Luc stopped in the kitchen, as the sound started up again.
“That sounds like a dog whining,” said Meg, and then it struck her. “Is it the girls?” she asked.
Luc had already started to move towards the door when Meg first spoke. He reached the door before her last words reached his ears. Opening the back door, he found two very thirsty and beaten up wolves at the back door. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around them.
“Meg, grab a bucket of water!” he said loudly. The two wolves were greeting him joyously. Tongues and paws were everywhere.
Meg came back with the water and set it next to Luc. The two wolves drank. When they’d had their fill, Luc moved into the house. The wolves followed, sniffing and looking around. Luc sat down on the couch. Meg followed, sitting next to Luc.
“What now?” she asked.
“Well, do you have a couple of spare sarongs?” he asked.
“Oh!”said Meg and she headed off to the bedroom. One of the wolves followed her. Meg stopped and put the red sarong down next to the wolf. Walking around, she headed out to the living room with the blue sarong. She put it next to the wolf at Luc’s feet.
They waited. Isolde came out of the bedroom wrapped in the red sarong. She was dirty and scraped up, and looked hungry.
“You okay dear?” Luc asked.
“I will be. Can you help her shift? She’s stuck,” said Isolde.
“I can try,” he said and partially shifted. He got down on his knees and then yipped at Bitty. He added a subvocal rumble or two. Bitty began to shiver and shake.
Meg suddenly realized that Bitty would be naked if she managed to shift back. She grabbed the sarong and held it like a curtain in front of Bitty. Luc continued to growl and yip. All sorts of noises came from the other side of the sarong. Yips, growls, and pained cries. Meg wanted to look, and plug her ears at the same time. It sounded like it really hurt. Luc gave one last yip and then began to shift back.
“I’ll take the sarong now ma’am,” said a quiet scratchy voice.
“Oh,” said Meg, and let go of the sarong.
As it lowered, Luc turned away to give Bitty a moment of privacy to get things in order. Penny had been a real prudish mom, and so the girls were body shy.
“Thank you Unky Luc,” said Bitty.
“I’m just glad to see you,” said Luc. He moved forward and hugged the two girls. “Now, which do you want to do first? Shower or eat?” he asked.
“Shower!” said Bitty,
“Eat!” said Isolde.
Luc laughed. “Fine, the bathroom is that way and the kitchen is behind you,” he said. Both girls went off in the appropriate direction. Luc followed and stopped at the fridge. He got out steaks and eggs. He started cooking while Meg made tea and toast. By the time Isolde had eaten, Bitty was done in the shower. The two girls switched places.
“Why don’t you call Ginny,” said Meg quietly as Bitty inhaled the steak Luc had cooked for her.
“I will. Now that they’ve been fed and I know that neither is really hurt. Sorry we got interrupted,” he said.
“Not a problem. I”m just glad they’re safe,” said Meg.
“So am I,” Luc said as he reached for the phone.
***
Meg swore that Ginny arrived before Luc finished hanging up the phone. She burst in the door and was hugging the two girls before they knew what hit them. Listening to the conversation, Meg thought that there were as many yips and yaps as there were actual words. She stood in the kitchen doorway, watching the whole thing shaking her head.
“Yes, before you ask, we are very emotional and very pack oriented,” said Luc.
“So, why aren’t you in there with them?” she asked pointing to the girls and Ginny.
“Because I’m not the one that’s just become their ‘mom’ for all intents and purposes,” said Luc.
“Hmm, didn’t think of it that way,” said Meg. “Shall we let them be?”
“Yes,” said Luc as he started to turn and head back to the living room.
“And where do you think you’re going?” asked Ginny.
“We were going to give you some time alone,” said Luc.
“How about we move to the living room where we can all pile on the couch?” suggested Ginny.
Luc nodded and they all moved out to the living room.
An hour later, Ginny and the girls left. Between the three adults, they had worked out some strategies for babysitting, housing, school transport and those basic things that had been stressing Ginny. Duke was a decent guy, but not a real homebody. Penny had done most of the childrearing. Now it was Ginny’s and Duke’s responsibility.
Meg had also learned more details about the prenuptial agreement. It came about because the shifters hadn’t always been as forthcoming about what they were, which lead to some nasty surprises. A few people had really gone off the deep end and people had gotten hurt. Now there was a prenuptial agreement. Most people didn’t go to the extremes that Duke had with Penny, but as they explained to Meg, it wasn’t the first time Penny had not reacted well the first time her children shifted.
Meg turned to Luc as they walked back towards the bedroom to hopefully finish what had gotten interrupted. “Luc, just where is our relationship headed?” she asked.
Luc stopped, stepped up to Meg, and put his arms around her. “I have to admit, that I never expected to find someone like you on a dating site. Furthermore, I figured I’d be a bachelor most of my life. Where do you want this to go?” he asked.
“That’s no fair! You just turned it back on me!” she protested.
“Yes, I did. Where do you want our relationship to go, especially as I just became your employer?”