Page 78 of Talk About… Trouble

As Nash started walking, Devon leaned in.

“You’re thinking what I am, right?”

“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “Time to go ring shopping.”

Nash

Making two sets of bunkbeds in a week wasn’t an easy task. At least I had my brothers to help out. The moment I explained the situation, they didn’t hesitate to step up.

Even my mama and Avery came out to the packhouse to help Wren and Devon set up the kids’ rooms. Shepherd had four guest rooms on the main floor and we flipped them to fit the siblings.

How one pack popped out eleven kids was beyond me. Then again when you had a small army to raise them for you it wasn’t as hard to handle.

Assholes.

The rooms were freshly painted. They’d done one room a soft green, the other blue, a bunk in each to accommodate the little ones. Then the thirteen and sixteen year olds got their own rooms for now.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when they got here and I was starting to get nervous.

“What’s wrong, alpha?” Devon asked as he slid in front of me, wrapping his smaller frame around me. I relaxed into his hold, hugging him back and breathing him in.

“Just a bit nervous about this weekend. I have a feeling we’re going to see the state they’re in and want to adopt them. We have a baby on the way, I don’t know that I can handle six kids plus a baby when the time comes.”

“Whoa, whoa, there. Breathe, Nash,” he said gently, pulling back to look up at me with those gentle brown eyes of his. “Braxton already said he doesn’t want that. He loves them but he has a life here with us. We’re new and unbonded.”

“For now,” I grumbled, nipping at his neck. “Waiting for your heat is killing me.”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. He wanted to play that he was exasperated but we both knew that he loved the flirting. This omega soaked in attention.

“It will be here in one more month. Just wait until after the baby, then we’ll have dual heats. Good thing we have tons of family in Rockwood Valley,” he laughed.

I’d gotten a taste of that scenario with her heat spike and I knew it would be a soul changing experience. Then I realized what he said and smirked.

“What?” he huffed, crossing his arms like the brat he was.

“You said we have family. You’ve accepted them as yours,” I hummed, happy that he’d embraced it. “Told you my Mama would step in.”

“She’s great,” he agreed. “We never would have pulled this off without her. She even dropped off a ton of spa stuff for the girlies and a few of your old game systems for the boys. It’ll be an all hands on deck weekend. They’re going to pop by for a cookout on Saturday evening if we’re up for it.”

“That could work, depending on how they react. I bet they’ll be hungry for new experiences. It sounds like they keep those kids stuck in that house when they don’t go to school,” I said with a sigh. My heart was breaking more and more every time we talked about those poor kids.

“Groceries are here!” Wren’s voice rang out. Devon lit up at the sound of it and was off. I followed on his heels because I was just as gone for her as he was.

“She bought the whole damn store,” Shepherd snorted. “Good thing I put that extra deep freezer out in the barn last summer. It’ll come in handy.”

“Where’s Braxton?” I asked, glancing around for him.

“He went to go pick up a big van from his vet assistant. She had one big enough to fit them all and said we could borrow it on weekends we had the kiddos,” Wren explained. “And in my defense, I didn’t know what they liked.”

“Probably consistent food,” Shepherd said, his eyes violent storm clouds. It seemed we were all ready to go to war for these kids. He glanced up at me. “Rooms done?”

“Yes. We just got the last bunk bed done, we just need the bedding and any last touches,” I said, directing that part at Wren and Devon.

“Oh, we’ll go finish if you handle this,” she said, hurrying down the hall. She was just as anxious as we were about this. She’d been exhausted this week, so it was nice to see her perking up at least.

“There’s more in the car,” Shepherd said. “At least three more trips. I couldn’t tell her no on anything.”

“Softy,” I teased. His laughter said loud and clear that he knew I’d do the same exact thing.

---