Page 1 of These Little Heirs
Chapter One
Teal Moonscale
Moonglow Cabin Nest Tower
“Of – fucking – course,”my dragon sounded off in my thoughts.“We said no. We told the old coot that we have it under control but---”
I pushed him down hard before I opened the door ready to send whatever guard Clarence had sent over on his way. Poor fuck made the trip out here for no reason. I took a deep breath and tried to slip back into the guy I was before planting food and seed bombing a golf course somehow turned me into an assassin. I needed to be that guy or Clarence would never call off his guys. Upstairs Baby Robin had just managed to kick his way out of his egg. He was tiny and the others were trying to sleep. The last thing we needed was ---
I opened the door to a tawny blur that knocked me flat on my back leaving me breathless while a big cat with garlic breath, snarled above me. I would’ve punched him, but no assassin has garlic breath. No big bad killer knocks on the door and announces himself.
“See, this is why you need a guard,” Clarence Moonscale chuckled in the doorway. “Aren’t you glad I brought you one?”
I rolled my eyes and met the gaze of the giant cat still snarling open mouth above me. Some guard he was. His belly was exposed and his throat too. He thought his big-cat weight could keep me down but the only thing that kept me down was that killing a guard by pulling out his intestines was a bad image. He pressed his furry forehead against mine and sniffedme open mouthed. I rolled my eyes again. If this guy was trying to be scary, he shouldn’t wear sugar cookie scented pheromone blocker spray and I told Clarence as much.
“It’s his first job,” Clarence shrugged. “Look, I have a mate to keep happy and sane. I have to balance that by trying to find someone you three would let hang out. Ciro is a good guy. He’s a good fighter too.”
“What’s his day job? Garlic taster?” I said, pushing him away gently but the giant sugar cookie didn’t move.
“We stopped for pizza on the way here,” Clarence shrugged. “Had to feed him before I brought him all the way out. Dolores would’ve bitched otherwise and keeping her happy seems to be something else I need to do to keep Medwin sane.”
“This is why I’m glad I don’t have a mate,” I groaned. “No one bossing me around and batting at my balls!”
The big cat hissed and stalked off of me at last. Granddad extended his hand to help me up and I almost didn’t take it. It was so fucked up but somewhere along the way protecting the family made me feel at odds with him. I wasn’t sure when it started or why. He’d killed to protect us all before and undoubtedly he’d do it again. So why did he annoy me so much?
“Because he plays golf while people are hungry in other places,”my dragon said and that was it. The old lizard was oblivious. It wasn’t just the Moonscales and Hemlocks who needed full bellies, it was the world, and if we were ever to know peace everyone needed food, housing, bodily-autonomy, and medical care. No ands, ifs, or buts about it.
I let Granddad pull me to my feet and asked him again where he found the overgrown cat.
“He was born here, Teal. Be nice,” Clarence said. “Just because you haven’t met him doesn’t mean he’s not one of us.”
“Is he going to shift or is he just a lion?” I asked.
Ciro hissed at me and I took a step back. I was NOT in the mood to deal with a giant ass cat swatting at me.
“He’s a liger and before you asked, no he’s not infertile,” Clarence said.
Ciro turned and hissed at Clarence who didn’t budge up at all.
“What? You complain that everyone asks you that. I’m just getting it out of the way to start with. See,” Granddad said and turned back to me, “in the wild male ligers are usually infertile. Except, he’s a shifter. So, he’s not. Don’t let people ask him about that.”
“That’s sort of fucking creepy, isn’t it?” I rolled my eyes, thinking of what Guardie did to Reve for being a creep. “Why the fuck are they worried about his reproduction? They trying to marry him?”
“You and I both know people are weird,” Clarence sighed. “Now that you two have been introduced, I’ll be on my way. Give my apologies to your brothers and tell Ambry---”
“What? You’re not coming up to meet the baby?” I asked. “Is something else going on tonight?”
I doubted it because my phone hadn’t lit up once from my guys.
“No,” Clarence said. “No to both. I’d love to meet Baby Robin, and I will in time. Tonight isn’t that time because I don’t wish to crawl under Indigo’s scales. He’s the most levelheaded of you three under normal circumstances which means he’s the most likely to want to fight right now. Don’t let him eat the guard. Don’t let the murder dog do that either.”
“Guardie doesn’t eat people unless they’re creeps. Is he a creep?” I asked but Grandad was already turning toward the door.
“Are you a creep?” I asked and Ciro rolled his eyes.
“Are you sure you want to stay?” I asked him, my hand on the doorknob. “Seriously. Are you sure? There is a newborn up there. Ambry might take your face off himself.”
Ciro met me with big golden eyes and I let out a long, slow breath. Sure, he could probably fight. Throwing nine hundred pounds of cat around could do a lot of damage.
