Kierra

"I come in at a bad time?"

Xavier sounds so innocent I could punch him. Where's that damn WereFox? Hiding, more than likely.

"Uh, who are you?"

Tristan's voice makes me wince, so I open my eyes and turn to face the about to be loud music.

"Tristan, this is Xavier. Xavier, Tristan."

Have to do a double-take when I look at the tall male. Dressed in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, he's covered in a shiny sheen of sweat.

Oh God.

Ohh, this is bad.

Bad bad bad bad bad...

Amber eyes also shine, amusement obvious at my awkwardness. Heat flushes my face practically immediately, so I turn to Tristan. He's also looking at Xavier, but with obvious distrust and borderline disgust. From there I go to Chandrika, the only other female here.

She blinks a couple times at the ripped sweaty beast, then looks at me. On seeing my face, she smiles and giggles. So not helpful.

Inner feminine muscles clench and hormones start hammering through me. I hate being female. Think I'd prefer awkwardly timed boners than this crap.

People seem to think that females got it better by not having their arousal visible like a guys, but no. So wrong. Ours can be just as visible, moreso when surrounded by supernatural animal noses.

Dammit. He does this shit on purpose. I try to turn the happy, fluttery feelings into anger. To annoyance. To anything but the obvious hornyness that I seem to be letting off.

Fookin' hell.

"So. This is awkward. And so not what it looks like."

Well shit, how do I explain this exactly? I fumble while everyone looks at me. Blackhole can open up anytime now. Yep.

"I'm a friend. Kie's letting me crash here till I can get my own place."

That sounds good. Very good, so I'll roll with it.

"Be glad he's wearing pants this time. His workouts usually entitle him being nude and blinding the surrounding wildlife."

The kids laugh, tension slowly lowering from the mass it had become. Even Tristan steadily loosens his rigid stance when Xavier makes no type of claim. There's nothing romantic between me and the redhead, he's more like a brother, and as such is protective.

"You workout in the cold with nothing on?"

The Were nods, stretching his arms up then out in front of him. The movement of muscle playing under his skin spikes my temperature again, so I look away hurriedly.

Ass.

"Yeah. It's quite freeing. Also refreshing since you don't overheat so fast. Random breezes make things interesting."

I groan and bring up a hand to cover my face. Right side, so it hides the practically naked man from my view. Tristan grins as he agrees and looks over to the young fox once more.

"You should take him to the shelter, they'll be able to make sure he doesn't re-injure himself."

Clearing my throat, my hand drops as I glare at him.

"You know very well I'm not going to do that, so why bring it up?"

He shrugs and motions to the animal slowly walking along the couch.

"Look at him. He's covered in grime. Why didn't you clean him up first?"

I give him the blandest look I can manage. Love him, but he can be such an idiot.

"Look again, bright eyes, he's not dirty."

He does so, taking a couple steps closer. Diego lowers himself, cowering as he makes nervous cries. Eyes shuttered while ears and lips pull back, stretched over his teeth. Not baring them, mind you, he's grimacing.

His tail flicks back and forth when Rika stands. Stepping forward, I catch Tristan's shoulder to keep him from getting any closer.

"Easy man, I taught you better than that. He's not in attack mode but can be in seconds. Back off. He may be a kit, but he can still mess you up."

The human does back off, but his eyes are wide in wonder and bewilderment.

"He's black. Like, all black. Aren't they supposed to be red? Red with white and black?"

I nod, pulling him further away and motioning for Rika to sit. Soon as she does so, the small fox crawls into her lap.

"Usually. I figure he's melanistic, or a variation of. He does have red on him, just hard to see when he's hunkered down."

He makes noises about how cool that is. Luckily, he doesn't seem to catch on to the fact I'm lying through my teeth, but it's a possible cause... Sorta.

The tall sweaty male walks around me to get to the fridge, his scent filling my nose has all my innards and girly parts doing some whacked happy dance. I move away. Quickly. Bastion and Maii are both smiling at me, little traitors.

"Will Ryder be there at all?"

I turn back to Tristan, Ava's explanation flying through my head. The guys had become fast friends, and obviously, he misses him.

"Uh, I have no idea. Haven't heard from him and Ava hasn't said anything to me about it."

Considering he'd only come to breed, I don't see him coming around at all unless he wishes to see his daughter. Pretty sure she'd like to see him at some point. Then again, his showing up can just make things harder for Ava since Lily's attitude will change. Just how it works. For humans anyway.

"That sucks. He hasn't called for a while, but had mentioned coming down at some point."

My eyes fly up to his, expression one of shock.

"He did? Coming down from where? When was this?"

Considering the thoughts that had just gone through my head, not too sure he should come at all. Poor Lily. Tristan smirks at me, knowing of the crush I'd had on Ryder back in school. So wrong tree, but he can bark up that angle all he wants.

"Few weeks ago. He's living up in North Dakota, didn't you know?"

My head shakes, frowning as I look off to the side. He has my attention snapping right back to him at his next comment.

"Aww, you miss him, don't you?"

I snort, rolling my eyes. Kinda do, sure, we were friends.

"Not in the way you think, dork. Didn't know he was living there though, wasn't sure where he was. If Ava ever mentioned, I forgot about it."

Xavier clearing his throat gets my attention. Finishing rinsing out a glass, he turns and motions with his head to the boys.

"They look a bit bored, I'll take 'em out back and go over some stuff with them. You don't have anything set up but we'll manage."

Nodding, I look over to them. The looks of relief on their faces has me smiling and feeling a little guilty. Bastion grabs a light coat, but Maii just takes off for the back door.

"Watch the easel! It's still wet."

Shaking my head, I get Rika's attention.

"You can join them if you wish, don't have to stay on the couch, you know."

I give her a smile, but she just shrugs.

"I don't mind, it's comfortable and warm."

My head cocks, but I leave her to her own thing. Turning back to my friend, he has a curious look on his face.

"You going to explain how you, someone who hates kids, suddenly has a houseful of them?"

Uhh, shit. Can't lie about this, since they will always be around. Until they're of age and wish to leave anyway.

"Uh... I kinda took them in?"