“Now you're stuck with a reindeer shifter and amate who’ll be looking after you for the next eight and a half months.” I pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
“Only eight and half months?” he teased. “I was hoping for at least eighteen years.”
“Let me rephrase that. Try forever.”
The second day, we took a hike through the woods. I pointed out deer and wolf tracks and Reed peppered me with questions about wild animals and their shifter cousins.
“Look at those prints.” We knelt and examined them while I scented the animals who’d created them. “These were made by a family of foxes who were here yesterday.” I went on to say the snow settling in the tracks was a sign they’d passed through at least twenty-four hours ago.
“Awww, I wish we could have seen them. I love baby animals.”
They wouldn’t have been impressed with a human looming over them so it was best they weren’t around if my matewanted to cuddle them. Reed was great with the pack kids but since he’d become pregnant, he was more emotional over babies, whether they were human or animal.
He insisted my beast leave his tracks in the snow too, so I removed my clothes and shifted. Reed snapped a pic of him beside my reindeer saying that photo was for family only.
That evening, as we sat in the hot tub on the cabin's deck watching snow fall, Reed brought up something that had been on his mind.
“What do you think it'll be like?” he asked. “Raising a child who has a human father and a shifter dad.”
I considered the question. “Different. But also amazing.” I pulled him closer and the water lapped around us. “They'll have the best of both worlds with your love of trees and the land along with our shifter traditions.”
We’d have built in baby sitters. The pack was already preparing schedules of who would look after the baby and when. Zelda and her friend Daphne were crocheting blankets, and Erik told me over the winter he was going to research organic baby food recipes. Not just for our child but for the pack to produce and sell.
Some people might say they’d spoil our baby but an abundance of unconditional love wasn’t coddling or being overprotective. We could never have too much love.
“Until you and your pack arrived, I never admitted how lonely I was and now my life is overflowing with family, a mate, and a baby in my belly.”
He’d been part of our family since we met. Even if he’d refused to sign the lease, Zelda and the otherswould have found ways to sneak into Reed’s life while I looked on from a distance, hoping he’d recognize our bond.
“Let’s make this a family tradition,” Reed suggested as we packed the car and closed the cabin door for the last time. “Every year after Christmas, we come here for a week. You, me, and the baby.”
We high-fived and Reed raced back to the porch and whispered we’d see the cabin same time next year.
When we pulled into the driveway at Right as Rain(deer), the pack tore out of the barn to welcome us home, all talking at once about what had happened while we were gone and how much they'd missed us.
Reed lit up at seeing them. I marveled at him hugging everyone while Zelda asked if he’d been eating enough and Erik said he’d written and illustrated a book about reindeer for our little one.
This was home. Not just the farm or the cabins but being part of something bigger than myself, of having a family that chose each other and stuck together through everything.
When Zelda pulled me in for a hug and I told her it was good to be back, I was being truthful. Becoming Alpha hadn’t sat well with me because Jerome ruled us much like an ancient lord. I’d been wary at first about accepting the role because of my job and worried I’d lose the relationships I’d built since I was young.
But the pack rallied around me and we were more family than a hierarchical group. No one called me Alpha, thank gods. Returning to the farm and witnessing the genuine delight everyone had in welcoming us, it felt right.
THIRTEEN
REED
“There’s your little one.” Dr. Laurier was pointing at the screen while adjusting the ultrasound wand on my belly. “Your baby is showing off because they’re in a great position.”
Our kiddo was so cool. I imagined them waving at us and saying. “Hi, Daddy. Hello, Papa.”
“Would you like to know the gender?" the doctor asked.
We had discussed this at home and decided we wanted it to be a surprise. But now as I was staring at our child and they were wriggling and stretching, I couldn’t leave without finding out.
I sent Roscoe a sneaky glance. And though I preferred not to have an important family discussion in front of Dr. Laurier, we could hardly ban him from the room.
“What do you think? I know we made a decision.”
