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“It is,” Logan said, kissing the boy on the cheek.

“Well, that’s one of you taken care of,” Roark said before planting himself in Rusty’s lap. “There, now neither of you can go anywhere.”

It was easy to see why he’d chosen that method, since Bowie was busy babbling with some of the other pups, having lost interest in them completely. Of the pair, he was already showing signs of being the more outgoing.

“I only had a week to teach them the basics,” Rusty explained.

“I don’t skate at all, yet,” Logan admitted. “Give me a pair of snowshoes and I’m golden, but I’m not sure how I’m going to fair once I strap blades to my feet.”

“The same as we all do,” Colin said. “Poorly until we get the hang of it. Personally, I’d rather be out there on four paws, but Gina loves to skate and she’s amazing at it. You’ll see that later when she hits the ice with her team.”

“Team?” Logan asked as Gina’s face lit up at her mate’s praise.

“You’re looking at the Scavenger’s top scorer,” Colin declared proudly while Gina began to blush.

“You stop that. Katie May is only a point behind me and you know it,” Gina replied.

“Bet you those Carnivores know it too and will spend the night trying to put pressure on you both,” Colin said. “I can’t wait for you to maneuver them right out of their skates.”

She giggled at that and shook her head.

“Don’t mind him. He’s always been my biggest cheerleader, even when we’re three points behind,” Gina said. “Anytime we face the Carnivores it’s a challenge.”

“How many teams do you have here?” Logan asked.

“Adults or pups?” Gina replied.

Blink.

“Umm, all?” Logan stammered.

“Four teams of adults, six teams of pups,” Gina explained. “Most of us adults help coach the pups, though we’re careful not to coach the teams our own are on, so they don’t feel like we’re pushing them. You’d be surprised at how much tension it can cause at home when a day on the ice doesn’t go well. I speak from experience. My father was my coach. Some nights after we got home, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to him after he fussed at me on the ice. He never yelled, not once unless he was cheering us on, but man could he fuss with the best of them. He retired from coaching a few years ago, though Bailey signing up to play almost brought him out on the ice again.”

“What stopped him?” Logan asked, grateful for the conversation.

His eyes were still trained on Wren, who was laughing and trying to skate on their own again. The initial worry had begun to lessen as he dialed in to the conversation. It felt good listening to other parents share their stories, letting him know he wasn’t alone in his struggles to not be one of those hovering, overprotective, helicopter parents who stifled their pups’ growth.

“My moms,” Gina said. “One reminded him about the way his hip and tailbone ache whenever he’s out in the cold for too long and the other quoted what Doc Graham told him about his knee and how long he’d be in a brace if it buckled on him again. He’s over there, which is as close as they’ll let him get to the ice.”

She pointed out a wolf with a long, grey ponytail trailing out from under a bandana. He was seated between two wolves in flannel shirts, who had their heads on his shoulders as they watched the pups out on the ice.

“They’ll sit on him too, if they need to,” Colin said. “My bonus moms are no joke.”

“I’ve noticed that no one uses human terms like ‘mother’ or ‘father-in-law’ around here,” Logan said. “Is there a reason or is it just not something that caught on?”

“It’s because the only laws we acknowledge are pack laws,” Roark explained. “When families blend, no one’s title changes. Moms are moms and bonus moms, sons are sons and bonus sons, uncles, aunties, and nanas, they all remain who they’ve always been to that generation.”

“My mate’s grandmothers became my grandmothers the moment our mate marks appeared,” Gina explained. “I didn’t grow up with any. They chose to remain with the pack my parents left. Colin grew up here, so I gained a great-grandfather too. It was a special treat, having the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of how to manage the general store from him before he passed. He’s the one who taught me that it was more than a place where wolves came to find the things they needed. He always called the store his second home.”

“Which is how you came to treat all the wolves who come through there like family,” Logan surmised.

“It helps that they feel like family too,” Gina replied. “You’ll understand after you’ve been here a while. I could see your hesitation the first day you came into the shop with Wren. Most of the newcomers here look around and immediately start feeling overwhelmed. There’s a lot to take in. More now that we’ve expanded the building.”

“Tell me about it. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d still be wandering through the aisles trying to figure out where to start.”

They all chuckled at that and snagged things off the platters a few of the other parents had carried down from the booths. It allowed them to keep their circle intact and the tiny pups contained as they socialized. Logan made sure to snag a couple puffs after how delicious the samples had been.

Turns out they were the crab and artichoke, and holy crap, just as good the third time around.