Page 37 of Rogue If You Want To
“I thought we could do this together.” He hugged me from behind, and I leaned into him.
“I’d like that.”
The place was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
“Ready to move everything in?” Torin kissed my mating mark.
“Yes.” Although, at this moment, I could think of some better ways to pass the time. Something about the feel of his lips on my mark…
When he asked me if I was ready, I thought he meant we’d go back to the old place, gather our things, and carry them over.Instead, he opened the door, and the pack was standing there, each of them with a box or a bag or a pillow… something from our personal effects. We didn’t have a lot, but over the short time we’d been here, we’d been collecting things we would need or enjoy in our new home.
With everyone’s help, we were unpacked by dinnertime. And tonight was a new moon, which Larkin decided meant we should have a barbecue. Not always; he wasn’t like my father, trying to cement everything into a tradition. Larkin was always looking for a reason for us to do things together as a pack. It was one of the things that made him such a good Alpha-Omega.
I stood next to my mate with my plate of potato salad and hamburger, looking at the people around us, our new family, our new pack.
My father had been so wrong about what it meant to be a pack. He didn’t even know what it meant to be a bevy. He was the one in charge, yes. But this? This was pack. This was home.
And this was where we were going to raise our pup. Our children weren’t going to endure what I did. They were going to be loved by those who should love them most… their family and their pack.
I couldn’t be happier.
21
TORIN
"I can't believe Brianused to be a circus performer.” Otto was watching him juggle oranges for some of the kids as we sat on our porch with cushions piled at his back.
“Was he a clown?” He was doing a pretty good job of entertaining the pack’s children and some adults. His shifter reflexes helped, but I tried juggling once and managed to keep one ball in the air while fumbling a second.
“Pretty sure I heard him say he was a trapeze artist.”
Oh no. My wolf hunkered down and put his paws over his eyes. He was scared of heights. I told him there’d be no high flying in our future.
My mate sipped a glass of herbal tea made with fresh herbs from the pack kitchen garden. “Imagine him, a softly spoken wolf, flying through the air.”
My beast groaned, and I whispered to Otto to quit talking about it. I pointed to my chest. “He doesn’t like it.”
“Okay,” he mouthed as he stroked his blossoming belly. “But how many other pack members are there with hidden talents?”
I shrugged. During the building and renovating process of both the library and our cabin, we’d discovered Lazlo was a carpenter and Adrian was a master craftsman who braided leather into intricate designs. And they were just the first two who came to mind.
I got on the porch swing and imagined myself sitting here with our baby in the mornings, evenings, and at night when our little one wouldn’t sleep. A glance to my right revealed Creven working in the kitchen garden, while to the left Anita was hanging laundry. It was quiet and peaceful and a contrast to our life when we first encountered the Stoney River Pack.
“It’s not so strange that we have an eclectic bunch of people in the pack.” Everyone made their way here because they either didn’t fit in or they’d been rejected by those who should have cared for them.
Otto got up and the sparkle in his eyes told me he was up to something. We already had a library, so what now? A music academy? A football team?
Does he want to build a dam?
Beavers do that, not otters.I didn’t let on that I’d looked that up in the library.
“What if we do something to celebrate the pack members’ skills?”
I didn’t like where this was going because I had to rummage in my head for any special skills I possessed.
“What if we arranged a talent show?” Otto clasped his hands over his belly.
That sounded like the old musicals Mom used to watch. Two kids or teens would always say, “Let’s put on a show.”
