Elliott followed her inside, and while Fern was happy to let him make the chocolate milk, she found she had to be the one to carry it back to her alpha.
“Welcome to the pack, sugar.” He chuckled, grabbing the door for her.
“Why do you call me that?” Fern glanced up at his rugged, handsome profile.
“Because of the song—‘Sugar Magnolia.’ It sandwiched our first kiss. It’s you—it’s your song. Our song?”
Pausing before they rejoined their friends, Elliott pressed a kiss to her forehead, then her lips, then her cheek, then her lips again.
“It is our song. And that’s super sweet. I need a nickname for you.”
“You could always call me Fitz, like everyone else,” he teased.
“Nope.”
He laughed while she gave Olivia her requested chocolate milk. At the moment of handoff, a little pop of happy energy burst behind Fern’s ribs.
“Oh, that’s kind of fun.” She said before turning to Elliott and adding, “I wish we could do that.”
He grunted, cheeks reddening. But the lusty emotion that flowed from him to her said he agreed.
Liv laughed. “Oh, it’s definitely fun.”
Elliott tossed up his hands. “Didn’t need to know that.”
“I did. Tell me more.” Fern leaned conspiratorially toward Olivia, who waved her off, promising additional insights in private, later.
“Do we get to meet her now?” Noa approached, bouncing impatiently from foot to foot.
“Who?” Fern looked around.
“You,” Liv said vibrantly. “Your otter.”
Fern’s grin hurt her cheeks as Elliott met her gaze with a nod.
“Group run?” Adam asked, finally standing from his seat at the table.
“Yes,” Ben agreed.
The warmth and breadth of her welcome to this new town was unheard of. With a smile plastered to her face, beyond thrilled with her new friendships and the quick twists her life had taken, Fern shifted first to cheers and claps and a lot of friendly pets. Adam even lifted her up,hoisting her into the air as he cooed over how adorable her creature was. He might’ve carried her around all day if Elliott didn’t smack him on the shoulder and snatch her away.
Her otter chirped, and Fern only laughed from the backseat of her animal’s consciousness.
Liv and Ben changed next, followed by Noa. Fern’s otter rushed over to greet her new bobcat and fox friends. She was wary of Ben’s wolf, though, hiding in the protective swish of Noa’s fluffy orange tail while Liv’s cat guarded her side.
Elliott joined her in bear form, and while she was happy to run, her otter was in the mood for a ride. Clambering onto his back, her creature settled between his beast’s shoulder blades, feeling safe and secure with her mate.
Able shifted next, his big bear coming over to say hi to Elliott’s. With a low growl, Elliott’s grizzly warned Adam’s away from his mate, and Adam’s bear acquiesced with a submissive dip of his big head.
As she blinked at a blurry world through her otter’s eyes, Fern’s heart soared, delighted with her new life.
The alphas gave a silent command, and a fizzy promise of camaraderie and fun spread through Fern as the group took off into the woods. Beside the rush of alpha energy, Elliott’s joy—pure and simple—filled her chest.
FernhadlearnedaboutElliott’s secret photographer side when he shot her on the front porch the day before. She hadn’t realized the extent of it though, not until he rushed her home from Ben and Liv’s and needed a solid twenty minutes to set up for a “quick” video call with his parents.
“I can hardly see,” she whined.
“Stop staring at the light. The phone will be on the tripod over there.”
