Page 59

Chapter Seventeen

(Rusty)

“There you go, all set,” Rusty replied after adjusting the infant carrier on Logan.

“Roark’s is ready too,” Logan declared, as he finished doing the same thing to the one Roark wore. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this after the week I’ve had.”

“It will be nice to relax, socialize with the rest of the pack, and enjoy a bit of fun and entertainment,” Roark admitted. “No thinking about spreadsheets, purchase orders, or the additional silos we are going to need before we face another winter like this.”

“Exactly, so no talking about them, either,” Rusty gently admonished as he turned away from his mates to get Acer from the car so he could tuck him into the infant carrier Roark had on.

He did the same with Bowie, placing him in Logan’s carrier before kissing the giggling boy on the nose, which was the only part of the pup he could see with the way he was bundled up.

“Alright, Wren, ready?”

“Yes, Papa Rusty,” Wren replied as they climbed out the door Rusty held open.

How Wren managed to skip in snow boots, Rusty didn’t know, but the pup was excited to see their friends and hear the storytellers, so Rusty lengthened his strides so he could keep up with them while Roark and Logan followed with the tiny pups.

“They’re not going to tell scary stories, are they?” Wren asked as they were nearing the door.

“No scary stories, I promise,” Rusty replied.

“Yay!”

As soon as they stepped inside and removed their snow gear, several pups ran up to Wren, who immediately tried to wiggle free of their coat without unzipping it all the way.

“Hang on a second pup, let’s get your things off, then you can go sit with your friends,” Rusty said, managing to get the coat off before Wren got too tangled, their hat coming along with it. “Do you remember what we talked about earlier?”

“Uh-huh,” Wren said, growing serious for a moment, despite the other pups crowding around, patiently waiting for Wren to get their gear off. “I can sit with my friends, but I can’t leave the building without your persimmons.”

Chuckling, Rusty smoothed their mussed hair. “Close, little wolf, but I think you meant permission.”

“Oops, we’ve been learning about persimmons. I like that word,” Wren replied.

“It’s a fun word, isn’t it?”

“Persimmons,” Wren said, doing a wiggly dance echoed by their friends, some of whom struggled with the word but still happily tried to say it anyway.

“Well, then you make sure you have my persimmons before you leave the building, okay?”

“Okay, Papa,” Wren replied, kissing him on the cheek before taking off with the group of pups, just as Roark and Logan stepped through the door with the pups.

“A pile of clothes and no Wren,” Logan replied, shaking his head as Rusty folded Wren’s gear and put it in one of the plastic totes waiting beside the door. With the size of their family, he’d selected one of the largest sizes.

“Their friends spotted them as soon as we stepped through the door,” Rusty replied as he helped Roark and Logan remove the pups’ snow gear and held them while his mates got out of theirs.

Once their outer garments were inside the tote, he wrote his name on a label, stuck it to the front, and stacked it on top of one of the others along the wall.

“Is that gingerbread I smell?” Logan asked as he sniffed.

Bowie tipped his head back and started sniffing too, prompting Rusty to break the camera out and capture several pictures.

“Gingerbread, spiced cider, pumpkin bars, and carrot cake, all sweetened with honey, so there’s no danger of the pups running around creating chaos instead of listening to the stories,” Roark explained as Acer started wiggling and sniffing too.

“Yes, pup,” Rusty said, tousling Acer’s hair, “there are lots of yummy smells in there. Let’s go find one for you to nibble on.”

The pack lodge was toasty when they stepped through the doors that separated the entryway from the main part of the building. The large stone fireplaces put off enough heat that it was cozy inside the massive, two-story structure, more than six times as large as the next largest building, which housed the pack’s administration offices and council chambers.