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“Forty?” Elsie repeats.
“Maybe fifty.”
Rosie crosses her arms. “That’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t always fair, pup.”
Elsie comes around the counter and slips her arms around my waist. “You know, you’re beginning to sound a little like your parents.”
The words hit the tender place beneath my ribs.
My parents loved me, I’ve never doubted that, but their fear of the world convinced them that isolation was the only way to keep me safe. They taught me how to build a shelter, grow food, hunt, fight, and survive. They never taught me how to let anyone close.
I look toward the back window.
Ansel and Julian are arguing over where to put one of the tables. Abe has returned with the ice and is laughing at them instead of helping. Beyond them, more members of the pack are crossing the yard with gifts and trays of food.
Rosie wriggles between Elsie and me, demanding to be included in our hug.
I lift her, settling her between us.
“I know better than my parents did,” I say quietly. “They thought loving me meant keeping the whole world away.”
Elsie rests her head against my shoulder.
I kiss Rosie’s temple. “I’m going to teach you how to take care of yourself. But you’ll always have the pack too. You’ll never be alone.”
“Never ever?” she asks.
“Never ever.”
The back door opens, and people begin pouring into the kitchen.
The next hour passes in a blur. Rosie races through the yard with the other children while the adults talk and laugh. Someone turns on music. Julian nearly knocks over the smaller cake, proving Elsie’s point about not needing two, and I threaten him until he moves to the other side of the yard.
When the candles are lit, the entire pack gathers around our daughter. Rosie closes her eyes to make her wish. Then she draws an enormous breath and blows out all four candles while everyone cheers.
I look at Elsie across the table. She’s watching Rosie with a soft smile, one hand resting over her stomach. That faint, sweet scent reaches me again, and my wolf goes completely still.
Pup? he whines as my heart slams against my ribs.
Elsie meets my gaze. Whatever she sees in my expression makes her eyes widen.
I’m around the table in an instant. “Elsie?”
“What?”
I lower my voice, although every shifter within twenty feet can probably hear me. “Are you pregnant?”
She bites her lip.
“Are you?”
“I was going to tell you tonight.”
My wolf howls so loudly inside me that I can barely hear anything else.
I wrap my arms around Elsie and lift her off the ground.
