Page 20 of A Kitten for Alpha Kenny

“All right.” Shoot. His giving in this easily worried me even more. My omega had been independent for a long time, and he didn’t need me to mother him. Nonetheless, I was going to keepan eye on him, and if he didn’t look better in that half hour, we would get someone to give us a ride home. Or go see the healer.

Grandpa Swale walked up, Madeline swinging from his hand. She let go and ran off after some other children, and he sat down beside us on an empty lawn chair. “Did you enjoy the run?” He had stayed behind with the kids, although I had heard he usually went along.

“We did,” I told him.

“My alpha gave me a ride for part of the time,” Mulder told him. “I don’t know why I got so tired. I guess it was keeping up with so many wolves, but I’ll do better next time.”

The older wolf tsked. “Only if next time is after you deliver.”

My mate blinked at him. “Deliver what?”

My jaw dropped. “Grandpa Swale, why do you think my mate is pregnant?”

“Just look at him.” He leaned in close and nodded. “You don’t get that shade of green any other way unless you ate something bad.”

Mulder jumped up and clapped a hand over his mouth, looking around before darting off. I was on my feet, but the older wolf stayed me with a gesture. “Give him a moment before you follow. He needs to take the news in and let out…whatever he’s eaten.”

“But he needs me.”

“In a moment. You are very new and he may feel embarrassed. Once he’s emptied his belly, you can go and pet your kitty and make him feel better.”

I wasn’t sure if he was right, but I waited a full sixty seconds before running after my omega. If Grandpa Swale was right, and I had no reason to think he wasn’t, we needed to head out ASAP to my old pack to make the arrangements necessary to put down roots here.

Chapter Fourteen

Mulder

I don’t know what I was expecting when I went with Kenny to his pack. I guess, in a way, I thought it would be similar to Wolfe Enterprises—which I knew couldn’t be the case since they were one of a kind—but at the same time, it was really my only experience with wolves.

It was nothing like that.

They were more centered around pack life than anything external. And it was fine, and they were nice, but I was glad we made the decision we did, happy that he gave Zoe his power. She was great and in her element. It would be good for the pack and for us. Basically, it was a win-win.

It was painful to watch him be stripped of his pack—not because he didn’t want it to happen but because the ceremony itself was…pretty harsh. I couldn’t even fathom how horrible it would’ve been if he was being forced rogue when the process for an amicable departing was this intense. There were even a few times it took all I could do to hold back and not tell Kenny I’d changed my mind. But as we left pack lands, he pulled over, leaned back, let out a long sigh, and said, “I’m free. I’m finally free.”

And in that moment, I realized—we made the very best decision for our family. Sure, the road wasn’t as easy, but the destination? It was everything.

We came home and went straight to Aspen to plan Kenny’s ceremony. We had to wait until he was officially out of his birth pack to begin, or we’d have already done it. He was already technically connected to them in a way similar to what I had been when Madeline became pack, but there were formalities I didn’t fully understand and of course a huge-ass party to attend.

“And there’s one more thing we need to discuss.” Aspen slid a folder across the table to us. “Now that you are a growing family, it’s time to upgrade your living situation. Here are some listings I think would be suitable.”

I rolled my eyes. He really did act more like a father than an alpha some days.

He wasn’t wrong. We were going to need a bigger house. We could make do in the one I had, and I did love it. After Jason’s insurance finally came through, I’d had the kitchen redone to be my dream kitchen, but the house was really designed for a family of two or three, and that was no longer going to be us.

I rested my hands on my belly, knowing that our young was growing in there, getting ready to join us. It was best for us to have a home where we weren’t packed in like sardines.

“Hey, don’t blame me.” Alpha Aspen smirked. “You think I’m the one who put this list together?”

“Grampa Swale,” Kenny and I said at the same time. I loved the man, but he was a class-A meddler.

“Exactly.” Alpha Aspen tapped the folder. “So you can see, you really have no choice but to at least check them out.”

I turned to Kenny, who gave me a single nod. There were some things worth being stubborn about, but having someone help us make our lives better wasn’t one of them, even if we didn’t ask for said help.

Kenny opened the folder and flipped through the listings. Upon first glance, they looked solid.

“Why don’t you go grab Madeline from school and start taking a look? I have Joanna outside, and she’s ready to show you all the places.”

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