Page 53 of Dante
“Okay.” Banner took a step and looked over at me, and I started walking again. It wasn’t as if it was a far walk. Damien lived on the end, Warwick lived beside him, and then there was our place. It was literally two doors down.
I scented several others as we walked up to the door, and when we stepped up onto the one step for the alcove, I could have sworn that I scented Todd. That was odd. Why would I smell Banner’s friend? He wasn’t part of the pack.
I raised my hand to knock, but the door was suddenly pulled open. There was Ledger with a huge smile on his face.
“Hey! You are the last ones to arrive,” he said. “Come on in.” Ledger stood to the side, and after Banner entered, I followed closely behind.
“Thanks for inviting us,” Banner said. He looked over at Ledger, and I knew he scented it at the same time I did. Or them. Banner’s brow furrowed.“Do you think Todd and Briggs were here recently?”
I smiled at Banner and helped him out of his coat.“It’s possible. Briggs works with us, and they’ve lived here a bit longer than we have.”
I raised an eyebrow at Ledger. I had a feeling this wasn’t just a meet-the-pack thing. The jaguar shifter managed to look apologetic.
“So Atticus has a big meal planned. He wanted to officially welcome you into the pack,” Ledger said.
I nodded slowly. I had heard that, and since Ledger didn’t scent of deceit, I had to believe that much was true and was going to happen. We followed Ledger into the house after hanging Banner’s coat up on a peg. There were several other coats hanging there, and I assumed that Damien didn’t wear many, but I did see his leather jacket. But there were a lot. Many more than there were pack members.
I had just slid my arm around Banner when we stepped into the back room. It was decorated with blue streamers and balloons everywhere, and the reason we scented Todd and Briggs became apparent when the couple appeared.
“Surprise,” everyone shouted.
Banner was absolutely surprised, and it not only showed on his face, but I could feel it through our bond. He looked up at me, and I quickly pulled my mate into my arms when he started crying. The mood of the others became awkward, but it was Todd who saved the day.
“Hey, don’t worry, everyone,” Todd said. “I’m sure he’s not upset that we’re having a surprise baby shower for him. He’s emotional.” Todd quickly crossed to us and wrapped his arms around his friend and, in turn, me as well. Cecil arrived shortly after, and I took a step away and let the omegas hug my mate.
Banner quickly wiped his face.
“Man, don’t worry about it,” Todd said. “I had a complete meltdown over a shirt. Seriously. A shirt and which one I should wear. Full-out snot everywhere, sitting on the floor of the closet. It was…not pretty.”
Banner laughed while still crying.
“Oh, I have one too. I cried over cereal,” Cecil said as he came around to the side of Banner so he could see him. “I wanted a certain one that of course I had eaten all of it, and Warwick wasat work. I was craving it so bad, and it was the only cereal I liked at that time. I did not have a good morning that morning.”
I held out several tissues to Banner, who took them and mouthed that he loved me. I winked at my mate. He’d not been overly emotional, but I knew that there were certain things that would trigger his emotions, and it was obvious that this act of kindness from my pack and Briggs and Todd had done so.
Banner, Todd, and Cecil were talking quietly for a moment before Banner nodded. Todd gave him another hug, then Cecil, and then Banner walked over to me. I opened my arms for my mate, and he walked directly into the embrace.
“Okay, it’s my fault,” Atticus said. “I should have let the two of you know that we wanted to have a baby shower for you. That and I really did wish to welcome Banner into the pack.”
Banner pulled from my arms enough to look at our pack’s alpha. “Thank you, Atticus. I really appreciate everything. I’m not upset, I swear,” he said. “It was just a sudden overwhelming burst of emotions.” Banner wiped his eyes and then his nose again.
“Well, since the two of you are the guests of honor, you get to sit on the throne that is in front of the fireplace and then open your presents.”
I looked down at Banner. “Throne?” Banner asked quietly. There was a bit of laughter, and when I looked over that direction, I saw why. Sure enough, there in front of the fireplace was a makeshift throne. It looked like a baby crib, where the one side of it had been removed so it could be used as a chair of sorts? Maybe. Banner saw it and started laughing because the “throne” was decorated with lots of diapers, wipes, and blankets.
“That’s too cute,” Banner said as he went over to the “throne.” He touched a blanket and started laughing. He tugged on it and then held it up. “Are these little monsters?”
“They are,” Todd said. “Aren’t they adorable? All we knew was you wanted bright colors, and they were bright and colorful.”
Banner brought the blanket over to me, a look on his face that I absolutely knew. He had just then decided that our nursery should be little monsters. I didn’t care one way or another. It was currently simple and a bunch of different colors.
“Dante…”
I smiled at my mate. “We can wait and see how things go here, and then we’ll take care of things,” I told him. Banner smiled at me, and when he was walking back over to our spot, I quickly gave Atticus a look of desperation. He chuckled before he nodded. I didn’t know if that meant that they had collectively decided to go with little monsters or if he had just used magic to change everything to little monsters. Either way, I knew that when we got home, I’d be doing some magic to change our nursery. Well, at least incorporating some sort of monster theme to it.
I joined Banner, curious if the seat would actually hold both of us, but it was Warwick who reassured me. “It’ll hold you,” he said. “I was sitting on it with Augustus earlier. It’s completely solid.”
That was reassuring.
