Page 48 of The Wolves At My Sides

The night before we went back home, I repacked all our stuff except for what we’d need the next day. It was bittersweet to pack and think about leaving.

“Maybe we can convince Bobby to build a water slide,” Marcus grinned at me as he picked up my thoughts over the mating link.

“Yeah right,” I laughed. “Then everyone would want to come to Heartville. He’d eat some idiot.”

“Probably,” Marcus laughed. “But we get to see Faran when we get home.”

“I know,” I cooed, bubbling with joy at the thought of having my baby boy back in my arms. “I bet he grew so much while we were away. That kid grows like a weed.”

Marcus leaned over and kissed my forehead as I zipped the last suitcase closed.

“Come on. Come cuddle with us,” he tugged my hand, and I gladly followed him to join Fen in the bed.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Fen

While the ride back to Heartville didn’t include any under the blanket hand jobs, it was just as fun. The tension was gone from the SUV and from our budding thruple relationship. Irwin and I took turns sitting up front. We all sang along to whatever cheesy song came on the radio. We arrived back in the village parking lot buzzing from the excitement of the park and the ride back.

Daniel and Shepard waited for us in the parking lot. Shepard held his son close to his chest and Daniel held Baby Faran. The latter was in his wolf pup form and wagged his tail as if he might take off like a helicopter as we got out. Irwin sprinted the few steps between him and the pup. Faran gave a little leap and Irwin caught him and crushed him to his chest. The pup’s tail wagged and he whined, licking at Irwin’s face. Then he caught a whiff of Marcus and went even more frantic. He leapt again, trusting that Marcus would be there to catch him and he was. I wanted that. I wanted a baby. I glanced down at my stomach wondering if I had conceived and if I had would I be brave enough to know that the baby wasn’t fragile glass.

Faran leapt at me, and I opened my mouth to say no, but couldn’t. All I could do was catch the furry ball of baby and hold him close. He licked at my chin, still wagging his tail, his claws dug into my shirt to hold on. I grinned despite my heart trying to beat right out of my chest.

“He knows you’re his daddy too,”Irwin said over our mating link.

“It’s like he knew you were coming back today,” Daniel said to Marcus as we all started back toward the village proper. “He woke up extra early wagging his tail.”

“You know babies. No matter the distance they know what’s going on more or less with the family link. I hope he didn’t drive you guys too crazy,” Marcus grinned.

“No, it was good practice. We’re---” Daniel stopped and glanced at Shepard who nodded his consent to whatever Daniel was about to announce.

“We’re expecting again,” Daniel said.

“Congratulations!” Marcus smiled.

Irwin pulled Shepard into a big hug that I thought would surely squeeze the life right out of the vampire.

***

Life in Heartville was different for me after the trip. Looking back on our time spent at the resort made the days we spent there blur together. I tried not to dwell too much on the fact I spent several of our ‘mating moon’ days curled up depressed. They felt wasted in some ways, but it was always going to happen at some point. I couldn’t carry all that alone forever if I ever expected to really be with Marcus and Irwin. If either of them begrudged me those days, they didn’t show any signs of it over our mating link.

It was strange to be back in Heartville. Marcus went back to leaving early in the morning to meet with clients and Irwin was in the solitary part of writing the book. He jumped right into it as soon as he sent the previous book off to Jasper, his editor.

I couldn’t tag along with Marcus to work for obvious reasons and didn’t want to interrupt Irwin’s writing process. My fingers itched to comb through the manuscript, but he wasn’t ready for anyone else to read it yet.

Still, our lives found a rhythm. We all rose early through the week when Marcus had to scurry off across the backyard to work. I made breakfast and coffee most days. Some days one of the others would beat me up and do it. Some days, if I were the first one up, I’d scoop up Baby Faran and take him into the kitchen with me. He was soft and adorable. Despite what the others said, I still treated him as fragile, almost holding my breath as I walked through the house with him. I’d keep him entertained until he was ready for breakfast. Now that we were back home, he’d taken to refusing bottles and insisting that Irwin feed him directly.

Irwin always took Baby Faran with him on the days he went to write in the library. Most days I followed along behind him, not wanting to be left at home alone with nothing to do. It felt like floating those first two weeks back in the village. I hadn’t quite figured out what I’d do with the endless hours the days held.

I wandered through the library shelves, trailing my fingers across books, old and new. I read some days, but more often than not, I flipped through the pages, skimming passages. Sometimes I talked with those who came seeking books or with Yuri or Holden while I helped shelve books. Others I ended up planting on a second stool behind the counter with Shepard talking my ear off. I adored Shepard. He always smelled like Irwin somehow. Sometimes he smelled more like Irwin than he did Daniel. Maybe that was my nose just picking up traces of one of the men I loved.

We’d all meet up for lunch at wherever Irwin was writing. Despite Heartville only having one takeout place, lunch was almost always takeout. I would’ve offered to cook the midday meal, but figured we were supporting a small business with a limit on how many customers it could reach on any given day.

After lunch, I usually grew bored of the library and wandered the town. I’d sought out Leo, Starry, and Liam. They were the ones who really put an end to Bram Valen’s reign. I didn’t ask them questions. They had their own bad memories about it. One of their friends nearly died and Leo and Starry’s sire was lost in the Other World for days. Still, laying eyes on them and knowing that they weren’t much older than me at the time of my parents’ deaths, when they took Bram down, soothed something in my soul.

Some days I traced the familiar path around the village as my wolf. The grass and pavement beneath my paw pads were heaven. Not often, but some days, I’d wander down the paved path into the woods. The woods around the village had seen their fair share of violence and I was mindful of that as I traced the winding paved path. I didn’t stray from it, because I didn’t want to be the next shifter to encounter a psycho in their natural element.

I’d wind my way home in time to make dinner. We’d eat together as a family, discussing our days and what we might do that evening. Some evenings, Marcus worked late on client notes or Irwin went off for a gathering of the witch group. He wasn’t positive he was a witch, but they kept inviting him back. I probably could’ve tagged along but it would’ve felt like trespassing on someone else’s sacred time. I wasn’t a witch at all.

---