Cry wolf! (Sequel of 7 mates for 7 brothers)

Traitor

He waited until Rudi nodded his head, the tenseness in his shoulders relaxing.

“I remember, she had not gone into season yet, so even though he knew she was his mate, his wolf did not demand to complete the mating process.”

Clasping his friend’s shoulder Alex stood up to leave.  “That’s right.  Even though we are generally over enthusiastic where our mates are concerned; if they are not fully adult, nothing at all will happen.”

They all walked to the door and when they stood outside, Alex shook Rudi’s hand, again congratulating him on the birth of his and Dina’s daughter.  Rudi also accepted Tyler’s hand when he held it out towards him.

“She is really a sweet baby.”  The young boy said.

“Thank you Tyler.”  Shaking the little hand he wondered whether he should say anything about them being mates.  “At least I will have someone to help me look out for her now.”

Tyler frowned at him.  “I would have looked out for her anyway like I do for the others.  But I will look out for her extra hard, don’t you worry.”

Rudi almost choked.  Why did that sound more like a friendly threat?  He soon found out.

Later that day Rudi frowned in frustration.  Dinah was sleeping; at least she was if this racket hadn’t woken her up yet.  This was not the first time he was giving one of his new babies a bath darn it.  It should not be this hard!  Obviously Mandy had other ideas.  He let out a long and hard breath through pursed lips, almost sounding like a horse in the process.  And even that did not make little girl quiet up.  She had started of with a gentle sobbing that soon turned pretty ugly; and he had only managed to wash her hair so far!

He gritted his teeth and decided to finish the job and get it over with.  Once she was dry and dressed he could try to get her to calm down again.  Or else he would have to wake Dinah and he really thought that she could do with some more sleep.

This delivery was the worst Dinah had gone through, and to be honest, he was starting to think that it should be the last.  There was a seven year difference between the youngest and oldest; perhaps they should leave it at that.  And with four children, he felt that they had made their contribution for posterity.

A loud splash and a wave of soapy water, that hit him in the face as she kicked, brought him out of his day dreaming.  A small hand pushed him lightly to the side as it reached out to hold Mandy under her neck and head as he lowered her almost completely under the warm water.

Rudi stepped to the side after letting go of the baby girl that was calming down.  ‘Traitor’ he thought at her as he watched Tyler use his free hand to send small waves of water to lap softly under her chin.  The boy was cooing softly as he calmed her down.  When she was lying quietly he used his free hand to press the dispenser down to get some of the liquid baby soap on his hand.  He started at her hand that was lying on top of her tummy.  He soaped her hand and arm, making sure to clean all the creases new babies have.  When he soaped her under her neck he tickled her gently and she gurgled in surprise.  To both Tyler and Rudi’s amusement they discovered she was ticklish between her toes when he washed her scrunched up feet.

Rudi knew that Tyler had a lot of experience helping Cassy take care of her younger children. But when Mandy was practically clean except for a few ‘delicate’ places, he started squirming and his hands itched to grab his daughter away from Tyler.

Tyler rolled his eyes.  He could feel the way Rudi was working himself up.  It sounded like a distant avalanche that was rolling closer and closer.  Were all parents like this?