Brandon ignored them both, scanning the woods around them with a shrewd, calculating glance. “You know what I see when I look around here?”
Dakota looked around. “Lots of dead people?”
“That too, but I see possibility. You know, with the humans hemming us in, I’ve developed things just about as far as I can in our territory. But here…the possibilities are endless.”
“You mean…you’d move up here?” Dakota said hopefully.
He met her gaze. “This part of the territory would be perfect to set up a logging company, and it’s close enough to visit but not so close that your mate and I would clash when our energy got too much for each other. Would you want me to? After the way I’ve been the past few years?”
“I want you back,” Dakota said, tears in her eyes. “I want you near me so that when I have cubs, you can visit them.”
Her father nodded, and as he did, his gaze strayed to Anthea again. Dakota had a feeling that maybe she wasn’t the only reason her dad was looking at moving his pack up here, and that was all right. Her father needed to start living again. She wanted him to be as happy with a mate as she was with Miles.
SIX MONTHS LATER…
Saturday morning, on the Fenris Pack lands…
“Miles, please,” Dakota said with affectionate exasperation. “I am expecting. I’m not crippled. I can carry a pail of milk.”
“Not on my watch,” he said, snatching it away from her. “Oh, by the way, your dad is here.” He walked with her to their newly expanded cabin, with a nursery addition built on the west side.
Her father and Anthea were sitting on a wooden bench on the front porch. They were holding hands, and they both bore claiming marks on their necks. Her father had two – the old one from her mother, and the new one from Anthea right next to it.
Naomi and Baldwin were leaning against the wall. Mary was sitting on Baldwin’s shoulders, and Naomi was braiding flowers into Sailor’s hair. Sarah was sitting cross-legged on the floor and pretending to ignore them all, listening to the new iPod she’d gotten for Christmas.
“Grampa Brandon, you know what I love about having a grampa like you?” John was saying as Dakota and Miles walked up. He stared up at Brandon with huge, wide eyes. “I love how you taught us how to fish, and how you—”
“Stop,” Brandon snorted. “Boy, let me tell you something. Never bullshit a bullshitter.”
“Dad!” Dakota gasped, scandalized. Miles was cracking up, and she glowered at him. “Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny?” He winked at her and carried the milk into the house.
“You do know that Miss Anthea tells me everything, right? Of course you do. Well, Miss Anthea tells me that you did not hand in your math homework yesterday,” Brandon continued. “Now, you were talking about how you want to work for my company when you grow up.”
John nodded vigorously. “I want to build houses. I already know how. Daddy Baldwin and me made a little log cabin for Mary’s birthday last week.” He held his hands six inches apart. “Well, a twig cabin.”
It had been decided that the kids would live with Naomi and Baldwin, partly, as Sarah had informed Dakota, to lessen the chances of food poisoning. But they lived right next door to Dakota and Miles, and visited every day. They frequently brought baked goods from Naomi’s new bakery.
“Well, I only hire high school graduates. You flunk out of school, I won’t hire you.”
John spluttered in protest. “But I’m your new grandcub and I’m the first grandson you ever had and—”
“Not only that,” Brandon continued without remorse, “but you get no dessert after dinner tonight, and you will go do your homework now. You do not play, nap, or climb a tree until it’s done. Anthea and I will be waiting. Right here.”
“Naomi!” John wailed.
Naomi shrugged. “The word of an Alpha Prime is law. Also, he scares me, and when he scares me I start talking too much, and then I keep talking and I forget when to stop and now I can’t remember what I was even— Urph.” Mary had leaned down and put her hand over Naomi’s mouth. Baldwin patted her arm affectionately and smiled at her.
John pouted. “Sarah? Is it too late for us to run away?”
She glanced at him briefly. “Go ahead. You’re on your own. I finally have my own room and I’m not goin’ nowhere.” Sarah turned up the volume on her iPod.
Brandon pointed at Baldwin and Naomi’s cabin and arched an eyebrow.
“Fiiiiiiine, I’ll do the stupid math, but you’re not my favorite grampa anymore,” John grumbled, and skulked off to do his homework.