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Not to him, it wasn’t.

“I’m sorry that it’s uncomfortable, but I do swear to care for your brother and to be a good father.”

“You have children?” Liam’s eyes went wide. “Rory didn’t say that.”

“Not yet.” But he would. He had no doubt. He and Rory would have beautiful, amazing babies, and they would thrive.

“So you think—That’s weird too.” Liam laughed. “I mean, that Rory would be a…what do they call them? An omega?”

He grinned a little. “Yes, exactly. And he is.”

“I don’t want to know.” Liam held one hand up off the wheel as they bounced down the dirt track.

“I will spare you then.” Fen reached out with his mind, trying to find the thread of Rory’s thoughts.

Where are you? I was going to wake up but…Fen could tell there was a fuzziness to the thoughts. Yes, they seemed stronger, more powerful, but they weren’t as focused.

Oh, sweet mate.You’re all right,Fen sent. Shh…rest for a bit longer. You’re about to have a nice run, and you’ll need your energy.

Fen intended to run hard, to luxuriate in his mate.

Running.That was a satisfied thought.Mate? You’re… I can feel you coming to me.

Yes, yes, mate. Just rest. I’ll be there in a minute. I’m on my way.

He hoped it wouldn’t be much longer. Fen thought he could feel Rory yawn and stretch, and he had to smile. He couldn’t wait to see his mate. Would he be dark? Would he be white? Would he be gray? Small. Huge. The options were myriad, and he wanted to know right now.

“Dude, dude, can you not shift in my car? I would not be a happy camper. I just washed everything.” Liam did not sound amused. In fact, he sounded a touch stressed out. “I’ve had as much wolf excitement today as any human being deserves to have. Ever. Are we clear? No fuzziness.”

“You’re no fun,” he dared to tease. “I promise to be good.” At least until he got to Rory. After that, all bets were off.

“So how do you want this to work?” Liam asked. “Do you want us to just open the door and let you in? You want us to shut you in with him? You want us to try and lead him out?”

Fen pondered that a second. It shouldn’t honestly be too difficult, should it? “Is there a way for you to leave a path outside? Then you could go behind a shut door and just let me lead him out. It would be so much easier if I can shift first and help him leave the house. Once we’re in the open, we’re golden. But I do want to be able to get him outside.”

“Thank you. That won’t be a problem. Will he know us?”

“I don’t see any reason why not. He’s not a monster after all. He’s just fuzzy. I mean, he’s probably a little confused. And the nose—the thing is, is that the first time you shift, it’s going to be overwhelming, all the odors. You can smell so much better, right? And so that’s gonna be the biggest thing; he’s going to be distracted and confused. But he knows about werewolves. He understands what we’re like, what we are, how we function. He’s been living among us so…” Everything should be fine.

“Okay. Okay, cool.” Liam drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I mean, he didn’t hurt anyone when he went all fuzzed, so yeah. I need to meet with him about going up to the dragon home, but that can wait until—you know.”

“I’ll go with you. But that might have to wait a few days.” He gave Liam a wink as they pulled onto a paved road, and the trading post came into sight, the bend in the river shining in the sun.

It was a good place. He could tell by the look of it. By the…scent.

“Here we go,” Liam said as he pulled in and parked.

The trading post was long and low and surrounded by the trees, the lights in the windows making it seem warm and welcoming. One day, he would love to explore it with his mate.

“Thank you. If you don’t mind, you could go in and just sort of have everybody else go get in a room with closed doors and open up the door for Rory? I’m going to take my clothes off out here and shift. I don’t have a whole lot of them and I’d hate to ruin them, especially my boots.” Clothes didn’t grow on trees, not even for his Rory.

“Ohh, I understand. No reason to ruin what you don’t have to, right?” Liam nodded to him. “Give me five minutes and then come in.”

“Just open the door with the front door when you’re ready for me, because I’ll be ready for you.” He shifted easily, so it shouldn’t be a problem to be ready to meet his mate.

Liam went inside, and he began to strip down carefully, keeping his mental voice slow and easy. He didn’t want to wake his mate up yet. He folded all of his clothes up neatly into a little package, which he left on the seat for Liam to bring up in a few days. And then he shifted, letting himself go wolfy. His wounded arm felt strong, and his shoulder did too. As soon as Liam opened the door, he hurried in, calling for his mate.

Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory.