Titan had been counting on being left-hand-dominant while his bicep healed.
With both his arms out of service, how the hell was he going to bake?
Worse than that: how was he going to fulfill all his “cream filling” orders?
He refused to think about what would happen if his side business failed now. It was his chance at a family; he couldn’t let this stop him.
“I have to hire someone,” he decided.
If this meant that his new employee had to milk the cream out of him, then so be it.
2
THE ADULT KIND OF MILKMAID
Mathlin dragged his feet,reluctant to step out of the cabin.
He didn’t want to leave the pack.
He knew he should. He wasn’t a wolf, and he wasn’t even a guest.
He had come here stowed away in an alpha’s car trunk, when his friend Killian had an emergency. Except the threat was now gone, and there was no more reason for him to be here.
The thing was, Mathlindidhave a place to go, that wasn’t with the pack. There was a safehouse back in Cartfalls—a fully stocked place with A/C and ice cream deliveries twice a week.
But with only himself and Jannie in that too-big apartment, he had felt just a bit anxious.
Who was he kidding? He had been feeling a lot anxious.
In the safehouse, with all that space around him, Mathlin kept feeling as though he would be attacked at any moment. He was used to hiding in small, dark places, places too small for an alpha to enter.
Funny enough, there were lots of alphas in this wolf pack. None of them had attacked him. They hadn’t harassed him, or made him feel uncomfortable. In fact, the pack had loaned him a crib so Jannie had a place to rest her little head. Mathlin was currently spending his nights on his new friend Ottis’ couch. Ottis was a wolf omega from the pack, and he, too, had a baby.
So the pack wasn’t making him leave, or anything like that.
It was just that Mathlin kept feeling as though there was a timer ticking above his head. Sooner or later, the pack would ask why he was here. Then they would kick him out.
Or Jannie would accidentally start a fire—in a cabin made ofwood—and the pack would run him out with pitchforks.
Ottis had assured him that none of that would happen. Mathlin didn’t believe him.
Hence his moving out.
All he had to do was take one step, then another step, until he was out of here.
Eight-month-old Jannie wriggled in his arms, babbling and chewing on a bright orange disk. When she saw him looking, she stuffed the spit-covered toy into his mouth.
“Ugh!” Mathlin cried, jerking his head back.
Jannie giggled and chewed on her fingers instead. Mathlin shook his head fondly. Jannie was his everything; he wouldn’t go anywhere without her.
He turned the doorknob, finally stepping out of Ottis’ cabin.
“Breaking news! Breaking news!” someone yelled, skipping between the pack’s cabins. “Alpha looking to hire a milkmaid!Accommodations provided, pay negotiable. Wound care experience preferred.”
Mathlin blinked. “Wound care?”
The tall, thin man stopped and turned sharply to look at him, even though he was plenty far away. A regular person wouldn’t have heard Mathlin from that distance. “Yes, the alpha employer is very grumpy right now. He’s hurt and needs help witheverything.”
