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He didn’t let go of it, either.

“Uncomplicated would be extremely helpful right now,” Logan admitted.

“Knowing Brooks, he’ll arrange your hours to coincide with Charlie, Rusty, and Kale’s,” Roark explained. “In the morning, after breakfast, you’ll leave with them and be able to see Wren off to school since Charlie always drops Kale off first. You’ll probably be working at the command center, so you’ll drop Charlie and Rusty off next, since the woodshop is between council chambers and the school. Rusty keeps a UTV parked there and takes it up to the garage.”

“Then I’d be able to reverse the order and pick everyone up, and we’d head home at the end of the day together, unless there was a council meeting scheduled for the night,” Logan muttered. “What do we do then?”

“You, Rusty, Kale and Wren will come home the way you normally would, and Baz and I will pick Charlie up and take him to the meeting since we’re required to attend,” Roark explained.

“The heads of every business and department are encouraged to be at the meetings,” Rusty said. “Which Cage attends for the garage, since it gives him and Brooks the chance to go out for drinks afterward.”

“I can work with that,” Logan said. “Sounds like a solid plan.”

“So far, it’s worked out well for us,” Rusty admitted.

“If there’s ever a time when you’re called to present material to the council, Kale, Rusty, and I will be just fine holding down the fort and getting everyone tended to,” Roark explained.

Logan chuckled, though it sounded dry and somewhat forced. “Something tells me that Wren will want to be paws on too, so I’m not gonna worry about it. After all the stress of getting here, I’d love it if I could go a year without anything to worry about, but I know that isn’t very realistic.”

“Whatever we face, whenever we face it, we will deal with it together,” Roark promised, resting his head on Logan’s shoulder as he curled over his body to hug him.

“Honestly,” Logan muttered as he snuggled into Roark’s embrace and sighed. “That means everything.”

Chapter Seven

(Logan)

“Rusty said you like to hunt,” Baz declared as soon as they were all seated around the table, four pups in highchairs and the howling wind trying to drown out the radio Roark had turned on.

Korn’s Alone I Break was currently playing. Talk about the perfect way of learning that his mate shared a similar taste in music.

“Very much so,” Logan admitted.

“Papa and Uncle Tate got a huge deer one time that fed everyone in our apartment building for a whole week,” Wren declared.

“I used to love being out in the woods in the bitter cold waiting on a critter,” Charlie admitted. “But I’ve got a knee that hates it, and it slows me down anytime I’ve been still for too long. It’ll be nice knowing Baz won’t be out there alone.”

Baz nodded as he shot a fond look at his mate.

The protectiveness in Charlie’s voice wasn’t missed by Logan, who knew all too well how many things could go wrong when you were hunting alone.

“Let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll head out, give you a feel for the lay of the land, and bring home supper in the process,” Baz said.

“I’d like that,” Logan declared. “Thank you.”

“No thanks needed,” Baz declared. “If anything, I’m the one who should be thanking you. I had an accident last year when some of the boards on the wooden bridge that used to span the river decided that me trying to cross it was the absolute last straw, crumbled, and sent me crashing into the river and a bunch of rocks that tried to end me.”

“Damn.”

“Some stubborn wolf whose name doesn’t need to be mentioned insisted we tear it down before he went to the clinic,” Charlie said, narrowing his eyes at his mate. “Ever since then, the thought of him being out there alone has added at least three gray hairs every time he talks about hunting, so my follicles thank you too.”

They really had a solid rhythm that Logan found himself easily slipping into as he fed Clover in between enjoying the stuffing, roasted carrots, and savory goose meat on his plate. When Wren finished their carrots first out of everything on their plate, Logan reached for the serving spoon, only to have his fingers collide with Roark’s.

“Sorry, you go ahead,” Logan said, pulling his hand away.

“I was just going to put more carrots on Wren’s plate, since they all seem to have vanished,” Roark explained.

“Yes, please,” Wren said, holding up their plate.