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“About?”

“Natures are born this way, so I didn’t have a very traditional upbringing. I was curious what a normal family was like. Perhaps I was also curious to get to know another side of you.”

“Well, I don’t know about normal. What do you think so far?”

“It is interesting. Warm. Welcoming. I don’t spend much time around humans when I can avoid it—they’re always noisy and erratic.”

“If you don’t like noisy and erratic, you probably won’t like me or my family.”

He smiled, the expression strange as he always appeared so aloof. “I’m surprised to say I don’t think I mind this form of noise. It is happy in a way I am unaccustomed to. In fact, I think I rather like it.” The look on his face was so soft that it made me go still for a moment.

He always seemed so far away, so different. Yet I’d gotten to watch him in a few new circumstances recently, and it made me recognize just how little I really knew about him.

I wondered what his day to day was like?

I knew it for others, for Galen, for Kelvin, for Ruben. They spent their days working for the council, heading their own clans, taking care of all those problems.

But what about Porter? Part of me imagined he just spent it in the wilds, with the animals like some old-school hippie.

I had a feeling that probably wasn’t entirely true, however, and judging from the strange longing in his eyes, I suspected he felt lonely—at least at times.

“You know,” I said, trying to stop myself from speaking even as I said it. “My mom has an open-door policy. She’d probably love it if you showed up here anytime you wanted.”

He peered over at her, then down at the cat. “Maybe just to visit Molly.”

I laughed at the way he said that, the obvious deception. Still, I could save egos if I wanted. “Right, just for Molly.”

There was no reason a man like Porter should be adorable, but he fucking was…

* * * *

Two hours later and I was exhausted from all the visiting and playing peacemaker.

The only good thing was that the men seemed willing to put their issues aside for the sake of me and my family. They jabbed, just a bit, but nothing that couldn’t be laughed off as a joke between friends.

Even Kelvin and Galen, the worst of the offenders, seemed willing to hold off for at least tonight.

My mom had gone inside with my sister and brother to clean up, leaving Ruben, Galen, Porter, Kelvin, and myself outside.

“Well, this went better than I would have figured,” Kelvin said with a knowing chuckle.

The asshole didn’t even pretend to be sorry for being the person at fault for all of this.

“Oh, don’t think I won’t get you back for this.”

“I look forward to it. Besides, what was I to say when your mom asked? You know me—I can’t resist a pretty woman’s request.”

“First, don’t call my mom a pretty woman like that—it’s gross. Secondly, I’ll skip over the fact that you were even talking to her, and go straight to very real option you had of saying no! You could have told her that I didn’t want a party, or that you didn’t know any of my friends. Why would you possibly think this was a good idea?”

“I figured if you had the inside track, you wouldn’t give it up,” Galen said, a beer in his hand. “You’re not one to give up an advantage.”

Kelvin waved off the suspicion. “I’m playing the long game here. It’s better to know your enemies, to defeat them fully prepared. The biggest risk in any fight is to underestimate an enemy, to assume you’ve won before you have. That isn’t a mistake I like to make.”

“You didn’t invite me,” Ruben pointed out.

Kelvin grinned. “Did I hurt your feelings? Honestly, this”—he waved his hand between Ruben and me—“surprised me quite a bit. I’d seen tall and grumpy watching our little bird, but I hadn’t thought he had it in him to actually make a move.”

“You really are an asshole,” I said to quiet Kelvin down. “And you don’t know shit, by the way.”