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But that wasn’t Amara’s only concern. After birthing two healthy boys, an alpha and second alpha, she wondered when she’d have a baby for Luc. Her beta mate was usually gone on either a mission or doing training in the western portion of Alaska’s Bering Tundra. This past year, he’d been home a total of two months. Amaroki females didn’t breed like humans. They had to wait until they were in bloom, a distinct sensation that felt like a flower opening inside their wombs. Whenever shifter females were in bloom, they had to mate with their pack in order, from alpha down to gamma. Amara was expected to have one male child with each of her mates, but she’d have both a boy and a girl with her gamma.
That was the way it had always been, and Amara wasn’t about to challenge a tradition that was thousands of years old, especially when doing so could cause her mates to lose their claim to the Alaskan chiefdom, for only the most powerful packs could become chieftains. Her Thunderfoot fathers-in-law were the biggest and bravest in not just the Alaskan Amaroki, but probably among all shifter tribes. Only Amara’s own mates rivaled their fathers in size and strength. Many other chieftains looked to the Thunderfoots for guidance. Now as Amara’s family was growing, all eyes were on her pack to make sure they carried on the tradition. Amara especially felt the pressure being that she’d been a lone wolf having descended from a human mother. No matter that she had been blessed by the Ancients with healing powers, she still sometimes felt like a tribal outsider. Carrying on the Thunderfoot line would solidify her place in the Amaroki. Shifter females never knew when they were going to bloom for their mates, but Amara couldn’t have a son with Luc if he wasn’t around.
After Alexi fell asleep on her breast, Rone took him from her and carried him and his brother upstairs for a nap, balancing both babies against his chest. She was keenly aware of Drasko hovering behind her and knew exactly what he wanted, but then Annie sat beside her, let out a loud belch that had a distinct bacon smell, and turned on the TV. She was wearing her favorite pair of sweats—the ones with a gaping hole in one knee—her long, dark hair was tied in a messy bun, and her porcelain complexion was marred by a solitary zit on her left cheek.
A lone wolf like Amara, Annie had been living with Amara’s family ever since they’d discovered her roaming Alaska by herself. She’d gotten in a bit of trouble on her own, so Amara’s pack had to keep a protective eye on her. This also meant their sex life had cooled considerably. Annie was old enough for mates of her own, though, which meant they would scent each other soon, and Annie would go off to live with them. Amara didn’t mind having her cousin around, knowing she wouldn’t be around much longer. Hopefully, Annie’s fated mates lived in Alaska, too, so they could still spend time together. Though they were cousins by marriage, Annie had become more like a sister to Amara over the past year. She would be sad to lose her, bacon belches and all.
“What do you want to watch?” her younger cousin asked.
Rather than tell Annie she wasn’t in the mood for television, Amara took a sip of coffee.
“She wants to watch the ceiling or the shaking headboard,” Drasko answered as he hovered over her.
Amara sputtered her coffee.
Annie rolled her eyes. “Don’t you two ever cool it?”
Drasko rubbed Amara’s shoulders, grumbling. “All we’ve been doing is cooling it.”
When he tugged on her hair, she knew she was out of reasons to put off her mate. “I’ll be back in a bit,” she whispered to her cousin.
Annie rolled her eyes again. “You sure you’re not rabbit shifters?”
Drasko laughed as she took his hand. But then footsteps echoed on the stairway, and her heart leaped into her throat when she heard Luc’s voice.
“Luc!” she squealed, jumping from the sofa. Her elation turned to shock and then disappointment when Rone emerged from the stairwell, his laptop balanced on one arm.
“Luc called us on Skype,” he said animatedly while turning the screen toward Amara.
Her shoulders fell as she looked at the screen. Her handsome Army tracker waved to her. He was hunched over the computer with what looked like a pale tent backdrop behind him.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, the cheerfulness in his voice sounding forced.
Magic tingled her fingers when she noticed his nose was red and he had dark circles and a deep cut beneath his eye. Shadows marred his concaved cheeks. He never ate enough when he was away. She couldn’t wait until he returned to her so she could heal him and Rone could feed him.
“When are you coming home?” she blurted, unable to keep the wolf’s whimper from her voice as Rone set the computer on the card table.
“Soon,” he said with a smile. “We have one more training mission, and then I’m flying home to you, babe.”
Though she was proud of her mate, she was growing ever tired of his long absences. Her beta was the best tracker in the Army, their secret weapon, and part of an elite unit of wolf shifter soldiers. The American government was always using her mate and other Amaroki betas for dangerous reconnaissance missions. As far as they knew, no other governments knew about the Amaroki shifters, and Amara hoped it remained that way.
“What’s the weather like over there?” Drasko asked as he sat at the table, pulling her into his lap.
“Colder,” he said with a grimace. “But luckily we have thick fur,” he added with a wink.
Luc had told them he was training far from civilization in the hostile Bering Tundra above Nome. It was dangerously cold there, even for a wolf. She couldn’t wait until he was safe and warm in her arms.
“I miss you.” Her voice constricted with emotion. She didn’t trust herself to say any more.
“I miss you, too, babe,” he said. “But I won’t be much longer, I promise.”
“What’s not long?” Drasko asked. “Months, weeks?” There was a definite undercurrent of tension in Drasko’s voice. Was he also concerned about growing their family?
She gritted her teeth, waiting for Luc to answer.
“No more than a month,” he said.
A month!
