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“Oh! I hope there are tarts.”

“I want hand pies.”

They all called out what their favorites were.

Cookies, meringues, peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate drops—they were all about the sweet and full of energy.

He grinned, and they all trooped along to see what there was to eat. And there was such a plethora that everyone was happy. And quiet for a moment.

He took a deep breath and ate his bear claw, trying his damnedest to focus on the kids and not the wolf in his bed.

His focus kept drifting, and he felt…itchy. Like he had to scratch his arms itchy.

“Are you all right, Rory?” John, who was a good friend to him, was there, patting his youngest on the back. John was Keegan’s mate, and he’d thought he was human for years.

“Hmmm? I am.” Okay, he needed to stop making his skin raw. “Just a little itchy.”

“Itchy? Did you get into something?” John studied him closely.

“I don’t think so…” His chest hurt some too. Maybe he was coming down with something.

“You look like you’re not feeling well, man. Do you need to see the healers? I can watch the kiddos.”

“No. No, I need to see Fen, I think.” Maybe he was wrong, but that was the way he felt…drawn.

“Well then, you should go.” John didn’t sound amused. He also didn’t sound particularly worried. “Trust me on this. Every so often, you really need this. You should follow your instincts.”

Rory’s cheeks heated. “Yeah, but I’m not a, you know…”

John rolled his eyes like thrown dice. “I don’t know anything. Trust me, these days. I don’t know anything. I have a family and a mate, and I’m very happy, but don’t ask me because everything that I ever thought I knew, I didn’t know. It’s a thing.”

John did make him chuckle. Rory guessed that finding out all of a sudden that one, you were a werewolf, and two, you were able to get pregnant was just a lot for a dude to process.

Especially one who hadn’t been raised in the universe that he’d been.

At least Rory knew about omegas and alphas and dragons and werewolves and fae.

“Are you sure you have the kids? I know it’s a lot.”

“Go. See. Fen.”

“Right on, going to see Fen.” He didn’t ask again. He just grabbed a couple of more bear claws and ran out the door.

He heard John going, “No, no, no, come on, kids, we’re going to go in here, and it’s going to be time to draw.”

He didn’t care. He just ran across the courtyard and then through the harvested garden to his mate. He needed to see Fen. He needed to see him now.

It wasn’t like there was something wrong. He felt that. He somehow understood that Fen was fine. He just needed to see him. Touch him.

Maybe pretend like they were going to lick each other a little bit.

He chuckled. Not yet. Fen was still recovering. But they could eat pastry together. That was a fine and wonderful thing.

Fen was standing on the front porch, staring at him, eyes seeming to glow, to beg him to jump into his arms and hold on.

“I brought you a bear claw…” He held out the pastry, shocked to see his hand shaking.

“Oh. Thank you.” Fen grabbed Rory by the wrist and dragged him inside, then took the pastry and set it on the entry table.