Axel North met the members of his pack at exactly two weeks old, surprising everyone in attendance with his sex.

Destiny had been surprised, too. Furious that a mistake had been made and then humored from then on out by the sight of his little boy in a pink bedroom. This was for sure going to be a child who grew up without being restricted by gender norms.

The doctor said maybe Axel was just a shy little boy in the womb. Destiny thought the real reason was you couldn’t tell a head from a dick on an ultrasound—he hadn’t even been able to see a baby in there—but he kept his opinion to himself. It didn’t really matter, anyway. What mattered was that Axel was here, alive, healthy, and already smiling.

Nearly every member of Shadow Claws was in attendance at this meeting at William Bartram Memorial Park, all gathered around the green sculpture. What remained of the Lethal Freedom wolves were still arriving, albeit in disappointingly small numbers. It seemed like Brock’s solid presence had been the only thing holding them together. Without him, very few wanted to continue on in the LF motorcycle club.

Destiny stood off to the side with his dozing son in his arms, watching as Markus greeted his former pack members. Though bikers were not a touchy-feely group in general, they hugged him now and he embraced them right back. Going through hell together would establish that kind of connection between people.

He dropped his gaze down to Axel. The infant already possessed a full head of curly brown hair, exactly like Markus. One of his eyes was blue, while the other seemed to be a darker shade of some unidentifiable color. Heterochromia, the same thing that caused Destiny to have mismatched eyes. He supposed that, in time, his son’s eye colors would become clearer and then stay that way for good. Even if they didn’t, the baby was still perfect. He could never be anything but perfect.

“Hey.”

Destiny looked up at the sound of the warm voice. He smiled for his mate, knowing Markus would see right through it and not really mind the fact. “Hey, yourself. How is everyone?”

“Still broken,” Markus said. He held out his arms, and Destiny gently handed over their son. Markus hugged the baby very gently, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. “It’s not the same without Brock.”

No one knew where Brock had gone after selling his house. He had disappeared. Gone into hiding most likely, too ashamed to show his face after the part he played in all of this. No doubt he had probably decided this was the best way to help his pack recover, by removing himself from the equation.

Destiny didn’t agree. Without Brock, there was no pack. At the very least, they deserved an apology or some form of official farewell. Without that, they were all just hanging in the air, unable to move on.

That was why Destiny had gathered them here today.

“I don’t blame them,” Destiny murmured. “Not one bit.”

“Do you really think you’ll be able to do this? After last time…”

Destiny nodded, reaching out to wrap his arms around his mate and child. “When you and I broke up, it was what caused there to be two packs in the first place. I hate to say it, but now that Brock is gone…” He paused, tried a different tact. “Now that we’re together again, we can all come together again. We’ll be one pack. Pensacola will belong to all of us again.”

“I hate to be the pessimistic one here…”

Destiny nodded, hugging Markus tighter. “I know.”

Even if the remaining members of Lethal Freedom were willing to put aside the differences of the past and become one with Shadow Claw, it wasn’t a union that would happen overnight. It was going to be a ton of work. Compromises would have to be made.

Really, it was going to be quite the adjustment period. But if anyone could do it, Destiny knew that was going to be him.

Soft footsteps approached. Cain walked across the grass, one arm around his mate, Ralphie, who held their fussy child in his arms.

Destiny looked at his second-in-command. “Are we ready?”

“As we’ll ever be,” Cain said. Even after all this time, he still looked haunted. Destiny supposed it would take a long time to stop, if it ever did. “I don’t think we’re going to get anyone else from Lethal Freedom here. It’s now or never.”

It was now.

Destiny leaned over to give a kiss to Markus then Axel. “I love you,” he said, speaking to both of them.

We love you, too, Markus replied in his thoughts.

Destiny headed off across the grass to see what he could do about repairing the past. He didn’t know how successful he would be, but that didn’t matter so much anymore because he wasn’t going to do this alone. In the areas where he failed, he had the support of his mate to keep him going.

It wasn’t enough to fix all the damage but it was a damn good start.