Page 42 of Fur-Ever Home

"It's time for cake and ice cream!" someone I didn't recognize said. He stood at the patio door, ushering the children inside.

"You two looked like you were having fun," the man said when Ben and I reached the door.

"It was fun," Ben said.

"Where did your boyfriend go? I want to meet him."

"Um …" Ben glanced at me.

I bounded toward the fence gate, which would lead us back to the front of the house. "Woof."

"Right. He went to get his luggage from the car. He wanted to take a shower and change before dinner."

I was definitely looking forward to changing into some clean clothes, but a shower? That would be heaven.

"I'll introduce you then, Pops!" Ben called over his shoulder before helping me with the gate. The bad thing about my wolf form was no opposable thumbs.

Ben didn't have the keys to the trunk of his parents' car, though, so I waited while he ran back inside to grab them. Then, he hauled my giant suitcase from the trunk and lugged it up the two steps to the front stoop like it was nothing. My wolf pranced, proud to have such a strong omega. I followed him down the hall and into the bathroom.

I shifted back once the door was closed. "Are you sure it's okay for me to shower?"

"After the weekend we've had, we're both showering," he said.

"What if the kids need to use the bathroom?"

"This house has nine bathrooms. They can do without this one for fifteen minutes."

"If you think you're getting a repeat of this morning in your brother's house?—"

"No!" Ben swatted my arm. "Not at all what I was thinking, you perv!"

"Damn," I teased. "I was totally going to eat your ass if you wanted me to."

Ben moaned. "Don't tempt me."

We kept our shower under ten minutes. Then, we snagged slices of cake and scoops of ice cream and ate with the children before their parents picked them up at four.

Ben's nephew finally reappeared at the door to say goodbye to his guests. From the way the kids acted, it was hard to tell if they would remain friends after watching his meltdown.

Ben's brother Jake had supplied us with folding chairs in the living room while we waited for everyone to clear out. Before she left, Brandi stopped by my chair and studied my eyes. "You look awfully familiar."

I leaned forward and cocked my head the way I would as a wolf.

She sucked in a breath and pointed, but I brought my finger to my lips. "Our secret," I said.

"I'm not supposed to keep secrets for strangers," she whispered.

"You don't have to keep it a secret, then." I grinned. Either she would tell her parents the moment she was in the car, or she would forget all about me. Either way, shifters had been part of human media since the wolf man and the shaggy dog. Unless they knew about shifters, they would assume she'd watched a movie or had a vivid imagination.

"It was real, though?" she asked. "Not a trick?"

"No trick."

The huge smile she flashed me before running off to her parents' sedan was totally worth it.

Once the party guests were gone, Ben introduced me to his pops, brother Alex, and his wife Shelly and their beta twins, and his sister Josie and her wife Audrey. All his siblings were alphas, even his sister. Audrey was pregnant with their first baby. The only other omega in the family was Jeff's little brother, Jonah, who wasn't out of diapers yet. He sat quietly on Matt's lap and watched us with owlish eyes.

"What do you do for a living, Connor?" Ben's pops had insisted I sit beside him at the dinner table while we waited for Jake to finish grilling our steaks outside.

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