Page 45 of The Wolf Guard's Mate

Hunter finally shrugged Clay’s arm off again and captured my hand, pulling me toward the tray of food that Enzo had apparently supplied. It was charcuterie, and there was a cellophane-wrapped gift basket set up behind it.

“What’s the gift basket for, and why does it have acongrats on your babytag? They know you didn’t accidentally knock me up too, right?” I whispered to Hunter.

“They know. Enzo always does this shit,” Hunter murmured back. “He thinks everyone likes gift baskets.”

“Everyonedoeslike gift baskets,” Enzo called from the couch.

“I don’t know why this is the one thing you still refuse to believe me about,” Aspen remarked. “I keep telling you they’re not a thing anymore.”

“What’s not to like? It’s full of snacks.” Enzo gestured to the basket.

“You guys rarely even eat prepackaged snacks.” Aspen pointed out.

He dragged her onto his lap. “Fine, Princess. You win. I’ll stop buying gift baskets.”

“Liar,” she teased, and he barked out a laugh as he pulled her closer.

“Ours still had the ‘congrats on your baby’ shit too,” Nova said with a grin. “Clay keeps trying to convince me that it would be fun to have a baby.”

“It would be,” he tossed out, his expression matching hers as he loaded his plate with charcuterie.

“In ten years, sure.” Nova ducked under his arm, and he pulled her close, dropping a kiss to her forehead. “We literally have forever.”

“Ten years will go by fast,” Clay agreed, and they headed over to the couch.

“How do you feel about babies?” I asked Hunter, eyeing him closely.

There were so many things we hadn’t talked about yet.

“Ten years sounds too soon,” he admitted.

I laughed, and he gave me a small grin.

“Did Hunter justsmile?” one of the girls whispered across the room.

“Maybe we’ll give it eleven,” I said with a wink.

He chuckled. “It’s a plan.”

There wasn’t much space left on the couch when we made it over there, but when Hunter pulled me down on his lap, there was plenty of room.

I could enjoy being a Savage if it came with charcuterie and teasing.

twelve

HUNTER—SIX MONTHS LATER

“I still don’t like this,”I warned Olive, maintaining a death grip on her hand as she dragged me toward the edge of the waterfall. It was small for a waterfall, barely a trickle, but the lake below was extremely large and very, very deep.

I was confident of that, because rather than paying someone to measure it, Olive had convinced me to scuba dive there with her a few days earlier.

Of course, that had required scuba safety courses, which she was far more excited about than I had ever been.

Despite my uncertainty, seeing that grin on her face and the light in her eyes made my small amount of discomfort very much worth it.

“You’re going to be the one pulling me back up here to do it again after the first time,” she teased me.

I lifted an eyebrow at her, and she grinned.

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