"Unk Lee-oh!"
Well, Tommy recognized me. But Sadie didn't. She spun on her toes, her eyes changing color as she lunged. There was no pause to see if I was a relative or a friend, she only knew the pup was potentially in danger and that she was the only thing standing between him and whoever was behind her.
God, we'd needed someone like her for such a long time.
I caught her as she tackled me to the floor and rolled her onto her back, pinning her against the floor. "Pretty aggressive to the kid's uncle."
She stared up at me for a moment and then the instinct took over. Her head turned to the side, looking away from an alpha's intense gaze. A part of me was smug about it, reveling in the fact that she felt a need to submit even when the pup was in potential danger.
Then the human side kicked in and she gasped, pulling herself away from me. "I'm so sorry. Oh my gosh. You must be Leo. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do anything. I just didn't know you were there!"
"It's not the first time a woman's thrown herself at me, won't be the last," I grinned, forever the charmer.
She sighed at me. "Really?"
I widened my grin and, without looking, reached over to pluck Tommy out of the tub. Sure, he was still a little sticky, but what kid isn't? I wiped his face off with my sleeve and grabbed the towel nearby. "Always. But yeah, I'm Leo. Cat name, wolf mind, gorgeous body."
"I suppose it's good to meet the entire pack before I'm forcibly dragged away from all of you."
She sounded so defeated. As if we wouldn't be interceding on her behalf, or as if the rest of the world had already condemned her. They probably had, but it didn't mean that she had to know that. "The Meet will go as well as it can. You'll be safe and sound, and you won't have a worry in the world once it's over and done with."
"More like I won't remember any of this. Hudson said the dragons can change your mind and, after I got over the idea of friggin’ dragons bein' a thing, just—" Sadie shook her head, taking Tommy and continuing to dry him off. "It ain't enough that there's werewolves. Now there's dragons and they're psychics. They probably run the whole fortune teller hotlines stuff."
"Far as I know, they got out of the business a while ago," I told her.
Sadie sighed at me again. "You aren't even kidding, are you?"
"I don't think I'd joke about something like that. Last I knew, they sold it off to the unicorns."
Her brows came together, uncertain if I was pulling her leg. Maybe I needed to be easier on her. She hadn't been raised around the things of folk tales and legends like the rest of us. We got Tommy dressed and let the little guy go scampering off to cause mayhem, like toddlers tend to do.
"It's all really confusing," she said, watching him run out the door. "I'm trying to understand it all, I really am, but so often I feel like I'm in some kind of dream. Or maybe a coma. Like, maybe I wrecked on the way home and nobody's kind enough to tell me."
I sat down on the edge of that room's bed and stretched out my legs, my knees stiff from driving. Fucking winter. "Why would you feel like that?"
"First some werewolf pup turns up, then I'm being all but gangbanged by three hot as hell guys with more power and money than I'll ever have-"
"It could be four if you wanted it," I offered.
Her personal scent flooded the room. A blush snuck up her cheeks and she couldn't hold eye contact with me. Tempted as I was, I didn't make another move on her. From the lower level’s aroma, she needed a break and I wasn't about to make her squirm unnecessarily.
"But maybe another time," I said. "You're going to a Meet and you have no idea what's going to happen to you, do you?"
She shook her head. "Hudson's pretty determined for it to not happen in the first place. I appreciate that but I guess I broke some kind of rule...?"
I patted the bed beside me. She sat down and leaned against me. I could practically taste her. "When we decide to turn a human into one of us, there is a process. We start out by revealing what we are, talk to them about the problems they may face, and explain our society to them. You didn't get any of that because the kid bit you."
"Are you here to play teacher?"
Her voice was rich, warm, and promised a short, plaid skirt and a too-tight white shirt; the type that I could rip the buttons off of to get to the woman underneath. I eyed her and she gave me a wide, bright smile that was all sweet innocence. I prodded her right between the ribs and she jumped, laughed, and nestled back against my shoulder.
"One of these days, I'll use your pigtails like reins. But not right now. It's just... polite to let an omega rest after she bonds with an alpha. To let things settle in." I grinned. "But Gabe and Xav are going to be super jealous."
"Why would they know?"
"Because you can smell the two of you all over the house, especially as soon as you walk in." I told her and the color darkened in her cheeks. I shook my head. "It's not like
