“Yes, love?” Theo peered at him, squinting, sounding uncertain.
“You’ve seemed a little troubled.”
“I was worried about you feeling isolated, but I think that’s not the case.” He moved close so that he could lean against the edge of the pool with Theo and let Gael reach for him.
“Isolated? How could I be isolated?” Theo kissed his cheek. “I have a family, a home. You, babies. This is lovely.”
“It is.” He blew out a breath. “Full disclosure, I have a sister-in-law who’s really unhappy and a brother who won’t compromise.”
“Well, I’m sorry she’s unhappy. I’m sorry he’s stubborn. But I’m meant to be in a pack, and this is a pack, and it’s ours. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make this a happy place, but it’s our happy place.” Theo sounded so sure.
“I love that about you, baby.” Liam moved even closer and took a soft kiss. There wasn’t going to be any more to it while they were swimming with the baby, but it didn’t matter. He just wanted Theo to know how happy he was to be right here, right now.
At the word “baby,” Gael squealed and leapt for him, pushing right into his arms.
“My sweet boy.” He kissed Gael’s head. “Ready for another swim? Let’s gooooo!”
“Oooooo!” This was his boy, his sweet son. His blessing.
And Theo’s laughter was like a warm spring rain, a feast for his senses.
No. No one was going to be unhappy here, and Liam was going to make sure of it.
Chapter
Fourteen
Theo headed to the kitchen, fumbling through the darkened house.
Was this a house?
He didn’t think so. It was more like a compound, but regardless, everyone was asleep, the pack was cuddled in for the winter.
The snow was coming down, the wind was howling, and he?
Was starving.
He wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich kind of desperately. So Theo was getting himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
His feet were cold even in his slippers. They needed to get some thick rag rugs made. Brr.
He didn’t think it would be too hard. There were some amazing fiber artists here, and together, they could work out something where it wouldn’t be so chilly. Crawling babies needed warm places to, well, crawl.
And pregnant omegas needed peanut butter. Of which there was none in his own little kitchenette, so he headed for the main living area.
He whistled as he walked, trying to keep it down so he wouldn’t wake anybody up. There was homemade bread—Sara had made it, and it still smelled so good. He knew that there was blackberry jam, strawberry jam, peach jam, and rose hip jam just waiting.
“Mmm. Rose hip.” What a weird and wonderful thing that was. He couldn’t— “Yeeeaaah!”
He jumped a good foot in the air when he ran into someone coming out of the living area.
“Whoops. Hey, Theo. What’s up?” Ryan held a big piece of cheese and a bowl of pickles.
“I was hungry. I want a peanut butter and jelly— Can I have one of those pickles?”
“You absolutely can. Come on, we’ll have a snack together.” Ryan was so cheerful, so willing to make him family. It felt so nice.
“Cool, I was craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but pickles and cheese sounds good too.”
