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“They’ve all got something cool in the bottom of them,” Rusty explained as Logan finally filled the mug.

“I look forward to getting acquainted with all of them.”

“Breakfast will be ready as soon as the bacon is crisp,” Rusty announced as he flipped the last of the mini pancakes onto a platter and carried them to the table, where butter and syrup already waited.

“Thanks. Do you need a hand with anything?”

“Naa, you go ahead and sit down,” Rusty said. “Roark will be up with the boys in a minute. I peeked in on Wren, and they were still sleeping like a log.”

“I’d hoped they’d sleep the whole ride, but the idiot who blinded the fuck out of me was laying on his horn, too, instead of getting back on his side of the road. More than half his damn truck was in my lane. That was the second time Wren woke up. The first was when they woke to kill the last of the steak sandwiches.”

“They’ve got a healthy appetite, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Rusty said. “There’s always plenty of food around here. Baz and Roark work late three nights a week, on conference calls with the wolves out at the borderlands, so every Friday Charlie stops off at the Smokehouse Bar. Our buddy Atlas owns it and operates the smoker. Melt in your mouth meat every single time, and Charlie gets all the fixings and sides to go with it too. Mondays are insane around here, so I stop at the community kitchen on the way home to pick up supper for everyone, since Roark, Baz, and Charlie all have to attend the council meeting.”

“And dinner is communal every night?” Logan asked. “Even in nasty weather?”

“Yup. You can’t tell from looking at the yard, with the way everything grew back, but when we had our house built, Charlie and the guys decided that it was time to expand their root cellar. We hadn’t even thought about a root cellar or pantry until they mentioned it, so we added that to the plans, which was easy, since the foundation hadn’t been poured yet. There is a tunnel connecting the houses through the root cellar. That way, when the weather is bad, we don’t have to break our routine, and the kids stay warm and dry.”

“Nice.”

“With the storm they’re predicting, it’s likely Charlie, Kale, and Baz will need to use it tonight when they come for supper. I’ll show you the meal rotations, we always have breakfast at our own houses and start the day from there. I pulled a couple of geese out to roast and stuff for tonight, and we’ve got a giant pile of nugs and pasta salad, along with a couple steaks, for lunch this afternoon.

“Weren’t there three?” Roark asked as he came up the stairs with Acer and Bowie in his arms. They were snuggled against his chest, the tops of their heads touching beneath his chin as he cuddled them. Rusty immediately reached for Acer so he could tuck him into his highchair when Logan beat him to it.

“Good morning, bright eyes,” Logan cooed as Roark passed Acer over.

Acer babbled and waved his tiny fists around, making a lot of big noises that usually meant he was protesting the fact that his belly wasn’t full yet.

“Alright, little wolf, let’s get you settled so you can eat your breakfast,” Logan declared, rubbing noses with him before placing him in his seat and buckling the restraints. Despite Wren being long past the age of needing a highchair, Logan hadn’t lost a step when it came to fastening a pup into one.

“There were three,” Rusty explained, “but I’m afraid one of them, much like the deviled eggs, didn’t survive. Wren gave me puppy eyes while I was putting the containers in the fridge, and we killed them together along with the third steak.”

Roark snorted, while Logan broke into laughter.

“Oh, they’ve got you wrapped around their paw already, and that’s perfectly okay. I wondered what they’d gotten into when I noticed a smudge of something on the corner of their lips when I went to tuck them in last night. When I asked about it, they just burped and said it was completely authorized.”

“Because it was,” Rusty said. “I was eying those eggs too. There were only six, why put them in the fridge? When Wren gave me that look, I decided to cut up a steak and enjoy a late-night snack with my new pup.”

“Expect to enjoy plenty of them in the future, they are a bottomless pit these days, but they’re growing, too. I was shocked to see they needed new sizes in everything yesterday, even sweaters, and I’d thought I’d bought the last two big enough.”

“Dude,” Roark said. “We had no idea pups grew as fast as they do. Mama G and her family brought a bunch of baby clothes over in several different sizes, which has been a huge help, since as fast as they grow into things, they grow out of them. We were not prepared for pups when they were handed to us.”

“Didn’t they tell you that you’d been approved to adopt?” Logan asked.

“Approved, yes, but when the pups were surrendered at the clinic, there were eleven of them, and some weren’t doing as well as others. Some had been born super tiny and were going to need round-the-clock care at the clinic, which meant that they needed to hurry and find placements for the healthy pups so they could start bonding. We were living in apartments over the garage at the time, while we looked for a house that appealed to us, when Mama G, Doc Graham, and Brooks showed up at the door with the pups and explained what was going on. They did the same with Baz, Kale, and Charlie too. No way were we turning down the opportunity to adopt them, so we stayed with Baz and his mates while our house was being built. Charlie worked with us to draw up the plans and was part of the crew that built it.”

“So, none of you were mates before the pups?” Logan asked. “Being asked to care for them was what brought about your bondmarks?”

“Not exactly,” Roark said as Rusty brought over plates for the pups with mashed bananas and their pancakes diced up into tiny pieces they’d easily be able to eat.

He’d added ground sausage bits to their plates too and sat beside Roark as they settled in to feed them.

“Charlie and Baz got their bondmarks over twenty years ago,” Rusty explained. “But they had a falling out, and then the Devils went on the road to do recon and negotiation. They didn’t reconcile until Kale came into their lives last year. It’s been a hard-fought battle for them to put the past behind them and move forward, but Kale’s been a good motivator, and of course, their girls provide plenty of reasons to make things right.”

“Kale didn’t come here under the best circumstances,” Roark explained. “I won’t tell you all of it since it isn’t my story to tell, but he was hurt, he’d been betrayed, and he wasn’t willing to accept one shred less than everything he desired from his mates once he had the chance to recover and spend time with them. His pack hadn’t appreciated his willingness to teach every wolf, not just the ones who could pay for their vouchers for school, among other things. He was very vocal about unequal treatment of pups within the school system, and it made him a target. He was nervous about getting involved in the education system here, but once he met Octavius, the school superintendent, and had the chance to walk through the building and see how different things were, he jumped at the chance to get back in the classroom.”

“From the way he described things last night, it seems like a truly special place. I’m excited to see it as well. Having to move around as much as we have means Wren’s fallen behind in school. I wasn’t always available to help with homework, and the curriculum wasn’t always the same. Sometimes they’d be covering things Wren had already learned, and other times they’d be miles ahead, and Wren would struggle because they were having to learn a bunch of key steps all at once instead of in smaller bits.”

“The first thing you should know is that the school here has a no homework policy,” Rusty explained as he wiped spit from Bowie’s cheek and spooned in another bite of bananas. “They believe classwork is for during school hours and that when pups are at home, they shouldn’t have assignments taking away from the time they get to spend with their families.”