“She’d be pushing for more trips, more time away from school, and screaming the house down when she didn’t get it,” he replied. “I get it. I grew up around four other alphas. I know what bastards we can be.”
“Was he ever!” Jimmy said with a grin. “If you want stories about this young fella, I can help you out.”
“Stories, you say?” I laughed as Damon’s face fell, his eyes darting from Jimmy to me and then back again. “Tell me more.”
So he did,regaling me with tales of a rambunctious pack of boys that seemed to fall all over themselves to get in trouble. From riding bikes off the roof into pools and trying to tame half feral brumbies, to getting in amongst a cattle muster and almost being stomped, to playing with fertiliser and other ingredients to test whether or not you really could create a bomb from them. I was laughing so hard my ribs hurt by the time we’d driven around to the paddocks.
“Now I’m remembering why I never brought a girl down here,” Damon groused as we pulled up the front of what looked to me like heaven.
“Oh my god,” I squeaked. “They’re teddy bears!”
They weren’t really, but the thick pelted creatures were covered in poodle-like coat that just made their elongated frames look all soft and squishy, like a teddy bear. I was undoing my belt and scrambling to get out of the ATV when I paused.
“Do they spit?” My brain frantically tried to remember the salient points ofTheEmperor’s New Groove. “Do they kick or bite?”
“Definitely a city girl,” Jimmy said to Damon with a smirk, before moving to the back of the cart.
“If they’ve got their ears back and are staring you down, GTFO,” Damon explained, “but seriously, they bring school groups full of kiddies through here. C’mon.”
He took my hand and drew me closer, the paddock a sea of green grass and fluffy creatures. Their heads perked up when they noticed us, ambling over on their big padded feet.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, “they look so soft.”
“And are not likely to understand what you’re saying, so no point whispering,” Jimmy said.
He carried a couple of containers that looked like oversized dog food bowls and then nodded to Damon who moved over to the fence, putting his foot down on the bottom wire so Jimmy could swing through then indicating to me to do the same. I approached much more cautiously, climbing through with considerably less grace, then stumbling into the paddock. Damon just chuckled as he threw himself over the top of the fence with the kind of athleticism that caught my eye and made my teeth grind at the same time. So hot, and so unfair he was not a klutz. Then he took my hand and drew me closer to where the animals were clustered around Jimmy.
“Here you go, love,” Jimmy told me. “Just hold the bowl out from your body. They’re skittish beasties, so they probably won’t get too close at first, but they love their lucerne.”
I blinked, looking down at the green chaff in the bowl, and then eyed the alpacas standing, watching me cautiously. A few heads went up, floofy feet shifting as I held it out.
“That’s it,” Damon said, moving behind me.
As his arms went around me, as he flattened his body against mine, the alpacas edged forward, their nostrils flaring, those massive liquid brown eyes inspecting the two of us with care. But when a big caramel coloured one sniffed at the bowl, then chanced a nibble, I sucked a breath in and held it as others came to join.
Jimmy showed no such reticence. Alpacas came and snuffled at his hair and jacket, obviously looking for more food, and he tossed the contents of his bowl out onto the grass. Some animals went after that, but others just seemed to like being around him. He rubbed his big hands through their pelts, tugging on ears and scratching noses until I felt a similar snuffle.
“Damon?”
“Looks like someone’s jealous,” he said, pulling away to let a big white beast nose through my hair. I chuckled, then eyed the animal warily out of the corner of my eye, wanting to make sure its ears weren’t back. “Just relax. He likes you.” A lot liked me, apparently. They got bolder and bolder, shoving their heads under my hands, their noses into my armpits, my jacket. “It’s OK,” Damon soothed. “If you’re calm, they’re calm.”
“Why do I feel like this is some kind of a training exercise for things to come?” I hissed at him, eyeing Jimmy as he walked further into the field.
“Oh, I like the way you think, beta,” he purred. “But if you think I’m gonna be the one talking you down as my brothers swarm all over you, think again. I’ll be right there with them.”
His teeth nipped at my neck, leaving a sting there before he pulled away again.
Chapter 41
“Well, if this doesn’t get you laid, there’s no hope for you, lad,” Jimmy told Damon.
The farm had a bistro and swanky cabins people paid to stay in and right now we were sitting on the big open patio area, drinks on the table in front of us and an orphan baby alpaca by my side. He was feeding very enthusiastically from the bottle I was holding under the table. Apparently, the babies liked to feed under something, replicating reaching under their mother’s belly for her teat.
“There you are!”
A small, well-rounded woman came out toting a big wooden charcuterie board, another massive alpha at her back carrying another. The food was set down on the table and she rushed around to Damon, enfolding him a hug, something he pretended to struggle with.
“It’s been forever since I've seen you.” The woman held him at arm’s length to inspect and then turned to me with her hand out. “I’m Barb, by the way.”