Chapter 9
Mack carried Miracle over the threshold of their home. Their time in the mountains had slipped by swiftly. They’d made the long drive to Beyton, first dropping off Elon and Dina at a two-bedroom ranch home a half mile from the bar, and Tonya at a three-bedroom Cape Cod two doors down from them. His kids had been waiting when he and Miracle arrived at the house, and were clapping as he carried his mate in.
The house smelled like cinnamon and sugar, and a fire burned brightly in the fireplace. The house was spotless; he wasn’t sure he could even tell there had been an attack there. After his own cousin had tried to kill Heaven a week after their takeover as alphas, and had been killed by Kayne, Mack had expected the house would be in shambles still. It wasn’t, though. It was clean and homey, just like he wanted it to be for his mate. He’d seen the place she’d shared with her ex for twenty years. It had none of her personality in it. It was simply a house, a place she’d been forced to live. But this she could claim as her home and make it her own.
He set her down and helped her off with her coat, which he hung next to his own on the hooks by the front door.
“It’s so nice to meet you in person,” Whisper said, hugging Miracle. “Thank you for bringing my dad back home.”
“It was my pleasure, Whisper,” she said.
Heaven and Bliss hugged Miracle, and so did Kross and Kayne. Each of Whisper’s and Bliss’s mates shook her hand and welcomed her to the family.
“I went from having just my parents and my best friend to a huge family,” Miracle said.
“You’ve also got the pack,” Bliss told her. “They’re like an extended family.”
“I smell something good baking,” Mack said.
“Heaven and I made snickerdoodles.” Whisper gestured to the kitchen.
“I was an official taste-tester,” Bliss said.
“Thank you, sweetling.”
They sat in the kitchen at the table, bringing in extra chairs to make room. After everyone had been given a tall glass of milk and a small plate for cookies, Miracle said, “I already love this place.”
“I’m so glad,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Should we toast?” Heaven asked.
“Can you even toast with milk?” Kross asked.
“You can toast with anything, you just have to have the clinky sound.” Whisper said, pinging her finger against the glass.
“Let’s toast to the future,” Mack said.
The group responded, to the future, and everyone clinked glasses.
“Shall we?” he asked Miracle.
“It’s as good a time as any,” she said.
“I’m so proud of all of you,” Mack said. “Kross, Kayne, and Heaven proved themselves to be worthy alphas, and Whisper and her mates backed them up like family is supposed to. I wasn’t sure when I left a month ago what would happen – if it was even possible for my wolf to feel a connection to someone, or what it would mean if I did find my mate. Meeting Miracle was…miraculous.”
Miracle snorted and started to chuckle. “That’s so sweet. And goofy.”
He looked at Kross and Kayne, with Heaven sitting between them. They each held one of her hands, and the trio looked so happy together that Mack knew he was making the right choice.
“I’m going to step down officially as alpha at the next full moon. We can have a meeting with the pack in a few days to alert them to the permanent change, but I have no doubt in my mind that you three can be wonderful alphas and the pack will be in good hands.”
“Wow, thanks Dad,” Kayne said.
“We won’t let you down,” Kross promised him.
“I know you won’t,” he said.
“You’re still staying, though, right? Just not being alpha?” Whisper asked, her brows drawn in worry.
“Exactly. I’m going to run the bar full-time, and help Miracle with her glassware business. I’ll be building a studio for her behind the house once the ground thaws.”
Kross and Kayne explained their plans to start a music studio. Whisper was going to join them as a piano teacher, and Heaven was going to work in the office, handling appointments and selling instruments and gear. Whisper’s mates all worked at the bar, and were going to continue. Mack was thrilled to hear that his kids were making thoughtful choices about their futures. Once spring came, Bliss and her mates would be moving to Ocean City, Maryland, where they were from, and Whisper would lose her best friend. Fortunately, Heaven and Whisper were already becoming like sisters, much in the same way that Miracle and Tonya were.
When the kids had finished eating the snickerdoodles, Miracle and the girls disappeared into the family room to chat for a while and Mack took the opportunity to talk with his sons and the other males.
“Are you sure about this?” Kross asked.
“Very much so. I’ve been alpha for a long time. It’s time to pass the torch. You stood up for Heaven and your alphaship. There’s no better choice in my mind than the two of you and Heaven. You feel ready, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Kayne said. “We kind of figured since you found Miracle that you might want to retire, but we weren’t sure.”
“Miracle and I had a lot of time to talk in the mountains. I know she could handle being alpha female, but I like the idea of just being a regular pack member, being in charge of the bar, and taking good care of my mate.”
“She’s a lucky female.”
“I’m the lucky one,” Mack said.
* * *
As May’s sunshine heated the world, Mack stood next to a pile of wood and watched his mate take down a few trees with her powerful dragon paws. Her clawed fingers gripped the thick trunks and pulled them from the ground like weeds, and she set them gently on the other side of the house.
“Looks good, babe,” he said.
She let out a snort and gave him one of her dragon smiles that showed all her sharp teeth. He heard the rumbling of a truck out front and said, “That’s the contractor. I’ll be right back.”
He jogged around to the front to greet the contractor who was going to level the ground and make the forms for the concrete to be poured later in the week. The concrete would be the foundation for Miracle’s glass studio. The male, a human who lived in the next town, got out of the rig and shook Mack’s hand.
Then he gasped and said, “Holy shit!”
Mack glanced over his shoulder and saw Miracle leaning over the house and staring at the truck.
“It’s just my mate.”
“I…she’s a dragon!”
“Yes. Anything else you want to tell me that I already know?”
“Sorry,” the male said, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen one before.”
Miracle opened her mouth and let out a billow of smoke, blowing smoke rings as big as hula hoops. She chuckled in her dragon way, her wings rustling with the motion.
“She won’t hurt you. I just fed her,” Mack said, winking at Miracle, who stuck her forked tongue out at him.
The contractor, still looking a little green, followed Mack around to the back of the house as his workers unloaded the equipment. Mack stood next to Miracle, leaning against her foreleg and running his hand up her warm scales.
“It’s coming together, babe,” he said, looking up at her as she watched the workers.
She nodded and turned, lumbering into the woods. Her form swiftly shrank as she changed back to human form in privacy. A few moments later she reappeared, fully dressed, her eyes bright with excitement.
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’ll do anything to make you happy?”
“And how many times do I have to tell you that you alone make me the happiest?”
She leaned against him, and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I love you,” he murmured against her hair.
“I love you, too. My fierce wolf mate.”
“My beautiful camo-colored dragon.”
She tipped her head back. “My sexy alpha.”
“Former alpha.”
With a wink, she said, “You’ll always be alpha to me.”
Before going to Florida, Mack had been alone, starting off on a journey that he had no idea would take him here. He was thankful every day for his gorgeous mate, for the safety of the wolf pack under his sons’ care, and for the new members of his family. He didn’t expect to find his happily-ever-after on an island in the middle of winter, but he wouldn’t trade a moment with Miracle for anything. She was his second chance at love, and giving him a new future that he was eager to embrace. Whatever the next chapter of their lives brought, he knew that they could face anything together.
The former alpha wolf and his dragon mate.