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“How’s that going, Brayden?” he asked, inclining his head toward the saw.
He heart raced and he stared at Zeke. “Good, good. I appreciate you all letting me borrow the saw.” He swallowed hard, finding a smile. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, he’d been welcomed, and he was a guardian, not a child. “You startled me.”
“Not a problem, and sorry.”
“Did you need something?” He closed his eyes for a second. “Hey, that was incredibly rude. I meant, did you need something specific? If you need the saw I can wait for a while.”
“Frankly I just came out to get out of the house for a minute, but I also wanted to check and make sure you didn’t need a new blade. It occurred to me you might not know where we store them.”
Brayden had to chuff at that. Zeke had a huge house full of people with lots and lots of children. He imagined it got incredibly noisy and Zeke had been sort of notorious at one point for being grumpy. Much like his Harden.
“I think I understand. But this blade doesn’t seem to be in any danger of snapping, so I’m good.”
“Good. Good. How are you doing with Harden? I mean you can tell me to mind my own fucking business if you want to.”
He grinned. This was the kind of conversation Sloan usually had, alpha to alpha, not him, but he liked it. “We’re doing really well. This is for my hoard. He wants me to hang it up in the house and admire it. He’s already been polishing the charms for me.”
“Now that’s a good mate.”
“I admire his hoard every day. He has the bwostfol.”
“From what I understand, he’s amazing.” Zeke chuckled and shook his head. “He and Samuel really have to get together and make friends.”
“I think they are. Harden’s spoken about Samuel a lot. He adores Sebastian. Sebby makes him smile.”
Zeke beamed at him. “Oh, that’s good to hear. Sebby is amazing. Can’t believe he’s at college.”
“Is he happy?”
“He lonely. He’s not thriving like Arielle.”
“There’s no shame in coming home if he needs to.”
“I know. I’ve told him that, and so have his fathers. He’s determined to stick it out for at least the rest of this term. I know he wants to find that satisfaction in getting a degree, but he has animal husbandry down pretty well. I think if he apprenticed with Harden it might be better.”
“I could speak to Hardin if you’d like.”
“You could give him a heads up. I would appreciate it. If he’s not easy with the idea then don’t worry about it, but if he’s willing...”
“I’m sure he will be. Like I said he loves Sebby.” Brayden adored the kid too. He was cheerful, happy, super good with animals, and just a lot of fun to have around.
“But Arielle seems to be doing great. She’s still not speaking to either one of her parents, which is awkward, but she is talking to Tyson.”
He winced. “Young adults are so tough.”
Zeke sat and began to organize a cabinet of parts. “And these young adults, especially Arielle, remember being in the human world. Remember the rules there. Remember functioning there.”
“Wow that’s really hard. It’s hard for me, and I’ve been around a very long time.”
“Exactly. Our problem, me and my clutch from Utah, is that we’ve been hidden away from any world for a long time. But Arielle, she had a little bit of freedom when she was first around. Things started tightening up as she became a kindergartner but she and Egan used to go antique shopping.”
Brayden got the feeling Zeke was a little lonely, too. Not in that he had no family but in a way that he had no one to talk to as just a friend.
“It sucks. I’m sorry it’s so hard. If there’s anything I can do, you can just tell me.” He studied the board he’d been cutting. Maybe he should use the chisel and file to put an edge on all of them. That would be pretty.
“I will. I appreciate you letting me come out here and ramble at you.”
“You can help me if you want and stay and ramble some more.” He held up a board. “I was thinking about putting a nice decorative edge on this, something maybe scallopy.”
