Page 14 of Riding A Cock-Horse
I laugh because I feel like he's the male version of me—and really, one of me was too much already.
I don't think this group can handle two of us.
Jack leans over to smack his cousin again.
“Seriously, shut your mouth so your arse quits talking from it.”
“Where else is my arse supposed to speak from?” Harry demands.
Theo ignores everyone and looks to Arthur.
“How long from Nottingham to White Bridge?”
“Just a couple of hours by train. Then, we'll have to take a small jaunt to Loch Kemp. My uncle will be meeting us, Dageus’ dad.”
“The Laird?” I clarify.
“Yep.”
“Awesome, I can't wait to meet him.”
Dageus and Arthur look a bit nervous at this.
“Listen, lass,” Dageus begins, “my Da is—”
Arthur cuts him off.
“He’s how you’d say—”
“Old school,” Jack finally interjects for them both.
“By the books.” Theo adds.
“Follows the rules,” Jude continues.
“I get it!” I laugh, throwing up my hands. “I understand what all those things are. We say them in America, too. I need to watch my mouth, keep my legs crossed, and not hit on him, right?”
Harry smirks.
“You can save all that for me, love.”
This time it's Jude who lunges for him, and Jack has to pull him back.
“Woah, woah, Papa Roach! Take a joke,” Harry tuts, and Jude slumps back down in the train seat, glaring daggers at the man. “You all need to lighten up. If we have a war coming on, this might be the last time anyone get some laughs—or sex—for that matter.”
I gasp in distress at this.
No more time for sex?!
That's not war—that's the world coming to an end.
When I was just an ankle biter, my family took a trip to Loch Ness. My brother and I were obsessed with the fact that there could be a giant monster living in the murky waters. Of course, we didn't find anything, but I learned two things that summer:
One—while the Highlanders were friendly, they did not take to strangers kindly. They tolerated us at best.
And two: You never, ever go outside of your flock.
Another family of shifters was vacationing at the same time we were—the Highlands make a great holiday spot for my kind because it’s so remote. Blackbirds aren't exceptionally special in regards to shifters, but they're at the top of the Primary food chain. Their daughter had been around my age, and we got along well playing together—until her parents and my parents found out, that is. That's when I learned the hard lesson that you don't go outside your species.Even though we were both birds, we were not birds of a feather.
