Page 114 of Monster Daddies

“That’s wonderful.” It made keeping him safe in the woods easier at the very least. “The first one is the path that leads to the walking trails in the state park. So lots of fun but lots of humans. The second one goes to my village. The third one goes to the play park with swings and then will lead us to my house if we go a bit further than that.”

Most humans and even a lot of non-humans would only see the first one, though. The spells that had been placed on the land were strong and it wreaked havoc with some groups’ senses. The local shifters claimed the area made them motion sick for some reason.

It kept us off of human social media, though, so everyone decided it was worth a bit of Dramamine.

Thankfully, Alton didn’t seem to have that problem which had me wondering more about his background. I wasn’t going to poke at Alton in his current headspace, however.

I could be nosy later.

“I like swings.” Rocking back and forth like he was imagining being on the swings, he smiled then looked nervous. “Can… can I play?”

There were several reasons he could be asking the question, but I nodded and tried to find a good way to respond to as many of them as possible. “Yes. We’ll have privacy because there was no one playing when I walked past it. The only family that has small kids right now are off visiting the wife’s family. So we can have as much fun as we want and no one else will care even if they accidentally see it.”

We would never be the most interesting people in the village.

Something about small communities made them either go frighteningly openminded or incredibly judgmental and mine had gone the openminded route. Although everyone mostly kept their interesting bits as private as possible since that was just how we seemed to be wired.

“Oh.” Wiggling excitedly, Alton didn’t seem to mind the idea of being seen but I knew we’d have to address that specifically later. “I like playing. The… the lady said I could have a swing in my backyard. She said… she said my Daddy would like that.”

Interesting.

“She’s right.” Because I was definitely going to be his Daddy and the swing was basically in his backyard already. “Should we go see it?”

Nodding, Alton sat straighter and looked like he was ready to jump off the picnic table. “Can… can I bring my water?”

“Yes.” Picking up the bottle he’d walked over with, I looked toward his car. “Do you have a snack or any toys you want to bring with us?”

That had his eyes going wide and he gaped at me for several long seconds. Considering it was a much more startled response than I’d gotten when I’d walked out of the woods, it was telling. “I… I can bring Bouncy?”

Hoping that wasn’t a dog or something actually alive, I nodded. “Yes. Let’s go grab… Bouncy?”

Please let it not be a dog.

Please let it not be a dog.

They never reacted well to my species and I had no desire to be tracked through the woods every time it saw me.

Having one beagle in the village was enough to make everyone realize we just weren’t made for dogs.

Thank the gods above.

It was a stuffed kangaroo.

“Bouncy.” Alton beamed as he pulled it out of a small toy animal carrier from the passenger seat, strapped in and everything, then held up his friend for me to see. “She’s bossy.”

I wasn’t sure if I could laugh at that or not, so I took the comment seriously. “I find that a lot of women are, but they’re necessary for society.”

Men of most species didn’t do well without them.

Giggling, Alton nodded. “Moms are bossy. Girls are bossy. Work girls are bossy. They do stuff.”

That was a very good way to explain it.

“They do.” As he locked the car again, he looked down at his keys and frowned. “Here.”

Clearly Daddy did the carrying.

“Thank you.” Pushing back the desire to kiss his head, after putting them in my pocket, I held out my hand. “Is this okay?”