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I set him back down on the floor, grabbing a paper plate out of the bag too and throwing a variety of food on it before setting it down in front of him. The one thing I did know about toddlers, was that they had damned vicious appetites, just like the rest of us.
The tiny wolf abandoned the bread, and chomped right into a pile of pasta with those sharp little teeth. We always had more food than we could eat at pack dinners—with so many hungry werewolves, it was nearly impossible to guess how much we’d need, so we always overestimated. Leftovers were far better than growling stomachs.
Del stepped back into the room. “She’s Char’s roommate. Her name is Lizzy Kaen.”
I’d already known her name, but I hadn’t known she lived with Charly. I chatted with Char every now and then at the high school, since I taught math there, but I’d never been crazy close with her. There were a few other packs that she ran much closer with than she ever had ours.
I studied Lizzy’s wolf, who was watching both me and her toddler at that point.
The whole situation was just really damn unreal.
“How long ago did she reject her mate?” Ebony asked, quietly.
“Char said it was two years and eight months ago. The little guy’s name is Evan, and he turned two last week. Lizzy, Evan, and Lizzy’s friend Sabrina all moved in with Char about three months ago, after Lizzy’s ex broke into their house and attacked Lizzy,” Del said, her eyes tracking the toddler as he devoured his food. “There are no open houses in the human part of town right now, but Sabby’s having one built where all three of them will move to when it’s done next month. Char texted me their address, and said to have you come over so they can explain shit.”
“Del,” June warned, tossing a hand toward the toddler.
“Shit. Right. I mean, uh, crap.” She tugged a hand through her hair. “I forwarded you the address, Elliot. After the kid’s done eating, you should probably go over there and find out the details about all of this.”
She was grimacing.
A look around the room showed me that pretty much all of them were.
This wasn’t a typical mating situation, in any way, and it had caught all of us off guard. But Lizzy was my mate, theoretically. And we’d figure it out.
Evan—the little wolf—finished gobbling his food down, then shifted back to his human form and dropped to his belly on the wood floor.
His eyes closed, and then he was snoring softly.
Fucking adorable.
“It’s getting late. You’ll need to get this guy home, so you can win his mom over,” Del pointed out, gesturing toward the fuzzy dude on the floor. “I don’t think she’s going to be waiting for you to prove that you’re not going to reject her, like men do on their hunts. I think she’ll wait until she knows whether or not you can take care of her handsome little punk.”
My gaze slid from the kid, to the wolf still lying on the floor, observing.
Del was right; this wasn’t your typical mate hunt.
She was both hunting me and chasing me, and common sense said she wouldn’t bite me until she knew whether or not I could be a good dad for her kid.
A dad.
Shit, I was not prepared for fatherhood.
“Yeah. I’m going to get them home.” I pulled my phone from my pocket, putting the address in and checking out the drive. It was about ten minutes; the human neighborhood was across town.
“We’ll get the place cleaned up for you,” Ford added. “And you know you can call if you need anything. Food…” his eyes flicked to the toddler on the ground. “Diapers…”
“I know.” I jerked my head in a nod.
Bending down. I carefully picked up the little guy, lifting him to my shoulder. He continued snoring, dead to the world as he snuggled up against me.
There was a strange feeling in my chest, but I didn’t know what it meant, so I pushed past it.
