Page 83 of Talk About… Trouble

He held up his hands, his eyes widening. “Don’t freak me out, Wren.”

“Keep it fun, keep it simple. You don’t have to go too elaborate for the family. Don’t psych yourself out,” Shepherd said. “There’ll be plenty of time for trial runs if you want to try out different things, even after you already have the business running and want to try something new.”

“Perfect,” Devon said. “I’m going to steal Nash, and we’re going to run into town.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve got the kids,” I said.

“The goat kids or the people kids?” Devon said, laughing at his own joke.

I groaned. “That was terrible, Devon. Get out of here.”

Still laughing at his own cheesy joke, he was rushing off back to the house. I just hoped he had enough time to put this together. It was still early in the day, but everybody would be here around four.

“Are you nervous about tonight?” Shepherd asked, looking down at me.

I didn’t answer right away, gauging where I was at with it. It didn’t take long to realize that I truly wasn’t worried.

“No. I’ve already met a bunch of people that are coming. Maybe not the pack mates, but I’ve met the omegas at the very least, and Nash’s mom, so I feel like it’s going to go pretty smoothly. Especially with her helping put all this together.”

“I’d like to know how I went from the Hermit of Rockwood Valley to hosting giant family barbecues,” Shepherd joked. “I’mgoing to have to get a new pit. Maybe one of those fancy outdoor griddles.”

“Maybe I’ll actually learn to cook if you get one of those,” I joked.

“Or you can just let your alphas cook for you.”

“That does sound kind of nice,” I agreed, pulling him down to kiss him roughly. Having these kids around meant that they were off limits, and all my omega wanted to do was roll in her nest with her mates.

“One week until we’re bonded,” he said, resting his forehead against mine. “One week, little dove, and you’re mine forever.”

“I already am, Shepherd.”

Wren

“You know, this is all my mates and I ever dreamed of,” Mama Whitaker said as she looked over the crowd. “To have a big family like this, lives full of grandkids and family and friends.”

Her eyes had grown misty, and Charlie squeezed her hand. Honestly, she couldn’t have picked a better man to keep by her side. He seemed to accept her grief as part of her, and here he was, celebrating with her, supporting her.

The fact that he was smiling just as happily out at the crowd told me that he fit right in.

“Braxton is so grateful that you’ve all accepted the kids as your own,” I said. “Hell, you accepted me as your own, and I appreciate that more than you could know.”

She gave me a watery smile. “Your parents are idiots, Wren. You’re an amazing person. No reputation is worth casting aside your family.”

“We don’t even bother to call those kinds of parents family,” Devon said. “Mine are just as bad. Fuck them all. We created our own family around here.”

“Exactly,” Mama Whitaker said. “Now, talk to me about this setup that you did, Devon.”

She sat forward, all business now.

His cheeks warmed, but he lit up as he started explaining. In the past week or so, while I was distracted, he’d been working on everything from having someone help him design a logo for Devon’s Dates, to buying an array of charcuterie boards.

He was combining the ideas, so almost every date idea came with charcuterie options, everything from sweet versions, to savory, to custom ones.

I meant to help more, but it was always his business baby, and he seemed happy with what he’d accomplished. Part of me was glad he’d kept going even when life got chaotic.

When Nash and Devon returned from the store earlier, he kicked everyone out of the kitchen, even Nash, as he went about preparing everything. When he came out with an entire buffet setup and several different charcuterie boards, I was in awe.

They were beautiful, and I had hoped that he snapped pictures of each and every one to post on PackVlog.

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