"Uh," he said. "Yes. Actually, there’s an old manor on the north side that isn’t being used. It’s got a few buildings on the property, a main house, and so outbuildings. Would that work?"
Felicity looked at Victor.
He stood three paces ahead, his silver hair catching the late afternoon light, his wings folded neatly but not fully relaxed. His red eyes t hers, and she watched him assess the location, the distance from the wall, the sightlines, the exits. She could practically see the strategy forming behind those crimson irises.
Then he nodded.
"Mm," Felicity said.
It was settled.
"Well!" Alice’s voice cut through the mont like a knife through silk. She stepped forward, pushing past her husband, who reached for her elbow and missed and fixed Kael with a bright, eager smile. Her white and brown ragdoll hair was tangled from the journey, but she’d clearly tried to fix it, and her blue eyes shone with sothing that looked like excitent. "I’m interested in the place you recomnded! The one for families with cubs. It sounds lovely."
Kael blinked at her. His gaze travelled past Alice to her prey beast husbands and nervous posture, beastn hovering behind her like anxious shadows. Sothing moved across Kael’s face. Not quite confusion. More like he was doing math, and the numbers weren’t adding up.
"Ah," he said. He scratched the back of his neck. "That one’s... for families with cubs. But I can show you to a different residence. One with a view. Of the, uh. The valley."
Alice’s smile didn’t waver, but sothing tightened around her eyes. "Oh. Well. That sounds nice too."
Kael nodded and turned away quickly, his tail giving a single, dismissive flick that Felicity absolutely was not ant to see. She saw it anyway. Her fox ears caught everything.
She looked at Alice. Alice was already looking at her with a quick, sharp glance, there and gone, and then she was smiling again, linking arms with her husband and chattering about how exciting it all was.
Felicity’s tail twitched. She said nothing. She just bent down and scooped Luna into her arms. The little girl was getting heavy, all solid muscle and growing bones, and let Frost wrap himself around her leg like a barnacle.
"Show us the manor," she said to Kael’s back.
Kael led them through the gate and down a wide, tree-lined path that wound past the main thoroughfare of the base. The buildings changed as they walked—the closer they got to the north wall, the older the architecture beca, remnants of a world before the fall. Stone walls gave way to iron fences, and then the fences opened onto a gravel drive that curved around a stand of eucalyptus trees.
And then she saw it.
[Photo]
The manor rose out of the beautifully maintained gardens like sothing from a dream Felicity had forgotten she’d had. Victorian, sandstone, with a wraparound veranda and iron lacework that climbed the columns in delicate spirals. The roof was slate, cracked in places but still mostly intact, and the windows were tall and arched, reflecting the late afternoon sun in warm gold. A massive jacaranda tree stood sentinel beside the front steps, its purple blooms scattered across the lawn like spilled paint.
Beyond the main house, the gardens sprawled in every direction, formal hedges gone wild, rosebushes climbing trellises that had long since given up trying to contain them, and a stone pathway that led to what looked like a swimming pool, its water green and still, but the surrounding tiles intact. Further still, a tennis court, its net sagging but the lines still visible beneath the weeds.
Felicity’s breath caught in her chest.
"It’s... it’s beautiful," she said, and ant it.
Kael shifted his weight beside her. "Been empty for a while, the family that owned it left during the early evacuations. No one’s claid it since." He pointed past the main house, toward a cluster of smaller buildings set back among the trees. "There are three guest houses on the property. Sa style, smaller. Also empty. Your other teams could take those, if you wanted."
She turned to look at him. His yellow eyes t hers for exactly half a second before darting away, and she caught the faintest flush creeping up under his striped fur.
"Once you’re settled," he said, speaking to the ground now, "if one of your, uh, husbands could co et at the main gate, we can arrange a ti for you to et the head of Bowral. Commander Young would want to debrief."
"Of course," Felicity said. She gave him her warst smile, the one that crinkled the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, Kael. Truly."
The tiger beastman’s tail gave a single, stiff jerk. "Right. Well. I’ll just..." He took a step backward. Then another. "I’ll be at the gate."
He turned and walked away. Then he walked faster. Then he was nearly jogging, his shoulders hunched, his ears flat against his skull.
Felicity watched him go, bemused, until she turned and caught the source of his terror.
Every single one of her husbands was staring after Kael with expressions that ranged from Damien’s flat, predatory stillness to Victor’s barely contained growl to Voss’s bared teeth. Exile’s pupils had gone vertical. Even Ivan, who was usually so controlled, was about ready to kill him.
"Oh for f-" Felicity started.
Exile moved before she could finish. One mont she was standing with Luna in her arms and Frost on her leg, and the next she was scooped up against a broad, warm chest, her daughter tucked safely between them, and Frost clinging to Exile’s free arm like a monkey.
"Inside," Exile rumbled, and carried her up the veranda steps and through the front door without waiting for anyone else.
The interior was cool and dim, slling of dust and old wood and sothing faintly floral. Sunlight stread through the arched windows in golden shafts, illuminating a wide central hallway with high ceilings and crown moulding. The floors were hardwood, scarred but solid, and a grand staircase curved upward to the second floor. Doorways branched off on either side of a formal dining room, a sitting room, and a study. Everything was clean, which was a minor miracle, but empty. No furniture or curtains. Just bare rooms and bare walls and the quiet promise of space.
Exile set her down carefully. Luna slid from her arms and imdiately began exploring, her small feet padding across the hardwood, her fox ears swivelling at every creak.
"No furniture," Felicity observed, running her hand along the mantelpiece of the sitting room fireplace. It was marble, cool and smooth beneath her fingers. "We’ll need to build so."
"There’s a fireplace," Luna said, crouching to peer in. "Two, three? Mama, there are lots of fireplaces."
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