I had, since you seemed to turn out fine, but this is the pay-off moment. The moment you break free to start your own family—now I know. I did well. I can stop worrying.”
“You never should have doubted. Gabe and I owe everything to you.”
She tilted her head. “Yes. Well, I suppose that should have told me everything. She has to be amazing if Gabe is willing to leave the station.”
“We’re here until you kick us out,” Troy said gesturing to the living room. “See for yourself.”
There was no easy way for Troy to prepare to leave everything and everyone he’d ever known behind for an entirely new world. He couldn’t hop online and type his questions about starting a new life on another planet into a search engine and expect reliable results.
In three days, he’d gathered what little of his possessions would be reasonable to bring with him to Solara. He’d packed in as much time with his mom as possible—leaving her was the hardest part, and he promised to visit.
Last night he’d gone drinking with the guys from 42 one last time and been lectured by Lee and Mitchell to keep Gabe in check where ever they were going, since Solara was a secret and all he could say was that they were moving away. He’d given them the letter he’d kept in his locker but told them to read it another time when they weren’t celebrating.
They’d probably read it by now and called him a pussy in a loving way for getting all emotional. He’d miss the comradery and the rush. He’d miss being a part of something bigger than himself.
Now he sat in a chauffeured ride to the middle of nowhere, and even though the scenery was dismal, his spirits were still soaring. He had high hopes for whatever waited across the universe.
“We’re almost there,” Chell commented, staring out the window.
Troy squinted into the distance. He could see the power plant. “How does it work?”
Technology wasn’t his forte. When Chell spoke of portals and ships, he could accept it without needing an explanation. But since they were about to be transported across the stars, he suddenly had an itch to understand it, if only a little.
“I don’t want to know,” Gabe said. “My molecules just better all end up in the right place. I don’t want one cell out of place.”
“One cell out of place would likely kill you,” Troy pointed out.
Valdus snorted and Chell turned in her seat to face Troy. “I can’t tell you the scientific details. Mara probably could.”
“Good,” Gabe said. “Because I still don’t want to know.”
“What’s the portal like?”
“It’s temporary, for starters,” Valdus said.
Chell gestured with her hand. “There’s an activator device that projects the portal. Mara used ours to get back, but the resort has one that will get us there.”
“We just step through and bam, we’re there?” Troy asked.
“Yes. It’s a bit unsettling for a few seconds, but it doesn’t hurt. And I don’t bel
ieve anyone has ever lost cells,” she said to Gabe.
They arrived within a few minutes and piled from the SUV, each of them stretching after the long ride. It made sense that they had to access the portal from the middle of nowhere once. He couldn’t imagine the work necessary to keep the technology for interplanetary travel a secret.
Following their driver, one of the falcon shifter guards from the resort, they walked up the path and found a man waiting for them.
“Right on time,” he said and opened the door behind him.
Their driver handed Chell something small and silver. “It’s only good for an individual use but works just like any other.”
“Thank you.” Chell’s hand closed around the object.
“Enjoy your trip. Maybe we’ll see you again someday?”
“Maybe.”
The driver bowed and returned to the car as they filed into the power plant.
“You know the way,” the worker said to Chell.
“Yes. Thanks again… Steven, I believe?”
He grinned. “Yep. I’d walk you down but I’m actually in the middle of something.”
“No worries.”
After he’d left, Chell led them around. After a few minutes, Troy was sure they were lost.
“You’ve only been here once, right? Are you sure you know the way?” he asked.
She glanced over her shoulder. “The elevator is right around the corner. It only takes me once to learn a layout. It’s called paying attention.”
Gabe nudged Troy in the side. “Yeah, Troy. Pay attention.”
She stopped and ran her hand along a set of controls, causing the room to shift. One section of floor lifted up revealing a hidden door. “See?”
They walked through the door and into what turned out to be an elevator, which was promptly followed by the worst elevator ride of Troy’s existence. He held the side railing as they seemed to plummet to the center of the Earth and took small comfort in seeing a slight green tint to Valdus’s face as well.
Chell hummed as she walked through the brightly lit hall outside of the elevator. There were various doors and hallways splitting from the main, and she led them down to the right and to a door marked with an engraving of three dragons.
