“Hi, Theo. It’s nice to meet you.” Rory beamed. “And this is Xander.”
“Oh, hello, Xander! Aren’t you beautiful? He’s lovely.” Not as lovely as Gael, of course…
“Thank you. Theo, would you be willing to meet my husband?”
“We’ll all go to the kitchen and get some food,” Liam added.
“Of course. How’s Gael doing? Well?” Food sounded good to him.
“He’s doing great.” Liam showed him the baby, smiling. “He’s eaten a few times, and his color is so much better.”
He teared up, touching that tiny face. “I tried, little one.”
“You did amazing!” That was Rory. “You kept him safe, and you found this pack. That’s wild.”
“I—I was scared, but I did my best.”
“You did amazing, Theo.” Liam put an arm around him, pulling him close.
He didn’t feel amazing. In fact, he felt like… Well, he felt tired. He looked down at his feet. He was also excited, which was weird. And hungry. He was pretty damn hungry.
“Well then, let’s go get you something to eat.” Liam’s smile warmed up the entire space, and little Gael cooed.
He laughed, nodded. It sounded like a great idea.I love that you can hear me.
I’ve never heard anybody like this before. Not ever.Liam shot him a look.Like, you hear me right now, right?
I do. I absolutely hear you loud and clear.How could he prove it?Tell me something to say, and I’ll say it.
Okay, big red dog.
Theo nodded.That’s going to be challenging to work into a sentence.“Did any of you see a big red dog around here? I thought I might have seen one up near the mountain house, but I might have just been hallucinating. I was very tired.”
Liam beamed at him, eyes wide and sparkling.Okay, one, nicely done. Two, you can hear me, and three, well… nicely done.
He had to laugh. There had been precious little to smile about over the last little while, and he was ready to be in a place where he could smile again.
Rory looked at them both as if they’d lost their minds. “You two are so weird in the same way. It’s cute.”
Theo flushed, his cheeks hot. “Well, that’s good, right?”
“That’s wonderful.” Rory led them back to the kitchen.
Bright and warm, the busy room seemed to be full of food and wolves and children.
It was sweet—and terrifying.
Theo took a deep breath but calmed almost immediately when Liam touched his hand.
“Oh, let me take that baby,” said the woman he’d seen the night before. LuAnn? She took Gael from Liam, who then wrapped Theo in a hug.
“Thank you.”
He got a warm, happy smile. “Of course. Would you like eggs and bacon? Sausage? Both?”
“I don’t want to be greedy.”
The pack alpha huffed softly. “What’s greedy? You’ve been without. We have plenty. It’s only reasonable.”
