“Hey, Mavvy,” Roxanne called out as she walked past Maverick. She gave him a slight shove, like she had done so many times when they were younger.

“Hey,” he replied. He felt slighted. She didn’t even give him a second look. It wasn’t going as Maverick had imagined and hoped.

Everyone said their hellos before they all made their way to the revamped village. Maverick glanced at Roxanne a couple times, taking note of the mini-skirt and the tight blouse that made her hardened nipples visible. He’d hoped she would look in his direction and see that he was ogling her, but she never did.

Damian held Angel’s hand in his as they walked past the last of the bushes and into the clearing, where they all stopped. Calista held her other hand. Thor stood directly behind his mate, his arms wrapped around her middle.

“This is amazing,” Damian said. “I’m speechless. It’s so much.”

“Chuck, if you don’t mind giving us all the grand tour,” Thor requested.

“I don’t mind at all. Alphas Damian and Angel, and Beta Jordan -- welcome to your new home. Maverick already lives here, practically.” Chuck snickered. “You remember two of the three homes that were habitable. But with three of you, there just wasn’t enough room. So when we demolished the one home, we rebuilt the Alpha quarters. That’s the larger two-story home you see in the center. The previous house only had two bedrooms and one bathroom, like the other two. The new house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. I’m super excited for you to see the inside, and Maverick will be taking you all through in a few minutes. And, might I say, Maverick has done a fantastic job helping us.”

Maverick smiled, and his face flushed. He looked in Roxanne’s direction, but she was staring off to the side.

“What you may also notice is there are more structures here than just the three residences. One of the old buildings was reconfigured and repurposed. This was a result of the forethought of our Alpha, Thor. Thor, do you want to tell them what was done and reveal the first surprise?”

“Chuck, you’re too kind. You presented the idea and I merely agreed. But, to Chuck’s point, one of the smaller homes was turned into a medical facility. It’s nothing spectacular, but has four beds for the infirmary, and healer quarters have been added on.”

“We don’t have a healer, though,” Jordan said before Damian had a chance to get the same sentiment out of his mouth.

“Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that. You all are familiar with Anita, Trinity’s underling. She’s been doing a fantastic job and really deserves to be in a more primary role. Anita will be moving to the new pack with you as your healer.”

“Thank you, Father,” Damian said. “But are you sure?”

“I’m absolutely sure,” Thor said.

“We want our grandbabies to have the best care they can get, and we know Anita will be diligent.” Calista smiled as she looked at Angel.

“And, in case anyone gets shot again, we already know Anita can care for those wounds as well,” Thor said.

Thor looked at his Beta and noticed the scowl on his face. He smiled at Jude. “Relax, Jude, my friend, it was a joke. I’m sure there won’t be any more shootings.” He turned his attention back to Chuck and nodded.

Chuck cleared his throat. “So, we have the Alpha quarters, and the healer infirmary and quarters. Then there are two more buildings. One of them will be Beta Maverick’s home. That’s the residence that basically stayed completely intact, at Maverick’s request. He didn’t want us to fuss over him, but we did sneak in a few modifications on the inside, which Maverick hasn’t even seen yet.” Chuck looked at Maverick and smiled. “You knew we wouldn’t forget you.”

Jordan cleared his throat. He was eager to know about where he’d be staying.

“And Beta Jordan. On the other side of the infirmary you’ll see a small new cottage where you will be living. It’s a nice one-story home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We’ll walk through so you can see it.”

“Chuck, as always, you and your team work like magic. You’re faster than any other group I’ve ever heard of. I don’t know how you do it, but you do a great job. I can’t wait to see the insides. Shall we?” Thor asked. Calista dropped Angel’s hand and took Thor’s in her grip.

“Absolutely; I can’t wait, either,” Angel said.

The group made their way up the path to right in front of the homes.

Chuck looked at Maverick. “I’m going to let Maverick walk you through three of the buildings, then I’ll walk everyone through Maverick’s place so he can see what we did.”

Maverick led everyone through the infirmary to start. The façade of the home hadn’t changed. It still looked like the same small bungalow that sat there before, only now it had a wooden sign on it with Anita’s name.

The inside looked completely different. Maverick and a couple of the guys had been staying there, sleeping in the rooms that had been converted to sick beds temporarily while they kept working on all the other construction work. The rest of the guys had bunked in what was to be Maverick’s place.

The entire inside had been cleaned up and repainted to look more cheery than the drab wood paneling that had been there before. The group continued back to the door leading to the healer quarters. Maverick announced that Anita would have her own one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath, private residence behind that door. He opened the door and they all walked through. Her space was sparsely decorated with a hand-made table and chair set, and a hand-made queen-sized bed frame. She’d need to bring her other furnishings, but she’d have everything else she’d need.

“Great job, guys,” Damian said. “I can’t imagine her not being happy here.”

“Thank you,” Chuck said, a toothy grin on his face.

“Let’s walk through Jordan’s place next,” Maverick said.

They all marched back out of the infirmary and over to Jordan’s home. The tour was marveled at by all, and Jordan loved his home. Maverick told Jordan they had a couple of pieces of furniture in the works, but they weren’t quite ready. Jordan said he wished Mindy could have come to see the home. Jude nodded his approval of the place his son would soon call home. Once they wrapped up there, they went to the Alpha’s quarters.

When Angel and Damian walked through the front door, they both gasped at the sight of their new home. Angel grabbed Damian’s hand and squeezed it hard.

“I love it,” she said.

“Let’s go see more; this is just the foyer and dining room,” Maverick said.

They continued to walk through and Maverick showed them the living room, the large eat-in kitchen, and the back patio. Next they climbed the stairs to see the bedrooms. The first three bedrooms were all about the same size, and the future children and/or guests would share the bathroom in the hall. There was a small landing that separated the master suite from the other three bedrooms.

“I hope there are enough rooms here for all of our grandchildren,” Calista said, then giggled.

“I don’t know, Mother. We may need to add-on,” Damian said with a smile.

On the other side of the landing was the door to Damian and Angel’s suite. When they walked through the door, tears streamed down Angel’s face. The room was much larger than she’d thought possible. And it was the only room that was fully furnished with a California King bed, matching bedside tables, and chest of drawers. The room had a cozy nook with a baby crib, changing table, and small dresser.

Damian lowered his mouth near Angel’s ear. “I think they’re trying to drop a hint,” Damian said. She giggled. She loved the idea of having Damian’s babies. And seeing the baby crib made her want to give him a precious bundle of joy soon.

“There’s one more thing to see. The master bathroom.” Maverick held out his hand to direct them.

As they walked to the bathroom, there were two walk-in-closets flanking each side of the small hall, then they walked into the beautifully appointed bathroom with a double-sized shower with two shower heads, a sunken Jacuzzi tub, and a vanity for each of them.

“Damian and Angel, I hope you’ll be happy here for many years to come. And if we need to build that add-on for more kids, just give us a holler,” Chuck said. Everyone laughed.

Damian and Angel knew his parents were one hundred percent behind making sure this was all done for them. They walked over and gave Thor and Calista several hugs and thanked them repeatedly for everything. Jude and Jordan joined in expressing their gratitude. Maverick looked at Roxanne, but she was busy running her fingers along the mantel of the fireplace in Damian’s bedroom.

“I’m happy you all like what’s been done so far,” Thor said. “We have a couple more buildings that will be going up soon, and I’m sure everyone will be quite happy with the finished product.”

Everyone funneled back out of the Alpha house and over to Maverick’s bachelor pad.

“And we have one final stop on this tour,” Chuck said. “Maverick hasn’t seen the inside, and one of the great things about living here for these past few weeks was being able to make changes on the inside in the evening. We were able to keep this all a surprise until now. Come on, Maverick, go on in,” Chuck said.

Maverick walked through the door and abruptly stopped. He was surprised to see the paneling had been replaced with drywall. He’d hated the paneling. It felt too old and dated for him. Even as they painted the infirmary paneling, he had complained about it still being there.

“No paneling,” Chuck said. He and Maverick smiled at each other.

The group moved farther into the house and stopped at the kitchen, which had been painted, a new island was added, and the lights had all been changed to much more modern fixtures. A wall had also been removed to open the kitchen to the living room.

The tour continued back to the master bedroom, where a bay window had been installed, along with a gas fireplace. And the biggest surprise, Maverick would have his own master bath.

“This is great. Thank you so much.” Maverick was beaming. He was so happy with his new home. He gave Thor a big hug and then gave Chuck one, too.

“That’s it, folks,” Chuck said. “Now, I have to kick you all out so we can get back to work.”

Everyone shuffled out of the house; but Maverick stayed in his bedroom, looking out the bathroom window that gave him a great view of the woods behind him. When he turned around, he nearly ran right into Roxanne.

“Now I know where you live, Mavvy. I guess that means I could crash on your couch some night, right?”

“I wouldn’t make you sleep on the couch,” he replied.

“Oh, no? Where would I sleep? Maybe in here with you?”

The butterflies in his stomach were churning furiously. “Maybe. If you want to.”

“Maybe I do. And maybe one day, I will.”

She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, with a gentle tug, she pulled him down to her. Her mouth was on his, and her tongue pressed to tangle with his. He opened for her and held her at her waist. He could feel his manhood growing and pressing against his zipper.

“Roxanne!” Jude hollered.

They broke their kiss. “I guess I gotta go. I can’t have Daddy getting pissed. I just got back on his good side.” She gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “But I’ll be back.” She smiled at him, then turned on her heels.

Maverick stood in his bedroom, watching Roxy’s sexy rear end sway out the door.