Page 48 of Fifty & Feral

I ran my fingers through his hair. He had started keeping it longer now that he was also part of the pack. Since that first full flower moon, so many things had changed for us. All for the better.

Finally, he pushed himself up, his elbow digging into my abs, making me wince. He grabbed his phone and answered it. His eyes went wide as whoever on the other line was talking. I supposed I should worry about whatever that issue was, but if it was anything I needed to deal with, he would let me know. The two of us managed the pack together. If they were calling him, it was likely not a massive issue that we needed to deal with.

It was a toss-up on whether or not pack members preferred to talk with Connor or talk with me. Either way, we made ourselves available to anyone who needed us.

Connor hung up the phone. I gave him a questioning look.

“It’s nothing,” he said, “but I am going to take care of it.”

“This early?” It wasn’t the middle of the night, but it was early in the morning. Too early for phone calls. “Do you need me?”

“Look, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” He disappeared into the ensuite bathroom.

We had the option to move into the pack house, but seeing that most of the pack was spread throughout the town, my home was just as central of a location as the pack house. We had, however, purchased all the woodland between the pack property and my house and created trails that led to it so we could get there either in our wolf form or on a side-by-side if we didn’t feel like driving.

“I’m going to be in town most of the day today,” he said.

“Okay, I’ll probably be at the pack house getting ready for the celebration.”

It was the morning of the full flower moon, when we would celebrate my one year as alpha. Since taking over the pack, so many things had changed. We had purchased two additional businesses: the hair place in town and the garden shop both provided places that we could have pack members learn new skills and keep jobs. We also become part owners in the accounting firm in town, which handled the books for most of the pack businesses. At this point, if we got a couple of the pack members elected sheriff and mayor, we’d pretty much own the whole town. We actually did have someone running for mayor, but it wasn’t our intent to take over. It just seemed to happen naturally.

I went to the kitchen and poured us both a cup of coffee. I put coffee in a travel mug for Connor. When he came out of the bedroom, his hair was slightly damp, and he was wearing a pair of his jeans, mostly reserved for yard work, and a sweatshirt.

“Care to explain what’s going on?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said. “It’s a surprise for later.”

“Okay.”

“What’s on your agenda today?” he asked.

“I might start on the shed we talked about building for the school.”

“Don’t work too hard today. We have a long night.” He blew me a kiss, then walked out the door.

I wasn’t sure whether to be excited or terrified.

Connor

Keeping something from my mate went so far beyond my natural instincts that I was beginning to itch with the desire to just tell him what was going on.

But Maya wanted it to be a surprise. And part of me really wanted to see Jack’s face when all was revealed.

Today was the full flower moon, one year since Jack had taken over, one year since we claimed each other.

And today would be Maya’s first shift.

She had felt her shift coming but hadn’t yet taken her fur. She knew it would happen today, just as I had known on the strawberry moon that my shift would take place. And she wanted to surprise her dad. So really, I wasn’t the one keeping the secret, it was Maya. I was just respecting her wishes.

She and I had become good friends in the past year. I loved her like my own. Her mom and I had also met, and she was amazing. She’d been incredibly supportive of the whole situation. Though she had been surprised about the whole werewolf thing. She took it all in stride and even visited the pack a few times.

She had zero desire to also be a werewolf, though.

“Show time?” Maya asked.

The two of us had just finished cleaning up from the pack dinner. Jack was near the makeshift dais speaking to Mason and Tim. The two of them had become his trusted council members and helped run the pack.

“Yeah. Show time,” I said. I put my hands on her shoulders and faced her. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? I know it can be scary and you might be nervous about shifting for the first time.”