Chapter Forty-Two

Bridger

When we went to the store, we replaced the kittens' gross box with a carrier. With the help of the Pet Smart employees, we found the proper formula for them as well as bought the rest of their necessities such as litter and a litter box, toys, and Kian even picked out kitten-friendly shampoo to "protect their coat". He was buzzing with excitement so much so that he kept the carrier on his lap during our ride home and talked happily to the three felines inside.

He already found a name for the gray one. He clicked with the gray one almost immediately even though she's not really clicking with him. It's a cat-person match made in heaven, if you ask me. He named her Gracie, happy because it was a play on her color as well as a "cute name for a cute girl".

One could ask if being a werewolf makes it weird to have pets -- since we're half-wolf. Personally, I would never have a wolf, wolf-dog mix, or dog as a pet just because I would never be able to get the Goofy walking Pluto image out of my head. Dogs and wolves also tend to be more nervous around werewolves, making that connection that humans have with their canine brethren harder to obtain. Usually, a werewolf's relationship with their pet is quite normal so long as their wolf component doesn't come out around the pet, especially if that pet could be prey to a wolf. So I will not allow Jace around Gracie or her siblings, not because Jace would try to eat them, but because they would probably run away or try to attack him.

As we enter the packlands, I watch Kian physically relax in his seat, releasing all the tension he's been hiding since we left. I expected as much considering he's not used to being away from a pack and I had tried my best to help him relax, but it's something a werewolf has to get used to. He continues to coo over the kittens, explaining to me every little movement they make while I keep my eyes glued to the road.

"Should we go see how they're doing with building?" I ask. They should be almost done with the magic and speed of werewolves. We've always been good at building stuff brick by brick and it only takes a few days to finish. If were up to us, Rome would have been built in a day.

However, seeing the packhouse isn't my main concern. I had requested a surprise for Kian from Vic and his team and today I got a response that the surprise is finished. I hadn't expected them to prioritize my want over completing the packhouse, but I am more than grateful that they did.

Kian nods excitedly. "We can show the kittens their new home!"

One of them – likely Gracie – mews loudly from their carrier. Kian goes back to cooing, sticking is finger through the bars in the front and wiggling it around. I can't believe we're about to take on raising kittens when we also have a pup coming soon. But Kian is already smitten with them and I knew the moment I plopped their cardboard box into my car that Kian would never let them go. He has always wanted a kittne ever since he discovered them on YouTube, I couldn't take away his dream.

I drive roughly thirty minutes to enter Kian's new packlands. We don't have our own barrier yet, but when we do I know that the minute I step foot – or tire – onto these lands I will feel a sense of completeness and homeliness I always felt when entering my old pack. The first thing I see just a few minutes later is the giant packhouse expanding downwards from the hill it's settled on. The angels and Vic's team worked incredibly hard these past few days and their labor bears a beautiful white building that looks like a mansion the most materialistic celebrity would envy.

I have seen huge and beautiful packhouses in my time. But this house is simply mesmerizing with the design and layout – it's something I have never seen before. Similar to Arron's packhouse, most packhouses I've seen also serve as a hotel. In Arron's packhouse and Kian's old packhouse, there are only bedrooms within the house and each floor shares a kitchen and laundry facilities similar to a dorm at school.

In Kian's new packhouse there are full apartments that range from one to three bedrooms that branch out from the main packhouse. There are several sets of stairs and ramps coming from different directions that lead up to a huge terrace decorated with beautiful plants and sitting areas. On the left side of the house is a deck that connects to a huge pool – bigger than the one at Kian's old house.

They kept the main idea of Kian's old packhouse by decorating it with as many plants as possible and making it seem as though it were any beach house, but they went above and beyond with the rest. I haven't seen the back, but Vic showed us a 3D layout of the house and in the back should be a walkway that leads to another building that has yet to be built. The building is supposed to be a nursery and a schoolhouse, but Kian decided to pause the building until it's necessary to have it. They will also be building several other apartment complexes to match the general design of the packhouse. Even now, seeing it a second time, my jaw is slack as I climb out of my car.

Kian gasps from his side, bouncing up and down on his heels with the kitten carrier in his arms. We've only seen the packhouse once – when Vic wanted to show Kian his vision in person. But since then, they've been quiet about it, likely wanting to surprise Kian with the finished result as well as trying to keep my surprise a secret as well.

And while I'm not totally sure if they've completed the packhouse yet, the current state of the house is nothing short of amazing.

"Wow, it's looking so good," Kian gushes, "do you think we can move in now? They've been working on it for days and nights now."

I shrug. "I'm sure some of the apartments are finished. I want to show you something though."

I take the carrier from him. It's light but I still don't want him carrying anything. I offer my free hand to him and he quickly takes it, tightly wrapping his fingers around mine. He doesn't question where I'm taking him as I guide him up the long path that leads to the packhouse. As werewolves, building parking lots and driveways isn't a necessity for us, but there is a way for me to drive around and past the packhouse to get to my surprise for Kian. I figured it would be better for us to walk, however.

"Has...Timothy moved any?" I ask, glancing down at Kian. I laugh when he cringes and pulls his lips back at the name. I also really hate that name, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

"No, not that name." Kian shakes his head. "And he hasn't. He's so silent in there."

It's true, our pup doesn't do much inside Kian's belly. He's very still and only really moves when we irritate him by pressing against Kian's bump. He'll send a rough kick as if to tell us to leave him alone before going completely still again. I love putting my ear against Kian's belly and listening to his fast heartbeat. It's so strong, fast...alive. It reminds me that we're so close to bringing a life into this world and I still don't know how to feel. Of course, I'm over the moon happy that I'm about to embark on this new journey with Kian. But I'm also terrified of what's to come for us as fathers to an omega. He'll have a good life here, but we can't promise the same outside of these packlands. I haven't met our child yet, but I don't know what I would do if something bad happened to him.

It just makes me nervous and terrified to think about it.

The pathway leads us up the hill and a small set of stairs. It's a long path that leads us around the left side of the packhouse, allowing us to truly take in the sheer size of it. Vic and his team are all over the premises, talking and building. They don't pay us any mind, too engrossed in their work to notice we're here. Eventually, Vic sews us. He waves from where he stands and Kian waves back as I'm unable to since both of my hands are occupied.

Once we get close to the unfinished back of the house, Kian finally realizes that our destination isn't the packhouse.

"Where are we going?" Kian asks with a frown, "to the parking lot?"

There's a parking lot being built behind the packhouse. The parking lot isn't huge at all so it's not an eyesore the way humans love for them to be. Don't even get me started on those god-awful parking garages. As I stated before, while parking isn't a necessity for packs, Kian and the others all agreed that having at least one parking lot would be good so that other omegas could learn to drive. Kian desperately wants to learn and while Corzo successfully managed to get him a birth certificate made, we haven't had the time to sit and help him learn the basics. We will eventually and then maybe he will have his own car sitting in that parking lot.

"A surprise," I say. I squeeze his hand, ignoring the suspicious look he sends me as he begins to cross the parking lot. The hill begins to descend and I can see his surprise hidden behind some trees and tucked between another hill.

Kian notices just as we begin to walk down the wooden stairs built solely for us to make it easier to walk up and down this steep-ish hill.

"What is that– Bridger, is that a house?"

Smiling, I guide him down the stairs. "Maybe..."

"Why?" He asks before he stops dead in his tracks. I turn to look at him and he's looking at me with big eyes. "Is that my surprise?"

I can't tell if he's happy or not so I slowly nod. "We're having a family and I want us to have privacy away from your pack. I know you loved living in the packhouse, but I thought maybe we could live together in a house for just us and our little family."

The house is two stories but not huge or fancy. I wanted something simple and nice as I missed my cabin back in Arron's pack; I enjoyed living further away from the packhouse so that I could breathe without having the entire pack breathing down my neck. I know that I no longer have a leadership position and that Kian likely loves the idea of living with his pack members, but I thought maybe he'd like this idea too.

"Bridger, I– I didn't even think of that," Kian says, "I love it so much. Wow! It's right on the beach too! I can come out and not have to worry about climbing down a whole mountain!"

He laughs in excitement as he quickly moves past me to get to the bottom faster. I follow after him, holding my arm out so that he doesn't lose his balance.

Once we reach the sand, Kian breaks into a run. I watch him run up the stairs that welcome him to the house. The house itself sits above ground and has four bedrooms from what I remember Vic saying. I figured maybe this pup wouldn't be our last so I wanted to plan accordingly in case we planned to have more in our future. Of course, it's all up to Kian as I'm happy raising our one pup only.

"Bridger, it's beautiful!" Kian exclaims as he watches me from the porch. He looks gorgeous up there, leaning against the banister and smiling down at me. His pregnancy has made his face a little fuller and his skin glows like an angel. Being in the sun so much has given his skin a mouth-watering tan that complements those beautiful blonde ringlets atop his head.

"Go inside, the door is unlocked," I call to him as I start up the stairs with the kittens in my hand.

Kian claps his hands as he rushes to the door and pushes it open. He disappears inside, but I can still hear him screaming about how wonderful our new home is.

I put the carrier down just in time to catch him running into my arms. I hug him tightly, hoisting him up so he can lock his legs around my waist before leaning down to grab the carrier.

"Bridger, I'm so lucky to have you," my love cries, "this house is beautiful, this pack is beautiful. I'm–"

I kiss him as I walk inside. He tightens his hold on my neck, turning his head slightly to deepen the kiss. Call me cliche, but I've always longed for this moment: carrying the love of my life into our home, his arms wrapped around me and mine around him; into a home where we'll raise a pup or two or however many he wants, we'll retire from whatever jobs we have and grow old together. Now I'm going to get to live that dream in this beautiful beach house and only goddess knows how excited I am; how grateful I am that She gave me this chance.

With Kian still clinging to me, I slowly place the kitten carrier on the floor and take Kian to the nearest couch. I carefully lie him against the couch, my mouth following after his as I position myself between his spread legs. He smiles in our kiss, giggling when I wrap my arms around his back and pull him against me.

Kian breaks our kiss once my hand slips under his waistband. "We're not doing it on a couch are we?"

I hum and shake my head as I bury my head in his neck. Between kisses, I say, "you're– right– we– should– take a shower first."

"And then we do it on the couch?" Kian laughs, but his laugh falls short when I nod.

"And the other couch, too."

---

We're visited by Marquise later in the day after our adventures of testing out the furniture in our living room. We've since cleaned up and while Kian rested, I slowly but surely moved all of our goods from the car and into our new home.

Kian plays with the kittens as I lazily make my way over to the door, Marquise and an unfamiliar scent waiting patiently outside. I open the door and offer Maquise a warm smile.

"Bonjour, Bridger," Marquise greets. "I'm happy to see you two have moved in well."

"Yes, and thank you for keeping the other bedrooms empty, it's given Kian inspiration on where and when he wants to nest."

My eyes trial over to a man standing behind Marquise. I haven't seen him before.

He has dark skin, just slightly lighter than Marquise's. Where Marquise has his hair in long locs, this man has thick coils atop what looks an undercut. Marquise has a sharp face with sharp facial features, but his man has a rounder face with soft brown eyes and a slightly defined jawline, the roundness in his cheeks making it less defined. He's slightly taller than Marquise as well and wears normal-colored clothes versus Marquise's signature all-white attire.

"Oh," Marquise laughs awkwardly while the man rolls his eyes. "This is Arbor, my partner. They finally decided to visit."

'Ah, they. My mistake' I think. I don't have an issue with people who go by they/them, I'm just so used to not meeting them that I forget that it's an option.

"Oh, well, welcome to Oasis," I say. "Come in, come in."

I let them inside. Kian looks up from his spot with the kittens. His face, already smiling, spreads even wider when he sees Marquise and his partner.

"Marquise, look! I've got kittens!" He holds Gracie up, her little tummy round from her dinner of formula.

"Aww, Kian!" Marquise coos as he quickly makes his way to where Kian sits. "Arbor, look! Kian, this is Arbor, my partner."

Kian jumps up from his spot. I can see his nose twitching as he takes in Arbor's scent. I'm sure Arbor was expecting a handshake, but I don't tell Kian that.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Marquise has mentioned you a lot."

"All bad things, I'm sure," Arbor says. He's British and that throws Kian off for a second. Not has he met an immortal from France but he's also meeting one from England.

"How long have you two been together?" I ask, sitting on the couch while the two angels join Kian on the floor with the kittens. All three of them immediately do not take a liking to these strangers. Gracie starts hissing and her siblings follow suit as they slowly back away to their carrier.

"Too long," Arbor answers and Marquise ignores him as he coos over the gray and white kitten. Kian has only named Gracie so the other two don't have names yet.

"Like one hundred years. We met each other at a civil rights thing," Marquise answers, "Are you keeping all these kittens?"

I look at Kian just as he looks at me. I didn't have a problem with keeping all three, I just knew it would be hard to have three young kittens and a pup to care for at the same time.

"I don't want to split them up, we found them together," Kian explains, "would it be wrong to split them up?"

"No, they'd see each other often," I say, "were you two looking for a cat?"

"We never look for cats, they find us," Arbor explains, "we haven't had a cat in a long time."

The gray and white one clings onto his finger but he doesn't react. The other one, the gray and black one, stays by Kian's side with Gracie. I think we can afford to give at least one away. Kian seems to read my mind.

"I trust you, you can keep him," Kian says, "but we will keep Gracie and her sister."

Marquise takes the kitten out of Arbor's hands and holds him in front of his face. The kitten hisses at him and attempts to flip out of his hands.

"I love him already," Marquise coos, "kittens are a handful. It's crazy you're taking on two and a pup as well."

"I know, but we can handle it," I laugh as the other girl jumps when Marquise tries to pet her. She swats at his hand before running somewhere and hiding.

"How's the building going?" Kian asks. "Have you two claimed an apartment?"

Marquise nods. "It's going well, I estimate another day or two before it's completely finished. Arbor got here and they have a specific taste so we haven't gotten around to looking at the apartments yet."

Kian frowns. He looks confused and I try to pick through what Marquise said that would garner confusion. Marquise seems to do the same thing and we realize around the same time why Kian is confused.

"I'm non-binary," Arbor says, picking up the confusion as well. "I go by they and them, not he or him."

Kian's brows crease together. "What's non-binary?"

"I was born a male with all male parts, but I don't identify with any of those parts," Arbor explains slowly, "and since I also don't identify as a woman nor as a man, I don't fall anywhere on the gender spectrum – thus, I am non-binary. It can be confusing because, in English, 'they' is typically used to refer to more than one entity. In this case, they is used to refer to someone who doesn't identify with any gender."

I watch Marquise squeeze Arbor's hand tightly. They've likely had to have this conversation numerous times and it must be annoying for them at some point. Still, I greatly appreciate that they're being so patient with Kian who has really never experienced so much diversity in his life.

"So you're not a man?" Kian asks slowly before he gasps and claps his hands over his mouth. "I-Is that rude to ask?"

Arbor laughs. "I am not, and yes, in other scenarios it would be rude to ask. Here, it's fine, but you shouldn't go up to someone and ask that."

"I never knew someone could be a different gender," Kian says, "that's really cool. I like being a man, but being a woman would be cool too. O-Or a they too, of course!"

Marquise leans into Arbor, trying to look at their face. "See? I told you he'd take it well–" he smiles over at Kian. "Kian is a rare gem."

Kian's face heats as he shyly smiles down at the kitten sleeping in his lap.

"The rarest," I add, making his ears turn pink.

"Stop picking on him," Arbor scolds, "but thank you, Kian. It's hard to find people outside us angels who accept me for who I am."

It's time for Kian to turn serious as he frowns at Arbor. "Why would no one accept you?"

Arbor looks at Marquise. I guess it's time to give Kian yet another history lesson. Marquise hurriedly jumps into it, explaining to my loving omega the hate transgender and gay/lesbian people have experienced within the human realm – where most angels are from. He also explains that werewolves don't particularly like the transgender community either. He explains that homosexuality and being transgender used to be punishable by death especially if it were two men or a man changing to a woman.

"Even now, some humans and vampires believe homosexuality and being transgender should still be punishable by death or they want to send us away," Marquise finishes, "we do not have near-perfect like you, Kian, walking around. Like I said, you're rare."

Kian's face falls to a sad look. Those wide eyes are now glossy with tears and I can see his chest rising and falling as he tries to hold back from crying. I move off the couch and slide down to the floor next to him.

"We live in a hateful world," Kian croaks as I take him in my arms. "I love this earth, why do the people on it have to be so terrible?"

"It's nothing to cry about, little one," Arbor says, placing their hand on Kian's extended leg, "we can only keep moving forward."

I press a kiss to his forehead, rubbing my thumb against his shoulder. Kian stays quiet as he places his hand over his bump. He's likely thinking about how we're bringing a pup into this cruel world – something I think about too often. I don't want my pup to be too sheltered to the point he has no idea of the horrors that are out there, but I also don't want him to have to experience those horrors. But as an omega, our pup will almost always have a threat lurking outside of our pack's barrier and it's something I hate to think about.

"Okay! Enough with this sad business!" Marquise claps his hands. "Let's talk kitten and baby names, how about that?"

---

Word Count: 3951

Welcome Arbor!!! Our first non-binary angel!! Did I explain non-binary right? I am not transgender or non-binary, so I used the best of my knowledge.