“So are you going to tell me who that was?” I asked as I cradled Willow, his eyes wandering around the car in curiosity at this new world he was experiencing. No matter how many times I looked at my baby, I couldn’t get over how precious he was to me.

“What are you talking about?” Jason replied, keeping his focus solely on the road. The blinker continued to blink as he tried to pull over, but the asshole ahead of us wasn’t giving us any room to turn.

“That old man. You looked kinda freaked when he showed up.”

“Oh. No, he was just there for the funeral too.”

“And?” I managed to pull my sight away from Willow to size Jason up. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were visibly white, and despite the warm air blasting in the car, he seemed to be sweating profusely out of nervousness.

“And you seemed pretty freaked, and quiet, when you got in the car. You haven’t said anything this entire time.” We were almost home now, but we were about to miss our street if we couldn’t get into the right turning lane. “Move, you jerk!” I shouted at the car ahead, even though I knew they wouldn’t be able to hear me.

“I was just surprised. He uhm... well... he’s a real estate agent. He thought that maybe he could help us with the move.”

Something about the tone of his voice didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t say that I knew him up and down, in and out. But he was usually much more confident when he spoke up, and to hear his voice waver for just a moment set off small alarm bells in my head.

“How does he know we want to move? Did you tell him?”

“I mean, the family at least knew that Mark died on our front porch and what Thorn did to you, too. Why wouldn’t we be trying to move after everything that happened?”

Even his body language was tense. He shrugged and leaned forward closer towards the dashboard. “If that’s it, why are you so tense?”

“Because I’m ready to get the fuck out of that house. It’s cursed, and working all these shifts has got me tired. I’m trying to focus on driving so I don’t fall asleep at the wheel, but you keep fucking pressing this.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. He had been working a lot, and on top of saving for the house, I knew he was funding my medical bills since I was an official stay-at-home parent. But to hear him snap, things must have been much more stressful than I thought.

Even if I wanted to snap back at him, I bit my tongue instead. He was working so hard, and I didn’t want to push him even more.

“Sorry,” was all I could mutter as I lowered my head, checking to make sure he hadn’t woke up Willow with his shouting. Our baby was still fast asleep, thank goodness.

“No, I’m sorry, Forest. I didn’t mean to snap like that. I’m just so on edge lately.”

I nodded in understanding but didn’t say anything more about it.

Finally, we had reached our home. We missed the first two turns we could have taken to get to our house quickly, but the jerk in front of us turned off at the previous street, so we had to make a U-turn to get back. We didn’t speak another word as we got out of the car, and instead entered the house in silence.

I plopped down onto the small couch in the living area, with Willow now leaning against my shoulder. He was so light, and still so small, but man did it make my arms ache when I cradled him constantly. Jason turned to me after locking the door and hanging his jacket, reaching out for the baby.

“Here, you’ve been holding him the entire service; you need a break.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Come here, sweet Willow,” he cooed, gently relieving me of our child as he took a seat next to me. Willow’s mitted hands pawed at the air before settling comfortably against Jason’s chest while his head rested against his father’s bicep.

“I’m sorry things have been so stressful for you. Maybe I could get a part-time job to help out around the house,” I said as I stretched my arms forward.

“Then we’d have to find a babysitter. I don’t trust anyone to watch over Willow yet; he’s still at risk of something happening with how premature he was. I’d rather you just take care of him, at least until he’s a bit older.”

“Being a stay-at-home parent doesn’t take care of the bills.”

“No, but I do. And maybe Declan, err, the real estate agent can help find us something sooner, or help with a loan to put a down payment on a house sooner than later.”

I hoped so too. But we’d need a miracle if we were ever going to find somewhere new to live with our income.

A vibration in my coat pocket made me jump in surprise, but I quickly dug into it to retrieve my phone.

“Hey, Jude!” I instantly perked up at the fact he had called. My pack hadn’t been around all that much lately, and I hadn’t gone out with them, with the baby and all. Jason insisted we have a bit of space to adjust to the new member of our family.

“Figured I’d call you since all you do is text me. Gotta make sure you’re still alive every now and then.”

It wasn’t Jude, but Lucas. Just using his phone, I guess, after losing his for probably the millionth time.

“Oh, hey. I’m still alive, no worries. Living that domesticated lifestyle, you know.” I laughed, looking over at Jason and Willow. Jason arched a brow curiously, and I mouthed Lucas’s name to him. He nodded, mouthing ‘oh’.

“Nah, I don’t know. I haven’t even seen our new little pack member yet, and—hey! Give that back!” Lucas’s voice began to fade out, followed by the sound of a bit of tussling in the background and the phone hitting the floor.

After a few moments of quiet, I had to check the phone to make sure the call didn’t end.

“Hello? Hellooo?” I called out, waiting for someone to answer.

“Mmf. Hey, Forest. Fancy hearing from you,” Jude said, with a bit of a grunt. Lucas was screaming in the background about being in a headlock. Some things never changed.

“Yeah, Lucas called. How have you guys been doing? How’s Silver?”

“They’re doin’ just peachy. Lucas is here eating all my phone minutes, as usual. Silver’s still with Alfie in the hospital, as always, waiting for him to wake up.”

“I’m really happy you decided to give him some time to see if he’d ever get up, Jude. I mean that.”

I had been so worried before. Alfie didn’t show any signs of improvement. The doctors hadn’t given us anything favorable to go on that would signal him possibly being able to come to anytime soon. And how long he would stay in that coma, no one knew. Fucking Grey Brotherhood.

If I ever got my hands on one of them I’d tear them to shreds.

“Well, I’d expect you all to do the same for me. And if you didn’t, I’d haunt the fuck out of you in revenge. Plus, what other Alpha could lead you guys? Alfie and Lucas are Beta as hell.”

“Jason would make a good one.” I rolled my eyes, glad he wasn’t there to see it or else I’d be in a headlock with Lucas too.

“He’s only in our pack by default since you got knocked up. How’s the little pup doing anyway? Stay still before I choke you out,” he grumbled towards Lucas, who I could still hear struggling in the background.

“He’s doing just fine. He sure does like to eat though, it’s making me sore.” I rubbed my chest tenderly at the thought of Willow needing another feeding time soon.

“Of course, he needs to grow up big and strong so he can defend the pack one of these days. Say, we haven’t even gotten to see him outside the hospital. Maybe we can throw a post baby shower or something. Or just come over and eat your food for a change.”

“I don’t see why not? Plus, it’d be good to see you all again. We’ll have to set something up, hm?”

“Sounds good. I’ve gotta go and teach Lucas not to misplace his dominance. I’m still in charge here, right, Lucas?”

Lucas yelped, with more sounds of struggle following. “Uncle! Uncle!” I heard him shouting.

“Alright, guys, I’ll think of something and we’ll meet up. Have fun, maybe spray him in the face with some water like a dog. That’ll teach him,” I laughed, hanging up the phone after sharing a goodbye.

“That sounded interesting.” Jason smiled, Willow’s eyes opening up as he stared at his father curiously.

“Yeah, they wanna throw a baby party. It’d be good for Willow to officially meet his pack.”

“It would. And I think it’s good for him to get his diaper changed.” Jason’s nose crinkled as he stood up from the couch. Almost instantly, that smell wafted past me and I covered my nose up.

“Aw man. I thought I’d get a break from feeding. You know how much he likes to eat after he does that.”

“Well, put your milk to use then, or else you’ll swell up and leak all over the bed again.” Jason snorted as he walked into the baby’s room.

“Pfft.” I stood up and followed after him to make sure he wouldn’t put Willow’s diaper on backwards again. He didn’t have much common sense when it came to children. But he’d learn, just as I had to, soon enough.