Page 233 of All Packed Up

Wendy spun around, lifted her hands to cover her wobbling lips as she stared at the round, bland white walls. It needed some TLC, but the more she stared, the more it came alive in her mind. “This is… so cool,” she said, turning to face her three alphas and beta.

“Yeah?” Nic asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Yes!” Wendy urged. “It’s so… weird! Just like us!”

She chuckled at the look on his face and rushed forward before throwing herself at the beta. Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she pecked kisses all over his cheeks and forehead and nose and finally, his lips. “Thank you.”

Blinking her eyes open at the sound of laughter, she found Tate’s and Arlo’s crooked smiles. “Damn, do we all get hugs like that? Our names are on it too.”

“Even yours,” Griffith interjected quickly.

Her eyes widened, and she pulled back to stare down at Nic with a shocked expression, before her gaze slid to each of them.

“How—what? But I don’t have any money. I didn’t contribute to the mortgage!” she argued with a frown.

“We want you to feel safe here. Like this place is yours,” Griffith responded.

“You don’t just live in this house,” Nic seconded. “You own it. With us.”

“I’m gonna cry again,” she warned, and Arlo groaned in the background.

“No more,” Nic said. “No more crying. Because this is what you wanted, Wendy. A happily ever after.”

And of course, that made more tears drip from her eyes.

* * *

“We’ll be back shortly!” Nic called out.

“Oh, hey, that was fast,” she heard him tell Arlo before the front door closed.

After touring the house and the yard and making the grandest of plans that involved both cats and the chickens and Daisy, Grif and Nic volunteered to retrieve dinner.

Wendy wanted to eat in their new house, and everyone was so excited, it was an easy push.

Her bronzed ebony alpha returned, arms full with blankets and pillows and a knowing grin on his lips. Arlo did a spin and presented his armful to her. “We came prepared,” he explained.

As he dropped the pile in the round room, Wendy scrambled for the new pretties like the dragon she was. They watched with amused expressions as she sorted the blankets and pillows in some semblance of order. Only when it was perfect, minus the addition of their scents, did she motion to them that it was safe to approach. She stood back and eyed the pile before nodding at Arlo. He leaned against the wall by the door, waiting patiently for her.

“Well, come on. It’s my nest, isn’t it?” she teased. “I want your scents in it.”

Wendy turned a look toward Tate, who was watching them silently from one of the windows in the room. She propped her hands on her hips. “Whatcha doin’ over there?”

Tate grinned, reached in his pocket, and pulled out a silver case of his own. “Wanna light up?”

With a squee, Wendy bounced across the room and helped get the window open, the bad paint job peeling away under their work.

They were rewarded with a cool evening breeze as the window screeched open, and she shared a victorious grin with the two alphas.

Tate let her pick the joint, and pinched it between her lips while Arlo dug in his pocket for the light. The schick of the flame filled the room, and Wendy inhaled, the tip glowing bright orange as it came to life.

She directed the smoke out the window, pleased to find they were surrounded by trees on her side of the building. It was cozy and private and when they were done with it, it would rival those in magazines.

“So… you gonna share that?” Arlo asked.

Wendy arched a brow at him, taking one last drag before passing it to him with a grin. Blowing the smoke out the window, she sighed.

“What’s up?”