I had never felt so awkward around humans before in my life. Maria and Liya were the female versions of Milo. They seemed to be having a great time putting together the rest of the parfait that Milo had made. I moved to the living room and sat down. Milo was happy, though. I hoped that with his family being here he would be able to relax a little. The years of being slave had been beaten into him and it was expected that it would take some time for him to overcome it.
My ears stood up straight when I saw the baby pamphlets that Axil had given me. I swallowed hard. Was Milo thinking of pups? How the hell did they even get out here? I left them in my office.
"Collin?" said a soft voice.
I cleared my throat. "Um... did you go in my office?"
The room was silent. The girls stood frozen.
"I wanted to..." Milo rubbed his arm. "Listening to Jed talk about pups"—he motioned to them—"I was curious. I was going to use your computer but I didn't know the password. The papers were sitting there so I looked through them."
I held out my hand to him. "Come here."
Milo shuffled over.
Pulling him into my lap, I kissed his cheek. "You can go anywhere in this house. It's your home too. I was more shocked to see these them sitting out here than anything else."
He smiled and leaned against me. "Still, it's your office. I should have asked."
"You can go in there anytime you want. I'll give you the password. That's a personal computer so you don't need to worry about messing anything up. I don't have any work document on there." I picked up one of the pamphlets. "Do you want to talk about this later?"
The silver werewolf nodded.
Maria moved closer. "Pups?"
Milo shot up and went to his mother. "The beta gave it to Collin. We're thinking about it but we haven't done anything."
"But at some point, you might have a baby. Oh, Milo." She held out her arms.
"Mom, don't make it weird." Milo covered his face as his mother hugged the silver werewolf.
"I have taken care of my share of baby werewolves. That what I did as a teenager before I was sold. I met your father on the farm, though. So it was worth the change."
Milo let out a sigh. "We're thinking about it. Nothing is official yet."
I smiled at the pair. "I'm ready when you are. My biggest worry was that having a pup would be too stressful on you but with your mom's help, I think you'll do great."
Maria simply grinned at her son. "I'd love to help. Those baby werewolves were so adorable but this one will be my grandbaby."
He shrugged. "We're still talking about it but we're going to have kids." Milo glanced at me.
I held up the pamphlets. "We can go through these if you want."
Maria moved closer. "May I?"
I handed them to her. She sat on the other couch and started going through them. My mate sunk down in the seat next to me while Liya finished off another parfait next to her mother.
"Did you read them?" I whispered.
"I tried to. I'm not great at reading."
"I could get you set up with some online lessons. The pack has an adult reading program for werewolf like you who grew up human."
He nodded. "That would be nice."
Putting my arm around his shoulders, I kissed the side of his head. "Whenever you want to start the process, let me know."
Milo took in a deep breath. "I will."
***
(Milo)
"Jedrek, this is my mom, Maria and my little sister, Liya." I placed my sister in front of me. "They're going to be staying with me until Collin get their home ready."
He dropped to one knee. "So what do you think about all these werewolves?"
Liya shrugged as she sucked on her fingers. "Are you one too?"
Jedrek smiled. "I was born human." He stood. "It's nice to meet both of you. I was wondering why Axil dragged me out of bed this morning," he laughed. "It easier for me to come up here than you guys having to deal with a cranky beta."
Liya's mouth fell open. "Your mate is the beta?"
Jed nodded. "He's not as tough as you think." He winked at her. "Is it alright if I use your TV?"
"Go for it." I motioned to the screen mounted on the wall. "The remote is on the coffee table."
"Thank you." He past by us to go sit on the couch.
My mom grabbed my arm and leaned into my ear. "He really is the beta's mate?"
I nodded. "I told you. Collin works with the beta. He's in a good place in the pack."
"That makes me feel better. If Collin is that highly ranked, he should be able to get your father and Carter."
"He's working on." I gave my mother's hand a squeeze. "How about some breakfast?" I glanced down at Liya.
"What kind?"
"Eggs and some sausage," I replied.
"Can we have scrambled?"
"Sure." I smoothed out her hair.
"Yes!" She raced off to the kitchen.
My mom looped arms with me. "I'm glad she so young. She won't have many memories of the farm. Who knows, maybe someone will want her as a mate, too."
"That's a long ways off," I laughed. "But you never know."
Liya and our mom sat at the table as I took out the ingredients. "Jed."
"Yeah?" He didn't move the couch. He hadn't wasted any time making himself at home.
"Do you want some eggs? I'm scrambling them with some sausage." I crumbled up the sausage in one pan and started cracking eggs in another.
"Sure." Jed slowly lifted himself up off the couch and wandered over. "Do you want some help?"
I smiled and grabbed the loaf of bread. "Do you know how to make toast?"
"I do!" Liya raised her hand and hurried over. "I can make toast."
Jedrek picked her up and set her down on the counter. "Here you go." He took out four pieces and handed them to Liya.
She put them in the toaster and pushed the handle down.
My mom retrieved the butter from the fridge and set it by the pair. "Where are the plates, Milo?"
"The big cabinet." I motioned to it.
She started to set the table while Jed and Liya saw to the toast.
"So how was yesterday?" I asked.
Jed shrugged. "We're having a boy."
"Congratulations," said my mother. "I bet your mate is happy."
"Thrilled." Jed took in a deep breath. "The alpha was excited when we told him that everything was going okay. The potential beta should be here before we know it."
"That's exciting." I stirred the eggs. "How are you doing?"
"A bit overwhelmed," he breathed. "I got to hear his heartbeat." Laughing, he shook his head. "It so weird that I'm going to be a parent."
"Milo and Collin are thinking about starting a family too," said my mother.
My mouth fell open. "Mom," I said under my breath. "You can't tell people that."
"I know, I know. Higher ups have to keep things a secret, but Jedrek is the beta's mate. He told you about their baby. I don't think it'll hurt to let him know you're thinking about having one yourself."
"Still." I sucked in my cheek.
"Are you really?" asked Jedrek, buttering the toast that had popped up.
I nodded. "We've talked about it."
Jedrek cleared his throat. "You probably know more about raising a child than I do." He flashed me a smile. "You'll be a great dad."
"Thanks," I whispered. "These are done." Grabbed in the handle, I moved the eggs to the side and stirred around the meat.
"What does your werewolf look like?" asked Liya. "Milo is a fluffy silver ball," she laughed.
"Mine is red. My mate says it because I have a bad attitude."
Liya grinned. "I think you're nice."
"Do you want to see?"
She nodded.
"Alright." He took his shirt over his head. "Hold this for me."
Liya took his shirt and gasped when red werewolf appeared in front of her. Jedrek's pants were cutting into his sides.
"Wow," she breathed.
"Am I scary?"
"No." She stared at him. "You're so cool looking." She held Jed's muzzle in her hands and patted his face.
"I have some white on me." He showed her his hand.
"What does that mean?" She examined his hand.
"It keeps me from being considered a dominant, or my mate just doesn't want me to have that kind of rank."
Liya sighed. "That doesn't seem fair."
"Werewolves aren't known for being fair." He bumped her face with his nose.
"Ew!" She giggled and clasped the spot. "Your nose is all wet."
"It's supposed to be." Jedrek grinned.
I jumped the sausage in with the eggs and mixed everything together. "This is done."
Jedrek took his shirt back and helped Liya down. She raced over to the table while Jedrek turned back to human. I carried the pan to the table and started to dish up the eggs. Jed brought the toast. Sitting down, we all took a couple of pieces and started eating.
"Is it alright if we have the juice in the fridge?" asked my mom.
I nodded. "Yeah."
She went to go get it.
"These are good," said Jedrek. "Did you work in a kitchen?"
I shook my head. "I helped my mom a bit. I've been practicing on Collin, though. He's a good sport about it since I've had a few failures."
With a sigh, Jedrek propped up his head against his fist. "You caught yourself the one decent werewolf in the whole pack."
I laughed. "Axil isn't that bad."
"You don't live with him."
"Well, from what I see, he's a man that is struggling to get you to understand how much he loves you. There's a reason you have red fur."
Jedrek scoffed. "You're getting way too sentimental on me. The man is a werewolf. He saw what he wanted and he took it." He rubbed his forehead and frowned. "He's an okay guy." He piled his eggs onto a piece of toast. "Hopefully, one day we'll figure out each other."