“You made a face.”
“Our daughter has elbows like tiny weapons.I’m allowed to make a face.”
I reach over and pull Mia away from Landry so she can get comfortable.Landry giggles, and I grin.
It still amazes me sometimes how different our house sounds now.When I first brought Landry here, the place was quiet.Too quiet.It was just me and my restless wolf and too many empty rooms.
Now there are toys in the living room, tiny shoes by the door, drawings on the fridge, baby blankets folded over chairs, and Landry’s books on every surface she can reach.There are family photos on the walls.Wedding pictures.Mia covered in birthday cake.Noah asleep on my chest.Taylor and Reyes with their kids.Pack cookouts.Holidays.A life I used to dream about and somehow get to live every day.
Mia suddenly lifts her head, blinking sleepy green eyes at me.
“Daddy,” she whispers.
“Morning, pup.”
She crawls over Landry, kisses her cheek, then comes back to me and throws herself onto my chest with all the grace of a small falling tree.I catch her easily and tuck her close.
“Pancakes,” she says.
Not good morning, not I love you.
Pancakes.
Landry snorts.
I press a kiss to Mia’s messy curls.“All right.Come on, little one.”
Mia pats my cheek.“Chocolate pancakes.”
“Banana pancakes,” Landry says.
Mia gasps as if her mother has betrayed her deeply.I look between them, weighing my options.My mate arches an eyebrow.My daughter sticks out her bottom lip.
I am a strong man.A trained fighter.A wolf shifter.A protector of the pack.
I am also completely outmatched.
“Banana pancakes with chocolate chips,” I decide.
Mia cheers.
Landry rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling.“Softie.”
“For my girls?Always.”
“And Noah,” Mia adds.
“For Noah too, but he doesn’t have teeth yet, so his pancake opinions are limited.”
From down the hall, the baby monitor crackles.Noah makes one tiny sound, and I’m out of bed before the second one.
Landry laughs behind me.“There he goes.”
I don’t bother defending myself.My son needs me.
When I step into the nursery, Noah is awake in his crib, kicking his little legs and blinking up at the mobile above him.He stops fussing the second he sees me, his round face breaking into a gummy smile.
My heart turns useless.
