Page 20 of Rogue If You Want To (Fur-Ever Mountain Pack #2)

OTTO

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Torin held me close, both of us ready for our day, but not quite ready to go our separate ways.

“No, mate. Stay here. According to Creven, you guys should be able to have the final touches on the new place done this morning, and coming with me might hold that back.”

There was a time when I would have been happy with not ever finishing the project, when I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave the cabin we were staying in…

the one designed for people as temporary housing while they figured out if this pack was for them.

But after the pack run, I realized that while the building felt safe, it had nothing to do with the structure itself. It had to do with the people.

It had to do with my pack.

And once I was able to put that into context, I was ready to be moving into our new home.

I was sure part of it had to do with the pregnancy hormones, but I’d been pretty lucky so far.

Aside from sleeping a lot, I didn’t have a lot of the horrific side effects I’d heard about.

I wasn’t puking every other minute. I wasn’t feeling ligament pain.

There was no dizziness. None of the things I’d heard omegas complain about growing up.

But then again, by the time I heard about their issues, they’d already been to the healer and were coming to my dad to see what to do next. So it made sense that those weren’t the norm, but rather the conditions that needed more treatment.

I was feeling great, especially this morning. I woke up with energy to spare and ready to take on the world.

“We’re just heading over to the next county for the book fair. Auden and I are gonna take the van and fill it with lots of books for the library, and then I’ll be back.” I kissed his jaw. “And maybe, if I’m in a good mood, I’ll bring cinnamon buns from the coffee shop that you like so much.”

He rubbed his cheek against mine. I loved it when he tried to get his scent on me any time I was leaving pack grounds. There was something so primal about it.

“You, mate, treat me so well.” He nipped my earlobe. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Will do.”

We parted ways. He went toward our new home, and I went toward one of the pack vans, which Auden and I were going to bring to the fair. The library was off to a nice start, but we really needed a lot more books. And new books cost a ton.

Along the way we stopped at random yard sales on the side of the road and were actually able to pick up quite a few.

One person was getting rid of all of their children’s books.

Their “little one,” as they called them, was at college, and they had everything from board books to chapter books to picture books to clear out.

When we told them we were starting a library, they just told us to take them. They were glad they had a new home.

We reached the field where the sale was taking place just as it officially opened. There were a ton of people there, but even more books. The Library Association for the county had been collecting books all year long, and they lined table after table after table with them.

Auden and I each bought a bag, filled it, brought it to the van, and did it again and again until we went through every table and random box.

There weren’t a lot of shifter-related books, but that was okay.

There were alphabet books and rhyming books and early readers.

By the time we shut the van and were ready to go, I felt really good about what we’d accomplished.

It still wouldn’t be a full library by any means, but it was going to be very usable, especially for our small population.

And when all was said and done, we’d only spent a fraction of our budget.

“I’m guessing we’re stopping at the coffee shop on the way back?” Auden loved the cinnamon rolls as much as my mate did.

“Yeah, I’m a little predictable, aren’t I?”

“In the best of ways.”

We walked in just as they were putting up a new rack of cinnamon buns, and I bought them all.

If we were going to celebrate a new house today, we might as well do it with sugar and cinnamon goodness.

When we had a larger pack, we’d need to order ahead.

But today, we were able to get everything we needed with one stop that was spontaneous-ish.

Back at the pack lands, we were met by Lazlo and Noel, who offered to unload the car. When I attempted to help, Auden pointed toward the fire pit and told me not to overdo it while I was pregnant.

I didn’t call carrying a bag of books overdoing it, but his heart was in the right place, and I was pretty excited about bringing the cinnamon buns to the table by the fire pit for everyone to devour.

As I turned toward the pit, I was surprised to see that everyone working on the house was already there drinking coffee and smiling brightly.

“You’re done already?” I set the boxes of buns down.

“We are.” Creven patted my mate on the back. “And you’re going to love it.”

They’d collectively thwarted my attempt to work on the building since the painting began, worried about the fumes, and even though I tried to worm my way into helping again, they had been pretty firm on that. They all stuck together which both frustrated me and filled my heart with happiness.

“How was your trip?” My mate was sitting on the log, and I climbed onto his lap and snuggled in close.

“It was very productive. We have a lot of books for our little ones. They’re not gonna get bored, that’s for sure. We didn’t do so hot for the adults, but we made a good start.”

We waited until Auden and the others joined us, ate our cinnamon buns, and then my mate asked me to stand up. He held his hands over my eyes and led me to our new home.

I knew what it looked like on the outside, and even on the inside, but I hadn’t seen it once it was finished, once the furniture was in place, the paint was on the walls, the curtains were up.

As I stepped inside and he pulled his hands away, I was in awe.

It was rustic, yes, in the way that I loved, but it was also rustic in the way that it looked like it belonged in a magazine.

He showed me the changes he’d made to the kitchen cabinets with the new knobs, the couch Noel found at the secondhand store that converted into a bed if we ever needed it, the curtains in the bedroom that were covered in a beautiful river landscape that Bree picked up while in town and thought were perfect, the waterfall showerhead my mate ordered after hearing how much I loved dancing in the rain.

Every item had a story and a packmember behind it. I had to blink away tears more than once.

And then there was the nursery. Unlike everything else, it wasn’t finished. It was a blank canvas.

“I thought we could do this together.” He hugged me from behind, and I leaned into him.

“I’d like that.”

The place was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

“Ready to move everything in?” Torin kissed my mating mark.

“Yes.” Although, at this moment, I could think of some better ways to pass the time. Something about the feel of his lips on my mark…

When he asked me if I was ready, I thought he meant we’d go back to the old place, gather our things, and carry them over.

Instead, he opened the door, and the pack was standing there, each of them with a box or a bag or a pillow…

something from our personal effects. We didn’t have a lot, but over the short time we’d been here, we’d been collecting things we would need or enjoy in our new home.

With everyone’s help, we were unpacked by dinnertime.

And tonight was a new moon, which Larkin decided meant we should have a barbecue.

Not always; he wasn’t like my father, trying to cement everything into a tradition.

Larkin was always looking for a reason for us to do things together as a pack.

It was one of the things that made him such a good Alpha-Omega.

I stood next to my mate with my plate of potato salad and hamburger, looking at the people around us, our new family, our new pack.

My father had been so wrong about what it meant to be a pack. He didn’t even know what it meant to be a bevy. He was the one in charge, yes. But this? This was pack. This was home.

And this was where we were going to raise our pup. Our children weren’t going to endure what I did. They were going to be loved by those who should love them most… their family and their pack.

I couldn’t be happier.