“I hadn’t thought about it until today,” I admitted, “and my original reaction to thinking I was pregnant was happiness. It caught me off guard, but didn’t upset me. Isn’t it too soon, though?”
“It’s not too soon if it’s what we want.” He stood up and held out his hand for mine. “Let’s go find out.”
We walked in together, and there was no playing the game of, “Is this positive or not?” Two bright blue lines sat there staring at us. I was pregnant.
“I’m having your baby,” I whispered.
He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. “You’re having my baby. We’re gonna be dads.”
“Yeah,” I said, a grin spreading across my face. “We’re gonna be dads.”
And suddenly, the timing felt absolutely perfect.
“Mate?” I looked up at Asher.
“Yes, omega mine.”
“I think our baby should grow up around other shifters. Let’s stay here. Let’s make Bramble Woods our home.”
“Can’t do that because you, omega mine, are my home. But we can live here.”
Before I could respond, he brought his lips to mine, and I lost myself in his kiss.
17
ASHER
It was early morning when I followed my father through the snow across den territory. We’d checked trap lines and the smoking sheds, and he’d been talking about yield rates and distribution channels for the smoked fish business that kept the den fed and funded.
“The key is consistency.” He strode ahead, and I had trouble keeping up.
Kipp had been wrong about Father becoming weak and feeble. Now that my stepfather was in the past, my father was the Alpha I remembered.
“The restaurants in the city need to know they can rely on us. Every shipment has to be properly smoked, well packaged, and on time.”
I nodded and made notes on my phone, though Father was old-school and thought I should be writing with a pen and paper. It was strange, learning to be part of this world again.
The pack had been my home for twenty years, and their ways were ingrained in me. Wolves operated differently than bears in that they were more communal in some ways but more hierarchical in others. The den was both familiar and foreign, almost like a language I'd once spoken fluently but had now forgotten.
“Rudy and his team handle most of the fishing,” my father explained and pointed toward the frozen lake in the distance.
Not the lake where my stepfather had taken me. I hadn’t been back there, but Weston said he’d accompany me after the baby was born so we could sweep away the ghosts.
“But you'll need to know the whole operation. When you're Alpha, every part of the den's survival is your responsibility.”
He spoke of when, not if. He'd been saying it more often lately, and each time anxiety caused an ache in my belly. I'd come back to protect the den, not to lead it. But my father was getting older, and the den needed an heir who understood both the old ways and the new world we lived in.
We stopped at one of the smoking sheds, and Father pulled open the door. The rich scent of alder wood and salmon hit me immediately. Inside, several den members were hanging fresh catches on racks and tending the fires. They looked up when we entered, and I caught the wariness in some of their eyes.
I was still an outsider. The Alpha's son who'd been raised by wolves and mated to a human. Some of them had accepted me, but others reserved judgment.
“Asher.” My father's voice brought me back to the present. “Come look at this.”
He showed me how to tell when the fish was properly cured and how to spot the signs of a fire that was burning too hot or too cool. I listened and learned and tried to absorb twenty years of knowledge in the few months we'd had together.
“Your dad would be proud,” he said as we left the shed. “He always said you had a good heart and that you'd be a strong Alpha someday.”
The mention of my omega dad had me stopping and taking deep breaths. His death was when my life had changed for the worse. I only had brief memories of him, but I treasured the ones that remained. Being back in the den made it easier to conjure up his scent.
