Chapter 152

Tonight, the meal plan was Shepherd's Pie, and Shannon planned to make the whole thing from scratch. Since she did not know how versed Sophie was in knife safety, she was given the job of dealing with the potatoes. While Shannon took care of the boiling and peeling side of them, she left Sophie to try her best to mash the potatoes. While it was a little lumpy, the recently boiled taters mixed with butter were mashed fairly well. Instead of picking it up and finishing it for her though, Shannon took the moment to help her learn a bit more in depth about the work that went into food prep while the veggies and meat was sautéing in a pan. First was grip and how she held the tools. As soon as Sophie tried it herself, she noticed an immediate improvement in the way the tool worked in her hands. Eagerly, she listened as everything else regarding the potatoes was explained, including what she had done right and wrong. It took a few more tries, but Sophie eventually managed to get a passable job done. They both knew that she would need more practice to get better, but Sophie was excited to learn more.

Then, the big reveal finally came half-an-hour later, when the canines stopped their stretches and gathered for dinner. Sophie watched expectantly to see what their opinions of it were. As she watched as they took the first bite, no words were said. That did not matter though, as it wasn't even half a second later when they ate the second. Just as usual, none of the canines spared any time, and just wolfed down the food as fast as they could. Sophie was conflicted how to feel about this, until Shannon whispered in her ear, "The best compliment a chef could receive is silence, because that is the sound when everyone is satisfied and content." After hearing that, a silly grin filled the girl's face, and not even stuffing her own face full of the food could hide the brightness that flowed up to her eyes.

After supper, the long day finally caught up with the little one, as Sophie yawned loud and hard into the sky. As Natalie took the time to get everything used for supper cleaned up, Shannon took the munchkin over to the tent and tucked her in. Neither could join yet, but promised that they would be joining her in bed shortly. It only took a few seconds from her head hitting the pillow for Sophie to fall asleep where she lay. Carefully, so as to not disturb her, Shannon pulled the blankets over her and crept out of the tent.

As she went to join Natalie over by the now dwindling fire, she noticed that most of the canines had called it a night in the Soulscape. The only ones that were outside were the usual culprits, with the coyotes off both teaching their pups, working out, and keeping watch while Maia and Kali sat by the fire with her love. As she sat down and leaned against Nat, she let out a sigh before a silence filled the camp, crackling of the fire being the only thing audible for anyone. That was until Natalie finally felt the need to ask, "So, do you want to explain a bit more for me?"

"About the whole last name thing?" Shannon asked, slightly turning her head to look at her lover. After seeing her nod, Shannon sighed once more, before sitting back upright. "My family were not the most pleasant growing up. They were a very traditional Irish household, which is to say they were very catholic. My dad was in boxing, so much he owned his own school. My three brothers all got taught how to box alongside their schoolwork, and I had always wanted to join them. However, that was never seen as proper to them. It was all how I needed to become a proper lady, and know how to deal with stuff in the house."

Shannon took a deep breath, and felt her hands ball up as she remembered with a cold distaste. She did relax a bit though when Natalie placed a comforting arm on her back. When she calmed down a little from remembering, she continued, "My desire to join them in fighting was never received kindly. I was expected to be helping in the kitchen, to serve drinks and clean up anything and everything. Of course, I still practiced in secret, but I just was not getting the same practice in that the male side of my family got. My eldest brother actually got a scholarship because of his boxing ability. That was all tough for me, but at least it was manageable. When I found out that I was bi, well that was just the nail in the coffin to my parents. I tried to explain it and be reasonable with them, but they kicked me out of the house. The only way that they said they would let me back in is if I came home with the man who cured me. Cured me, they used those fucking words the last time I saw them. Hearing that, I wanted to just strip off my last name so bad. And well, that led to the chance that I had today. To cast it off entirely, and put that past behind me." She may have gotten angry partway through, but by the end, Shannon had tears streaming down her face as she remembered her parent's words and actions.

Seeing her wife like this, Natalie could not help but fully embrace her, gently rubbing her back. Kali and Maia even got up from the other side of the fire and joined in. As they sat there, hugging it out with the sobbing Shannon, suddenly a large amount of arms and weight was felt around the four. Looking up, they saw that the gorillas had come out as well, mirroring the action that the canines had done earlier for Sophie. The feeling of family rocketed through Shannon, as she felt nothing but acceptance and sorrow through her bond with the apes. They stayed like that till the moon was already rising high into the sky, before finally crawling into bed on either side of their daughter and calling it a night.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Viktor, Saganatsu, Eeleater, John, Hades, Onean, Neal, Sebastian, Ethan, Sir Hellington, Adam, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 50 patrons, which I will then spend more time each month writing some side stories and shorts that show other perspectives throughout my stories!

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