Texas and Tarantulas (21 page)
Her pretty eyes rounded. “You wouldn’t!”
Solomon arched one eyebrow at her. “Care to bet your 3DS on that?”
Rhea stomped her foot again. “You used to be nice!”
“So did you,” Solomon told her, keeping his voice level. His intention wasn’t to hurt Rhea, only to make her aware of how she was behaving, or misbehaving, as it were. Parenting was hard. Parenting sixteen siblings? Sometimes that was a nightmare—not that Solomon would ever walk away from his responsibilities.
“I think she should have dish duty for the next month.”
Solomon just barely kept from stomping his own foot at Steven’s suggestion.
“I hate you!” Rhea yelled before pivoting and running into the kitchen.
“Not helping,” Solomon snarled as he turned to Steven. “I had it under control.”
Steven held both hands up. “Calm down. I was only trying to help. You’re right. I shouldn’t have butted in. It’s just…” He sighed heavily and rubbed his brow. “She used to be so sweet, and now she’s… That.” Steven gestured in the direction of the kitchen. “I don’t get it. It’s like aliens took over one night while she was sleeping.”
Solomon chuckled and felt his irritation drain away. “She’s not the only one who’s had fits about stuff, Steven.” The younger kids had been more prone to such things than the older ones, like Erdwin and those around his age. “I think they’ve forgotten most of the bad that was done to them, and they’re probably as close to normal as any kid can be. Hence, the fits. Most parents have to put up with them.”
Cole and Shaun joined Steven and Solomon, with Cole shaking his head. “My dad could just look at you and make you behave.”
“Your dad is the most powerful shaman in existence,” Solomon pointed out. “And his mate is creepy.”
Cole barked out a laugh.
Shaun giggled but bobbed his head.
Steven grunted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Cliff isn’t such a badass.”
Cole hissed and lightly thumped Steven on the back of his head. “Language.”
“That means you get to do all the laundry tomorrow,” Solomon gleefully pointed out. That was the rule—curse and you had laundry duty. With so many people living in one residence, laundry was a never-ending cycle of hell.
“If you cuss again, that’s two days,” Shaun warned. “And trust me. You don’t want two days of laundry duty. It kills the soul.”
Solomon was amused by Shaun’s dramatics. “You should start up an acting troop. Think of it—you could put on shows when the pack gets together for ceremonies. Oh!” Solomon bounced on his toes. “You could re-enact Remus and Cliff’s big fight with the evil shaman!”
Shaun slapped a hand over his own heart. “Oh, my dream come true! To be on the stage—” Then he ruined his performance by guffawing like a lunatic.
“Maybe we spoil them,” Steven said, returning to the original issue.
Solomon wanted to argue that they didn’t. Lying wasn’t something he was good at, however. “I want them to have everything,” he admitted. “Starting with better behavior for some of them, so I suppose we need a family meeting.”
Steven slid an arm around Solomon’s shoulders, speaking as he did so. “First, we strategize.”
“Yes,” Solomon agreed. They’d learned to make sure they presented a united front and all when it came to discipline and rules, although Steven did on occasion screw that whole thing up. It was his natural tendency to lead, to be the boss or alpha or whatever, Solomon knew that. He also knew it wasn’t in his own nature to let someone else run the show, not when it came to family. “We should get Kylie, Erdwin, Vanessa and Jora, too,” he added. Now that those four siblings were eighteen, he believed they should be involved in the parenting if they wanted to be.
Steven groaned.
Shaun patted his back. “Now who’s trying out for drama king?”
Steven gave him the stink eye. “I’m not acting. That’s heartfelt dread I’m showing there. And I still can’t get over Erdwin being eighteen already. He looked so little when I first met him. Are you
sure
you had his age right?”
Solomon snorted at the familiar question. Steven claimed Erdwin had to have been ten at the oldest when they’d all been rescued, but the truth was, Erdwin had been malnourished and it’d stunted his growth. Fortunately, five years of good food and safety had fixed that. “You know he’s eighteen now. Stop stalling. We’re doing this family chat. Besides, it’s not so bad, having more people weighing in on…” Solomon didn’t finish. It
was
harder having more opinions bantered around. “They should get a say. That’s what we agreed originally.”
“We were idiots,” Steven said bluntly. “Why did we think, oh hey, we’re doing all right raising this herd of kids—let’s make it more challenging by letting each one that turns eighteen have a say in raising the others? And why didn’t anyone tell us how stupid an idea that was? Everyone argues!”
If they’d had proper parenting themselves, they might have done things differently. Solomon doubted it, though. After all, Cole had had a good upbringing with Remus as his father. Cole hadn’t spoken out against their plan.
Cole shrugged as if he knew what Solomon was thinking about. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
They split up to find the four so they could have their meeting. Cole asked Remus and Cliff to come watch the younger kids, much to the delight of the children and their babysitters.
Everyone knew Cliff was the biggest kid of the bunch.
“Ten bucks says we end up grounding him,” Steven said when Cliff shouted and twirled Mett overhead.
Solomon watched the big, scary-at-times shaman spin Mett like he was a toy. “You go right ahead and tell him he’s grounded. I’ll be here laughing at you.”
Steven nudged him on the arm. “You don’t think I could take Cliff?”
Solomon didn’t see any right way to answer that honestly.
“Let’s get this parenting discussion over with, I want to make lemon bars,” Kylie said. “You two quit picking at each other.”
It figured they’d had four siblings turn eighteen in the past few months, Solomon mused. That was the thing about having a father who’d been intent on mating with as many female shifters of differing breeds as possible. Lately, some of Solomon’s siblings had been talking about trying to find out who their mothers were.
A niggling of discomfort when the subject was brought up always began burbling in his belly. He refused to examine why.
This was his family. Solomon wouldn’t lose any of them. He couldn’t think about right and wrong, couldn’t let himself imagine women mourning their children stripped away from them at birth or shortly thereafter.
Solomon locked those thoughts away. They were new to him, and troubling. He’d spent years trying to make sure his brothers and sisters were taken care of and now, suddenly it seemed he was having doubts that he’d done the right thing.
About the Author
A native Texan, Bailey spends her days spinning stories around in her head, which has contributed to more than one incident of tripping over her own feet. Evenings are reserved for pounding away at the keyboard, as are early morning hours. Sleep? Doesn’t happen much. Writing is too much fun, and there are too many characters bouncing about, tapping on Bailey’s brain demanding to be let out.
Caffeine and chocolate are permanent fixtures in Bailey’s office and are never far from hand at any given time. Removing either of those necessities from Bailey’s presence can result in what is known as A Very, Very Scary Bailey and is not advised under any circumstances.
Email:
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Bailey loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.totallybound.com
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Also by Bailey Bradford
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Southwestern Shifters: Reckless
Southwestern Shifters: Rendered
Southwestern Shifters: Resilience
Southwestern Shifters: Reverence
Southwestern Shifters: Revolution
Southwestern Shifters: Revenge
Southwestern Shifters: Reluctance
Southern Spirits: A Subtle Breeze
Southern Spirits: When the Dead Speak
Southern Spirits: All of the Voices
Southern Spirits: Wait Until Dawn
Love in Xxchange: Rory’s Last Chance
Love in Xxchange: What Matters Most
Love in Xxchange: Ex’s and O’s
Love in Xxchange: A Bit of You
Love in Xxchange: In My Arms Tonight
Love in Xxchange: Where There’s a Will
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Chaps and Hope
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Ropes and Dreams
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Saddles and Memories
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Fences and Freedom
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Riding and Regrets
Mossy Glenn Ranch: Broncs and Bullies
What’s his Passion?: Unexpected Places
Totally Bound Publishing
