Chapter Twenty-Four
The first weeks passed in a blur of feeding, changing, and sleeping. They were finally reaching the stage where the babies might start to shift. Exhausted as all three of them were, they were excited for this. Joe felt like they were constantly on alert for it. Every twitch, every sneeze, had them holding their breaths.
Joe and Kai were lying on their bed one afternoon, the babies spread out between them. They had both shifted just after lunch, while Ollie watched the napping babies, as they’d been desperate to stretch their legs.
The babies seemed unusually interested in their scents, their noses twitching. Joe sat up, watching them bemusedly.
“I think this might be it.”
“Huh?” Kai, who’d been dozing, opened his eyes. “What might be what?”
“Look.” As Joe spoke, Andrew’s nose twitched again and then he shifted into a wolf cub, mewling softly.
“Oh.” Kai sat up beside him, watching with wide eyes. “Wow.”
“Axel?” Joe called, knowing the alpha was nearby.
“Just a second,” he called back. True to his word, he appeared in the doorway not a minute later, drying his hands on a cloth.
“Who is that? Is that Andrew?”
“Uh-huh.”
Axel crouched beside the bed, stroking a hand across the cub's soft fur.
“Look how small he is.” And he wasn’t even the smallest of their babies.
Minutes later, and two more had shifted. The one closer to Kai became a fox cub, reddish-brown fur standing out on the dark bedspread. Amber became a wolf cub and Joe moved her side by side with Andrew.
Soon all six had shifted.
“Why don’t we take them outside?” Axel suggested. “It’s warm out there, I’ll lay down one of the bigger blankets and give the others a head’s up so they can come and play with the cubs.”
Kai readily agreed. Joe was a little more hesitant.
“Maybe we should wait a few days.”
“Wait for what?” Kai asked.
Joe struggled to explain. “I don’t know… outside is more… dangerous.”
He couldn’t articulate the feelings that were swamping him. He just knew that he wanted the babies safe and outside seemed too risky.
Axel sat down next to him, wrapping his arms around him.
“We’ll be right there with them, and so will Ollie and whoever else we get to help. Nothing bad is going to happen. We’ll have a nice time out in the sun, playing with our little ones.”
“It’ll be okay, Joe,” Kai added. “If there’s danger, we’re all capable of protecting them.”
“Kai’s right, you know he is.”
Joe nodded. “I know. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this.”
Axel kissed his cheek. “It’s normal and natural. I think every parent experiences those kinds of feelings. I know I have.”
“Me too,” Kai agreed. “Remember how I didn’t want them to leave the bedroom for the first few days.”
Joe remembered those trying few days well. They’d gotten past it eventually, but it had taken Kai time.
Once they were outside, Joe started to feel better. It was a beautiful day and they were sitting in the shade of a tree, the cubs grouped together on a picnic blanket. Ollie arrived over, Cade on his heels.
“Hunter’s got our lot,” the omega said. “They’re a little too young to know not to play rough.”
They chatted and cuddled with the cubs, Cade explaining how they’d change in the weeks and months to come. Their omegas would retain the ability to shift to different forms, while the others would gradually choose a single form they felt most comfortable in.
“Mostly wolves,” Cade added. “Though I’d say you’ll have at least one fox. And maybe even a tiger.”
Kai looked happy at that. “Tigers are cool.”
Joe laughed. “They are, but I wouldn’t want to deal with a teenage alpha one.”
Ollie made a face. “Yeah, I remember what Max was like as a teenager. You’d be in for a few tough years.”
“But you’d manage,” Cade added reassuringly.
“Who are they?” Kai asked suddenly, sitting up. Joe sat up too, reaching instinctively for his wolf as he checked on the cubs.
He saw who it was and couldn’t relax once he realized.
“Axel, aren’t they from your pack?” Kai asked before Joe could get a word out.
“Yeah,” Axel said. “They are.”
He got to his feet.
“Stay here, okay? I’ll be back soon.”
Joe stayed put though he didn’t want to. It might be bad news. If it was, he wanted to be there with his mate. Kai seemed similarly worried and even the babies picked up on it, mewling in distress.
Joe picked up the nearest two, settling them into his lap and stroking their fur. It helped calm him just as much as it calmed them.
Axel approached the two familiar faces slowly.
“John, Lila. What brings you here?”
He could see Jensen in the near distance, watching, and nodded to him to let him know it was okay.
“It’s good to see you, Axel. Congratulations,” John said, indicating the cubs.
“Thanks.” He waited for them to explain, worried something had happened at home. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes and no. Is there somewhere we could sit and talk?”
He led them around to the front of the house and into the kitchen, offering them something to drink.
They sat down together at the table. Axel stayed silent, hoping he might get an explanation rather than go through the rigmarole of exchanging pleasantries. John took a deep breath as if to speak then faltered, looking to Lila. She shook her head ruefully.
“Axel, we need you to come home.”
It was almost an hour later when Lila and John finally left. By then, the cubs were back in human form and it was time to feed them. Axel got lost in the whirlwind of feeding and changing the babies before they set them down for another nap. And then it was time for the adult’s meal. It was one of the few times of the day they could be together and was often interrupted by one or more of their little ones. But not today. After the excitement of their first shift, the babies were tired out and fast asleep.
He sat at the table with Kai and Joe, distracted from eating by what John and Lila had said.
“Axel?” That was Joe, sounding concerned.
“Sorry, guys. There’s something I need to tell you both. And the first thing I want you to know is that it doesn’t change anything. They’re just words, and it may mean nothing, but I want you in the loop all the same.”
After everything that had happened, he couldn’t risk alienating his mates.
“Okay,” Joe said readily. “We’re listening.”
“The shifters of the Weir are unhappy with the direction the pack is heading. They’re seeing all these changes in other packs, all these amazing things, and they feel like they’re being left behind. Worse than that, they feel things are deteriorating. Twice the number of wolves have left the pack this year compared to last year. Whole families are considering leaving in the coming months.”
“That sounds bad,” Kai said. “But what can we do?”
“Right now, nothing. They’re planning to ask my father to step aside as alpha. If he agrees, they want me to take over. That’s what they came to ask me.”
“And what did you tell them?” Joe asked.
“That I needed to talk with my mates. That if it was ever to happen, Dad wouldn’t have to just step down, he would need to leave the center of the pack. That they’d need to form a council to govern the pack. I’d do the stuff that needs an alpha, but the day to day running of the place would be someone else’s job.”
Both his mates looked anxious and Axel could understand why.
“Look, it’s all just talk. Dad is never going to stand aside, not in a million years.”
“But if he did?” Joe wondered.
“Then we’d cross that bridge when we came to it. All three of us.”