He straightened his legs, then bent over at the waist and dangled his arms. “Like this?”
The giggles took over for a few seconds as she bounced up and down. Then she threw her arms toward the sky. “All the way up, please!”
“Ah, I think I know.” Malachi stood to his full height. “Like this.”
“Yes!”
“Well, I’m standing all the way up. What now?”
“Stand up Gigi! Me!” She pointed at her own chest. “Malpha stand up me!”
Malachi bent and lifted the girl under her arms. In her delight she squealed and wriggled, but his grip was firm as he raised her over his head and set her on his shoulders. With one hand he grasped both her ankles and tugged them around his neck until her feet touched.
“Who’s the tallest person in the pack?” Trevor said.
“Malpha,” Gigi said.
“Hmmm,” Trevor rumbled. “I don’t know. I think right now it’s Gigi.”
Gigi bounced on Malachi’s shoulders. “Gigi is me.”
“Then I guess you’re the tallest.”
April was still laughing when another of the wolves called Trevor away. “I can’t believe she calls you Malpha. What a brilliant medley of names.”
Gigi patted the top of his head, her fingers submerged in his red-gold hair. “This is Malpha.”
“Yes, I see that,” April said.
Malachi tugged the girl’s tiny ankles, making her giggle. “Lucy—that’s her mom—” He nodded across the yard toward the burgundy-haired woman “—said she started calling me that a few weeks ago. Of course, Trevor and her dad Jeremy are now threatening to call me Malpha for the rest of our lives.”
“It suits you somehow.”
“Within days her sisters had picked it up. But Gigi’s the originator.”
“Then I salute Gigi.”
His smile warmed, and for a moment April could not move or speak. The warmth of his love for his pack, for this little girl who ordered him to make her the tallest… It seeped into April and warmed her too.
“I think I’d like to come outside,” she said.
He rumbled a deep growl of…yes, that was appreciation. “If you feel ready, the pack would be glad to meet you.” He lifted Gigi back over his head and set her on the ground. “Gigi, it’s time for lunch. See your dad right there?” He pointed.
Gigi nodded with enthusiasm.
“Go on now and join him.”
“Yes, Malpha.” The little girl took off at a toddling run.
The whole group had, within the last few minutes, ambled toward the table and begun a serving line. The black-haired wolf and the pregnant woman, accompanied by the teen pup, went first. They were followed by an elderly couple who were followed by the family with children. Gigi took her place beside another little girl who looked exactly like her, down to the ponytail placement.
“Oh, twins,” April said. “How sweet.”
“Very different twins,” Malachi said. “Tori wants to be a princess, and Gigi wants to collect caterpillars.”
She laughed, then looked past him a moment as emotion got the better of her again. He knew his pack as individuals, even the smallest children.
“Come and eat,” he said quietly.
