Page 38 of Wolf's Midlife Baby

“Don’t shortchange yourself,” Sarah argued. “If you hadn’t done everything you did, we might never have found out about Kyle’s little project in the first place. You were pretty courageous, and I heard you were the one who actually clobbered him.”

“That’s not the kind of thing I usually do,” Holly said, tenting her fingers against her forehead in embarrassment.

Max shook his head. “That’s too bad because Pierce here might need a good clobbering every now and then.”

“What? Who’s clobbering who? I want in on the action,” Brody said as he approached. He carried his daughter Evelyn on his hip.

Her strawberry blonde hair had been pulled up into two short pigtails and her big hazel eyes peeked out under a fringe of bangs. She reached out to grab the fist that Brody had playfully put up in the air. “No, Daddy. No fighting.”

“No?” Brody asked.

Evelyn pressed her lips and emphatically shook her head. “No.”

“Okay, then. Whatever you say. Do you want to go play with your cousins?” Brody put her down when she started wiggling and watched her run off toward the other children. “There you go, Pierce. A sneak peek into your future. Your whole world will be commanded by a tiny shifter.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Pierce promised as he pulled Holly close. It’d been a sheer joy for him to share their good news with all the Glenwoods, and that joy only grew as everyone else seemed to share in it.

Robin slipped her hand into Brody’s and beamed at the happy couple. “I think Joan and Jimmy wanted a chance to talk to you two. They’re up on the deck.”

“Sure thing.” He guided Holly up toward the house. “Are you doing okay?”

“Do I look that terrible?” she asked with a laugh.

“I’m sorry. I just worry about you. You mean the world to me, and it took half of my life to find you. I want to make sure you’re as happy as possible.” He knew he sounded mushy, and his brother would probably make fun of him if he had the chance, but Pierce didn’t care. “You’ve had to meet a lot of new people in a really short amount of time, and there’s no shortage of personalities around here.”

“Trust me, it probably won’t be any different when we get home,” she promised, brushing her hair behind her. The mark on her shoulder had left the faintest scar, which peeked out from under the boatneck collar of her top. “I’ve already given the good news to my sister and parents, and they’ve been blowing up my phone with plans and questions. Our roles will be reversed when we get home, and then I’ll get to ask you if you’re all right.”

Pierce bent down to plant a kiss on her forehead. “I will be.”

“There’s still something wrong with the transmission,” Jimmy was saying as they stepped up onto the deck. “I know I’ll get it eventually, and then it’ll be ready to go.”

“You’ll have to forget about your cars for a moment,” Joan said as she spotted the new couple. “Our guests of honor are here.”

“Ah, the happy couple!” Jimmy said as he got to his feet. “We’re sad to see you go, but I wanted you to both know that you’ll always be a part of our pack, no matter where you’re at.”

“Don’t you think it’s Rex’s job to tell him that?” his mate asked with a smile.

Jimmy shrugged. “Once an Alpha, always an Alpha. Besides, I know for a fact that he feels the same way. I’m sorry we didn’t have more of a chance to get to know you, Holly, but we’ll be looking for all your future articles.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but please don’t feel like you have to do that just for my sake.”

Joan laughed. “Don’t discourage him! It’s about time he got his nose out from under a hood for more than five minutes and actually read a few paragraphs.”

Jimmy turned his bright blue eyes on her. “As I recall, it was my car that first got your attention.”

“Oh, Jimmy…”

“It’s true,” the old man said to Pierce with a wink. “I knew how to rev her engine.”

Joan was trying to hold herself together and be polite, but she burst into another round of laughter. “And he still does! I guess that’s our little tidbit of advice for you two before you leave us: you’re never too old to enjoy each other.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.”

“If the happy couple is looking for advice,” a deep voice said from over his shoulder, “it would be to spend as much time together as you possibly can.”

“Declan! It’s good to see you. I wasn’t sure when you guys were going out on tour again.” Pierce introduced his mate to the rather famous Declan Ridgefield, lead singer of Wildwood, and his mate Tiffany.

“Actually, we’ve met before,” Tiffany replied.

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