Heart's Desire

Chapter 29 - Monty

After breakfast, Dane and our dad go outside to discuss alpha business, while Freya and Darius return to Jake's house for a closer look around. My mom heads upstairs to check on Sasha, and Kit and I manage the twins.

Well, we try.

Luna is still high on maple syrup, and Luca is fussy after all the butter he ate. They've both become attached to the little white fox toy Sasha gave them, and unfortunately, they both get a hold of it at the same time. A battle ensues, and I have to step in and break it up.

"Hey, hey, hey! What happened to taking turns and sharing?" I ask, separating them and wresting the fox from their sticky grasps. "Uncle Monty says share. Now, Luna, I think it's Luca's turn to have the fox."

I hand the toy to him, and he snatches it and hugs it to his chest. Luna's face crumples with the onset of tears, but Kit steps in and comes to the rescue.

"And you can play with me, Luna," he says quickly. "I'll give you a piggyback ride."

This quiets her, and in a moment she's giggling with delight, toy forgotten. Luca quickly decides that she got the better side of the bargain, and abandons the stuffed fox to demand a piggyback ride, too.

After carrying them around the living room several times, Kit manages to interest them in some puzzle blocks, and makes his escape, rejoining me on the couch.

"Feels like my job's in danger," I say. "You're good with them."

He shrugs. "The Mortaines are a large Pack, and I had many little cousins. I often had to watch them. I didn't mind, though – especially the young ones who hadn't learned to hate me yet."

"Ophelia doesn't hate you," I remark.

"No; she's one of the rare ones, though. The rest..." He sighs. "I knew they were just kids, but it still hurt. One day, they'd be my best friend, running to meet me and begging me to play with them. The next, they'd call me a name they'd overheard an adult use, or order me around the way their elders did. That's when I'd know they were old enough to understand we weren't the same."

I frown. "Some of them must have seen how you were treated, though, and objected."

Call me naive, but I still believed most people are good – especially kids.

Kit shakes his head and smiles sadly. "Most of them just learned from their parents. Thinking for oneself isn't exactly encouraged, in a Pack."

"It is here," I object. "My parents always encouraged us to know what we thought about a thing, to question our beliefs and respect the beliefs of others – as long as they weren't causing harm."

"You're different, though. Different from the Mortaines and Ferrault, at least," he says quietly. "I hope your differences will prove a strength against him, when he comes."

"You're sure he will?" I ask, keeping my voice low. Luna and Luca are precocious for their age, and I'm never sure just how much they understand.

Kit nods. "Now there are two things here he wants: your Pack, and me. Your mom is right, Monty. I don't think it's a coincidence that they were attacked so soon after I reached you; I think I must have been tracked, or else my family or Ferrault guessed where I'd gone, and Jake was already here..."

"Yeah," I sigh. "I've been thinking the same thing. That bastard was playing a long game, whatever he was doing. Went to a lot of trouble to infiltrate the family. I'm guessing whatever he was planning, he was forced to act before he was completely ready – lucky for us."

A high-pitched scream interrupts our conversation, and I look up just in time to see Luna bite Luca on the ear. Having grown tired of the blocks, they've once more gone to war over the stuffed toy. Luna takes possession as Luca wails with his little hand clamped to the side of his head. He's lucky his sister doesn't yet have many teeth.