Chapter Thirty-Three
Hazel
I loved my job every day, but today was an exceptionally good one.
Word had gotten out about my sleep sachets, and I couldn’t keep them in stock.
It was an excellent problem to have. I was exhausted, but it was such a good kind of exhaustion because it meant that I was accomplishing so much—and not for somebody else.
This work was for me, my shop, my dream, and it was succeeding.
Once upon a time, my alphas had asked me what I would do if money and safety weren’t an option.
At the time, I didn’t have a really good answer for them because I hadn’t figured it out myself—or at least, I hadn’t realized I’d figured it out myself.
Because I had. It was having my shop. That was what I would do.
There were moments like this where I couldn’t believe that this was my life.
My shop was doing well. My friends were nearby, safe and happy.
I absolutely loved my house. I was mated to three sexy, amazing, fabulous, wonderful alphas who treated me like I was their treasure.
Anybody looking in would see that they were the true treasures in this relationship.
Everything was good.
Really good.
Except, I was beginning to think I was working just a tinge too hard, and I was wearing myself to the point of getting sick.
Even with the AC cranked up, I was still hot.
I wouldn’t have thought anything of it if everybody around me was, but I saw multiple customers shivering, holding their sweaters closed.
For each one, I offered to turn it down.
Each time, they told me they were fine and that they just ran cold.
It didn’t help my comfort levels that my clothes were irritating me. The tags, the seams, the hems—I wanted to rip all of the fabric from my body.
I definitely needed more sleep.
This restlessness, the sensitivity…it had to be exhaustion. Except, if that were the case, why did grabbing the hoodie Shiloh left here and smelling it make me feel better? Why did my wolf beg to go home?
Maybe I was just reading too much into everything.
Or was I?
I listed everything off again in my head, and I came to the same conclusion my wolf did—my heat was coming. It wasn’t here yet, which was why I hadn’t pieced everything together. Early heat signs for me often came across like a cold that was brewing then exhaustion. In theory, it could be either.
But my wolf wouldn’t come to the same conclusion as me if that were the case. It was on its way. I had time.
This wasn’t my first heat, but it would be my first heat where I had my own nest, and I wouldn’t be alone, hiding, hoping no alphas scented me and decided to do the worst.
This time, I had my alphas, and I trusted them completely. For the first time, I was looking forward to my heat, and that caught me off guard.
And then my wolf had to go and ruin it with one word. Babies.
She was saying it out of excitement, and wanting them.
But we had a lot to do before my heat set in.
We had talked about spending our lives together numerous times and in numerous ways.
We bought a house. They built me a nest. We mated.
And yet, not once had any of us said, “Hey, what do you think about having kids?”
Becoming parents wasn’t a majority rules kind of thing. Lindon needed to want them. True needed to want them. Shiloh needed to want them. I needed to want them. If any of us wavered, it was a no.
I closed the shop early. I needed to get home to talk to my mates. It wasn’t that I didn’t want any children. Until today, I had never thought about having them either. Before now, I didn’t have the kind of life I’d be willing to bring a child into.
Now, I had three alphas who, when called to, were willing to become domestic gods.
They were protectors, providers, caregivers.
They were my future. I knew they would be such good fathers, but could I be a good mom?
I didn’t exactly have the best role models in my life when it came to parenting.
In fact, some would argue that my father was proof that I shouldn’t be anywhere near kids.
The more I let the idea of being a parent sit with me, the more I wanted it. I wanted to be a mom.
I walked home, having fake conversations in my head about having kids.
Shiloh was outside stacking wood when I arrived. He’d taken on that chore, and we had enough chopped and stacked for a couple of winters.
“Hello, mate.” He walked over and gave me a kiss.
“Let me guess. True’s working on his computer.”
He tapped my nose. “Got it in one.”
“How about Lindon?”
“Not sure. He was talking something about grounding a wire?”
I knew right away what he was doing. He didn’t like the one outlet in the bathroom. We never used it, but he was worried that one day we might, and it should be fixed.
Now that I was home, everywhere I looked, I thought about how a baby would fit in, how our child would fit.
“Come inside with me, Shiloh.”
“Let me think. Work out here and sweat some more, or go inside with my sexy mate.” He rubbed his cheek against mine. “I think I know what I’ve picked.”
He scooped me up and carried me in. Gods, I was lucky.
True and Lindon were at the coffeepot. No shocker there.
“Good, you’re all here,” I said.
“Is anything wrong?”
“No. But there’s something we need to talk about.”