Nathan
Slipping his arm around Annie, Nathan used his other hand to set Corey’s birthday gift down. Ella and Mason had put together a huge party for the pup’s seventeenth birthday. Everyone but the boy knew his present was a truck of his own. Nathan and Annie had gotten him a set of seat covers. Obviously, the vehicle would be given to him first, so none of the gifts gave it away.
Corey was busy talking on the phone, so Nathan guided his honey towards where their friends sat. “Who’s the pup talking to?” He asked Mason as Annie left his arms to coo over the twins with Ella.
“First it was his teammates, now it’s his math tutor. Apparently, we have a hard house to find and the address doesn’t show up on a GPS.”
“His tutor hasn’t stopped by before?”
“No, we’ve met her. They always meet at the school library. With two little ones, it’s good for the kid to get out, interact with people other than all of us.” Mason paused, studying the boy who had become his son in every way. “I worry about him. He seems too quiet and shuts down sometimes, especially around new people.”
“Not everyone is outgoing.”
“No shit, asshole.”
“Look, it’s okay to worry about him. He’s your son, man. But I think you might be worrying about the wrong thing.” Mason just waited for Nathan to continue. His alpha was nothing if not consistent.
He wouldn’t ask you to tell him something, he expected you to just spit it out. “Corey is dominant. Enough so for his presence to already make the submissive shifters squirm. The pup is only going to get stronger as he gets older. Maybe mull that over instead of him not liking new people.”
A train of cars barreled down the dirt driveway blasting music. “Besides, do you really want Corey being friends with those little pricks?” Nathan saw Mason nod his head, agreeing with him. Several guys got out of each car, gave their birthday wishes to Corey then meandered away. He caught some of them giving his wife and Ella leering looks.
“Not at our son’s birthday party.” Ella appeared beside a growling Mason, laying her hand on his arm. His growling stopped, but the tension didn’t leave him. “Let the boys look their fill, I’m only yours mate.” She pulled Mason down to her level, laying a passionate kiss on his lips.
Nathan looked away to find his own mate and stake his claim. Only certain things got under his fur. One of them was someone looking at his wife like she didn’t already have a mate. It probably had something to do with the way they’d met. With her engaged to someone who wasn’t Nathan.
Now, whenever someone looked at her with anything more than friendliness in their eyes, the fur on the back of his neck stood on end. She’s ours. No one will ever take her from us. At least his bear still had a clear mind. “Wife.” His voice held a snarl in it.
“What’s wrong?” Annie handed Mikey over to Grams. Standing, she followed him around the side of Mason and Ella’s continuously expanding house. “Nathaniel.” He loved hearing his full name from her.
She was the only one to call him by it. Just as he was the only one, who used hers. “Annabeth.” The tone of his voice must’ve given him away because she pressed her body up against his. “They were looking at what’s mine.”
Annie used her lips to reassure him, kissing him like her life depended on it. Nathan knew he had overreacted when the red haze lifted from his mind. He didn’t however, pull away from his wife. Not until they were both panting, wanting to run off into the woods together. Coming around the corner, Nathan got knowing looks from both Carter and Alex.
Those two were becoming close. He thanked the Goddess it hadn’t been the middle Wilson brother. Isaiah had a mouth on him, one which didn’t have a filter. “Wow.” Annie breathed from beside him.
His eyes followed her line of sight, and wow was right. The tiny young woman making her way to Corey wore a smile from ear to ear. She carried a large present wrapped in paper covered in wolves.
“Goddess, Sophia, let me get that.” The pup hustled over, lifting the present up and out of her hands. She barely made it to the center of his chest. “It looks just like me, wait till my Ma sees it.” The smile Corey gave Sophia had Nathan taking a double take.
He knew that look. Actually, almost all the men there knew the look. It wasn’t a look male shifters gave to their math tutors. “Kid sure knows how to pick ‘em.” Isaiah whistled low.
The wolf was right. Sophia’s long, straight, strawberry blonde hair blew around in the late spring breeze. She pushed black framed glasses up her delicate nose, the large frames couldn’t hide her grayish blue eyes. “Well, this party just got a helluva lot more interesting.”
“Can someone find Corey? I wanna do cake and presents before the twins get cranky.” Ella asked to no one in particular. Nathan started to get up, along with half the table. “He’s one seventeen-year-old. Not all of ya’ll have to go.”
“I’ll look around. You guys stay and visit, Goddess knows it’s going to be harder to get together with all these babies.” Nathan realized how much all their lives were changing. Wives, kids, jobs, the whole territory.
No matter what, they were still family. These men were more like his brothers than his actual ones. Their wives were his sisters. He knew they’d make it work out. Somehow, they’d find time for each other, even with their chaotic lifestyles.
Nathan heard Corey before he saw him. “If I hear you talking bad about her again, not only will I beat all of your asses. But I’ll tank this fucking season so fast you’ll wish you’d never even joined the team. Do we understand each other?” The snarl in the pup’s voice almost had Nathan turning to find Mason.
A murmured chorus of yes’ rang out, then a group of four boys came around the corner towards him. “You wanna tell me what that was about, or no?” Corey whipped around shaking, his eyes the silver of his wolf.
“No. It’s nothing, just looking out for a friend.” The young woman in question popped out from around the other side of the house at that exact moment.
“Oh. I’ll…um…just go. It’s time for gifts and cake.”
“Damn it.” Sophia had disappeared back around the corner by the time Corey went to chase after her. “Soph, wait.” Nathan shook his head, the pup still had a lot to learn about women.
Or more importantly, the one young lady Nathan had a feeling was Corey’s mate.