Page 36 of Fractured Fang: Omega

My growing belly was huge between my mate and me. I couldn’t believe how quickly our pup was growing. Had we waited much longer, this ceremony would’ve been done with me wearing sweats.

Our son Levi was at my side. A few times “adopted” came before son or grandson or nephew, and as soon as we tasted the word, we knew it wouldn’t work for us. Levi was our son. Full. Stop. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t given birth to him—he was every bit ours as the pup in my middle was.

I never wanted him to question whether he was our forever child for even a split second, and words mattered. I’d told every member of the pack one by one my wishes not to call him our “adopted” son, and the terminology changed overnight. I loved how our pack just jumped into action, none of them questioning the whys or telling us we were being foolish, just wanting to do what was best for my family and me.

My mother blotted another tear. And while it was true that our mating wasn’t super new, I understood why this mattered to her. I knew my parents’ history, and I knew they had waited their whole lives to have a pack like this where everyone was accepted and loved. And this ceremony solidified that Fractured Fang was that pack for them. Her emotions had less to do with the wedding and more to do with everything it represented for both her and my father, and I loved that for them.

Things had been much better between my parents and me. Sure, we had our struggles. Not all of them were just healing from our time apart, either. The pack had some stressors, stressors that impacted everyone.

Two weeks ago, a sickness had run through our cows, which had been a struggle for many days to keep them healthy. We even had to cart them to the human vet to have them take a more comprehensive look. It had been an expensive trip, and we’d still lost the cows in the end. Had we waited for the traveling vet, the outcome wouldn’t have been the same. I shuddered to think what would have happened if we’d just told the vet that Thursday was fine and we’d see him then. We’d have lost more than one cow had we done that instead of bringing them in.

My choice of career was another stressor, and partially because as wrong as my father had been about my choices not providing things for the pack, money wasn’t enough. My art commissions had been a good idea, and it still was, but with more people came more chores that needed doing. I struggled with weighing my art and the money it brought in with some of the many chores that needed to be done around the place. That was where our camaraderie and kinship as a pack came into play. We all helped one another.

My mate squeezed my hand, refocusing me on the ceremony. I was overwhelmed, not by mating Macs, but by the whole ceremony thing. He centered me like he always did.

“I promise to love you and cherish you for as long as our wolves roam this land.” Macs read his vows to me. And by “read them,” I meant he had written them on the back of his hand so as not to forget. It was the most adorable thing ever.

At his words, I suddenly became just like my mother. I had a hard time holding in the tears as he professed his love for me in front of our pack.

Once he finished, Wilder looked at me. “And you, Gabriel of Fractured Fang pack, do you wish to share vows with your mate?”

I took a deep breath. “I do. More than anything. I want to pour my heart out and express how much my mate means to me, but words have never been the medium by which I express myself best, so I took my inspiration elsewhere, Alpha.” I held up my hand, and my mom handed me the canvas she had set near her chair, ready to share with the rest of the pack. It was something I had been working on in secret. I held it up, showing it to my mate. He sucked in a breath.

Admittedly, it was some of my best work. Maybe not the best, but pretty close.

The picture that had manifested itself in my mind and somehow made it to the canvas flawlessly was that of my mate, me, and Levi on the bridge. Macs and I were in our wolf fur Levi with his hand on our backs as we walked over the arc of the bridge where my mate and I shared our first kiss, the place we had walked when we decided as a family that Fractured Fang was where our home would be. The bridge where Macs had first felt our pups kick inside of me just this week.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. Then, it was his turn for the waterworks.

“Thank you for being my bridge, holding me steady, keeping me above the rushing water of life. For being that connection between my parents and me that I so desperately needed and bringing me back to the shifter world.”

Macs leaned forward and kissed my lips.

“Hold up, now,” Wilder said. “That’s not how things go.”

I chuckled as Macs pulled back. “Who says, Alpha? This is a new tradition, after all.” Macs leaned in again and stole another kiss, earning a chuckle from those looking on.

“I say.” Wilder rolled his eyes. “I’m the one doing this ceremony.”

“And I’m the one doing yours next. Should I remove the kisses from that one?” Macs sassed back.

“No.” Franklin only spoke one word, but there was no mistaking how firmly he meant it.

“Fine, you two, kiss some more so I can get to my turn.”

I loved how Wilder was Alpha, yes, but also a friend and someone we could be ourselves around. I also loved how he’d just given us permission to kiss more, so we did. The only thing stopping us from getting too hot and heavy was our audience, especially the younger eyes. They didn’t need to see their dad or uncle making out, nor did they want to, as was evident when one of them called out to my brother, “Does this mean we can finally have our cake?”

The Steelwick pack had brought over a huge-ass cake for the ceremony. Marcus had been passing through on his way to a mission involving a truck and trailer and asked if he could stop by. We, of course, were thrilled to have him over and triple thrilled when he brought our pack the mating cake. Sadly, he had to leave shortly afterward and couldn’t stay for the actual ceremony.

“No cake until we get our Alpha officially mated,” Macs announced.

Perry and Troy had gone before us holding their sweet children as they went through their formal ceremony, leaving our Alpha and Alpha-Mate for last. Mac took Wilder’s spot and said all the words that Wilder and Franklin wrote and directed them when it was their turn to speak. I interpreted for them as best I could, and to his credit, my mate used as many signs as he knew while talking.

There was not a single dry eye when Franklin talked about the honor it was to be mated to Wilder. Not a single one, including my own.

“The cake is waiting, so I probably should wrap this up,” Macs teased. “If we skip the kisses, we can be devouring that beauty in about one minute.”

A growl, one that was all playful and for show, built in Wilder’s chest.

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