The Lone Wolf's Rejected Mate (Five Packs #3)(91)

We haven’t done it since Cait was born. Abertha said to wait for four weeks to “however the hell long I want” before having sex again after the delivery. I’ve been nervous, and probably if Darragh made a move, I’d be all over it, but he feels my hesitation through the bond, so he keeps things casual.

“Babe?”

Crap. Drifted off again. “What was I talking about?” I ask him.

“When Cait starts walking.”

“Yeah. We live in a treehouse. That’s gonna be a disaster.”

He’s nodding. “I’ve been thinking about putting up a net.”

“A net?”

“Like under a tightrope. And I’m going to be installing safety gates in all the doors as soon as they come in.”

“You ordered them already?”

He grunts in the affirmative.

My eyes narrow. “How?”

He reaches out to tug the zipper of Cait’s onesie even though it’s zipped all the way up. He’s ducking the question.

“You borrowed a phone, didn’t you? Whose?”

“The skinny kid’s.” He knows Lucan’s name, he’s just stubborn about using it. Darragh’s the one who insists that Lucan and Fallon still watch over Cait and me when he’s away. The human government and the task force Moon Lake is leading hasn’t gotten anywhere with finding the human hunters behind the kidnapping ring yet. Extra security is a necessity, but Darragh still doesn’t like having other males in his territory.

“Hah! See, you do need a phone.” Cait screws up her face like she’s going to sneeze or howl, and I immediately regret how emphatic I was when I said it.

“See, I don’t,” he whispers back. “I can borrow one.” He flashes me a soft smile so I don’t get too mad.

I love his smile. It took a while for it to show up on the regular, but now, I live for it. It’s so shy, and it turns him from this rough wild man to a complete charmer.

I’m happy we spend most of our time out at our place. I wouldn’t like the pack females seeing the smiles, figuring out he’s the world’s biggest teddy bear, and losing their fear of him.

Apparently, I am insanely jealous. Earlier in our cohabitation, I’d blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, but here we are, and I still struggle to smother the warning growl when Abertha shows up to check on me and the baby.

I always welcome her up and make a pot of tea, though. She saved Cait’s life during the delivery. It got hairy with the cord, and she did a thing, and Cait went from blue to bright pink, so now I have to get over the fact she was my mate’s first and be friends.

“We could move into my old cabin for a while,” I suggest, my mind wandering back to the toddler-in-a-treehouse problem.

Since Annie and Kennedy moved out of our old place, it’s been empty. The pack is going back to having unprotected females live with families. This time, it’s more of a volunteer system, and Una’s overseeing it, so it’s better than it was when I was a pup.

Darragh’s face darkens. He doesn’t like the idea of living close to people, but I know he’d do it, for Cait and me.

“Wait until you see the gates installed?” He reaches across our baby and winds a curl around his finger before he tucks it behind my ear. I snuggle into the feather pillow.

“Okay.” It’s getting dark, and soon, one of us will have to get up to make dinner. I already know it’ll be Darragh. He takes care of everything except cleaning the breast pump. He gets really ham-handed and flustered, and after he broke one, we decided it was best if I handled it.

I yawn so big my ears pop. “Are you really going to put up a net?”

He hums. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open.

“That’s ridiculous.” I smile, thinking about Cait bouncing in a circus net as Darragh climbs in after her.

“It’d be a backup.” He reaches across our baby to trace my curved lips. I nip the tip. His rumble deepens, and something swirls in my belly.

Maybe I’ll be ready soon. Tonight. After a nap.

I quit fighting it and let my eyelids stay shut. “I love you, mate,” I mumble. I tell him all the time. He says it less often, but he shows me every minute of every day.

“I love you back,” he says, his voice low and gravelly with exhaustion.

“I’m the light of your life.” Sleep steals over me like a shadow, but before I fall, I hear him answer.

“You’re my everything.”

I wake up in the middle of the night with a start, searching for Cait with my heart in my throat, but she’s right there, arms thrown over her head, snuffling in her sleep. I slept straight through dinner. I rub my eyes, and for the first time, my gaze shifts past my sweet little baby to where Darragh had been lying.

He’s gone.

His gold and bronze and brown patchwork wolf lies there in his place, sprawled on his side, wide awake. He’s watching Cait, his tail flicking back and forth.

He raises his bright eyes to me. My body tenses, my adrenaline spiking, but I’m not afraid.

I know this wolf.

He knows me.

We belong to each other, too.

He twists his neck, idly licking his flank, and then he lays his head back down, stretching his legs across the bed to knead my thighs with the rough pads of his paws. He yawns, snaps his jaw shut, and slowly, his golden eyes drift closed.