Page 19 of Legally Mated
"Some," I admitted. "There's a pond near one of the walls that's big enough for swimming. And a creek with a small pool near the north end, right in the middle of the trees. They sometimes take the pups up there to play in the shallow water when it'stoohot."
"They?" she asked. "Notyou?"
"I wasn't born in Mercy Hills. I'm from Winter Moon originally. We had trips to the Lakeinstead."
"Oh. What made you want to move to MercyHills?"
"School. Other things." No one thing in particular, but the pressure of everything combined. Small slip-ups--even after years of hiding what I was, I couldn't be a hundred percent perfect. I'd wanted to go to school, but my pack hadn't had the connections Mercy Hills had. Hadn't had the interest, either, but one of Mom's cousins had mated a Mercy Hills beta and she'd set it up. Even though it had meant leaving my natal pack, I'd never regretted it. "I'm happy there. They're as much my family as WinterMoonare."
"And your parents? Are they stillnorth?"
"Yes, it's just me--" Our conversation was interrupted by a single yip, like an overexcited pup on a hunt. A streak of white fur and lolling tongue blew by us, racing for the pool, where it made a graceful leap into the air and belly flopped into the water with all four legs outstretched. The pups yelled at their adopted bearer and wiped water out of their eyes while Holland swam for the stairs at the end ofthepool.
"Oh!" the First Lady exclaimed, and laughed. "I never thought I'd be jealous of a shifter, but that looked like far too much fun." She appeared to contemplate following Holland's example, then glanced sidelong at me and my awkward grip on the baby. "Of course, it's been a while since I've gotten to hold a baby. If you want to spend some time in the pool, I don't mind playing temporary grandma." She smiled and moved her hands slightly in gentleinvitation.
"Umm, no. I don't swim. It's okay." I settled the baby more securely and looked back over to the pool, where the four of them were now in the water, the pups hanging off their parents as they swam in circles around eachother.
"Well, looks like I'm missing all the fun," came a deep, melodious voice from behind us. A speechmaker'svoice.
The President'svoice.
I scrambled to my feet and spun around to gape at him in star struck awe, nearly dropping the baby. The First Lady deftly scooped him out of my arms and began to bounce him softly as he started to make disturbed babynoises.
"They children are enjoying themselves," the First Lady said. "I must say, I was expecting an ex-soldier to be much sterner with them thanheis."
"Quin takes family seriously," I saidautomatically.
"Doesn't look too serious to me. Good. A man should be able to leave work behind." The President looked tired, but it was almost unnoticeable past the excitement that lit his eyes. He was interested in us, or in something to do with us. I couldn't be sure. "I hate to break this up, but I've only got an hour and God knows when something else around here will go to hell and I'll have to go figure something out." He reached out a finger to tickle the baby's cheek, then looked up toward the shifters inthepool.
The pups hadn't noticed him, still enthralled with the water and playing with their parents. But Quin, despite slowly dragging Dorian through the water from one end of the pool to the other, had come alert--I could almost feel the weight of his attention, even from this distance. He pulled the boy to him and whispered inhisear.
No words passed between the President and his wife, just a look full of some private communication, and she stepped toward the pool with the baby resting against her shoulder. "We should go have lunch. I understand chef has spent all morning coming up with something with the pups in mind. It soundsexciting!"
Holland began swimming for the stairs, followed by Quin and the two pups. He climbed out, water streaming from his fur, but waited until the other three stood beside him before he shook himself, spraying them in a bout of parental amusement. The pups shrieked and complained, but Quin only calmly wiped the water from his face and said something low to Holland that made his mate give a wolfish grin and trot off to the cabana with his tail cocked saucily overhisback.
Quin handed towels out to the pups and walked back to greet the President with a firm handshake. "Mr.President."
"Alpha. I see the pups are enjoying the pool. They and your mate can come back down after we have our lunch if they want, while we haveourtalk."
Quin gave a sharp shake of his head. "I'd like to have his input on this. His experience of human culture is different from mine, just as Garrick's is different from both of us. The pups will be fine in theirrooms."
"Nonsense," the First Lady said, stepping up beside them with the baby still in her arms. "We'll go downstairs and watch a movie. Or maybe do some bowling. Or come back out here--I cleared my schedule this afternoon just for this. It'll be fun." She bounced the baby again, her expression softening into a grandmother'sfondness.
"Don't you get any ideas," the Presidentjoked.
"Oh, I know," she said, and patted the baby's back before handing him over to a now only slightly damp Quin. "But seeing this little darling makes me a bitimpatient."
"Well, don't tell that to Maddie." His daughter, in her last year atcollege.
The First Lady laughed. "No, definitely not." But it didn't stop her looking wistfully at the baby in Quin's arms, and then Holland came out of the cabana in his human form and we all turned toward theResidence.
Chapter14
I'd enjoyed lunch,and both the President and his wife were at pains to make us feel comfortable, though I twitched every time one of the ushers came to wait on us. Quin sat stolidly in his chair making unexceptional conversation with the President, Holland was graceful and charming, and the pups seemed to think that this was just how humans lived and immediately ignored how strangeitwas.
After lunch, the pups went off with the First Lady to try their hand at bowling. Aggie's last words as they disappeared through the door of the sitting room, were, "And it's okay to smash them down?", which startled a chuckle out of Quin and laugh fromHolland.
"You sure she's not an alpha?" Holland asked, and poked Quin in theshoulder.
