Chapter 12

I held a squirming little girl in my lap, desperately trying to keep her from falling to the floor or crawling across the table. The scary thing was that if she crawled across the table, she wouldn't be the only child sitting on there. Another child was currently perched at the edge, playing with a crayon and drawing on a piece of paper. And really, it was probably far better than what the child on the floor was doing—finding some Cheerios that had been there for goddess knew how long and sucking on them before putting them back down again.

Was this what parenthood would be like? I'd never really taken the time to take it all in like this before. Sure, I'd held my share of young ones, keeping them out of trouble as the grown-ups went about their business. But now that I was pregnant, I found that I was seeing everything in a new light.

Tonight's pride meeting had been productive. All of the omegas were present, notebooks at the ready with all our ideas and action items. We were prepared, agenda and all, and it made a huge difference. We hadn't always been this organized, and the meetings used to drag on and on and on and on.

The kids had been perfectly content for the first thirty minutes. That was pretty normal and what we expected. It was why we always put the most important items of discussion on the agenda first. If we opted to get a ton of little things done first, it never worked out well.

During that time, the other omegas and I were able to discuss quite a bit. But now the kids were growing restless and our time was nearing an end.

Before all of us were mated, we had had several hour-long meetings a week to discuss various topics about the pride and the omegas staying with us. Now, the meetings were shorter, lasting as long as we could keep the children occupied. This one had run its course. It honestly had ten minutes earlier, and I imagined that if Morgan gave us a pop quiz on what we'd decided during that time, we'd all have failed.

Morgan looked down at his notes. "I think that's everything we needed to discuss, at least for now. Tomorrow, we'll talk about scheduling the clean-out of the omega dorms. It's time for a linen refresh and inventory."

We all groaned. Linen refreshes were normal, not a fun chore, but we did it regularly. It was time-consuming, but at least we could do other things while the washers and dryers did the bulk of the work.

I fully understood why taking inventory was necessary, but it was the worst. The tediousness of it made what wasn't even a super-long job feel like it was taking a decade or two. I couldn't wait until all the children could count, read, and write so they could take over the job. Back when I was a kid, I'd have done anything to be a part of something like that, and I assumed they would too. Although, maybe I was just a weird kid. That was a very real possibility.

"I suppose the only thing we still need to talk about is you, Thomas," Morgan said.

I sat up straight. "Me? What about me?"

"You're mated now?" He knew I was. They all did. It wasn't as if I could hide the scent or the mark. Nor would I ever want to.

"Yes," I said with a laugh, looking around the room. "We all are."

"Don't you think that's something we should celebrate?" Kian asked.

"I mean, yeah, but..."

"Great. Who wants to start planning a party?" Morgan looked around the room for volunteers, his pen poised and ready to take down names.

Dean had mentioned a celebratory dinner and that sounded fine—good even. But this? A full-on party? I wasn't sure I was up for that, but given the reaction of the others, I was very much in the minority on that.

"A party?" Emory chimed in. "Oh, we can rent another one of those bouncy houses!"

And just like that, the over-the-top party planning began. I loved their enthusiasm and their love for me, but I was already starting to get exhausted by getting dressed in the morning. A party sounded exhausting. And since it would be thrown for my mate and me, it wasn't like I'd have the choice to leave early or skip it for a nap.

"Actually, Silas mentioned the other day he was looking into our budget, and if we were to purchase a bouncy house, we wouldn't have to rent one anymore. It would save us the cost of the bouncy house in just the first three years," Pol said.

Morgan seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Yeah, let's go ahead and do that. Kian, why don't you and Pol work together on the party?"

"Guys, I don't really need a party," I protested.

They all laughed and waved away my protest.

"We all need parties," Emory said. "We need celebration. The investigation is important, but it's not going to stall your life. Beckett is working very hard, as is the rest of Steelwick, and I know he has other cases he's also working on, too. We can have a celebration now, whether it's for your mating or just in general."

Kian nodded like a little bobblehead. "We're going to have a party either which way. Besides, it will be a good pre-party for our large anniversary celebration in a few months."

I'd nearly forgotten about that.

"Let us celebrate you both." Of course it was Silas who broke my resolve. He was so forgiving, kind, and amazing about Beckett and me.

Friends. They were the best. And I had the most amazing group of them.

"All right," I said. "I suppose a party would be a lot of fun. Maybe we could have a sundae bar. That went over really well at the last birthday we did."

"Whoo! Brilliant! We can have a taco bar and a sundae bar," Pol suggested. "That should cover the food."

"And a bouncy house for the kids and all the yard games," Kian added. "Maybe we can have one of the omega kids' classes make a pi?ata. That would be fun."

And with every person's input, the celebration grew. It was fun to watch how they pieced everything together the way they had. In some ways the pride was so organized and structured, but then there were things like this where everyone just threw their ideas out there, and when all was said and done, there was this amazing final product. In this case, the makings of a party, one I actually wanted to attend, and that was saying a lot.

"Oh, and we can have it double as a baby shower," Morgan said.

My cheeks heated. I'd told Morgan about the baby but not anyone else. It wasn't a secret. The timing just hadn't felt right tonight. There had been too many actual orders of business to deal with. Now? Now I was glad that he mentioned it. I wanted to shout it from the mountain tops. And really, they probably could scent it on my by now. It didn't take long for feline breeds to have a subtle change like that.

"Yes, I suppose it could double as a baby shower." I wasn't going to even pretend to argue on that one.

This pride had been omegas only for so long. It made sense at the time. But with no alphas came no babies. Asilo had been unusual in that none of the residents had been born here. And now that everything had changed and we were growing, it was important to celebrate each and every new life. And that meant showers.

Baby showers were a bit different for us. It wasn't about getting new things per se, except for a few brand-new clothes and maybe a few toys. Mostly, we exchanged things that other children had outgrown but could still be useful, and we spent time putting together a nursery. It was a fun tradition that had started with Morgan, and now I would be the next.

It had started as a way to be practical. Why buy or make new, when there was plenty here to go around. But it had morphed into so much more than that. When we all got together like that, creating a beautiful space for our newest addition, it was like welcoming them into the pride. Showing their parents that they weren't alone in this, that we were one huge family. I loved it before and now even thinking about it had me blinking back tears.

"Thank you," I said. "All of you. There was a time when I wasn't sure I would find all of this. Honestly, there was more than one time in my life when I never thought I would reach this stage of happiness. And even though things aren't all figured out with my old Alpha, I have you guys and Beckett and all of your alphas. I couldn't ask for a better family."

They all smiled warmly at me. "Cheers to that." Morgan said it first, and they all echoed it back.

"You guys are the best," Kian said, and we all laughed.

"Posicle?" the little on my lap asked.

I smiled.

She gripped my face and patted her little hands against my cheeks. Her fingers were sticky, but I didn't mind. My mind fast-forwarded to a few years from now when my own child would be in my arms asking for snacks. This little one would be their older cousin, showing them the ropes around the territory.

Each of the kids and their parents around the table held a special place in my heart. My found family. I couldn't imagine my life without them, nor would I ever want to.

"Sure, let's get a popsicle."

I became the most popular omega there when I announced popsicles. I wasn't sure I had enough for the crew that was trailing behind me gleefully. And when I stopped and opened the fridge, my fears were realized. There was one popsicle box, and it was empty.

"The popsicles are all gone. But I have an idea." One that I hoped wouldn't crash and burn.

I called to the omegas. "Raise your hand if you have ice cream at your place." Three of them did. "And who has something that could make do for a topping?" A bunch of hands went up. "Then I vote we have an impromptu sundae bar and invite everyone.

"I changed my answer from earlier… Thomas is the best." Kian got the laughs he'd been looking for.

Everyone went to grab their contributions to the sundae bar. It came together remarkably quickly, and while we didn't have all of the traditional toppings we might've bought at the store if we had planned this out, the array of goodies was amazing.

"I hear you are the one responsible for ice cream goodness." Beckett wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed the mating mark he'd given me.

"Maybe." I turned in his arms and kissed him. "I was craving something sweet."

"I see. And is ice cream going to sate that craving?" He nibbled on my bottom lip.

"No. But I know something that will." I leaned in close and whispered into his ear all of the knotty things I wanted to do with him once we were done with our pride activities.

He swallowed audibly and then bit back a moan unsuccessfully. I loved that I had that effect on him. "I see."

"What do you say, alpha mine. Did I hit two good ideas in one night or was ice cream it for the week?"

He answered me with another kiss. I was taking that as a yes.