Page 17 of Their Promise

He patted the top of my head, just like he’d been doing since I was five years old, and smiled. “Who do I need to bite?”

“Kayden and his pack,” Maya grumbled.

Turning my head to the side, I glared at her and she put her hands over her mouth.

“Kayden? What has that headstrong pup done now?”

“Nothing, Great Grandpa. Don’t worry about it,” I said, and sighed as I shook my head. “It’s best if we just forget about them for now.”

His eyes narrowed. “That may be a bit hard to do, pup.”

I turned to see what he was looking at and groaned. Kayden, Trey, and Mason all climbed out of an SUV with Ezio as the driver, their car parked behind mine.

“Freaking great,” I muttered. Turning back around, I asked, “Where’s Mom?”

“The barns,” he answered.

Sighing, I rubbed my face with my hands. I couldn’t go to the barns because the animals were all scared of me.

“My dads?”

“The market,” he answered and stepped past me to intercept Kayden. “You and I can hang out later. Go on.”

Hopping up, I kissed his cheek and whispered a quick thanks before grabbing Maya’s hand and jogging towards the main part of the Den where the open-air market with vendors was.

Bran Bran stood in line at the meat stick seller and raised his arm when he saw me. “Hey, kiddo.”

“Hey, Bran Bran,” I greeted as I jogged over with a smile to hug him. Maya hugged him next and we joined him in line. “I’m starving.”

“Well, you came at the right time,” he said with a chuckle. “I was sent here to get food for your mom. So, I can get you some food, too.”

“I’ll go get bread so you don’t have to wait in two lines,” I said and headed to the next vendor who sold delicious, fluffy breads.

“I’m going to get drinks,” Maya announced and jogged over to the last food vendor who made smoothies, boba drinks, and also sold waters and teas.

Once we had purchased everything, we followed Bran Bran to a grassy area where several others were sitting on the grass eating or just hanging out. Mom and my other dads were sitting on a large blanket that we joined them on.

“Hello, girls,” Triston greeted Maya and I.

“You look refreshed,” Riddick said.

“I had a good meditation session,” I said with a smile, hoping they would drop the conversation, but as with many things in my life, it wasn’t that easy.

“Hello,” Trey said as he sat down beside me on my right side, crossing his legs.

Mason sat on Trey’s right.

Kayden sat down on Maya’s left, earning a glare from her.

“How are you boys?” Mom asked. She glanced at me, but kept an easy smile as she focused on them.

Grabbing one of the meat sticks, I tore a piece off while looking at the blanket just in front of me. I should have known Great Grandpa Dan wouldn’t be able to keep them busy forever. Why were they even here? Why were they bothering me?

“Things have been busy,” Trey said.

“How’s your dad doing?” Caleb asked.

Pulling out my phone, I looked up the most recent news stories to distract myself from their conversations. There wasn’t much going on, which was good.

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