Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

F en closed the bedroom door before he tiptoed down to the kitchen to pull the ice cream out of the freezer to soften. It was freezing cold outside. He could have just put the crock out in the snow. That was February in the Uintas. But he also knew that at about four a.m., which was in about an hour, Rory would awaken and want a milkshake.

The ice cream this time was peanut butter and banana swirl. The more pregnant Rory got, the more bizarre his flavor choices became. He would also put some french fries in the air fryer.

They had added an extra three solar panels just to run all their small appliances. He and Rory liked to cook and eat.

Rory really liked to eat right now. It was adorable. He was not a small omega, and eating for him and the baby required an enormous amount of food.

He poured milk into the blender, then a little caramel syrup. He was learning all sorts of combinations of goodness.

He had never known how happy—truly happy—he could be. He ran with the pack. He created beautiful things with wood. He had his mate, and their son was growing. He even was becoming friends with the pack shaman.

They both felt as if they were related.

It was fascinating.

They couldn’t trace anything for certain, but Niall was…like a cousin. Quickly becoming like a brother.

Fen had also met all of Rory’s brothers now. He thought. There were so many of them. It was hard to know…

“Love?” Rory came down too, wrapped in a fluffy robe, fuzzy slippers on his feet.

“I was about to make you a milkshake.”

“Were you? How friendly.” Rory grinned at him, coming to sit at the kitchen table. “It’s nice and warm.”

“I got the fire going again.” He beamed at Rory. “I wanted us to be able to sit in front of the fire and have our milkshakes and not be cold.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet.” Rory smiled for him. “That will keep me from fretting about the dishes.”

“It will. I can do them before we go back to bed.” They had been taking their milkshakes up with them to bed and snuggling, but then Rory did fuss about the dishes and try to sneak back into the kitchen to wash them.

So he was going to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. They could snuggle on the couch.

“You’re very good to me. What can I do to help?” Rory was always right there, wanting to make his life easier.

“Get the blankets for the couch? I’ll make the milkshakes and bring them in.” He would dig out some cookies too. He loved a peanut-butter-banana milkshake with oatmeal raisin cookies.

Rory always told him he was a freak for that.

He grinned, watching as Rory went to the living room. Then he scooped ice cream and blended it into a creamy milkshake with the milk and caramel. It smelled like heaven.

He put spoons in the glasses, then took them out to meet Rory on the floor in front of the couch, the nest of pillows and blankets in front of the fire he’d stirred back into life so inviting.

Fen loved his life. There had been no more shootings, and Niall assured him all was well with the upper pack. He’d learned to snowmobile, and he was learning from Rory’s brothers how to drive the snowcat.

He knew Rory sometimes chafed at being so careful, but they’d come to a compromise about that too. Rory went all over to take supplies to the more remote family, as long as Lucien or John and one of the big males went with him.

Watching the kids was harder now for Rory because he was having a difficult time lifting the little ones, so he was contributing in a dozen other ways.

He was so amazing.

Fen kissed Rory’s cheek when he sat next to him, and he handed over one milkshake, and then pulled the covers up over them.

“Mmm. Thank you, love. This is perfect.”

“It is, isn’t it?” He let Rory lean on him. “You know I adore you.”

“I do.” Rory chuckled. “You even learned to play video games with me.”

“You enjoy them so.”

“I do.”

Fen had not learned to like the more violent games that some of Rory’s brothers liked, the ones about stealing cars and assassins. But he loved the silly ones, the ones with haunted hotels and racetracks and jumping over lots of things.

The cooperative ones were best, the ones where he and Rory had to work together.

He had also spent a lot of time, at Jameson and Keegan’s suggestion, learning about Rory’s likes and dislikes. Macaroni and cheese was one of his favorite foods. His favorite color was forest green.

His favorite band was called Imagine Dragons.

Why would Rory have to imagine dragons when he’d seen them?

Fen didn’t think he’d heard enough commercial music to have a favorite artist. His pack’d had a record player and lots of old records, but nothing newer than 1965, he thought.

“So, what are we going to talk about tonight, love?” Rory asked him. They made a habit, in these wee hours, of discussing all manner of things.

“Oh, I was thinking about baby names.” They still hadn’t settled on one. They wanted something easy, but not boring. Meaningful, but not weird.

It was a surprisingly difficult challenge, to be honest.

Leo? Bart? Ernest? Silas? Trent?

“Trent isn’t bad,” Rory said. “And there’s not one in my family already. No Barts or Ernests.”

He chuckled. “No? What about old family names?”

“Oh God. You’ve seen how many brothers I have. We’ve re-used all of them. What about yours?”

“Oh, sweet, there are some truly terrible names in my family. Impossible to pronounce.” No, he didn’t want to saddle their little boy with one of those.

“Well, we’ll try Trent out for the next couple of days. If we hate it, we move on.”

“Fair enough,” Fen said. He loved how they were easily working through things like this. He did not like being at odds with Rory. After the shooting, they had both been so worried and stressed, as Rory called it, that they hadn’t listened to each other.

Now he felt as if they had that down pat.

“Mmm. This is really good. Did you put caramel in it?”

“I did.” He grinned. “You didn’t eat much supper, so I thought you needed the calories.”

“I just needed the milkshake.” Rory patted his belly. “Little Trent is very specific.” Rory paused, then wrinkled his nose. “No. No Trent.”

“Okay. Yeah.” It sounded way too…old.

“There’s always Travis. Or Trey.” Rory closed his eyes and pursed his lips. “Truck. Train. Travel. Trundle.”

Fen tilted his head. “What are you doing?”

“Thinking of ‘tr’ words. I figured if I did have a word that starts with tr that was really good, then we could come up with a name that was close.”

He rolled his eyes. “Now you’re being silly, mate.”

“Umm, I am. What’s your point?” Rory narrowed his eyes, and Fen knew that look.

He held up his hands. “No, no point. None. What do you think about Alexander?”

“Oh, I like Xander. Used to watch Buffy once upon a time. Did you ever watch that show on TV?”

He shook his head. “We didn’t really have television. It wasn’t my thing, I mean. I grew up in a wolf pack.”

“Yeah, I grew up on DVDs, but you know… It wasn’t a wolf pack.”

Fen had to chuckle. “Well, you know, wolf packs are superior.”

“I know, right? I can’t imagine raising our baby anywhere else but here.” Rory sounded so utterly satisfied.

But was he? Did Rory regret not finding a stronger mate, one that had bigger ambitions?

“Do you ever wonder? Does it bother you that I’m not an alpha in the same way as Keegan and Jameson?”

Rory frowned at him. “No. I don’t want Jameson or Keegan. I want you. I love you. I love the way that you smell like wood chips when you come home from work. I love how safe and happy I feel with you. Love how much fun we have in our house. I love how you make me milkshakes in the middle of the night. You’re mine, and I’m yours. I think I’ll keep you.”

His mate honored him, made him feel tall. Proud. “Thank you, mate.”

“Any time, stud. Any time at all.”

“Stud.” Fen hooted. “I love it. I feel unstudly.” He kissed Rory’s neck. “But I love you and would protect you with my life.”

“Trout.”

“Alexander.”

“Trinie.”

“Alexander.”

“Trevor?” Rory said, fighting a smile for all he was worth.

“Xander,” Fen returned. “We agreed already.” He winked.

“Mmm.” Rory just leaned back against him and smiled, and he knew this was going to be something they teased about right up until Rory was giving birth.

But their son was going to be Alexander.