Page 44 of Far from Destined

I met Dakota’s gaze, knowing she needed to handle this.

Dakota knelt closer to her son. “They aren’t ours, baby. But we can make sure they’re safe for now.”

“But what happens when they’re all better? Are they going to a shelter? One of the ones that kills them?”

I closed my eyes and held back a groan as Dakota gave me a pleading look.

“They aren’t going to a shelter,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but Macon will help us. You know that we can’t take care of five cats. And these are babies. They’re going to need lots of attention. But we’ll do our best to help.”

I cleared my throat. “Your mom’s right. They’re going to need a lot of love and nurturing.”

“I can love.”

“I know you can.” I ignored how my heart ached at that.

“Are they feral?” Dakota asked, and Joshua’s gaze traveled between us.

I shook my head. “No, the mama cat’s domesticated. I’ll have to check for a chip tomorrow.” I looked at Joshua. “If she’s chipped, that means she most likely has a home somewhere, and we’re going to want to reunite her with her family. She might’ve gotten lost and scared. But you helped find her and are taking care of her now. That counts for something.”

“I don’t want her to be sad.” Joshua reached out and ran his hand over one of the babies. The momma cat looked at the little boy with such love and trust that I knew this was going to hurt when we split them up.

“Neither do I,” I said.

Dakota leaned closer. “Should we bring her inside then since she’s domesticated?”

I nodded, noticing that the weather was a bit chilly. “That would be best.”

“They can go in my laundry room. I have a little sectioned-off area so the kittens can’t get into anything but are still warm and not lost in my couch or something.”

I snorted at that. “Okay, we can do that.”

It took a little maneuvering, and we were cautious about moving everybody with Joshua helping to hold the kittens. The kid looked like he was in love, and honestly, so did Dakota. Even if she appeared scared as hell about what would happen when she had to say goodbye to these cats. Because I had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to keep all five.

“Thank you so much,” she said after Joshua had fallen asleep on the floor next to the cats’ box.

“You’re welcome. I’m always here if you need me.”

“As I said before, sometimes I wish I could just call you without needing something.”

I tucked her hair behind her ear without thinking and swallowed hard. “You’re always welcome to call me. I like the sound of your voice.”

She didn’t back away. Instead, she let out a sigh and leaned into me. “I wish you wouldn’t fight.”

“I don’t think I’m going to do it for much longer,” I replied honestly.

“Good. Because I don’t like the bruises on you.”

“I told Joshua it was from boxing. Which is the truth. But I don’t want to show up around him beat up again.”

“Okay,” she said. “I should get him to bed.”

“I’ll help.”

“You help with so much, Macon. But you never take anything.”

“That’s not what friends do,” I whispered and kissed the top of her head, not knowing that I was doing so until it was already too late.

I helped tuck Joshua into bed and then went back to looking at the kittens.