Lunar Pack

Chapter 4

The next week Rain and Taksa learn their alphabet together. By the end of the week Rain can read the toddler’s simple books and Sky starts having him read to her at naptime for practice. They don’t just spend their days studying. Sky and Rain make up games to play with the girl. Rain invents a game where they shift to their wolf forms and roll a small ball with their noses into a cup laid on its side. If they pick the ball up in their mouths they are immediately disqualified. This game appeals to Rain who was never allowed to freely shift. Stop would sometimes force him to take shifter shape, but it was just to show off like just about everything else the beta did. Late at night Rain would sometimes shift when the family was asleep but there was always a danger of being caught.

They also spend the afternoons doing art projects. Not just coloring but making things and sometimes painting. One afternoon they put down drop clothes and do finger paints. Sky swears that Rain is messier at it than Taksa. The little girl paints a picture of her family, which is basically four blobs by a bigger blob she says is a house. When Sky asks who everyone is in the picture she points to one and says, Dada Pai, the next one is Papa Sky, then uncle Rain and the smallest blob is Taksa. Both Rain and Sky coo over the picture. When they have a play argument about if Sky gets to keep the picture of if Rain should take it home with him, Taksa sighs dramatically and paints a second picture for Rain. That night Rain proudly shows the blobs to P’Phayu and P’Fah point out with a smile that Taksa had included Rain in her family portrait.

In the mornings before he takes Rain to Sky’s and in the evenings when they come home P’Phayu cooks for Rain, following the doctor’s guidelines to help the omega gain weight. Sometimes P’Fah joins them for meals, but most of the time he spends at his girlfriend’s house. P’Phayu tells Rain that P’Fah is planning on proposing to P’Heam on their anniversary in a couple weeks. He swears Rain to secrecy when P’Fah brings P’Heam to dinner on Friday night. P’Heam is almost a foot shorter than P’Fah but she obviously has P’Fah wrapped around her finger. Rain is immediately enamored with the beta, she is nice treating Rain as a little brother from the moment she meets him. The first thing she does is pull Rain into a hug and tells him that if the brothers are mean to him to let her know. She will take care of them.

On Sunday P’Phayu takes Rain to the aquarium and to the zoo. Rain watches the beautifully colored fish swim with amazement. He also likes the jellyfish, they look like dancers moving in the water. One of the tanks even has a shark that looks like it could swallow Rain whole. There is an area with penguins, Rain loves them. They are so cute the way they waddle. There is also a touch tank where Rain gets to pet a stingray. Rain squeals with delight at the smooth texture of its skin. P’Phayu gets him a stuffed penguin in the gift shop. Rain knows the perfect spot in his nest where he will put it. He also talks P’Phayu into picking up a stuffed stingray for Taksa.

Rain doesn’t like the zoo as much. At first he isn’t sure why but then P’Phayu points out that even though the animals live in large and enriched enclosures, Rain probably still feels empathy for them because their situation is so similar to what Rain himself lived in with the family.

While P’Phayu is waiting in line to buy them water, Rain spots a restroom in the distance and tells the alpha he needs to use it. When he finishes he looks around for P’Phayu, but a voice behind him stops him short. “What’s a stray doing here?” A woman says rudely.

He and P’Phayu have gotten a few stares today for being collarless but up until now everyone has been too intimidated by the alpha to say anything.

“I’m not a stray.” Rain says. He hates the way his voice trembles. He wants to sound confident like P’Phayu or Sky would, but he isn’t used to standing up to betas yet.