Cannibal Princess
Magdalena Liendo
This is a list of Short Stories that have been released, usually in the monthly newsletter, and are listed in chronological order (not by publication date). They can be read here and back issues of the newsletter can be read at MadMimi.com. Deleted Scenes have their own page.
Zach's little nephew, Bryan, is helping Tamsyn in her garden when Nathan gets home. Afterwards, Nathan asks Tamsyn what she thinks about trying for kids of their own, which she'd been ready for since they were newly mated, but he hadn't been. Nathan detects her pregnancy, as mates usually are the first to know, and their twins arrive seven and a half months later.
While Tamsyn and Nathan are out of state, Lucas and Sascha look after Roman and Julian. They ask Sascha for a bedtime story and she quietly panics because she never had bedtime stories as a kid. Lucas comes to the rescue and tells a story about a cannibal princess who likes to eat little boys glazed with honey and some pineapple, but one of her intended victims manages to outwit her and her minions.
Later, Lucas asks Sascha when she'll tell him a story and she ponders it for a moment, then says she has to do more research first. He suggests telling a story together and she starts it off with there was a princess who lived with a panther.
Brenna goes to get extensions to fix what Santano Enrique did to her hair and Faith, Sascha, and Tamsyn are already there getting pedicures. Even though the process is expensive, Miss Leozandra doesn't charge her because of some work Brenna had done the year before on her computer system, which means she won't have to replace it for years.
The Ryder twins, in leopard form, sneak up on Brenna and nip at her ankle. They spent most of the day with soldiers and sentinels, then Clay kept an eye on them while Tammy was at the salon, so they were playing at stalking her as prey. Julian, through Sascha, says that Brenna's pretty, even if she is a wolf and likes her new hair even if it's not as dark as his own coat.
Since Judd's not comfortable in restaurants, they stay in and make pizzas on a date night. Brenna tells him to pick a movie, but he tries to pick something he knows she'll like and she calls him on it. She to learn what he enjoys, but he admits he doesn't know. So, she suggests action flicks as a starting point and he chooses a terrible one involving snakes in a jungle while making observations like the snakes used in it aren't even venomous. By the end, Brenna's laughing so hard she's crying, especially when his sly sense of humour emerges. Then, he selects another movie in the same vein with the same lead actor as the last one.
After Dorian and Keenan fix the leaky kitchen sink, Dorian thinks they deserve some of the cookies Ashaya's icing. She teases her mate, threatening to withhold both cookies and the cupcakes she baked while he and Keenan watched cartoons earlier. The smell of the baking attracts Kit who was passing by while on watch duty and she tells him he can only have one of each because they're for the pack holiday party the next day.
Clay, Talin, Jon, and Noor arrive and are also treated, although Clay and Jon conspire to "steal" them behind Ashaya's back. She enlists them all with helping her replace the ones they demolished and helps Talin since the cake she'd tried to make for the party collapsed, although Jon valiantly made sure it didn't go to waste.
Amidst the domesticity, Clay and Dorian share a moment of awe because a couple of years ago neither of them thought they'd ever be this happy or have mates and kids. They discuss repairing the lights on the pack tree (which Roman and Julian chewed through), how Jon's settling into the pack, and how he gets along with Noor. They're both incredibly proud of Jon. They swap stories of how Kylie and Talin would make them have tea parties with them and their dolls just like Noor does with Jon.
Clay tells Dorian of Jon's crush on Kit's older sister, Rina, and they make a bet where if Jon ever manages to win the dominant female leopard over, Dorian has to make Clay a cake with frilly pink frosting. When Ashaya asks what they're up to, they say they're discussing baking cakes and their mates suggest a baking competition between the two of them with the juvenile males egging them on and volunteering as judges.
Faith complains about the dust from Vaughn's sculpting getting everywhere and wants to clean, but he wants to play. She uses illusion to distract him, but his awe of her ability is partly a ploy to get closer to her. Pouncing, he shakes his dusty hair all over her. There's more play of a different kind and the lair's eventually cleaned.
Clay's been working on home renovations since Jon and Noor have grown and are more settled in their new lives so a little more room was needed; Noor's taken to calling them Mommy and Papa. Poor Talin had cried happy tears the first time she called them that.
Noor's room's still on the same level as their bedroom because she sometimes has nightmare and climbs into bed with them. Jon's room's slightly detached from the main aerie and connected via a walkway. Dorian's proud of how well Jon's adjusting and growing as a person.
Noor is in love with her new princess canopy bed and Jon helps her arrange her stuffed animals on it. She's not as impressed with his surprise: a new commscreen of his own as a reward for getting good grades. Then she crawls into his lap and he plays her favourite cartoon on it.
Hawke's aware he's being followed by someone trying to be stealthy, but not quite succeeding when he stops to talk to Riley and then when he gets his phone from his office. Riaz asks if he's aware he has a shadow and Hawke says the pup isn't that bad, just pretend you don't see him. Hawke heads outside and shifts and he and his little stalker watch the waterfall for awhile. When they shift back, Ben excitedly asks if Hawke saw he "stalkeded" him because he's been practicing. He's very good for his age, even better than some older kids. Hawke remembers doing the same with his his father when he was a kid and his dad would pretend not to see him either.
Mercy, who thinks she's already showing belly, and Riley are making dinner when her three brothers descend upon them, bartering for entry with a pineapple upside down cake, her favourite. The brothers pitch in and Mercy asks Bastien about his new girlfriend. Bastien warns Mercy away from her. Since Bastien had called him "Herb" earlier, Sage gets back at him by telling Mercy that Bas' girlfriend is a kindergarten teacher who sweet, smart, and has a sweet drawl. Bastien says if Mercy scares her away, he'll teach the pupcubs the worst tricks he knows. Despite her tendency to run off women she feels don't treat her brothers right, Mercy hadn't intended to this time and he deserves to be loved, too, so she promises to behave. Bas just snorts and tells her to bring it on.
While SnowDancer's getting ready for a party, Marlee gets into the cake and tries to find Ben to bring him some. She finds him crying in the inner perimeter and, hugging him, asks if he fell. He did and broke an ornament - a "bobble" - he'd worked really hard on for a week for his mom; it's round plastic with pictures of his family and glittery snowflakes he drew himself.
She takes him to find her uncle Judd to ask him for help and he greets the two with a smile and a hug. Marlee knows that it's not easy for him to show emotion and how he was hurt over and over again to become an Arrow, even though no one in her family knows that she knows this. He asks her if she tried to use her nascent Tk, but she was afraid making it worse. So using his Tk-Cell ability, he carefully pops the dent back out and replaces a small piece that broke and fell inside the bobble. Ben gives him a big hug in thanks.
Uncle Judd offers them a "ride" to Indigo's office because he's pretty sure that's where Ava is at the moment. As soon as they teleport in, Ben tells him mom what happened at rapid-fire. Marlee whispers to Indigo that she thinks Ava's going to cry. Indigo agrees, saying her own tough, stony heart's melting. Marlee says she doesn't have a tough, stony heart because she recently sent roses to "Uncle" Drew, ruining poor Indigo's reputation.
Marlee remembers how Ben taught her how to laugh, which she hadn't known when she first came to SnowDancer, and is glad she no longer has to bottle up her emotions. She wonders briefly what Ben will be like as an adult, but forgets when Ben suggests getting more cake.
Lara finds Toby "stealing" his baby cousin from his crib because he thinks Heath might like to meet the pupcubs who've just arrived at the den with their dad, Riley. She lets him know she's headed over to the infirmary and he reminds her that she's supposed to be taking things easy for a bit longer, which makes her maternal heart melt and she says he's just like Walker. Toby likes that and would like nothing more than to grow up to be just like his uncle.
Ben's little sister, Elodie, joins them in wolf form and tags along to see the triplets. They pass a yearmate of Toby's, Miyoko, who's off to a date. Poor Toby has a crush on her, but knows she just wants to be friends without having to ask, thanks to his Empathy.
Hawke finds him in the hallway and walks with him, saying they need to talk, which is intimidating to Toby because he knows right then that he's talking to his alpha and not his brother-in-law. And he was recently part of a prank that involved wrapping Hawke's entire office in wrapping paper, including the pen. But Hawke reassures him he's not in trouble, he was just wondering why Toby hadn't signed up for the basic soldier module.
Toby hadn't considered it because his empathy's generally incompatible with physical conflict and he has no natural offensive abilities. Hawke describes what Riley does with organizing, scheduling, and ensuring the soldiers work as a team and suggests Toby shadow him to see if that's something he'd like to do. He thinks it'd be a good fit for Toby and he reminds him that wolves aren't just muscle, their strength comes from working as a unit which means communication is critical.
93ddb68554