Page 41 of His Human to Learn

She glares at me, and I must look anywhere but at her because my daughter was not alone in her search. Tori was busy talking to her cousin, and the young and I might have found itthe perfect opportunity to check every single area in the house where Tori might've hidden the gifts.

"Did she?" I ask. I don't need to look at Tori to know she does not believe me innocent.

"Mhm." She moves closer to me, placing one of her hands against my abdomen, much too low to be something appropriate since we are in the dining room, not hidden away in our bedroom. She is a cunning female, so she probably planned this somehow.

"Well, I am sure she will still pretend to be excited when she gets them this evening." I take a big gulp as I look around the room to make sure no one is about to walk in on us now that Tori's hand is most definitely traveling lower and lower until— "Mate."

"Do you want to know a secret?" Tori asks, stroking my cock in slow, agonizing strokes. We have not had relations in the last couple of days since we have had guests. The children know not to come into our room without knocking, but I do not trust my brother to give us the same courtesy.

"I want to know all your secrets," I manage to get the human words out, even though secret is only a prolonged hiss as words fail me.

"I hid fake gifts in the most obvious spots," Tori says as she pulls her hand from my pants and pushes at my chest. I take a step back without really thinking, and then her words register, and I look down at her with narrowed eyes.

"Those are not our gifts?" I ask.

Tori shakes her head, a mischievous glint in her eyes that makes it clear she has been planning this for many days. No, even longer than that, since she was so upset the young and I managed to find all our gifts last year.

I may have told her I would not look this year, which is true. I searched, but I did not look. I do not know how much of adifference that makes to my mate, but now I know I didn't spoil her fun.

I let out a long breath and then laugh as I wrap my arms around my little mate. I love her, and I would have also pretended to love her gifts. She usually is very good at getting the young and me gifts that we love more than anything, but this year…

I had to have a conversation last night with all of them, telling them that we are grateful for any gifts their mother gets us, and we will all pretend to be the happiest of creatures, even if we are unsure why she chose what she did.

"You all are the worst," Tori grumbles, but she keeps a smile on her face as she does. "Did you know I had to rope your brother into this? He's the one who cleaned the bones. I couldn't do it. It made me want to gag."

I grimace as I think about the little tag attached to a trio of what I assumed were olack bones. The tag was labeled with my name, and I remember how Robin held the bones up with a curious expression, and then a look of horror when he realized. No, it was not even Robin. We were all a little horrified at the gifts their mother got us.

Wren's name was etched into a stick. Sure, it was a very nice, thick, and sturdy stick, but still, it was a stick. She gave it a curious expression before setting it back into the hiding spot and gave a soft smile to her younger siblings, nudging Lark to do the same to his gift, which was a rock. To their credit, they were good sports about it and helped me to convince the younger ones to be appreciative.

Robin found a water skin that was worn down until it was leaking, with his name attached to it. Raven had a root vegetable that was already starting to soften and go bad. And our youngest, and least impressed with the gifts, Jay, was gifted a piece offabric shredded in sections, making it clear it was scraps from one of Nia's latest attempts at creating new clothing.

"Why am I not surprised that Thro had a hand in this?" I ask, pressing my lips into a tight line to not give away that I now want to go around the house again to see if I can find the real gifts. Yes, yes, being surprised is fun as well, but searching for gifts and finding them like a great treasure is even more fun. "I am surprised he did not convince you to give us all a pile of olack dung."

"He did," Tori says, bumping my hip with hers as she walks past me. "Like I said, there are a few different spots where we hid things."

I stare at the back of my little mate. I am almost positive this is her giving me permission to continue my search. Surely, she would not leave a plethora of fake gifts around if she did not want the children and me to see how clever a female she is. When she casts me a look of encouragement over her shoulder, I know this will be the most fun celebration we have had.

"Children!" I bellow as I step into the living room, leaving Tori in the dining room all by herself, not even caring that I will no longer feel her small hand in my pants. No, this is much more important.

Well, not much more, but it can wait until tonight when we can close the door and ensure we have our own time. I will even kick Thro out of the house to go back to his own home with his mate and their young, so I do not need to worry about him somehow interfering in my lovemaking.

"Did you tell him?" Thro asks as he runs into the room, his eyes falling somewhere behind me. Most likely on my mate, who is probably thinking very highly of herself right now.

"Did she tell Dad what?" Wren asks as she enters the kitchen. Her siblings are not far behind. All of them are just as confused as she is. They all know we do not open gifts until this evening.

"I know you all found your gifts last night," Tori says, standing beside me. Her arm wraps around my waist, and she leans into me. Our young, for the most part, make sure to put big smiles on their faces, just like we discussed last night.

"Such amazing gifts!" Lark says in a very unconvincing way, and then he shoves his younger siblings on the shoulders so they all add on.

"Yes, I have been in much need of a new water skin," Robin says, just like we practiced last night. He looks up at me with a worried expression, and I give him a small thumbs-up so he knows he did well.

"Happy," Jay says in a voice that is anything but happy, but his smile is so big it looks like it could verge on painful if he forces it even more.

Tori sniffles softly. Before I realize she is emotional and in need of comfort, she is wiping at her tears. The children keep their smiles on their faces as their eyes begin to look panicked. Thankfully, their mother does not make us worry for too long before she speaks and reassures us that she is not having sad emotions but happy ones.

"Did you all decide to pretend you liked the gifts?" she asks.

Wren, Lark, Robin, and Raven all give her a perplexed look like this is anything they had prepared themselves for, and they aren't sure if this is where they are to tell the truth or if they are meant to be pretending still.

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