Page 25 of Tossed into the Mob (The Wolves of La Luna Noir #4)

brOCK

“Did you order the food?” Flint asked Ranger as he and Tony walked into our house.

“No, Hunter said he was doing it.” Ranger and Matt held hands as they crossed the threshold.

“I did not. I thought Dad was.” Hunter grinned as Odell tweaked his mate’s butt. “He’s great at ordering from online menus.”

“Not me.” Rudy snuck up behind his sons with his grandchildren in tow.

Grandpa was already here, but he was in the basement checking on the baby food in the freezer, and I asked him to bring a pureed vegetable up for Lua.

We’d all agreed that we were tired and this Sunday we’d order in rather than having one couple cook, but somehow the message had gotten lost as to who was actually doing it.

As we were a ways out of town, it’d take a delivery guy a while to get here, so I rummaged in the cupboards for corn chips and crackers and raided the fridge for dips. We had bread and peanut butter, and I got to work with Matt’s help making mountains of sandwiches for the kids.

Grandpa appeared at the top of the stairs with a box of pureed baby food he’d made a few months ago.

“We have plenty of food.” He shoved some jars in the microwave.

Ranger scoffed and grabbed a sage and sweet potato. “Uncle, baby food is blech, even if you made it.”

Grandpa heated up the food and gave Ranger a spoon and told him to taste it. After a few moments’ hesitation, he did, and his expression transformed from skeptical to yum.

“This is so good.”

Treyton appeared with Lua. He’d given her a second bath because we’d had a poop explosion thanks to her just starting on solids. He gravitated toward me and slid an arm around my waist, and I kissed Lua. All was right with the world now that my two favorite people were in the room with me.

Why do humans wear diapers? Pooping in the woods is better.

That’s easy for you to say.

That inner voice I’d been listening to for years turned out to be my wolf who’d been trying to tell me he was there, but I hadn’t recognized his subtle hints.

Flint grabbed a second jar of food from the microwave and eyed it before unscrewing the lid and tasting the roasted parsnip and vanilla puree. His eyes lit up.

“You could start your own line of baby food, Uncle.”

“Don’t give him any ideas.” Hunter grabbed Grandpa’s shoulders.

“Oh, I’ve already registered a company.” Arnie held up his phone to show us the logo. The name Cub Bites was a wolf’s pawprint shaped like a heart with the company name curved around the bottom. “And I’m selling the food truck.”

Most people Arnie’s age had retired years ago, but I couldn’t see him slowing down.

The kids raced in and asked if they could taste what we were eating, and I was glad we had a second microwave. Hunter and Odell supervised the heating and checked to make sure it wasn’t too hot before giving it to the kids.

The entire Durand family was crammed into our kitchen and spilling into the living room, each of them sampling food from the mountain of tiny jars that had been taking up residence in our freezer for months. The weekly family dinner had turned into an impromptu baby food tasting party.

Lua glared at everyone eating her food, and Grandpa kissed her and told her he’d make more. Now that she was eating solid food, I was grateful to him for stocking the basement freezer.

“The pea and mint one is so refreshing.” Matt licked his spoon.

“That’s my favorite,” Dad agreed. He’d arrived last night for a visit.

“It's like a fancy restaurant appetizer,” Odell told him.

Dad asked if he could hold his granddaughter, and Treyton and I leaned on the counter while the Durand family chaos and frantic activity whirled around us.

“Hard to believe this is where we are.” He smooched my shoulder and set my body on fire.

“Brock.” Flint was on the opposite side of the kitchen taking the lid off a jar for Kendric. “Can I talk to you and Treyton for a minute?”

Even knowing I was truly one of the pack because I had a wolf inside me, my belly tightened. With a quick glance at Lua, my mate and I held hands as we went onto the terrace.

“How are you adjusting?” Flint asked. There was no need to ask what he was talking about. My revelation was the talk of the pack for weeks, and he asked the same question whenever I saw him.

His question sent me hurtling back to that day when Treyton put me to bed and I clutched our daughter, not wanting to let her go.

Dad brought tea and nibbles, thinking I might be in shock, but I worried he was reeling because of what he witnessed.

So the four of us huddled under the covers.

Treyton held me and Lua. He said he’d answer my questions as best he could but pointed out I now had a secret weapon.

He whispered that I was amazing and that Lua would grow up knowing how I’d saved her.

I expected to sleep, but my mind whirred, and my wolf, having found his voice, couldn't stop talking. I asked Treyton if there was an off switch, and my beast replied, I heard that.

My mate called Flint. Though he would have preferred the family to wait until I’d accepted my new reality, Alpha disagreed. He and his brothers, along with Rudy and Grandpa, arrived, and Treyton told me Flint arranged for the bodies to be burned.

But it was Grandpa who knocked on my door and asked to come in. I agreed but couldn’t let a sleeping Lua go. Treyton had to brief Flint, so he and Dad joined the others outside.

“I missed a lot of signs.”

“Mmmm, like how you healed so quickly after being shot and you have an almost invisible scar?” He patted my knee.

“You knew?”

Grandpa took my hand. “No. But Flint suspected. For someone who’d never fired a gun, you hit Riggs’s wolf in the heart. And I told him how you’d caught that jar that Niles knocked off the counter. And you saw and heard things, plus I pointed out about your wound.”

Flint had maintained I was human, but he probably couldn’t have said, “I think you have a wolf inside you.”

“How did Treyton not know?”

He shrugged. “We often don’t see what is right in front of us. It’s only people who are a little apart who pick up on things.”

The next few weeks were spent getting to know my wolf and seeing the world from his perspective. Treyton rarely left my side, and now more than ever I was grateful his touch calmed me. It had the same effect on my wolf.

My wolf! I had a wolf.

It was a huge learning curve, and Flint refused to allow me to shift on a mission until he was satisfied I could control my beast, which I hadn’t as yet.

That was a process, but we were getting there.

His reasoning for why my wolf appeared when he did was paternal instinct. Gasper and his crony had threatened my daughter. Treyton wasn’t upset that my beast hadn’t made an appearance when he was fighting Riggs. He understood I was still grieving and couldn't sense the unbreakable mate bond.

“I know you would give your life for Lua, as I would. She comes first.” My mate nuzzled me as he did repeatedly before and since.

Treyton’s phone beeped and brought me back to the present. He apologized, saying it was work, and moved down the garden to answer it.

His mobile clinic for pregnant omegas had been operational for a month, and I was so proud of him. He’d worked so hard, staying up into the wee small hours, but was always available for me and our daughter.

“You’re not the only one who’s changed.” Flint followed my gaze. "The work he's doing with the mobile clinic is exactly what the community needs."

“He won’t mind me saying this because I’m pretty sure he’s said it to you, but working in La Luna Noir was never for him.”

Flint agreed. “It’s not for everyone, even those born into it.” He eyed me as if wondering when or if I’d pick up on what he said.

“And I was. Born into it, even though I didn’t live the life.”

“You were. And now you've found your place too, but I can’t imagine how hard it’s been to navigate being a shifter.”

“Even though I'm Emilio's son?” Treyton and I had discussed whether this would always hang over me.

“Especially because you're his son.” Flint's expression grew serious. “Your father allowed his personal feelings to cloud his judgment. You've proven you're nothing like him.”

Lua cried, and Dad appeared, putting our daughter into my arms. She clung to me, and I relished the warmth of her skin against mine.

“You have a unique perspective on the world, Brock.” Flint made funny faces at Lua. “You see things from both a human and shifter viewpoint.”

Lucky me!

But I’d reached a conclusion weeks after my wolf emerged. My purpose wasn’t to prove I was nothing like Emilio but to prove who I was. And now I was carving out my own place in the world and as a mate to Treyton.

We went back into the house and someone had finally ordered food, but the kids had had their fill of dips and chips and sandwiches and were playing games on their tablets.

“When do we get to see your beast?” Hunter popped a fry in his mouth.

“Treyton tells us he’s faster than his wolf.” Ranger leaned back and slung an arm on Matt’s chair.

He had a lot of pent-up energy from being locked inside me for so long.

“And it’s not fair that Flint has seen him and we haven’t.” Ranger pouted.

“You might want to reconsider that.” Flint told his brother. “I suspect he’d kick your butt in a hunt.”

Ranger flexed his muscles and poo-pooed Flint’s suggestion.

“I’ve seen him.” Madd spoke up. He was back working in pack headquarters and managed to sneak in visits to see his only niece.

“Of course you have. I’m beginning to wonder if Hunter and I are the only ones who haven't.” Ranger crossed his arms.

“I have.” Tony smirked. It was a fib, but Ranger didn’t know that and he growled.

“Me too.” Odell put up his hand.

“Me three,” Rudy said.

“And I was given the privilege too.” Grandpa smirked.

“What?”

“Gotcha!” everyone shouted.

“I hate this family.” Ranger growled, and Matt gave him a kiss.

Lua squealed, and everyone glanced in her direction.

Arnie was feeding her, and she wrested the spoon away from him.

With two shifter parents, she was guaranteed to be one also.

I was proud of her independence and strength and just hoped she and her beast would meet during adolescence and not as adults.

I thought back to that moment before my wolf emerged when I regretted getting involved with La Luna Noir. I’d been scared that I’d put us in danger due to my actions. But it was Gasper, not me, who threatened our lives.

I’d ruminated with Treyton whether I held any anger at Flint for ending my father’s life. But after becoming a parent, I understood he was protecting his family. Family came first, and I would die for Lua.

La Luna Noir was home. With the secrets and the risk came love, protection, and knowing that the family would always be there for me, Treyton, and Lua.

Our daughter would know where she belonged, and it was right here. I wished Treyton’s folks lived nearby, but they’d made the decision to live their life away from La Luna Noir, and I respected that. We’d visit a few times a year, and they’d been here twice since Lua was born.

Dad lived here part-time. But he liked being at home because he and his neighbor were getting along well. He said he’d never fall in love again but was enjoying their close friendship. I didn’t ask how close, but he had an almost permanent smile on his face.

“Time to clean up.” Odell and the others wouldn’t let me and Treyton help, so even the kids were brought in to carry plates into the kitchen.

They said their goodbyes. Dad was staying at the apartment in town, so it was just us three in the house.

Lua yawned. Her face and hands were dirty, but Treyton and I agreed she’d had two baths today, so we’d wipe them with a cloth.

She fell asleep while I was reading to her, and after kissing her good night, I collapsed on the bed beside my mate.

“How will our life be different with me being a shifter?” I asked for the hundredth time since that day as I snuggled into him.

“Let’s see. I won’t be able to pretend that I hear Lua crying just so I can go in and cuddle her. And I can’t sneak up on you and do this.” He smothered my face with kisses.

“Oh, I stopped those sneaky habits, huh.” I flung a leg over his hip. “But I’m serious. Is it different being mated to a shifter compared to a human?”

He leaned back and studied me. “You make it sound as though I was mated twice.”

I shrugged. Maybe he was.

“You’re my one and only, my happy ever after. You, Brock. Sure, as a shifter you can run fast and hear a car approaching when it’s a mile away, but you’re still you. You just have another dimension. You on the outside and the other you inside.”

He held out his hand, palm side up, and I placed mine on his.

I'd approached the world as human; it was how I met Treyton and became pregnant. But whether human or the shifter I'd become, my mate and baby were my forever.

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