One of those evenings, they were gathered in Mikael’s house, hanging out with everyone in the living room.
They’d had dinner and then Mikael had gone to his office to check his emails like he did every night. Suddenly he rushed back into the room, his eyes shining with excitement.
“The girls are coming back next week!” he exclaimed, and everyone who knew what he was talking about whooped and then it was smiles all around until Mikael, Maxim, Noah, Dallas, and Anton realized Derek, Cal, and Kit had very little clue about what was going on.
“Sorry guys!” Mikael chuckled, then plopped down next to Maxim on the couch, still smiling widely. “Lark and Shani are coming back. They’ve been away for most of the year in Africa, visiting Shani’s family.”
“Oh, right,” Derek said, nodding. “Lark is like a sister to you, right, and Shani is her mate?”
“Yes, and we’ve all missed them a lot,” Noah said, beaming with happiness.
Derek smiled back at him. “Well I’m glad they’re heading back. What kind of shifters are they?”
“Lark is a lynx and Shani is a cheetah,” Anton piped up. “They’re great, you’ll like them.”
“It’ll be nice to have them home. It’s been a bit… testosterone-y here lately,” Mikael mused, grinning.
“It will be nice to have females around for the wolf pups, too. Losing their mother like they did… The little girls need women around,” Maxim said, sounding less grunty as usual.
“Yeah. We all miss Zoya. Always will. Losing her was such a blow for everyone, but the pack especially,” Noah murmured, sighing as he leaned to Dallas’s side.
They all startled when the front door banged open and Nico ran in.
“Cal!” he called out, holding a phone in his hand.
Cal got up and off the couch, following the boy to the porch.
Everyone else sat there, waiting to see what the call was about.
