Page 91 of Witchbane

“This is real. We’re home. Feels a bit strange for me too.” He gave me a soft smile. “I missed you like crazy.”

I turned in his embrace to look at him, touch his face, stare into his eyes. He was so beautiful. The gray in his hair was fading, but still peppered through his blond locks. No one seemed to be trying to sever our bond, which was a nice change from the norm. I could feel it wrapped tightly around us, woven like a scarf, with a thousand threads all coalescing into one long velvet rope. It had to be the pack bond, maybe even several packs as some of the threads seemed to echo out into something else.

“The other northwest packs,” Liam said. “Don’t mess with them too much, they are still getting used to being united.” Liam wrapped a hand around my braid, tugging it lightly and it felt amazing, but I had a million questions.

First and foremost, “Where’s Ari?” My cub was not in the room with us. I hadn’t even officially met them yet, not outside of some dream. Was Ari real? How was it even possible to create a child from wild magic?

Liam looked away from me for a moment, long enough to make me worry, but then the door to the bedroom opened and Ari bounded in with exuberant energy. They jumped up onto the bed and threw themselves into a hug with Liam and me.

“Daddy,” Ari peppered my face with kisses, but hid beside me, like they’d done something they knew they weren’t supposed to.

“What did you do?” Liam frowned at Ari. I instinctively wanted to defend my cub, but a knock on the door made me look up. Nick stood in the open doorway.

“Sorry,” he said. “Ari changed. It was fast, but it was noticed…”

Nick was here. In my house. Alive and well. “I’m confused,” I said, looking from him to my mate, to my cub. “Not like unhappy confused, more feeling like I missed stuff.”

“You did have a nap,” Nick said. “Probably needed one.”

“Elaine saw, I presume?” Liam growled. He gave Ari a stern look. Ari plastered themself to my side. I stroked their hair, hugging my baby tight.

“A minute,” Ari whispered. “Uncle Kiran said it would be okay. He could freeze her memory like ice.” Ari looked thoughtful. “I like ice. Toby makes good ice.”

“I think you mean you like ice cream,” Nick said. “Unfortunately, we’ll have to do a bit of fixing to her memory. It can’t just be erased, but we can convince her she was dreaming.”

Liam sighed and rubbed his face.

“Sorry, Papa,” Ari whispered.

Liam reached out to run a hand through Ari’s hair. The color and texture was much like mine, only shorter with a bit of a chunky curl. He gave our baby’s hair a little tug, until Ari looked at him. “Let’s keep changes to only when the pack is around, okay?”

“What about Grandma?”

My mother was still here too? Could I get rid of any of them? I groaned. And Kiran and Nick were in our house. I couldn’t imagine how my mate explained that to his ex-wife and my mother. I didn’t think Kiran could pass for a regular human; his coloring made him stand out a lot like mine did. At least my mother knew about the supernatural.

“I think it’s best to keep to the same rules,” Liam said. “That way, we don’t forget when we aren’t home. No changing with anyone outside the pack. Grandma is not pack.”

“Kiran says…”

Liam shook his head, cutting Ari off. “I’m aware of what Kiran says. But who do you listen to first? Papa or Kiran?”

“Papa,” Ari said.

“Good. Now, how about you go see if Toby has some food for Daddy?”

“I could use a burger…” I muttered. My stomach growled. Ari’s eyes widened. “Daddy is starving.” My mate gave me the side-eye I recognized as something he saw from me quite often.

“A real hamburger,” Liam said. “Two patties, bacon, sharp cheddar, pickles, and ketchup. Can you remember all that?”

Ari nodded. “I like burgers too.” Ari scrambled up to kiss my cheek. “Burgers soon, ‘kay?”

I nodded. “Please. Thank you.”

“Daddy talks pretty,” Ari said as they bounded off the bed and toward Nick.

“I’ll keep Kiran distracted,” Nick said. “There are a lot of people in this space. Neither of us is used to that.”

“We’ll have to find a place for the two of you that is quiet. I promise to work on that if you can hold out a few more days. I know the house is filled with pack right now. It’s a need to be close to us, the alpha and the heart of the pack, after the events of the past few days.”