Found Family

Found Family
Ayla

The first few days with the twins disappeared into feeding, changing, sleeping whenever they allowed it, and trying to remember which one I had fed last. Tessa was louder. Tarrick ate more often. Both of them seemed personally offended by having their clothes changed, and neither cared that their father was the Alpha of Alphas when they decided they wanted something.
Thane barely slept. I woke more than once and found him beside one of the bassinets with two fingers resting lightly against a tiny back.
“She's breathing.”
“I know.”
“You checked three minutes ago.”
“I know.”
“Thane.”
He looked at Tessa and checked again.
I would have given him considerably more trouble about it if I hadn't done the same thing to Tarrick an hour earlier.
They looked ridiculously small with him. Tessa fit along one of his forearms with room left over, and Tarrick could disappear against his chest when Thane tucked him there. The first time he held both at once, he went so still that I watched him for several seconds before realizing what he was doing.
“You can move.”
“I am moving.”
“No, you're not.”
Tarrick twitched in his sleep, and Thane immediately adjusted the hand supporting him.
I smiled. “There it is.”
“What?”
“Panic.”
“I am not panicking.”
Ronan disagreed loudly enough through the bond that Aramana became amused.
Cyrus was worse in an entirely different direction. Raven offered him Tessa on the second day, and he backed away before she had even finished extending her arms.
“No.”
“She is a baby.”
“I see that.”
“Take her.”
“No.”
“You've held body parts.”
“Exactly. I understand body parts.”
Raven stared at him.
Cyrus pointed at Tessa. “That is a complete person. A very small complete person with no neck control.”
Tessa yawned.
He backed up another step.
Raven looked at me. “He's afraid of her.”
“I am cautious.”
“You ate a heart.”
“That heart could not roll out of my arms.”
He still hovered whenever the twins were awake. He criticized anyone he thought held them incorrectly, watched doors, watched windows, and once asked a guard with a cough whether he was contagious.
Thane finally told him, “You are making everyone nervous.”
Cyrus looked at him. “You growled at Mikhail yesterday.”
“He had Tessa in one hand.”
“He was examining her.”
“One hand.”
I left them to it.
Mikhail was at the lake house every day. Initially he had legitimate reasons. I was recovering from a hemorrhage and premature labor, and the twins needed close watching. By the second day, his visits had somehow begun including tea that nobody had requested and blankets that had already been adjusted. He spent a great deal of time standing near things.
Eventually I realized he simply didn't know whether he was allowed to sit down and stay.
I was nursing Tarrick while Thane tried to convince Tessa that clean clothing was not an assault when I held out my hand toward the table.
“Dad, can you pass me that cloth?”
Mikhail stopped.
I looked over. The cloth was already in his hand, but for a moment he just stood there staring at me.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
He crossed the room and gave it to me.
“Thanks.”
“You're welcome.”
His voice had gone rough. He turned toward the table and began straightening bottles that were already straight.
I looked at Thane. Thane looked at me. Neither of us said anything.
Mikhail stayed another two hours.
On the third day, Thane told me we were leaving the lake house.
“Home?”
“Eventually.”
That answer immediately made me suspicious.
“Where are we going first?”
“You'll see.”
“I hate when you say that.”
“I know.”
Our vehicles drove into Midnight instead of toward home and stopped outside one of the larger community halls. I could hear people inside before Thane opened my door.
I looked at him. “What did you do?”
“Very little.”
“So Amani did it.”
His mouth moved.
I pointed at him. “That is guilt.”
“I have been told my face is difficult to read.”
“Not by your mate.”
He helped me out while Damon brought the twins' carriers around from the other side. The doors opened, and hundreds of wolves were inside.
Food covered long tables. Midnight colors hung from the beams, lights crossed overhead, and gifts were piled along one wall in quantities that made me wonder whether anyone in the pack understood how quickly infants outgrew things. A banner stretched across the far end of the hall.
WELCOME, LITTLE HEIRS.
“Oh, Fates.”
Amani appeared in front of us, grinning. “Surprise.”
“You did this.”
“We did this.”
Cherry waved from behind her. Tatiana stood beside a wrapped box that looked large enough to contain furniture.
I turned on Thane. “You approved this?”
“They provided a safety plan.”
Amani groaned. “There were decorations, Thane. We weren't detonating anything.”
“One of you suggested hanging something directly over the bassinets.”
“And we didn't.”
“Because I said no.”
I looked between them. “How long did this argument last?”
“Two days,” Amani and Thane answered together.
I should have expected that.
People came toward us once we were fully inside, although the crowd stopped several feet away without anyone needing to tell them. Thane had one hand at my back and was already tracking everyone who looked too interested in the twins.
I was about to tell him to stop when I saw a small table near the side of the room.
Chocolate cake. Several worn romance novels. One candle.
I forgot what I had been saying.
Monica.
Thane followed my gaze, and his hand found mine before I sat down.
She should have been here. That thought came first and hurt worst. She should have been shoving through everyone to see the babies before Thane could stop her. She should have brought me something inappropriate and called it educational. She should have complained about the banner and insisted hers would have been larger.
She had promised me a pup shower once.
I stared at the cake as her parents approached slowly.
Her mother stopped in front of me. “We hoped the table was all right.”
I nodded. When I tried to answer, my voice didn't cooperate, so I tried again.
“She would have loved it.”
Her father gave a small smile. “She would have found at least six things wrong with it.”
“Seven.”
“Probably.”
That made me laugh, and then I was crying. I wiped at my face.
“I couldn't save her.”
Her mother took my hand. “I know.”
She didn't hurry to make the words better. Her thumb moved once across my knuckles while her father looked toward Tessa and Tarrick, then back at me.
“You found out what happened,” he said. “You made sure we knew. You stopped the wolf who killed her.”
“I wanted to bring her back.”
“So did we.”
There was nowhere useful to go after that. I looked at the books instead. One of them had a bent corner I remembered seeing beside Monica's bed.
“She talked about you all the time,” her mother said.
“That worries me.”
“It should.”
I laughed again.
Her mother's eyes filled. “She loved you.”
“I loved her too.”
That made all three of us quiet until Monica's father glanced at the untouched cake.
“If someone doesn't cut that soon, I feel like we're disrespecting her memory.”
I wiped my face. “She'd already be eating it with a fork.”
“Exactly.”
Amani appeared shortly afterward and took charge of the cake before anyone could make the situation worse. Thane stayed beside me until I was ready to get up.
We had decided on the twins' names before they were born. We simply hadn't announced them while I was bleeding under a mountain, and I was grateful for that now.
By the time Thane and I sat at the front of the hall, Tessa was asleep in my arms, and Tarrick was tucked against his father. Mikhail stood nearby while the conversations around the room gradually quieted.
I looked down at my daughter. Her black hair had dried into thick little curls near the back of her neck, and she slept through the entire room watching her.
“This is Tessa Aileen Knight.”
Thane's hand settled on my knee.
“Tessa was Thane's sister.”
I looked at him. His attention remained on our daughter.
“She didn't get the life she should have had. We wanted her name to keep going with someone who will.”
My thumb moved across Tessa's cheek.
“Aileen was my mother's middle name.”
Mikhail lowered his eyes.
Then I looked at the white-haired pup sleeping in Thane's arms.
“And this is Tarrick Mikhail Knight. Tarrick was Thane's father.”
Thane looked down at his son.
“Mikhail is for my father.”
Mikhail's eyes lifted to mine.
“He saved us under the mountain, but that's not why we chose it. You're his grandfather. I want him growing up knowing that.”
Mikhail's mouth opened, but nothing came out.
I smiled. “Apparently I finally found a way to make you quiet.”
A few people laughed. Mikhail shook his head, but his eyes were wet.
I looked down at Tessa again. “Tessa Aileen Knight and Tarrick Mikhail Knight.”
That was all they needed. I didn't want to tell an entire room what they were supposed to become. Tessa had been alive for three days. Tarrick had spent most of the morning demanding milk. They had time.
Several wolves near the front lowered their heads, and more followed. I let them.
Thane leaned closer. “They are perfect.”
“Tessa screamed for forty minutes last night.”
“Perfect.”
“Tarrick peed on you.”
His expression tightened. “An accident.”
“He smiled afterward.”
“He cannot smile intentionally yet.”
“That's what he wants you to think.”
The naming ended there before we accidentally turned it into an argument in front of the entire pack.
Afterward, everyone wanted to hold them. Thane allowed this in theory. In practice, he stood close enough to make each person visibly reconsider every movement.
“Support her head.”
“I am.”
“Higher.”
The wolf adjusted Tessa immediately.
I touched Thane's arm. “She is fine.”
“I know.”
“Move back.”
He moved approximately two inches.
Across the room, Cyrus laughed. Thane turned his head, and Cyrus became interested in his drink.
Mikhail took Tarrick while I ate something that required both hands. Thane watched him.
I nudged my mate's leg with my foot. “Stop.”
“I am sitting.”
“You are staring.”
“He shifted Tarrick.”
“He's allowed to shift Tarrick.”
Mikhail glanced between us. “I can return him.”
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Thane said at exactly the same time.
I stared at Thane. He stared back.
“Fine.”
Mikhail walked away with Tarrick before Thane reconsidered.
Later, Thane found him again. I noticed because Thane knelt, and Mikhail immediately looked uncomfortable.
“Thane.”
“You saved Ayla. You saved our pups. I owe you a life debt.”
“No.”
Thane's brow tightened, but Mikhail didn't let him continue.
“I am not collecting a debt because I treated my daughter and grandchildren.”
“You did considerably more than treat them.”
“I did what needed to be done.”
“Then name something.”
Mikhail looked over at me before returning his attention to Thane. “Let me be here. For Ayla. For them. Let me be their grandfather.”
Thane went quiet.
“That is not a debt.”
“It is what I want.”
Thane stood and held out his forearm. Mikhail took it.
“Then you have it.”
Rhonda waited until the moment was clearly over.
“Excellent. Now that the males have completed their solemn bonding ritual, can we do presents?”
Thane looked at her.
Jill was carrying an animal carrier.
His eyes narrowed. “No.”
Rhonda put a hand to her chest. “You don't even know what's in it.”
“Yes, I do.”
Princess Murderbean's nose appeared through the carrier door.
“Why is the ferret here?”
“Because she was invited.”
“By whom?”
“Me.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Raven arrived beside them carrying Meatball. He was wearing the knitted hat I had made him.
Thane looked at me. “You participated in this.”
“I made the hat before the babies were born.”
“That is not a denial.”
Meatball hissed.
Raven adjusted him against her chest. “He's excited.”
“He appears angry.”
“He has a complicated face.”
Cyrus nodded. “Very misunderstood.”
Thane pointed toward both animals. “They stay away from the pups.”
Rhonda looked at Jill. “See? He likes them.”
“I said nothing resembling that.”
Princess Murderbean chittered from her carrier while Tessa slept through all of it.
Once Thane had established a perimeter around the wildlife, he turned toward Rhonda's crew.
“Rhonda. Jill. Suki. Marla.”
The four women looked at him.
“You helped find wolves we would have missed without you. You fought for them and brought them back. You have my thanks.”
Rhonda shrugged. “We were already there.”
“It was cold,” Suki said.
“Very cold,” Marla agreed.
Jill nodded toward Rhonda. “And she likes being nosy.”
“It saves lives.”
“Occasionally.”
Thane's mouth almost moved.
“I also kept my promise.”
Cyrus appeared carrying a stack of papers. Rhonda's suspicion was immediate.
“What is that?”
“Your future.”
“I don't want it.”
“It has photographs.”
She narrowed her eyes and took the packet. Jill leaned over her shoulder, and the shriek she released made Tarrick startle in Mikhail's arms.
“IS THAT A DRIVER'S LICENSE?”