To Grandma's House

Downtime

Xael pretty much slept for the rest of the day. Shado had started his 3rd movie and even talked to Houser and Max briefly on the phone. There was a knock at the door, but unfortunately Shado couldn't move as a semi-furry Omega was wrapped around his leg like an octopus.

"Who is it?"

"It's us Adam." Us meant Grams and the Sheriff. Shado didn't mind them coming in, he just wasn't going to let them get to close his Mate. Her being in such a weakened state, instinctively made him protective. He could tell she was still completely out of it.

"Come on in! Doors unlocked."

As the door opened, Shado smelled the aroma of pot roast.  Xael was still asleep but her ears perked up again at the noise. The Elders noticed.

"What the hell..." Grams just stood there with her hands on her hips as Skylar held the containers of food, both were looking over to the bed. Ms. Emma moved towards the bed but didn't get that close. Shado looked at them and smiled.

"What is that?" Skylar saw ears and a portion of her large furry tail, the rest of Xael was under the covers.

"It's Xael. She partly shifted. Don't feel bad, freaked me out too. She's getting pretty good at doing that lately."

"What?" Skylar had never heard or seen an Omega shift like that.

"She said it's a Dire thing. Xael said she did it before Grams, when she was a kid."

"Yeah! And she was like that for two damn weeks!"

"Two weeks!" Shado yelled which caused the lump under the covers to stir.

"Mmmmm I smell food!" Xael popped from under the covers, thankfully she was dressed, otherwise the situation would have gotten awkward very quickly. Xael was surprised to see others in the room as she was out of it earlier and didn't hear or sense anything. Seeing the others, she hurriedly hid under the covers and against her Alpha.

Shado laughed at her but only a little bit, he knew she was very shy at the moment, especially with her ears and tail showing. The furry ears pinned to her head and her large tail wrapped around her, further hiding her.

"Sorry baby." Shado touched her to rub her back but she flinched and yelped. "Whoa! It's just me, it's just me." Xael had stopped talking. Shado didn't know she would be so timid. He placed his hand under the blanket and rubbed her back as he knew that would settle her down.

"Why did she shift like that?"

"Uhh...we...long story. So will she really be like this for two weeks? Because we're supposed to meet my dad again tomorrow." Xael let out a whimper as she trembled, Shado became worried. "Xael?"

She stretched out under the blankets, the sound of popping bones was heard followed by a huge yawn. Xael raised up again, ears and tail gone. She looked over at the Elders and smiled.

"I'm fine now."

"Oh thank God." Shado was relieved but Xael gave him a look.

"You little weirdo!" Her grams shook her finger at her but all Xael did was chuckle.

"Thank you for the food! I'm starving."

"Yup, you guys are still coming by for the pups on Monday morning?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll drop some meals off later in the day also."

"Okay, there'll be a cooler outside the door to set food in, just knock so we know to check it."  Her Grams knew that no one would be able to come in during their bonding time. Bonding was different from Mating and mostly done by older Wolfen couples. There was no need to mark each other or for the females to go into heat. Older Wolfen had more control over their wolves. What the younger ones received through the Mating process, the older couples could cultivate it just by spending time together.

Xael moved closer to her Mate as he placed an arm around her so that she would feel safe with the others being in their space.  Food left on the counter, the Elders said their goodbyes and left. Xael breathed a sigh of relief and squirmed out of her Mates hold, she was hungry and wanted food.

"Hungry?" Xael looked over to Shado as he watched her move around the kitchen area.

"Yeah." Shado got out of bed and made his way over to her, walking up behind her, he wrapped her in a hug. The Alpha inhaled his Mate's scent as much as he could, feeling himself relaxing almost instantly.

"Love you baby."

"Love you to Adam." Xael plated up the food for them, giving her Alpha more. This time the two of them sat on the window ledge and ate, enjoying the view of the street below. Shado wanted to make sure meeting his dad again was okay with her. He knew she would be fine with it, but just wanted to make sure.

"Hey babe?"

"Hm!"

"So are you good with meeting my dad again tomorrow?"

"Of course! I like your dad."

"Okay, you're going to meet my Grandmother also."

"Really! Wait... Native Grandmother or white Grandmother?"

"Native. She's pretty old, she's my Great Grandmother, dad said she's over 100. I actually thought she was dead, my mom never passed on information about her or let me visit her. Dad said she actually knows a lot about your kind."

"Wow...I've never met an Old one before. I'm excited!"

"Good! Me too even though I don't really remember her. We're going to meet my dad for brunch then go visit her I think."

"Okay, what time?"

"Around 11, but I want to get up before that. There's some things I want to do before heading into the city."

"K, will we be gone for most of the day?"

"Probably."

The couple finished up their dinner and Xael cleaned up the kitchen and washed dishes. Shado sat back onto the bed to find yet another movie, he thought Kung Fu Hustle would be a good choice. He really didn't want to do much other than lay around with his Omega and veg in front of the tv, watching movies and cuddling.

Finishing up in the kitchen, Xael crawled into bed beside him. She nuzzled his shoulder then rested her head on it. She was still tired from earlier and knew she was going to fall asleep again soon. Shado also sensed her tiredness.

"You still tired baby?"

"Yeah, healing that wolf took a lot out of me, your rut also wore me out."

"Then get some sleep, no one else will come in."

"I will in a bit, I want to watch a little of the movie with you." Xael whimpered softly.

"Xael?"

Shado heard a barely audible giggle and felt something tickle his face. Xael had shifted back with her ears and tail visible as the fluffy tail wrapped around his waist. Shado laughed at her, but she didn't care. She didn't mind being so vulnerable around her Mate. Completely embracing her Omeganess was something she was never able to do around anyone, so she was going to enjoy it with her Alpha.

"What is up with you today? You are like Omega times 10!"

"I know! I don't get to be like this, I don't really like presenting as an Alpha all the time. It takes too much energy. Besides, you're my Mate so get used to it!"

"I'm not complaining, it's just weird. Cute but weird. So you can make your ears and tail appear whenever you want?"

"Mmhm!"

"Oh really?"

"Really really. It took some practice when I was older, but I got the hang of it."

"Can I?" Shado was wanting to touch her tail.

"Of course."

He ran his hand through the thick, soft fur as the tip of her tail flicked around like a cat's. After the opening scene of the movie was over, Shado moved down on the bed as Xael moved closer to him. She was now resting her head on his chest, her arm wrapped around him. Xael was asleep in 10 minutes and slept through the rest of the evening and night. Eventually around 9pm, Shado shut the tv off and pulled his Omega closer to him as he fell asleep, holding her. Her tail instinctively wrapped around his leg.