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“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, considering we’re not going over empty-handed,” I laugh.

Madden drives us over to Charlotte’s gorgeous home in one of the hillier, more wooded areas of town. It’s still surprisingly close to the hospital, which seems to be a non-negotiable for Charlotte considering her job as the only omega Ob-gyn in Riverwell.

Carter, one of Charlotte’s bonded mates opens the door with a smile. He pushes his glasses up and extends his arm out to Chase to do that bro-hug, pat-on-the-back combo.

“Hey, man! Good to see you!” He says to Chase.

“Good to see you too! Fatherhood looks good on you.” Chase jerks his thumb behind us to point at the rest of my guys who are each holding platters of food. I’ve enjoyed learning how to cook recently, and I’m happy to be able to share my food with other people. “We come with tribute!”

“It’s nothing fancy,” I say, offering him a little wave. “Just a few casseroles that you guys can pop into the oven whenever you want to eat. I thought it’d be helpful since I know Charlotte’s focused on the baby.”

“That’s awesome! Thank you so much. Here, come in and set those down. Charlotte’s waiting for you,” Carter says, waving us in.

“Hey guys!” Nolan, one of Charlotte’s other mates says, waving to us, his hands full with a couple of trash bags. “I’m ontrash duty, but Charlotte and Dawson are in the nursery waiting for you guys!”

Carter leads the way down the hall and to an adorable little nursery, the walls painted with cotton-candy pink clouds.

“Hey, everyone,” Charlotte says, bouncing her little bundle of joy in her arms. It’s been a couple months since she’s given birth, but she and her pack wanted to have quality time with their baby before they started inviting people over, which I one hundred percent support. “Meet Viviene.”

I feel my heart squeeze at how adorable and small she looks.

“Oh my god, she’s gorgeous,” I let out a soft gasp.

“Heck yeah she is, she got the good genes,” Chase jokes, flexing.

“I’d punch you for the insult if you weren’t right,” Dawson chuckles under his breath. “She does take after her mother.”

“Oh stop it, guys,” Charlotte says, rolling her eyes. She looks up at me, standing from her rocking chair. “Do you want to hold her?”

“Me?” I blink. “Really? What—what do I do? How do I hold her?”

“Of course, you,” Charlotte laughs softly. She has this sort of maternal glow that takes my breath away. “Here, it’s easy, let me show you.”

She shows me how to position my arms and passes a cooing Viviene over to me. I let out a gasp as she blinks up at me and my eyes well up.

“She’s absolutely precious,” I say, starting to sway back and forth like I saw Charlotte do in her chair.

“Look, see? You’re a natural,” Charlotte says.

“Oh, looks like she wants her mom back now!” I say, handing Viviene back to her when she reaches for Charlotte.

“Let me take a look at my niece,” Chase says, bouncing excitedly.

Archer steps up behind me, his hands resting at my hips.

“It looked amazing seeing you hold a baby like that,” he murmurs softly. “Maybe we should follow in their footsteps and get you pregnant.”

“You—you think I’d be a good mom?”

“I fucking know it,” he growls.

I giggle in his arms, spinning around to kiss him.

“Then maybe we should,” I murmur against his lips.

Because I know I can face anything as long as I have my pack by my side.

THE END