Ash stood on the porch of the VonBrandt ranch with a full group of moon widows, watching Helena walk off into the dark, naked, with her new pack. Kara and Emma flanked him, like their mates flanked his, and he felt like a man sending his soldier off to war.

Helena looked over her shoulder, giving him a sweet smile and a shy little wave. Luke and Noah turned to see what she was staring at. Ash hadn’t gotten used to the idea of men hangin’ brain around his woman, but the VonBrandts seemed to treat nudity with the kind of deference that toddlers did. Like it was just another part of life. Ash watched as her wolf shimmered out of her and bounded into the woods.

With her new pack.

It was damn beautiful.

Because she was Helena, she’d left him with a list of things to get done before they all had to leave for the next alpha summit in Las Vegas the following week. Aaron, delighted to discover he now had a qualified, experienced ranch manager in his pack, had put her in charge of the logistics of the VonBrandt ranch.

The most beautiful thing in the world was watching his Helena sit in the big VonBrandt office, surrounded by all her planners and lists, on the phone with some horse breeder. Adam and Aaron conferred with her, deferred to her.

She was so hot when she was planning.

Ash watched the pack recede into the forest until he couldn’t see their wolves anymore. It was such a different experience, with just the VonBrandt pack around. All the moon widows were out on the porch together, sipping from their wine glasses and talking. Alyssa had already lamented her baby boy’s second shift, much like she’d done last month.

Ash had a feeling that was just her style. Soon, the boys would be in their last years of high school, and then…empty nest. That had to be a shock.

Part of him didn’t want to think about the pregnancy test box he’d seen back in the garbage can at his house, but his mind kept circling back to it. He and Helena hadn’t talked about kids yet, but they’d sure had a metric ton of unprotected sex. No question he wanted kids with her, and preferably sooner than later. But he’d hoped to be there with her when she took the test, not on-shift at Joe’s Bar.

“What was that look on your face?” Kara asked, tipping her beer bottle toward him. “What just happened?”

Ash glanced around at the rest of the moon widows, expecting them to latch on to a piece of possible gossip, but they were too busy consoling Alyssa. He pulled Emma and Kara off to one side of the porch, away from the other women.

“When did you guys have the little-wolf-babies talk with your mates?” he asked, keeping his voice very low.

“Oh, lordy, I think Noah is still dreading that conversation,” said Emma with a laugh. “We’re so young. We’ve been concentrating on traveling and enjoying ourselves. Well, and we’ve only been together for seven months.”

“Eight,” Kara said, clinking her beer. “Eight next week.”

“Yeah, eight next week.” Emma nodded. “I bet that’s what will come up next for us. Marriage. Babies.”

Ash took a long swig of his beer. He and Helena had been together for one month. And he already wanted her to have his babies.

“Oh, Luke and I had that talk early. But it’s no wonder—he claims he decided to marry me when he was ten years old.” Kara’s smile was wide and adorable. “About thirty seconds after I said I’d marry him, he told me that he wanted to have kids with me. Of course, it was much more crude and came with hip gestures, because…y’know…dude.”

With a mirroring smile, Ash took another drink. “When did you meet?”

“When we were ten.”

Kara tipped her beer to her lips, saying, “I know you’re asking for a reason, Ash. Don’t think you’re getting away with vagaries.”

“Uhhhhh.” He stopped, mid-sip. “Well…”

“Yeah, I saw your face when Helena was walking away.” In a sing-songy voice, she finished, “You want to luuuuuuuve her… you want to seeeeeeeeex her…”

Emma giggled and Alyssa yelled at them from across the porch, “What are you three talking about all secret-squirrel over there?”

Ash pressed his lips together, shaking his head at the girls. Emma and Kara kept their mouths shut, and eventually, Ash blurted out, “Bull semen.”

All the older moon widows screamed out variations on ewwwwww and scampered into the house with the wine bottles. The younger VonBrandts’ mates laughed raucously, pushing each other’s shoulders like they were frat brothers. Ash smiled to himself. He loved these girls.

It was a very different love from what he felt for Helena, or for his sister. But it was definitely love. Over the last month, he’d spent more time with Nemma—which was what he called Noah/Emma—and Kuke—the nickname for Kara/Luke—than he’d spent with anyone except Helena. Nemma and Kuke were fast becoming his favorite people.

He didn’t miss the magnificent seven at all. His life was magnificent.

“Bull semen was smart,” Kara said, clinking bottles with him. “Relevant to your mate’s job, but so disgusting they’ll never ask questions. You are a genius, my boy.”

“I try.” He smiled, watching as a pair of headlights turned off the main highway and pulled up to the gate entrance. Emma’s phone rang almost on cue. She answered it and mouthed, pizza’s here, before heading inside to enter the gate code into one of the landlines.

“You’re not the only one who wants kids right away.” Kara’s voice was quiet. “Luke did. Jared did. It’s pretty normal. Not that Noah’s abnormal, but—“ She laughed, looking after Emma. “Okay, never mind. He’s totally abnormal.”

Ash laughed, pushing his shoulder against hers. The moon widows understood him, which felt great, and it was good to know he wasn’t as weird as he thought. But he wanted Helena to come back so he could talk to her. Ask her about the pregnancy test.

He watched movies with Kara and Emma until well after midnight. By the time he got to bed, he was exhausted, and he begged a spare room off Tonya, who was sitting up in the kitchen. She stayed up every overnight moon, Kara had said. And when it was a daytime moon, she stayed in the kitchen. Sometimes, Aaron would come back in his wolf form and sit with her. Someday, Ash would like to see that. He was fascinated by the alpha and his wife. The most nurturing parents he could imagine.

With Aaron and Tonya as grandparents, his children would have the greatest mother in Helena, the greatest aunt in Lisa, and the greatest adopted grandparents in the VonBrandts. Lucky kid.

Ash woke to the rays of sunshine streaming in through the window, but that wasn’t what had roused him. There was a hand on his chest, and another hand on his dick. Helena had slipped into the bed behind him, naked, heart beating like a club bass-line.

Something in him had known. He was hard for her before she even touched him. Before he even woke.

Her lips were on his neck, and she stroked him with a slick fervency that said she’d either already touched herself—which was…dammit…so hot—or brought the lube from home. Also hot.

“Have a good run, babe?” he asked, moving to turn his head. She nudged his cheek and he obliged, looking away. The hotness of this moment was supposed to be the stranger-danger. But he always knew it was her. He would never be surprised by her. He loved that.

“I ran all…night…long…” she whispered into his ear. “And all I could think about, all night…was this…” She gripped down on his erection and he shuddered.

“Babe, I’m close…”

“I know. I can feel it.” Helena continued to stroke him.

All thoughts of pregnancy tests and kids and futures went out the window, and all Ash could do was just lay with his mate and enjoy her touch. Whatever else happened in their future, that’s all he ever wanted.

Helena.

His mate. His fated wolf.