But I wasn’t about to bamboozle him.

I was having to teach a kid how to be an alpha when he wasn’t ready for it, at all, but shit, what choice did I have?

Not for the first time, I wondered why all this was happening in the order it was.

What had Mom triggered when she’d set that rite into action. Where had the rite even come from?

It was fishy.

And I had a feeling that, at some point, it would bite us in the nuts, but as it stood, I wasn’t concerned, just wary as to what came next for us.

“Your father’s pack might not welcome you anymore, but this one will after a short span of time. They just need to see you’re a good boy is all.”

His eyes were big and bleak in his face. “What if I’m not? What if I’m like—”

I crouched down in front of him. “Did you know I met your dad a few times?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t know that.”

I hummed. “He wasn’t a nice man. You’re nice.”

His smile was shy. “You think so?”

“I know so.” I reached over and scrubbed a hand over his hair. “Now, you go and get some food in you.”

His eyes, so somber before, lit up at that. “Really?”

My lips twitched. “Really.”

When he scampered off, Ethan murmured, “Gonna eat us out of house and home.”

“We can afford it.”

“Surprised you’re being so diplomatic about this.”

I shrugged, got to my feet, and turned back to the patio doors. “Sabina asked me. Her logic made sense.”

“So, get her to ask you about all the shitty things we need to do in the future. Gotcha.”

I sniffed at that. “Fuck you.”

He grinned. “No. I’ll ask her to do that as well.”

I sniffed again, but muttered, “Everything’s happening for a reason.”

“You don’t say, Sherlock,” he replied wryly, but he started tapping his fingers on the armrest, rolling them in a rhythmic tap that was, surprisingly enough, not irritating. “You worried?”

“No.” I blew out a breath. “I’m not. Maybe I should be, but I’m not.”

“It all started when Merinda passed over.”

Merinda, not mother. Never mother.

I got it.

I did.

But it prompted me to ask, “You really want nothing to do with Frank and that side of the family?”

He shrugged. “Why would I? Austin feels the same as me.”

“You’ve talked about it?”

His features crumpled with impatience. “What’s to talk about? I know how he feels, and he knows I feel the same way. We’re disinterested because no good can come from learning about that side of our blood.”

“Family’s all we have,” I informed him softly. “Consider yourself lucky you have so much of it.”

“You do now too,” he countered, acknowledging the bond.

I hummed. “Always had it. It’s different.”

“Can’t believe you didn’t tell us,” he said on a sigh as he tipped his head back.

Our eyes clashed and held, but I told him the truth. “Wasn’t the right time. Would only have caused more dissension.”

“I saw the council leaving. The meeting went well?” Sabina murmured, her voice soothing me, even as I twisted to face her in the doorway. I beckoned her closer and sighed when she meandered around the furniture over to me.

“As badly as we could expect,” I said dryly, leaning down and joining our mouths which was far more pleasurable than that particular topic of conversation.

When she sighed into the simple kiss, I took it a little step further, but stopped when her hands tightened in mine, her tongue thrusting against mine too.

I wanted her.

I always did.

But fuck, now wasn’t the time. Nor the place.

Yes, that was because Ethan was present. Maybe in time, I’d loosen up on that score, and we’d roll into things better, but for now, I couldn’t share anything with them where sex was concerned.

It was something to work on. Something for my beast to have to accept. And it would.

I just needed time.

“I felt your anger.”

Her first words as we separated had me shrugging. “Surprised you didn’t wade into the fight.”

“Saw no need to. They were angry, and nothing you said, and nothing I did, was going to change that. They can see the writing on the wall, and they’re waiting for the axe to fall.”

“Mixed metaphors,” Austin chimed in, strolling into the room like he owned the place. “Nice.”

Sabina snickered, and even though Austin’s levity sometimes grated, I liked that he always had a way to make her smile.

Sometimes, I couldn’t do that. I just wasn’t that lighthearted. I knew Ethan was more capable than me because he wasn’t as serious, as bogged down with duty, but Austin was the one who could make her laugh, and I loved to hear her laugh.

Fuck, I loved it as much as I loved her.

I squeezed her hands as she turned around to face her other mates but used me as a prop. I’d once worried that I wasn’t good enough for her, and maybe I wasn’t. But with Austin and Ethan, I knew that all three of us were exactly what she needed.

It wasn’t about us lacking some important thing that made us less, too weak to anchor her, but how the three of us came together as a unit. That was what grounded her. What strengthened her. And for that reason, we were vital.

“Guess what I just found out,” she murmured.

“What?” I asked warily, not knowing what her answer might be. At the moment, those words could beckon anything, and we had enough to deal with.

“It’s Austin and Ethan’s birthday next week! You weren’t going to tell me, were you?” she chided.

“They hate their birthdays,” I responded dryly. “I’m not that big of a fan of them myself.”

She heaved a sigh. “Spoilsports, all of you. Well, birthdays mean a lot to me. As do saint days.”

“Saint days?” Austin clicked his tongue as he leaned against the armrest of the sofa opposite Ethan. “Even more suffering.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m going to write down all the days in Eli’s calendar so they’re set in stone, and we’re going to celebrate each and every one. Do you hear me?”

“Bossy,” Ethan muttered, and she chuckled at that.

“I’m coming into my own.”

Well, there was no denying that.

She most certainly was, and every step forward she took was a step forward for us and the pack.

Considering how muddled things were at that moment?

I was beyond grateful for small mercies.

Fifteen

Ethan

My nose crinkled when I saw the dining table.

I hated most of this house, with its uncomfortable furniture, the antiques that made it feel like a museum, and the formality of it, which gave it more of an air of a corporate office than a home.

Still, we’d barely lived here five minutes. I didn’t think it was time to go to Ikea and bring out the big guns.