Page 21 of Devotion

Eden smelled like Sunday, but sweeter. Lilacs and vanilla with a hint of... cake? Of course. Her mother was honey, and my little Sunbeam was cake.

“Eden, wait for Daddy,”I called, using our pack connection to communicate with her in this form. I was her Alpha. Not only could she hear me, but she should feel compelled to obey.Shouldbeing the operative word. Have you ever tried to make an almost two-year-old do something they didn’t want to do?

“Buhfwies! Buhfwies!”

It took me a moment to translate as her voice ran through my mind. “Chasing butterflies, huh, Sunbeam? Stay there.”

The wolfy howl she’d struggled with in her other form rang through loud and clear in my mind. And even though it was a wordless cry, I had no trouble deciphering the call to hunt.

“Oh God, she’s going to be a tiny butterfly assassin,”Tessa said, her lithe form running alongside mine.

“Let’s just hope she can’t catch them. She’s a wolf, but she’s also still a clumsy toddler.”

My girl might be a natural-born killer, but she was also a tender heart. Once she realized her new friends weren’t going to happily fly away after she caught them, she would be a bundle of inconsolable tears.

We found her in a clearing, the sunlight beaming down through the trees. It was like a fucking Disney movie. My sweet pup was standing on a fallen log, tail wagging, eyes crossed as she focused on the monarch butterfly perched on her black nose.

“Oh my God, Sunday is going to die when she hears about this. We should have grabbed a camera,”Trouble said, tongue lolling as she sat and took in the show.

“Daddy! Buhfwy!”

Two things happened at the same time. The butterfly took to the air, and Eden pounced in an attempt to keep it from leaving. I was not going to let my little girl become a killer on my watch. As soon as I recognized what was in progress, I leapt forward, distracting her with a playful tackle and rolling the two of us onto the forest floor. Her puppy yips were akin to baby giggles, and my heart felt about three sizes too big for my chest. The only thing that could make this moment better was sharing it with my mate. But that wouldn’t be possible for another six months at the soonest. For now, we’d have to settle for me telling her all about it.

I allowed Eden to pin me on my back, her stumpy paws pressing into my chest as she fake snarled at me, then dipped her head and chomped down on my ear.

“This might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,”Tessa said, still watching from the sidelines.

“Really? You used to wrestle with the triplets all the time.”

“They ganged up on me, you mean. Not the same thing. Besides, seeing you be all papa bear with her is sweet. Reminds me of Dad.”

I turned to look at my sister, Eden still clamped onto my ear. Ronin Farrell and I had a complicated relationship at the end, mostly due to his being possessed by a horsewoman, but he’d been an incredible father to us all. Especially when we were young, before pack politics pulled him away and kept him busy.

“You think I’m like him?”

“Are you kidding? You’re so much like him sometimes it hurts. He’d be so proud of you, Kingston. Not just as the next Alpha, but because of the man you’ve become.”

That had been all I’d wanted as a kid. To be like my dad. He’d been my idol, then my friend, and then...

“I wish he was here. That he could have known her.”

Trouble loped over and licked the side of my face, whining softly.“He’s here.”

Eden chose that moment to pounce on my sister, howling happily as she did.

We all rolled around together, wrestling and play biting, teaching her the difference between submission and defense. How to show she was playing rather than threatening. All the things young wolves needed to know to keep them alive.

We were just finishing up another round of chase when a new scent joined ours. My ears flattened, and a warning growl sounded in my throat. We were on pack land, but my daughter was with me, and that made any newcomer a threat until proven otherwise. Especially an alpha like this one.

I wastheAlpha. Capital A. Head honcho of the Farrell pack, but there were dozens of alphas under me, somecampaigning to take my place. This asshole was one of them. Derek had been warning me about the things he’d been saying behind my back for weeks now.

I growled.“What do you want, Channing?”

“How many fucking times do I have to remind you my name is Chester? What Alpha doesn’t know the name of his own pack members?”

“At least three more,Charlie.”Tessa piped up, stepping to my side with a growl of her own. “He knows your name, but you haven’t earned the right to hear it yet.”

Chickpea snarled at us, baring his teeth in a purely aggressive display.

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