Resisting Fate

Chapter 3

The smells wafting into the living room of Zach and Aiden's kitchen were divine. The noises coming from Carmelo's stomach rivaled that of wolves on a full moon. From the bits of conversation he could hear from the kitchen, Carmelo knew dinner would be done in about fifteen minutes.

In the meantime, he was a model for Carson.

Gone was the doctor play, and in its place was hairbrushes, elastics, and clips. Neither Zach or Aiden had hair as long as Carmelo's, and Carmelo was sure that Carson never used these tools on himself. It was torture.

Not that he'd ever tell Carson that.

Carson yanked on his hair, the curls wrapped around his fingers. Carmelo's hair wasn't extremely long, only falling just passed his shoulders, but it was the longest Carson had ever played with, and he made the most of it.

"Look!" Carson shoved a small mirror into Carmelo's hands.

Carmelo looked into the mirror, wincing slightly at what he saw. His hair was frizzier than usual because of the rough treatment, and it was parted into one, two, three... seven sections. Each one had different bobbles attached to it. Butterfly clips decorated his head.

"I look beautiful! Thank you, Carson!" Carmelo grinned at the little boy. "Is it finished, or do you still want to work on it some more?"

Carson studied his creation seriously for a moment, and then grabbed the hairbrush. As he tugged the brush through one section of hair, the one at the very top of his head, Carmelo couldn't hide his grimace. "Just a bit gentler, buddy."

"Sorry."

Carmelo waved it off. He knew if he were any stricter, Carson would've cried. Besides, while it was important to set boundaries for children, Carmelo didn't see the harm in letting him do as he pleased with his hair.

Carson stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he worked, something he picked up from Carmelo when he babysat him. Carmelo often babysat the pack kids. It was important for mates and parents to have time alone, and Carmelo was one of the few trusted adults with no partner... or partners. It didn't bother him though.

"All done! Look, look!"

The mirror was stuck into Carmelo's face again, held by small fingers. He steadied the mirror, and smiled at what he saw. No less than seven dragonfly clips were stuck into the loose ponytailed section at the top of his head. It was a frizzy mess that slightly covered the rest of the sections. It was definitely not a style that Carmelo would usually wear, but Carson's gigantic grin was worth the pulled hairs he had to endure.

"I love it! Maybe one day I can do your hair too, and then we can match!"

"Yeah!"

Laughter interrupted their conversation.

"You-" Zach cut himself off with some more laughs. "You look great, man! Good job Carson!"

"Thank you, Daddy!"

Carmelo could feel his cheeks heating up with the scrutiny that Zach was giving him, but he kept the smile on his face. "Carson, after dinner, why don't you and I do Daddy's hair?"

The laughter ended quickly.

"Yeah, let's do that!" Carson yelled, bouncing in place a bit.

Carson's senses were still developing into that of a werewolf, so he didn't hear Zach's mumbles about wanting the dinner to last until bed time. Hell, Carmelo barely heard them, but he still laughed at Zach.

When they sat around the table, Aiden's reaction was similar to his mate's, though to his credit, he managed to keep his laughter in, and Carson was ecstatic that everyone loved his hairdressing skills. Carmelo just held on to the hope that he'd get better with age.