“Damn,” Colton said eager to see his gift.
“You know, when the baby comes, we’ll have to clean up our language.”
“You better tell Carson and Zane that. They think the amount of curse words used is directly related to the size of the Alpha balls they have,” Colton snickered.
Jackson sighed. “They’re a work in progress.”
Suddenly, the dining room was invaded by the rest of Colton’s brothers who pulled their chairs noisily out to sit down while exclaiming, “What’s the special occasion?”
“For me?”
“What, a present?”
“Oh, goody.”
Colton shook his head. “Jeez, can you guys get any louder? If you don’t learn to tone it down, our nephew will be one unhappy dude.”
“Dakota, come in here and join us. The food can wait,” Jackson called. Dakota popped in from the kitchen, sitting down at his place.
“We got gifts for each of you when we were in San Francisco, to thank you for your help and support. I hope you like them.”
“Well, go ahead and open them,” said Steel.
Sounds of tearing paper and gasps of surprise resounded as the brothers opened their presents. Mouthing a “thank you” to Jackson and Steel, Colton opened his book on Chinese Healing. He turned the pages slowly, trying to absorb the information. Reading one passage, he was amazed at the detail and realized how much this could add to his knowledge of healing patients. Absorbed in his book, Colton hadn’t realized Jackson had spoken to him until Cody gave him a poke in the ribs.
“What?”
“I said do you want to do the ultrasound this morning?”
“Sure, see you around eleven?”
Jackson nodded. “Do you like your present?”
“Absolutely! Thank you, it’s perfect.” Colton looked around at the gifts his brothers received. Logan was buried in a Chinese Interior Design book, Dakota was paging through a cook book. Hmmm, Cody’s book looked very interesting—the history of all wolf shifters. He heard Zane exclaim, “This is awesome. Thank you so much.” He looked over to see what his brother had found ‘awesome’ and chuckled. Jackson had found the perfect gift—the latest and fastest computer processors. When he turned to Carson, he saw a frown. “What’s the matter, bro?”
“Nothing.”
“Really? Then why are you unhappy?” Colton asked quietly. “Don’t you like your gift?”
“No, I mean, yeah, I love my gift. Jackson gave me the latest Apple Mac computer, loaded with business software. This was my dream, you know, before everything went to shit. I was studying business in college because I wanted to join the corporate jungle out there. But that ain’t gonna happen now. And this just rubs it in.”
“Carson!” Steel’s voice suddenly penetrated their quiet conversation.
“Yeah?”
“Jackson told me you wanted to work in the business world and I know the Silver Point Pack issue put a hold on that. Would you consider joining Dire Enterprises?”
Colton watched his brother’s face light up like fireworks at the Mead Moon Festival. He made a mental note to thank Steel later for giving his brother a chance to live his dream.
“Unfuckingbelieveable!” shouted Carson. “I would love to. When can I start? Today? I can do it today. I have to do my chores first, but they won’t take long. Oh boy!” Bursts of laughter rang around the table at Carson’s excitement.
“How about you join me this afternoon in my office and we can get started,” said Steel, still chuckling over Carson’s reaction.
“Not to be a downer, but guys,” Jackson said, “you have to start watching your language. When Junior joins us, I absolutely don’t want his first word to be ‘fuck’.”
Laughing, Logan said, “Well, in that case, maybe Steel should gagyou.”
Jackson’s middle finger was his only response.
