Page 81 of Reclaiming Home

Shaking his head, he smiled and followed her.

As soon as they were gone, I turned to look at Rian. He feigned innocence, but when I raised a brow at him, he shook his head.

Well all right then.

Just before the guys got ready to shift, Brodie called everyone into the family room. He stood by the fireplace—the fire was roaring behind him, which made it all kind of cinematic, not gonna lie—and turned to Ben, Max, and Holden.

“I think we’ve established what kind of a pack we want to be. There hasn’t been any trouble yet, most of us know how that canchange in the blink of an eye with how things on the non-human side are, sometimes.

“With that in mind, I still want to say that my mate and I have welcomed the three of you into the pack in the same way we’d welcome anyone we think fits us and is a good person. That doesn’t mean I’m expecting everyone to officially be my beta.”

He raised a brow at me, so I cleared my throat.

“What Brodie said. In this pack, we don’t expect anyone to put their health on the line in the ways betas are expected to do in case of emergency. We don’t expect anything from you guys, other than to live your best lives.”

Brodie nodded. “You already know you can do whatever you want, work, study, whatever it is. I’m not going to limit your life choices, as long as they’re on the right side of the law and inside the rules we’ve established here as a pack.”

“That said, those rules? They’re real. We all know, and anyone who might be joining us later will learn, that we don’t mess with those things,” I said in a tone that surprised even me with its sternness.

“Yeah, down with Jell-O!” Carys mock-cheered.

Brodie sighed and ignored her. “What I wanted to ask you three is this: do you want to be my betas? If you don’t, I understand. This is still your home or your safe place for full moons, whichever you’d prefer. And Holden, if you choose to be a beta, that doesn’t mean we’d expect you to live here unless you want to.”

Holden glanced at the guys and then back at Brodie. “First of all, I’m honored that you asked. I know not all packs want bitten wolves as betas or hell, at all. But for what it’s worth, I can see what you’re trying to do here, and because of that, I want to officially be your beta, Alpha McRae.”

“Yay,” Carys whispered, making us all grin.

“What comes to us,” Ben said and squeezed his brother’s hand. “We’re going to say yes, too. We know you’re nothing like our dad was and that this pack is worth fighting for now.”

Max nodded. “This is home, like a real one, with a real family. We feel safe here and that hasn’t happened in….” He looked away.

“Ever,” Ben said bluntly. “We love you guys.”

Carys pounced them then, and Rian and I moved closer too, to hug them as much as we could.

None of that mattered though, until Brodie came to us and leaned down to grasp each of the brothers’ neck in turn with a press of his forehead to theirs.

“We love you too,” he said firmly, his voice so unwavering that I could tell it affected the guys a lot.

Then he let go and stepped back, grinning a little. “So, full moon run, anyone?”

Ben dumped Carys onto the cushion next to him, then got off the couch and pulled Max with him while she was still making annoyed noises.

“You coming, too?” Brodie asked Rian.

He widened his eyes theatrically. “Have you seen the woods? It’s cold, dark, and wet over there. What do you think?”

Holden chuckled. “I can see your point.”

“You guys go play,” I told the wolves.

Holden and Brodie went to shift like they had last time. The brothers went upstairs, and soon loped down in their wolf forms.

Once everyone was ready, they stood next to each other in the hall, imposing as hell. So of course the rest of us went to pet them and give them hugs and, and in my and Brodie’s case, snout kisses.

Before it could all devolve into anyone rolling on the floor to get belly scratches, I opened the door and shooed them out.

“We’ll be right there, go frolic.”

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