Especially after the tragedy of losing Chelsea’s mom and dad they way they had.
Or, the way they all thought they had.
And then, six months later…
A long, slow-motion nightmare began.
Beck must have slept, because he awakened the next morning to the smell of coffee and bacon and the sound of Nami singing to herself out in the kitchen. When he joined her a few minutes later, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the back of her neck.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
“Mornin’, handsome.” She tipped her head back so she could get a peck on the lips that time. “You sleep okay?”
He must have let something slip in his expression because she sighed. “You have a huge heart, wolf man. But you need to learn that your shoulders aren’t the only ones strong enough to support this family.”
Beck wasn’t sure he was ready for this discussion yet. “Can I help you do anything?”
She snorted. “Nice way to change the topic. No, I got this. Take your shower and this’ll be ready by then. I’m heading over to Tamsin’s this morning. I mean Carl and Mateo’s. Brianna and Da’von’s.” She wrinkled her nose at him in that adorable way that always melted his heart. “All of them’s house.” She focused on the bacon again. “You want to do something helpful, let’s get them all moved into someplace bigger. Or closer to Dewi’s. Something.”
He released her after pressing a final kiss to the back of her neck. “That’s the plan. Gillian’s looking at buying property. Our own mini-compound.”
Nami sharply nodded. “Good. We’re gonna need it.” She turned to him and ran a hand over her baby bump, arching an eyebrow at him. “Because I have a feeling this little girl isn’t going to be an only child, Dawson.”
Finally, something to chase away his mental clouds. He set his coffee aside and returned to her, kneeling in front of her to kiss her stomach. “You hear that, sweetie? Mommy said you might just end up being a big sister after all!”
Nami giggled and he loved hearing her make that sound. “Get up, you. Crazy man.”
He stood. “What brought this on?”
“It finally sank in last night thatthisis my family now. Mypack. And we’re gonna have all these babies and kids close in age, anyway. If we start a school here for them, I really want them close together. Not spread apart like me and Da’von. I don’t ever want our kids to think they have to parent their younger siblings. They should be able to grow up as kids.
“Momma did the best she knew how, but I have knowledge and resources and people—and a loving husband—that she didn’t. And I know she’d want me to be happy. I can still go to school part-timeandenjoy our babies’ childhoodsandenjoy being an auntie. I’ll be able to enjoy all of it in a way I couldn’t before, for decades longer than I could before. I literally get to have it all now, meaning I’d be a fool not to take advantage of having it all.” She shooed him out of the kitchen. “Go get your shower before this is done and gets cold.”
He snagged his coffee cup and headed back to do just that, his mind spinning.
Okay, so I overreacted a little yesterday.
It wasn’t fair of him to dump all of that on Dewi—and Duncan—last night. Those were his issues to deal with, not theirs.
I owe some apologies today.
* * *
Nami
After breakfast, Beck insisted on cleaning up the kitchen for Nami so she could go take her shower and get ready.
Despite how upset she’d felt after the cookout last weekend, she was—as she had with Joaquin mating with Malyah—finally accepting the situation.
Part of that was due to witnessing how hard Duncan and Badger were trying to keep Tamsin alive. A process that, to her inexperienced eye, appeared to be incrementally easier each day.
And then last night, feeling the weight and power of Beck’s old grief…
The roots of this family ran deep and were tightly twined with each other.
Nami wasn’t merely an outsider marrying into the group—shewasfamily. All of them were. Including Reggie’s family now, even though they didn’t and couldn’t know the full extent of it. The Targhee Pack had extended those branches to enfold her in their protection and welcomed her to sink her roots along with theirs.
She’d keenly felt Beck’s pain last night and even caught mental glimpses of what had happened way back then, glimpses that she knew he’d never wanted her to see.
