As Ro got out of the car, he heard his mate’s door being opened and looked over to see Ollie being pulled into a big hug.
“I’m so glad to finally get to meet you, Oliver. I’m Ronin’s papa, Declan, but please call me Dec. Someone seems to have been keeping you away.” His papa looked over Ollie’s shoulder at him with a critical expression.
‘Hey! We’ve only been back for a few days, and Ollie’s parents were in town to visit,” Ro defended himself as he walked around the car.
Dec smiled and gave Ro a hug.
“I know, son. But I won’t pass up any opportunity to give you crap.”
Ollie let out a chuckle, and Ronin felt himself blush, so he took his mate’s hand and said, “Let’s head inside so you can meet my dad. At least he’ll be on my side.”
They walked up the steps and into the house, where Ryder was the first one to greet them.
“Long time no see, little brother,” Ryder said, then turned and shook Ollie’s hand.
“Dad, we’re here,” Ro called, and his alpha father came to the foyer from the kitchen.
“Ro,” his dad said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Please, introduce me to the man who has managed to make my wandering alpha son settle down.”
“Dad, I want you to meet my mate, Ollie.” Then, looking at Oliver, Ro said, “Babe, I’d like you to meet my alpha father, Cole.”
Ronin watched them shake hands, and then Devon appeared next to his mate, almost bouncing on his toes.
“I heard some good news. I’m so excited for you, Ollie.” Devon looked over at Ro and said, “Hey, Ronin. I’m gonna steal Ollie here so we can have some omega time.”
With that, Devon looped an arm through Ollie’s and began to lead him away, followed by his papa. He looked toward Ro before letting go of his hand. Ronin nodded for him to go ahead and kissed the top of his head, inhaling his scent. He knew that his little mate needed to talk with other omegas about his pregnancy and have all his questions answered. His papa was just the one to do that.
As the three of them walked off to the living room, Ro heard his papa say, “So, Oliver. I hear you are going to be a papa yourself very soon and give me another grandchild.”
Ro chuckled, called out, “Have fun, babe,” and waved to Ollie, then went with his dad and Ryder out to the back porch where Rick was grilling.
When he got out there, he noticed River was missing and turned to Roman. “Where’s River? Will he be here soon? I didn’t think he’d miss a family function where he wasn’t the only Omega.”
Roman shook his head. “We haven’t heard from River for the last few days. You know how he is. One of us probably ruffled his feathers without realizing it and he has to cool down before he’ll show up again.”
Although Ro knew that was a possibility, he didn’t think so this time.
“You know, when we had the reunion for the omegas and Ollie’s family, I noticed him and Nix acting strangely when I introduced them.”
Rick and Ryder looked at one another, then Rick turned back to Ronin. “Let’s give it a few more days and see if he calls one of us. If not, Devon or Ollie can try calling him, and you can talk with your teammates and see if they’ve seen Phoenix.”
Ro’s dad, who had taken over the grill, announced that dinner was ready, so they each grabbed plates piled high with hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, and chicken and went inside to eat.
Chapter Eighteen
Oliver
Ollie was in front of the TV binge-watching Leverage on Amazon when Ronin came in the room with a sandwich for him. He’d had breakfast like two hours ago at eight a.m., but he was hungry again.
“Thank you.” Ollie smiled up at his mate. It had been over two weeks now since the barbecue at Ronin’s parents, and things had never been better.
Ronin had barely let him out of his sight. If they weren’t together, he was with Devon, who, he realized, he had a lot in common with.
Since Devon was further along in his pregnancy, he wasn’t really leaving pack lands. As much as Wildwood was mostly owned by his new family, there were a lot of humans in town that didn’t know about them.
So most days before work, Roman dropped Devon off at their house, and they spent the day eating Ben & Jerry’s and whatever meals Ronin left them in the fridge. Sometimes they ordered pizzas from the place in town. It was shifter owned, so they never had to worry about hiding Devon’s belly. Ronin had been working with Roman, while at the same time looking into the doctor helping Anton and whatever else could be found on any other omegas in trouble.
He’d also hung out with Jax, Shawn, and Marco, although Jax had been acting a little weird recently. He’d been watching the pups at first, but now they could barely get him out of the house. It had started ever since Jax found out he was pregnant.
