Page 60 of Bad Blood Panther

He hugged her tight, then tilted her face up to his. “Here, we all have scars.” He traced the scar on her cheek with gentle fingers. “We all have problems. We all fuck up. Like, daily.” He kissed her forehead. “Nobody’s going to kick you out if you’re not perfect all the time.”

She wanted to believe that. Because it would be so amazing, not to always have to try so hard. “I always felt like…” Like no one would love me if I wasn’t perfect.

“Like you had to try twice as hard to be half as good as everybody else?”

“Maybe,” she admitted.

“Mmm,” Xander said. “But if you were perfect all the time, you’d be too good for me.” He kissed her lips. “You probably already are.”

She shook her head. “You’re a very, very good man, Xander Fierro.”

He snorted. “How much did those girls give you to drink?” After a moment, though, he got serious again. “You really don’t have to try so hard, babe. Go ahead and make mistakes. Let your kid be a monument to poop. Spend all my money on crotchless underwear. Embrace the disaster that is us.”

Jenny laughed, tears welling in her eyes. “I love you, you know that? More even than I love your wangerdoodle.”

He kissed her nose. “Back atcha, babe. Although my wangerdoodle is pretty damn awesome.” He enfolded her in his arms again and held her tight.

From the kitchen came a lion roar, and more laughter from Brandon.

“Dammit!” Flynn bellowed.

Jenny and Xander sprang apart and stared at each other, eyes wide.

“Oh, God,” Jenny said. “What’s he done now?”

From down the hall, they heard Flynn’s annoyed voice. “Rule #3. Don’t pee on the alpha.”

Jenny closed her eyes. Xander was biting his lips and snorting with laughter. “What?” he said, as she glared at him. “That’s fucking funny.”

“He peed on Flynn!” she whispered. “Can I pretend he isn’t mine?”

Xander shrugged. “Flynn’s fault. Rule #4. Always carry a diaper.”

He grabbed a diaper out of a box on the counter and sauntered off, with Jenny following a few feet behind.

Xander strolled into the kitchen. “Flynn. Think fast.” He lobbed the folded-up diaper at him. Flynn snagged it out of the air, spread it on the counter, plunked Brandon’s butt in the middle of it and did up the tapes with shifter speed.

Xander got out a rag and spray cleaner and started cleaning up the pee that hadn’t landed on Flynn.

He said to Flynn, “Isn’t it going to be fun when everybody starts having cubs?”

“Jesus fuck,” Flynn said. “I’m moving to Tahiti.”

But Jenny saw him tousle Brandon’s hair affectionately after he set him back on the floor.

She leaned against the back of the living-room couch and watched them—Xander finishing up the cleaning, Flynn popping goldfish crackers into his mouth and giving every third or fourth one to Brandon. Trying to wrap her head around the fact that she didn’t have to do everything herself anymore.

Brandon ran over and flung himself against her leg.

“I pee on Alfacat!”

Jenny bit her lips to keep from smiling. “That’s against the rules, sweetheart.”

“Rule numba fee.”

“That’s right.”

Her phone rang, but it was a strange number. Was Anthea somewhere that she couldn’t use her cell? No one else would be calling her.