Page 69 of Free for Adventure

She tried to agree, but she had his tongue in her mouth.

The next evening, they sat with the royal family when the orcas walked in.

Amby blinked when Hara surged to her feet, and Narro did as well. They rushed Thera and picked her up, squealing.

Kekoa grinned. “I think they know her.”

Alohi nodded. “Good guess. I knew you were king for a reason.”

The pod made it to the petitioner’s spot before Kekoa and Orc made the pitch for a memorial for Thera’s father. Andrej had been a force to be reckoned with, and older members of the community beloved him.

Orc said, “We have plenty of footage from documentaries and local albums, and the new siren can do a track for it.”

Kekoa asked, “It sounds very pleasant. What do you need from me?”

“Authorization to do it. It’s going to take a lot of the public square and might interfere with date night.” Orc smiled. “We were thinking of making an ocean awareness event.”

“We?”

“Skaay, Kayak, and myself. We knew Andrej and his causes fairly well. His first concern was his daughter, his second concern was the ocean, and the third was fun. We would like to honour all three.”

“Teehee doesn’t get a vote?”

Orc grinned. “No, she doesn’t. We are helping her with her grieving by remembering the man that we saw, that she didn’t.”

Kekoa glanced toward his beta and other alpha. “When do you want to have this event?”

“In about two weeks, but we also want to name one of the distant islands Andrej’s Point.”

Kekoa tilted his head. “Which one?”

Orc brought out a map and unrolled it. There was a tiny speck of land at the tip of the Wonder Islands. It was in the path of plenty of migratory whales, and it was where Andrej had spent years of his life. “Ideally, we would get a plaque and mount it to the cliff face of the island if you agree.”

Amby watched Hara smile and hop up and down next to Thera. She counted down from ten, and Kekoa caved at three.

“Fine. Make the arrangements with our minister of tourism. She arrives tomorrow.”

Orc grinned. “Fine?”

“Fine. Yes. Go ahead. Teehee was fun to watch grow up. Everyone knows her, and everyone knows you. She is part of our community, and each of us had a hand in keeping her on the path of a good citizen.”

Kekoa glanced at the gathering and started laughing. “You might want to rephrase that last one.”

Thera had Kayak in a headlock and was punching him in the gut playfully. He grabbed her and flipped her over his shoulder, and she squealed with laughter.

Kekoa shook his head. “Nice to know some things never change.”

Skaay pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“And other things do.”

Amby sat with Ohno and Dorian while Exoval and Alohi glared at each other like two cats fighting over territory.

It had a very family holiday vibe, and Amby pulled Exoval toward her. “Don’t focus on him unless you want to drop me and move on.”

Exoval looked at her and gave her a slow smile. “Never. Sorry. Old habits die hard.”

Amby grinned and kissed her omega while Hara and Narro slowly returned to Kekoa’s side.