Felix

I was supposed to be running patrol for another hour, but Elspeth let her trainees go early and took over for me out of the goodness of her heart.

Or maybe it was because she knew it was the only way I would stop whining about how badly I wanted to go see Everett working in the daycare.

Either way, I was grateful. The Neruda pack had been here for three weeks now and this was the first time I was able to get away for long enough to visit Everett at work. It was the price I paid for not working the night shift and for aligning my time off with his as much as possible.

I changed back into a human and scrambled into my clothes, then jogged to the car. There wouldn't be much time left on Everett's shift when I arrived, but that was okay. I would take what I could get.

When I arrived at the daycare, I crept around the building, careful to stay downwind of the entrance. The guards outside smirked at me and looked amused. They were full-time members of the defense team and couldn't help knowing that Everett was my mate and that he was inside. It didn't take much brainpower to connect the dots.

Mila held the door open for me and I ducked into the room, immediately looking around for my mate. I caught Anya's eye and she smiled brightly at me, pointing toward a back room. I mouthed thank you and quickly wove my way through the sea of children and daycare workers, knowing I was working on borrowed time. Everett would smell me any moment and my chance to catch him off-guard would disappear.

One door in the back was mostly shut and I could hear Everett's voice coming from behind it. "We never agreed to this!" he was saying.

I listened hard for a response – who was he talking to? – but I heard no one else.

Everett spoke again. "Look, I'm helping out here because I want to and because you guys need it. I never asked to be paid, and certainly not this amount of money. Keep it. Consider it a donation."

I raised my brows. He had to be talking to Molly, who absolutely would not let a person work for three weeks without paying him, especially not my mate.

I nudged the door open and froze. Everett was on the phone, just as I expected, but he wasn't alone. There was a toddler resting on his hip, and Everett jiggled him lightly as he paced the room. The toddler was gripping Felix's shirt and had his head leaning against his chest. When the boy caught sight of me, he froze, wide-eyed.

Everett's nostrils flared and he spun to see me. "Talk some sense into Molly. She's your friend."

I held my hands up, not taking the phone he offered. "No one can talk sense into Molly," I said loudly enough for her to hear me. "I've been trying all my life and I've gotten nowhere."

Everett rolled his eyes and put the phone back up to his ear. "We can talk about this later. I should see what Felix wants." He paused, then said, "Will do. Bye."

"So, you have something against money?" I asked.

Everett rolled his eyes. "I don't want to take advantage of the pack, and I really don't need it. Also, Molly says hi."

I snorted. "They don't want to take advantage of you, either. This is a good thing." I stepped closer and didn't miss the way the child's grip on Everett tightened or the way he buried his face against Everett in an attempt to hide.

"This is Griffin?" I asked softly. Whenever Everett talked about work, Griffin came up.

"Yes." He looked down at Griffin and put on a bright smile. "Griffin, I want you to meet my friend. This is Felix."

I snorted at being called his friend, but I realized the boy was too young to understand what a mate is. I eased a little closer, but didn't get within reaching distance. I had learned enough about Griffin from Everett to know better than that. "Hi, Griffin. It's nice to meet you." I tried to mimic Everett's easy smile and hoped it didn't come out demented.

Griffin lifted his head from Everett and peeked at me. "Hi," he said.

Everett beamed proudly at the kid like he had just done something incredible. "Do you think you could let Felix hold you for a minute?" he asked, shocking me. Why did Everett want me to hold him? I didn't know how to hold a kid. He could have at least prepared me first.

Griffin shook his head. Everett said, "Please, Griffin? Just for a minute, and then you can come back to me."

I knew that Everett and Anya were still the only people who were able to hold Griffin without the kid freaking out. What game was Everett playing here?

"I'll be right here the whole time," Everett said to the boy.

"'Kay," Griffin finally said, and he reached out toward me.

I didn't have much of a choice but to take him from Everett. I set Griffin on my hip like Everett had done. Griffin didn't latch onto me the same way, but he didn't fuss either.

Everett's eyes were bright with happiness. Was that... was he about to cry?

"What's going on?" I asked him in a soft tone. I didn't know if loud voices could set Griffin off, but I wasn't willing to risk it.

Everett shook his head. "I need to talk to you," he said. "How long can you stay?"

"I'm yours for the rest of the night."

Everett checked the time on his phone and said, "I'll explain in a bit, after Mom takes Griffin. Why don't you tell me about your day?"

So I told Everett about my patrol, during which absolutely nothing noteworthy happened except that I had witnessed a heated argument between a couple of Neruda members. Tensions were running higher and higher as the living conditions of an RV camp started wearing on people. I understood completely. If I had to leave my home indefinitely and camp out with a bunch of people with very little privacy, I would be cranky, too.

Partway through my story, Everett reached out for Griffin, who leaned forward as far as he could to meet him. Griffin latched onto him like a monkey and Everett patted the boy's back mindlessly until I was done speaking.

"Let me go see if my mom can take Griffin. I want to talk to you."

I frowned. Everett looked nervous in a way I hadn't seen before. Everything about him was on edge. "Okay. I'll be here."

Everett returned a minute later without Griffin. We were in the changing room, so there weren't any chairs. He leaned against a wall and looked at me before his eyes darted away. He was seriously freaking out, I realized. He was chewing his lip, his hands were twisted together, and his posture was so stiff I was getting sore just looking at him.

I stepped forward and took Everett's hands in mine, forcing them to untwist. "Hey, it's okay. You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Whatever it is, we'll work it out."

Everett's eyes watered and he looked down. "I know we haven't known each other very long," he said. I froze as terror struck me. Was this about our relationship? Was he not happy? Everett noticed I was starting to get anxious and he kissed me softly, comfortingly. "This isn't anything bad. Just hear me out, okay?"

I nodded mutely and waited for him to continue, my nerves only partially soothed. Everett was still panicking inside, so I was still panicking.

He looked at me and looked away again, repeating this a few times until I said, "Just tell me already."

"I want us to adopt Griffin," Everett said. He snapped his mouth shut and his eyes went wide, like he couldn't believe he had said it out loud. I was grateful he didn't say more, since I was still trying to process this. He wanted us to adopt a child together?

"I know it's really early," Everett said in a rush once he recovered. "We're still figuring out how our lives fit together and we haven't really gotten to see what normal looks like yet... but I need this. I need to at least talk it out with you."

"You're serious," I said. It was obvious that he was, but I was still reeling. My brain was on hiatus, so my mouth wasn't getting any intelligent direction.

"I am. He needs us, Felix. And you saw how he just let you hold him – he'll learn to trust you. No one in his pack wants him, and he's already got serious abandonment issues, I think. I don't think I can watch them take him away when all this is over without at least trying to keep him with me. With us."

A part of me wondered how I hadn't seen this coming. Everett talked about Griffin every day. I never heard anything about the other kids, just Griffin. He was obviously deeply attached to the boy, and the few minutes I had spent with the two of them and convinced me that Griffin was attached to Everett, too.

But this was so early.

We were still getting to know each other. The closest we had come to talking about having kids together was when I asked Everett if he liked children. Hell, I always thought that when I had a child, my mate and I would be madly in love. I knew I loved Everett, but I hadn't even told him yet. I had been waiting until I could take him out on a really nice date, after this mess with the Neruda pack was over and we reached some level of normality. Not to mention, I had no idea how Everett actually felt about me. He cared – of course he cared – but how deeply?

"Just think about it," Everett said with desperate eyes.

I sat down on the floor and tried to restart my brain. "If I say no, you'll resent me," I said. I was trapped.

Everett sat in front of me and cupped my face in careful hands. "No, Felix. I couldn't resent you. I know this is really early in our relationship and that it would have been better to wait... I just... I can't."

"What if I say no, Everett?" I could see how my words hurt him, but I needed to know.

"Then we won't adopt him. He'll go back to the Neruda pack and I'll stay here with you. We'll keep getting to know each other and have the kid talk later, when we're both ready."

That was a good answer, but did he mean it? Of course Everett wouldn't lie to me, especially about this, but could he really follow through? Then another thought struck, one that burned a little: I didn't know if Everett loved me yet, but he definitely loved Griffin.

What kind of mate would I be to take this away from him? Especially since I wanted kids too. I never saw it going down like this, but when had our relationship ever followed the expected path?

"Are you sure they would let us adopt him, Everett?"

Everett's cheeks heated. "Yeah. One of the Neruda wolves, Penny, is one of the pack's social workers. She's the one who asked me to consider applying. We would be the only people to ever request an adoption of him, and I know we would pass the background check. I would have had this talk with you even if she hadn't come to me, but at least now I know we would be accepted. She makes the final call on adoptions."

I tried to shove back my emotions as I processed his words. This was real. If I said yes, we would be adopting Griffin. Everett and I wouldn't be alone anymore. I couldn't jump him whenever I wanted in our home because there would be a child there who took priority. I wouldn't be a priority to Everett, not like I was now. He would put a lot of his time and energy into the child, and I would need to do the same. We would have to convert the guest room into a toddler's bedroom. Our lives would change overnight.

I looked at my mate, who watched me with fearful eyes. How could I deny him this? It was a little early, but I had always wanted a big family. Was it really so bad to start now?

I thought about whether another opportunity like this would fall into our laps. I knew of another gay couple that ended up adopting a human after moving to an extremely open-minded pack because they had such a hard time finding a werewolf to adopt.

There were too many reasons to say yes and only one reason to say no: I wanted more one-on-one time with Everett.

"I'm not saying no right now," I said, needing to say something to soothe Everett even just a little. "Could you give me a couple of minutes? Wait right here and just give me two minutes?"

He didn't look comforted at all, but he nodded. "I'll be here."

I hurried out and shut the door behind me. Anya was in a corner playing blocks with a couple of children, Griffin tucked on her lap as he carefully added a block to the stack.

I sat down with her and leaned in close. In a whisper so quiet no one but her would hear me in this noisy room, I said, "Would you consider transferring to Lakota? It looks like Everett and I might need a babysitter a couple nights a week, and I can't think of anyone better."

She looked up at me with shocked eyes, her mouth agape. Then her eyes looked down at Griffin and widened further. "Him?" she whispered.

I nodded slowly. "It's not for sure. We're talking about it."

Anya shut her mouth and looked down at the boy. I studied him too, trying to fit the word son to him. He could be my son. I would be his father. Holy hell, that was weird.

Anya rested a hand on mine and looked me dead in the eyes. "Anything you need," she promised. "I've been wanting to transfer, anyway. I don't want to crowd you two, but I don't want to be away from my only family."

"Thank you, Anya. You wouldn't be crowding us."

She blinked a few times. "I won't be offended if you don't want to, but... if you want, you could call me Mom."

Tears filled my eyes, too. "Thanks, Mom," I said. I had worried that it would feel like a betrayal to my own mother, but it didn't. I didn't have to replace my mother to bring Anya into my life.

Anya's hand squeezed mine. "You're welcome, dear."

I stood up and wiped at my eyes, then hurried back to Everett, who was curled in on himself. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his head was tucked down. He looked up when I entered and I was relieved to see he wasn't crying.

I reached out and pulled Everett to his feet. "I have a condition," I said, smiling a little.

He frowned and I could see the exact moment my words registered because a wide smile lit his face. "What?" he demanded.

I couldn't help smiling, too. I could probably ask for anything right now and get it. It was a fun feeling to have. "I want a date night at least once per week. Your mom can babysit and we can have some alone time."

Everett threw himself against me. "You mean it? Really?"

"Do you agree to my terms?" I asked.

"Yes!" He pulled back and his shimmering eyes searched my face. "Are you sure? There's no going back on this. Once we submit the application, this is forever."

I kissed him softly, affectionately. "I'm sure, Everett. I can't say no to you on this, and I've always wanted to be a father."

He hugged me again, longer and even tighter than before. "Thank you," he said.

"No need to thank me. Everett, I love you. I would do anything to make you happy, and I want this too."

He pulled back and looked up at me again. "I love you too, Felix." He laughed a little and said, "I really do. You're so different from what I thought my mate would be like-"

"Because I'm a man?" I cut in, smirking.

Everett snorted. "Well, there's that. But also, you're a fighter. You're bigger and stronger than me, and you're not a computer nerd or something like that."

I wrinkled my nose. "I'm okay with you being the intellectual in our relationship."

"It's not that you aren't smart," he assured me. "I know you are."

I laughed. "You're trying to climb out of a hole you never dug. I'm fine, Everett. I understand. You're a lot like what I wanted for myself, but my imagination wasn't good enough to really capture you. You're so much more."

Everett kissed me, and the kiss was deep right from the start. His hands quickly slipped under the hem of my shirt to knead the muscles in my back. I sucked his lip into my mouth, making him laugh. "We're in the daycare's changing room," I said. "Let's save this for later."

"Okay," he agreed. "I really love you, though."

"Love you too. Now, let's get out of here."

Everett and I went back out to the main room of the daycare. He said, "I'm going to go talk with Penny. Last chance to back out."

"I'm not backing out. Now go get us a son," I said, barely resisting the urge to kiss him. It didn't really seem appropriate out here.

Everett beamed and made his way to a woman with dark skin and a long, sleek ponytail. I watched as her face lit up with excitement and she wrapped Everett in a hug.

"You're doing it?" Anya asked as I took a seat near her.

"Yeah. We're adopting him." I looked down at Griffin, who was fussing in Anya's arms.

"Errit," he said.

Anya laughed. "Everett will come over soon. He has to talk to Penny for a minute. Why don't you play with Felix?"

Griffin looked at me, then back at Everett. His arms reached toward my mate and I couldn't help laughing. "Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me," I said. "Everett's got a huge head start here."

"Just give it time," Anya advised. "Once he sees that he can trust you, he'll come around."

I switched between watching Everett and watching Griffin. Griffin kept glancing at me, too. Finally, he stood up from Anya's lap and walked toward me. "Play blocks?" he asked.

"I'd love to. Want to see how high we can stack them?"