“Seems like they beat us here,” Jake said as he saw the cars already parked outside the cabin.
“I’m guessing they didn’t take three million pee breaks,” I pointed out, and Finlay chuckled. I was out of the car almost the second it stopped moving, Finlay was close behind me. I saw the group standing on the deck in front of the cabin. My mom and dad broke off from them and were hurriedly walking towards me. They stopped about halfway to me.
“Amie! Are you…?” my mom asked, looking at me with big eyes and then switching focus to look at Finlay.
“Yes, mom. We are having a pup,” I happily told her. She let out a mix between a shout and a sob and before I knew it she had me wrapped up in a tight hug. I hadn’t known how much Imissed her hugs until that moment. Her warm, familiar hug and her scent which enveloped me had me teary-eyed in seconds, and I hugged her tightly back. I felt my dad draw both my mom and me into a tight hug and the mix of both their scents sent me back to my childhood and the feeling of being safe and loved washed over me.
“I’m so happy for you, pumpkin,” my dad told me in a low voice and kissed my hair. I could hear the crack in his voice. “And you as well, Finlay,” he added.
“Thank you. We are very happy,” Finlay said from behind me. I was proud of how calm he was.
“Let me have a look at you,” my mom said, pushing me to arms length distance. She had tears running down her face as she looked me up and down. “You look radiantly happy,” she told me.
“I am,” I agreed and smiled through my own tears.
“Finlay, it’s nice to finally get to meet you,” she then said. Finlay smiled at her and reached out his hand. I saw his surprise when she, instead of shaking his hand, drew him into a hug. He froze for a moment and then relaxed and hugged her back.
“It’s nice to meet you as well, I have been looking forward to it,” he told her. My dad had his arm around my shoulders, watching my mom and Finlay as well. I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“You have done good for yourself, pumpkin,” he told me. I just nodded. “Finlay,” he said and held out his hand when my mom finally let go of my mate.
“Ron,” Finlay said and shook my dad’s hand. Then he looked down at me and I saw how happy he was for me, mixed with a small part of worry.
“I’m fine,” I said. He opened his arm and I stepped away from my dad and let Finlay pull me close to him.
“Sure you are,” he agreed.
“How long have you known?” my mom wanted to know.
“About a week,” I said.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought it would be more fun this way,” I confessed.
“I already knew,” Elder bragged as he came walking with Becky, holding a little boy on his arm.
“What?!” Elder locked eyes with our mom and I sensed they were mindlinking. “Oh. Well, that was a good decision,” my mom relented.
“Congratulations to the both of you,” Becky told me. She looked genuinely happy.
“Thank you,” I told her. Both she and my brother kept a little distance between us. It was sweet that they didn’t want to cause Finlay to worry.
“Mino, this is aunt Amie,” Elder said to his son. The boy looked at me with my brother’s eyes and I gave him a huge smile.
“Hello there, Mino. I have been looking forward to meeting you,” I said with a huge smile as I took a couple of steps towards him. I reached my hand forward and after waiting a moment, he took my hand in his little one and we shook. Mino seemed to get a case of shyness after that and hid in his dad’s neck. I didn’t mind. I was just happy to see him, and my wolf added his scent to her memory. Becky gave me a hug. “Was the journey okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I’m happy it wasn’t as long as the one to the Games. How about you? I’m impressed Finlay even let you come.” There were chuckles coming from my pack members.
“Let’s say we have made a tour of all the rest stops between here and the pack land,” I told her and giggled.
“Amie, congratulations. We are so happy for you.” I looked over to the group of people on the deck and saw uncle Mark standing there with Joy. I had been too focused on my parents, I hadn’t looked at the rest of the group.
“Thank you, uncle Mark,” I said and felt Finlay put his arm around my waist and pull me tight to him. I knew he didn’t fully trust the former Alpha and I wasn’t going to object. This trip was hard on him and I was perfectly fine with him being overprotective toward anyone who wasn’t family.
“Luna Amie, Alpha Finlay, congratulations. It is truly a blessing for the pack when the Alpha couple are expecting,” James said. Finlay pulled me even closer and I could feel how close he was to growling. I put my hand on top of his that rested on my hip.
“Alpha James, thank you. Sorry for keeping you waiting, Finn insisted we take regular breaks along the way,” I said.
