Marilu Mann - Changing Focus

“I’ll make it up to you later.” He smiled and left her room before he lost his resolve. Running up the stairs, he carried that last sight of her with him. Open arms, open smile and hopefully an open heart, one open enough to accept him and the future he wanted to offer her.

Damn, I forgot to talk to her about the Gathering. I need to do that after dinner. Micah took the fastest shower he’d taken in ages, dressed quickly in clean clothes and headed for the kitchen. A nice juicy steak would be good for dinner. Hopefully Liv had worked up just as much of an appetite as he had and Gareth was always hungry. He assumed Talia would eat her fair share.

As he rummaged in the fridge to find what he needed for dinner, Micah picked up the sexy orange scent of his mate. My mate. That’s what she is. Mine. It shook him to his core to hear those words in his mind. He turned to smile at her and found her standing inches from him.

“Very good, Liv.” She’d managed to sneak up on him. Not many shifters could accomplish that so his pleasure was very real. The Great Spirit had chosen his other half very well. He circled her with his arms, pulling her in for a kiss. Breathing deeply as her lips moved under his, Micah decided he now knew what made Tony and Malcolm smile the way they did. I am in love.

“What’s got you so happy, Micah?” Olivia ran a hand through the hair he’d left unbraided. Her fingers tugged, gently pulling his hair and arousing him more than he thought possible. Pressing his urgent need against her, he shook his head.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out, sweetheart. Now go over there and set the table before I forget that Talia and Gareth could be in here any minute!” Swatting her ass, he noted that she could stand to gain a few pounds.

As if on cue, the two he mentioned came into the kitchen laughing. Anyone would think they’d been friends forever the way Talia swung on Gareth’s hand. Micah noted the look of peace on his friend’s face and knew he had to do something about Gareth. He needed a child of his own to make him look that way all the time.

Love is turning me into a matchmaker already. Micah pointed at the two.

“So tell me about your day, Talia. Where did you go?”

Talia’s story began with Gareth taking her to the reservation on a snowmobile and had his name peppered throughout. She talked nonstop until Micah put the food on the table. The meat disappeared quickly with even Olivia eating her share. As the dishes were cleared, Gareth excused himself. Micah didn’t have the chance to pin him down about the Gathering the next night.

Turning to the shorter of the two blondes in his kitchen, Micah tipped his gaze down to her.

“So, short one, would you like to have your dessert in Olivia’s room? I thought the three of us could make s’mores.”

Talia’s eyes lit up as she danced around the kitchen clapping her hands. “Yes, yes, yes! Are we gonna roast the marshmallows and everything?”

Working as a team, the three of them gathered up the necessary fixings for the treat with Micah grabbing three metal skewers on the way. They settled in Olivia’s room where Micah let Talia be in charge of roasting the gooey globs of sugar.

“Micah, is it wise to feed her this much sugar this late?” Olivia made him proud, sounding like such a concerned parent.

“Oh, it’ll be all right. It’s not like she has school tomorrow. Although,” Micah glanced at Talia, “I do need to set up something with one of the home-schooling moms around here. Can’t have her going without an education.”

Olivia leaned into Micah with a soft sigh. “I love how you take care of her. I can’t help but wonder if I had…”

Wrapping an arm around her, he finished her sentence. “If you’d had a guardian or a godparent? I’m sure you did, sweetheart. It’s pretty much a given in our culture. And I am still looking for your people.”

Her face pensive, Olivia nodded. “I know. It’s just that I can’t help but feel a little envious. She knows her place in this world and I am just beginning to figure mine out.”

Micah kissed the top of Olivia’s head, taking in her scent. Part of him wished she had known the life Talia would know. Another part of him recognized that he might not have met her if she had been given a proper shifter childhood. Words seemed useless, so he just lifted her chin up a bit to place a soft kiss on her lips.

She sighed happily as she burrowed just a bit closer to him. Talia brought them her perfectly done marshmallows. Black on one side and still cool on the other was apparently the standard in six-year-old marshmallow-cooking school. Olivia sat up to put together the pieces of the s’mores. Even though she insisted they not eat them on the bed, Olivia seemed to enjoy the time with Talia. Micah was happy. All is right with my world.

As soon as Talia dropped into a sound sleep, Micah put her in Olivia’s bed. Turning to Olivia who sat on the floor in front of the fire, he cleared his throat.

“Liv, do you remember Pete asking you about tomorrow night?”

At her nod, he continued. “There are times when all of the local shifters have a get-together. As I told you earlier, we call it the Gathering and it’s a time to meet any new shifters as well as run with our kind. Will you join me tomorrow night and run with me?”

Blue eyes gazed at him for what felt like hours, then she nodded. “I’ll try, Micah. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try.”

“Good. What about going ice fishing in the morning?” She nodded her assent and they settled comfortably in front of the fire. With the warmth of the fire and the scent of the woman beside him giving peace to his heart, Micah felt his eyelids drooping.

He tried to rouse himself in order to take Talia to her own room, but the lethargy stealing over his senses wouldn’t even let him get to his feet. Olivia seemed to be having the same problem. A soft sigh from his side caused him to look at her. She slept curled into his body.

Knowing there wasn’t any way he would make it up the stairs, Micah managed to get slowly to his feet with Olivia in his arms. The distance to the bed felt more like a mile than just a few steps, but he laid Olivia down next to Talia. Turning back to the fireplace, he let a massive yawn split his face before he put another split log on the fire, pulled the screen shut then turned and crawled into bed with Olivia and Talia.

Neither of them stirred as he wrapped his arm across Olivia’s body and pulled Talia closer. Sighing deeply, he let his eyes close again, pushing aside any worry about Olivia’s reaction to a Gathering or the Pack’s reaction to her. They’d accept her, he knew that, he just wondered how many males he’d have to warn off.

Dawn hadn’t broken when Micah opened his eyes. He smiled to find Talia lying across both himself and Olivia. She’d pillowed her head on Olivia’s stomach while he had her feet just under his ribs. Moving slowly, he got out of bed to stand at the side, watching his mate and his child sleep. Contentment filled him along with a sense of sheer wonder.

How could he ever put words to this joy? The entire world needed to know about this feeling. Explaining shifter mating rituals to Olivia would be interesting, but it was a task he looked forward to. For now, though, he’d get his “girls” up-it was definitely time to go ice fishing.

Micah leaned over and kissed Olivia awake. She opened those gorgeous eyes and smiled at him then looked down at the child sleeping so trustingly on her stomach. A look of surprise followed by longing filled her face and she looked back up at Micah.

“Good morning, Liv. I promised to take you ice fishing, right?” Micah tickled Talia until the child squirmed and woke laughing. She hugged Olivia then turned and raised her arms to Micah.