"Yeah." I placed his hand on my barely-there bump. "They are going to love hearing stories about you."
"I can't wait to meet them." He leaned down and kissed me. "You’ve given me everything I didn't know I needed."
Inside, someone put on some music. Through the window, I could see pack members dancing and Renard's parents together in the middle of the floor.
"Dance with me." I nuzzled my mate.
Renard pulled me close, and we swayed together under the stars. His hand was splayed across my lower back while the other held mine against him. His heartbeat was steady and strong and he smelled like soap and that woodsy aroma that was just him.
He kissed my forehead. "My mate, the father of my child, you are the person who makes everything make sense."
I leaned on his chest and breathed in his scent. "I never thought I could have this kind of love and happiness."
"You deserve all of it." His arms tightened around me. "And I'm going to spend every day making sure you know that."
We danced until the music stopped and Renard's mother called out that it was getting late and did we want to stay over.
We didn't. We drove home through the night with our hands linked across the console. I could feel the mate mark on my neck with every turn of my head. It was a pleasant ache that reminded me of what we'd done.
And when we finally fell into bed in Renard's house, now our home, I was right where I belonged.
FOURTEEN
RENARD
I found Julian in the family section during warm-ups.
He was wearing my jersey, number 31, CONLEY across his back. He had one hand resting on the small swell of his stomach while he talked to the man beside him. He looked completely at ease, which was something I'd never managed in a room full of strangers. I watched him laugh at something and had to force myself to look away.
"Conley." Derek skated past. "You keep staring at the stands. Is that your partner up there?" He'd followed my gaze. "In your jersey?"
"Husband."
"You're going to be a dad." Derek clapped my shoulder.
Raul pulled up beside him. "Congratulations, man. When's he due?"
"Four months."
I looked up one more time before making myself focus on the ice.
The Harborview Hunters were fast and physical, and they came out swinging from the puck drop. But I was locked in. I tracked every shot from the moment it left the stick and theangles felt natural. Everything they threw at me I had an answer for. A breakaway in the second period where I dropped and got my glove up at the last possible moment had the crowd roaring. Raul tapped my helmet afterward and said nothing, which was all it needed.
By the third period the Hunters were desperate. They pulled their goalie with two minutes left and a shot came through a screen of three players that I lost completely until it was almost past me. The puck ricocheted into the corner and the buzzer followed.
We won 3-0.
The guys swarmed the crease. I let it happen and looked up. Julian was on his feet, clapping, and when our eyes met he grinned and put both hands on his stomach.
Most of theteam had cleared out by the time I made it to the family area. Julian was waiting by the corridor entrance and the noise around us did what it always did when I saw him. It fell away.
I pulled him close, mindful of his bump, and breathed him in. He scented of vanilla lotion and underneath it, just him. His fingers curled into the front of my jacket and he pressed his face against my chest for a moment before looking up. The corridor lighting caught the flush on his cheeks and I could feel his heartbeat against mine which was faster than usual.
"I couldn't stop watching you. I kept grabbing the arm of the guy next to me. He was very patient about it." His hand came up to my face and I leaned into his palm. "You were unreal out there."
I kissed him. He made a small sound against my mouth that wasn't appropriate for a public corridor and I didn't care.
Derek appeared with Raul and a few others and I introduced Julian. The word husband came out naturally, the way it had since the first time I'd said it. The mating ceremony had been its own ritual, ancient and binding in ways a legal document wasn't, but we'd do the paperwork at city hall eventually.
