Page 40 of Wrong Number, Right Gray Wolf

“Don’t force it, please,” Hari begged.

“It’s not moving.” That was Posy trying to be helpful.

I put my arms around her shoulders and nuzzled her while whispering this was probably a good time to be quiet.

Hari was patting his pockets and produced a key of some sort. “We can take a rail off.” He must have seen my horrified face. “Don’t worry, Stephen, it’s supposed to come apart.”

He worked the bolts until they loosened and checked to see if there were any scratches before giving a thumbs up.

“Let’s go,” Posy yelled.

When the crib made it to the nursery and the rail was back in place, Clyde dusted it, and we all stood back and admired it.

“The room is finally complete.” My mate pulled me close, and Posy leaned on his other side.

“The den,” Posy corrected him.

“It has a heart.” I turned to Hari and thanked him for making the crib where our baby would spend his first, and many more, nights.

He took Remy’s hand. “It’s our present to you.”

“What? No, that’s not right, it isn’t what we agreed on.” This wasn’t like a cute onesie or a toy. It was a piece of furniture that had taken hours to make by a skilled craftsman.

But Remy put up his hand, saying he wouldn’t hear any argument, and I hugged him with tears spilling over my cheeks.

“I do have another surprise.” Hari beckoned us closer and pointed at the top of both rails.

“Is that an animal print?” Posy grabbed a magnifying glass from her room. “It’s a wolf print, I know that.” She tapped the second one. “Papa, is this a fox pawprint?”

I nodded. I couldn’t speak because I was tamping down sobs and more tears.

“Clyde, our family is here in this crib. When the baby goes to sleep, the three of us will be with them.”

My mate’s eyes clouded with tears. “I… I… know.”

“And only you will know it’s there.” Remy patted my arm.

“And you and Hari.” Posy grinned. “And the people at Hari’s workshop.”

As we stood on the porch saying our goodbyes, I rested my head on Clyde’s shoulder. I only knew Hari through Remy, my boss, and Clyde had worked with Remy and me once since we mated. Now the pair had become good friends and gifted us what would become a family heirloom.

“Let me know when you’re in labor.” Remy waved as he got into the pickup.

I was already on paternity leave, so we didn’t see one another every day. He’d joked that he was going to give me the phone attached to the landline when the baby was born.

“Can you come up to the nursery?” Posy was at the top of the stairs. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

Could I? I’d just been up there, but I would heave myself up there once more for our daughter.

“We’re here.”

“I’ve hidden something in the room. It’s for the baby, but they won’t know it’s here until they’re older.”

I eyed one of Posy’s paintings that was resting on a high shelf. It hadn’t been in the room earlier, but my daughter was good at hiding things, so I assumed she wasn’t talking about the painting.

“Can you guess?” she asked.

Clyde and I shared a glance. “Nope,” we both said.