“Thanks. It’s been a pretty great one, and it’s not even noon.”
“Good to hear, son.” Uncle Frank had taken to calling me that. We had chatted quite a bit over the months, not about work or about why he wanted me here, but more like he had decided I was another nephew, a true brother to Stevenson. It was nice.
“Now, my nephew here is going to play nice and talk to you about your birthday and what you got for a gift and what the weather’s like, but what he really wants is to see that baby of yours.”
“Fair warning,” I said, just before my mate brought her around and put her in my arms to show the camera, “she’s the most perfect, beautiful, adorable baby in the entire world and will make you want a dozen of your own.”
“I can see that.” Uncle Frank smiled brightly.
Stevenson was oddly quiet. I wondered if he got an “it’s time to settle down” talk from Uncle Frank. He didn’t seem like the type, but families could be weird about stuff like that.
We talked for a few more minutes. My mate and I made Stevenson promise to come see us, and Uncle Frank invited himself along. I really hoped they came. It would be great to see them and show them my new life, one filled with love, cuteness, and a remote job that used my skills but didn’t suck my life force. It was pretty stinking good.
“We really need to move into our own place if we’re going to have company,” I said. I didn’t mind staying at the den-owned cabin, but bringing humans here felt like breaking a trust.
We never planned on our current location being our forever home. It was den-owned, and while no one was pushing us out, it wasn’t meant for us to live in forever. We’d talked about building a cabin, but that was as far as the discussion had gone. Location hadn’t been decided other than us staying local.
Sure, they could have stayed at the B&B, but it didn’t feel right having family, which they were in the most important ways, staying with strangers.
“And that brings you to your second birthday present. Go get dressed. We’re going for a walk. I’ll change the baby.”
He’d been great about that. Some alphas thought that diaper changes were beneath them, but not my mate. If anything, he did more than his share. When I came out, dressed and ready to go, she was in the baby carrier strapped to his front.
“We’re walking?”
“We are.” I took his offered hand, and we went off in a direction we didn’t often go. Usually, when we were out here, my mate was shifting, and his beast loved the water. We were heading away from it now.
“Before I show you what I want to show you,” he said, “I want to say I still haven’t made up my mind about this whole ‘Alpha of the den’ thing.”
“Okay. You don’t need to decide now. Your dad was very clear on that.”
“I know. I just didn’t want you to see your surprise and think it had anything to do with that.”
“Now you have me really curious.”
It was about a ten-minute walk through the woods before we came to a clearing. In the center was a rectangle marked by stakes.
“So,” he said, “I was thinking, what if we build our cabin here?”
“Don’t you think your bear wants to be closer to the water?”
“Yes, but also no. We want to be far enough away that we don’t have to worry about our kids wandering into the river.”
Best. Dad. Ever.
“Kids? We’re having more than one?”
“I hope so, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I do.”
He showed me where he’d staked off the house to give me an idea of what the footprint of it would be, big enough for a growing family, but not so ginormous that it would take a lot to keep up. It was a short drive to town, but also felt far away and private.
“You don’t need to upsell me on this.” I reached up and cupped his cheek. “I love it. What do you think, Sorenna? Would you like to live here?”
She was sound asleep.
“It’s not keeping her up?” Asher chuckled.
