18. Apollo #2
“I didn’t used to be, but the wolves are doing their best to change that,” I said with a laugh, and wrapped him up in a gentle hug. “Thanks for ordering the food the other night. It was much appreciated.”
He waved it away like it was no big deal. “Nah, I was just watching out for my boy.” Then he turned to the alpha beside him, clearly too standoffish for hugs, holding a wriggling toddler with floppy dark curls under one arm. “This is my mate North and our son Wick.”
I shook their hands—even the toddler’s, who giggled like this was hilarious and offered me up a gap-toothed smile.
Up close to them, I picked up their different scent.
I was getting better at identifying individual species, enough that I knew they weren’t wolves, but that was as far as I got. I was simply too overwhelmed by it all.
“Is it my turn yet?” Kedi finally asked, his smirk doing little to hide his growing impatience.
Everyone else returned to the living room to give us a semblance of privacy as I eagerly tugged my mate into my arms and buried my face in his neck.
“Home, sweet home,” I murmured against his skin, closing my eyes and breathing deep, letting his scent ground me.
And it was because I knew his scent as well as my own that I caught the slight change in it, the hint of sweet sage and cinnamon, making him smell like spiced apple cider.
My breath caught, and I knew he’d noticed my reaction. When I pulled back a few inches and looked into his eyes, eyebrows raised, he was already smiling. He nodded, gaze glassy with unshed tears. “Yes,” he said, answering my unspoken question.
“We’re having a baby,” I whispered, resting my forehead on his.
I pushed aside all my doubts, my fears, and in this perfect, special moment, I allowed myself to focus on all the good in our world.
Our child deserved celebration. So I wrapped my arms around Kedi’s waist and spun him around, eliciting an excited squeal, echoed by the cheers and congratulations from the rest of the pack.
I’d never had a reason to celebrate anything in my recollection, and the Order wasn’t exactly a festive bunch, so I’d never even experienced a birthday or Christmas.
Thankfully, the pack was more than ready to show me how to party.
Apparently, it involved pizza and ice cream and an excessive amount of booze, specially brewed for shifters.
None for Kedi, obviously, and I’d noticed after Joel poured himself a margarita from the blender, his mate discreetly swapped it out for a virgin cocktail instead.
North caught me watching, and he sidled over to me.
He leaned in to speak directly into my ear, keeping his voice pitched low. “We’ve been trying for a second kid, and he’s been getting a little discouraged by the negative tests, but I’m pretty sure we were successful this time. I just don’t want to get his hopes up until I know for sure.”
“I won’t say a word,” I promised, holding up my beer bottle to tap against his. “I’m sure the two of them would love to go through it together, though.”
Behind me, my senses warned me just a second before the apartment door opened, and a short, shy-looking man entered.
This must’ve been the roommate. His light brown hair was cut short and slicked back, a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose, and his polo shirt was buttoned right to the top, collar ironed flat.
He couldn’t have looked more out of place among this tattooed, pierced crew.
“Hey, Norman! I remembered to get you a vegetarian pizza this time.” Kedi beamed with pride as he lured his roommate into joining us. I got the impression this wasn’t the usual, but as Norman approached, his eyes were fixed on me.
“How fascinating,” he said as he reached out to shake my hand without introducing himself. “I’m not even a pack animal, and even I can feel the Alpha effect.”
“The Alpha… effect?” I asked with no small amount of confusion.
“Yes. Your father was the pack Alpha, correct?” he said, tilting his head to examine me from every angle. I felt like I was a bug under the microscope.
“Um, yeah?” So Kedi had said, though I still couldn’t remember a thing.
“The Alpha genes are a dominant trait often passed from father to son—or mother or daughter, of course, though not as often. Have you noticed other shifters deferring to you?” he asked.
“I mean, maybe?” Now that he’d mentioned it… It’d been happening more and more often on the compound. The sparring matches, the way the others bared their necks to me, Seth allowing me to enact his punishment instead of Pater. Had I accidentally formed a pack within the Order?
“If you have time later, I would love to pick your brain about the Divine Order. The research I’ve done has been severely lacking and—”
“Not now, Norman,” Kedi cut in. “We’re celebrating! Grab yourself a drink and hang out with us.”
Norman made a face. “If I must,” he said, but his eyes drifted back to me briefly, curiosity and longing reflected back at me.
It was a weird sensation, having all these shifters revolving around me.
Even though I’d never been invited to be a part of their pack, and had certainly never been elected as their leader, I could almost feel the bonds that ran between us.
I imagined it would feel just like this back at the compound if we weren’t all being drugged with wolfsbane.
I honestly couldn’t decide how I felt about it, having them find excuses to keep touching me.
Ricky was especially tactile, to the point that Kedi finally snapped his teeth at him, a warning growl rumbling through his chest.
“Okay, okay! Sorry,” Ricky said, neck bared and hands in the air to show he meant no threat.
Kedi finally planted himself on my lap to stake his claim on me—which I didn’t entirely hate—but I didn’t think anyone was trying to steal me from my mate. This was just their wolf instincts overruling their human ones. I was sure the novelty of having me around would wear off eventually.
As the night wore on, the wolves started to get louder. They’d turned on Mario Kart, and nobody was left out of their smack talk. Sierra jumped off the couch as she won first place and jammed a finger in Oliver’s face. “Take that! Bend over and—”
“Ahem,” North said, gesturing to the toddler in his lap who was absorbing every word like a greedy little sponge.
“Um… Bend over and pet the puppy,” she corrected, before sitting back down, and the two of them got to elbowing each other.
Joel, who was sitting on the other couch beside me, stared down into his cup, frowning. “I swear I’ve had like five of these margaritas, and I’m not even buzzed yet.”
“Huh, that’s weird,” his mate said. North and I shared a look behind Joel’s back, and I smothered a laugh.
Human senses were nowhere near as attuned as shifters. Joel hadn’t even noticed how his mate had swapped out his drinks…
The thought trailed off as a little bell jingled in the back of my mind.
Swapping… My smile slipped straight off my face.
Swapping, like when Kedi had painted runes on my skin with mud and moss.
Pater hadn’t even noticed it wasn’t wolfsbane.
Maybe they wouldn’t notice if I changed out all the wolfsbane at the compound…
What would happen if none of the hunters were being drugged?
If they all heard the voice of their beast in their head like I did, maybe it would be enough to help them slip their leash.