I was surprised when I arrived at work and glanced at my phone to find two texts from Everett. The first said "My mom's coming today to visit indefinitely (sorry for the lack of notice)," which made me snort. I was excited to meet his mother, though the knowledge that it would be tonight had nerves skittering through me. The fact that she would be here indefinitely... well, that was also concerning, but I trusted Everett. Surely, he had a reason to invite his mother to stay with him and his newly-bonded mate without setting an expiration date. I couldn't imagine what that reason was, but I had faith it existed.

The second text said, "I'll be working in the daycare. Link or text if you need me."

It was impossible for me to picture Everett working in a daycare and I hoped I found the time to stop by and see him in action at some point today. He was always so upright and proper and when the number of people around us grew, he got quieter. How would he handle himself in a loud, energetic environment full of people?

Also, what would he look like with a child in his arms?

It was too soon to think about acquiring children with Everett, of course, but the image of him holding a baby in his arms held an undeniable appeal. I wanted that for our future. Hopefully Everett did, too. It was just another thing we hadn't had a chance to talk about yet.

Unfortunately, my day was too busy to make even a brief stop at the daycare, which was on the other side of our territory. Spencer stationed me and Elspeth, along with another team of wolves, to patrol the area of the RV encampment where the refugees would be staying. It was an honor to be stationed there, since this was the place most likely to either be the target or source of an attack.

Since I had spent the day running around the woods, having stopped only to eat a quick sandwich and getting all of my water from a nearby stream, I was filthy when I approached my cabin in the evening. Any hope I had of being able to clean up before meeting Everett's mother vanished when I saw an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway. I walked near enough to it that I could catch her scent off of it and was able to confirm that the owner of the car was definitely related to Everett. The scents were similar.

The front door of the cabin opened as I approached and a short woman with sleek brown hair shot through with silver and rosy cheeks appeared. Her eyes were full of excitement and she wore a big smile on her face. Something about her instantly eased my nerves – probably how honestly delighted she looked to meet me.

"Felix?" she asked.

I couldn't help smiling back at her. "Yes, ma'am."

Her smile widened and she stepped forward to wrap me in a tight motherly hug. "It's so wonderful to meet you, dear. I'm Anya, Everett's mother."

I hugged her back awkwardly, wishing I had washed up in the locker room at work before coming home. I hated using those showers – they sputtered and weren't good at temperature regulation – but now I was plastering my mate's mother with my sweat, so a bad shower would have been a big improvement. "Sorry I'm so gross, I just finished a long patrol shift."

Anya patted my back a couple of times and when she pulled away, she looked completely unperturbed. "Don't worry about it. No one expects you to come back completely fresh after a strenuous job like yours. Now, won't you come in?"

I smiled, enjoying the fact that she had just invited me into my own home. I looked around for Everett automatically once I was in the living room and Anya patted my arm. "He's in the kitchen making dinner. I tried to help, but he insisted he wanted to do it himself. My boy's a real sweetheart."

"Mom!" Everett complained from the kitchen.

I grinned and strode into the kitchen, where Everett was bent over an open oven. I admired the view for a few seconds before I remembered that Everett's mom was here. I looked down at her and found her smirking at me. "Congratulations on the mating, by the way," she said, eying the scar on my neck.

I flushed and she laughed softly. "I'm just teasing, Felix. I truly am happy to meet you. I hope you'll accept me into your family."

I was startled. It was such an odd thing to voice, but a look at her expression told me she was being completely serious. "Of course."

Everett finished up whatever he was doing in the oven and walked over to us. His eyes swept thoroughly over my body. It wasn't sexual – there was worry there, and I could see that he was examining me for injuries.

"Nothing happened today, Everett. I didn't do anything but run around in the woods."

He smiled, relieved, and looked down at his mother. "You're enjoying this too much, Mom."

"Not possible," she said in a sing-song voice. Then she went to the refrigerator and started rooting around the vegetable drawer.

"She just can't stop herself," Everett said. "She has to help out."

Anya came out of the refrigerator with her arms full of vegetables. "I'm just going to make a quick salad. Why don't you go to the living room and catch up with Felix? You both had a busy day."

Everett opened his mouth to argue, but no way was I passing up her offer. I snatched Everett's hand and dragged him from the room, calling a thank you over my shoulder. Anya was still laughing when we sat down.

"Tell me about your day," I told him.

Everett's eyes brightened, all the fight leaving them. "It was really great, Felix. I think I missed working in daycares." He shook his head as though confounded by this.

I gently traced the curve of his cheekbone, feeling a great swell of affection. "You like kids?" I asked.

Everett blushed under my hand and I drew back, settling for holding his hands instead. I wanted to see his whole expression. "Yeah, I do."

He looked so adorably flustered that I pressed a quick kiss against his lips. Everett surprised me by gripping at my hips and pulling me in closer. He bit at my bottom lip and when I gasped, he pushed his tongue into my mouth. I groaned and climbed onto his lap.

"Mother alert!" Anya called from the kitchen.

I pushed off of Everett in a rush, falling back onto the couch in an undignified heap.

"Is it safe to come in?" she asked.

We were both blushing furiously and I quickly adjusted the way I was sitting so my erection wouldn't be quite so obvious. Everett simply put a pillow on his lap and glared at me.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" I protested.

Everett shook his head in protest, but called for his mother to enter.

She settled down on the couch opposite us and fixed her eyes on me. "I wanted to talk to you both," she said seriously. "Felix, I'm not sure Everett's had a chance to explain to you what I'm doing here."

I looked at Everett, who said, "She came down to help out at the daycare while the Neruda pack members are here. That's why we aren't sure how long she'll be staying."

I nodded and looked back to Anya. "You're welcome here for however long you wish to stay," I told her.

"That means a lot to me – you have no idea how much – but I really don't want to intrude. When I was with the alpha's girl this morning, she offered me my own cabin not too far from here. I accepted. That way I can see you both but you can still have some privacy. I would never have wanted a mother hovering over me and Jericho when we were first mated."

I was hugely relieved, but did my best to contain my reaction and instead looked to Everett. This was up to him.

Everett frowned at his mother. "I don't like the idea of you out there on your own," he said.

Anya snorted and said, "Everett, I've lived on my own in a cabin in the woods for the past seven years. I'll be fine. Besides, I'll still be seeing plenty of you both. Felix, I really do want to get to know you."

Her easy acceptance of me in her life was intensely comforting in a way I hadn't known I needed. It had been so long since I had a mother figure in my life, and I could already see how she might fill that void. "I would love that," I told her honestly.

Tears filled Anya's eyes and Everett left my side to crouch in front of his mother's chair and hug her. For the first time, I thought about what it must be like for him to have left the only family he had to move in with me. The thought made me feel uncomfortable and I stood up, needing to get away from the tender scene. "I'm going to take a shower," I announced, and made my exit.

--

Everett and I were lying in bed. He had insisted that he needed to do some work for Delta before sleeping, so I was scrolling through Reddit on my phone while I waited for him.

"I might not be as important as I thought I was," Everett finally said, shutting his laptop. I looked up at him and raised a brow. "Harry's doing a great job of running things without me. They've hired him a new assistant, who isn't really helping yet since she has a lot to learn, but once she's up and running, I think I'll be able to fully step back."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" I asked uncertainly.

Everett shrugged. "Yeah, it is. They're trying to get me to come up for some meetings next week, by the way. There are some investors coming in who are suspicious of technology, so I can't just video conference in, and they don't really trust Harry yet. I should be there."

I had known this was going to happen, I reminded myself. It wasn't a big deal. He would go up for his meetings and then he would return - this was Everett's home now. "How long will you be gone?"

Everett grimaced. "Hopefully no longer than a day. We're working on stacking the meetings so they all happen in the same afternoon. I could drive up in the morning and be home for bed."

That wasn't so bad. If I was running patrols, I would hardly know he was gone. I wished I could go with him, though. I wanted to see what his old pack was like. I also really wanted to see where he used to live. Everett wasn't fully moved out of there yet and I thought it would reveal a lot about him I might not have discovered yet.

I shook that off. With my work schedule as full as it was right now, the chances I could go with Everett to Delta were slim.

"Are you going back to the daycare in the morning?" I asked.

A beautiful smile spread on his face. "Yeah, I am. I think I'll be there a lot until our visitors are gone."

It still fascinated me that he was this happy about spending his days in a daycare. He really didn't seem the type. "Tell me more about your day."

"Well, it started off pretty slow. I was able to get some work done in the morning, but once the Neruda kids arrived, it was utter chaos. There was this boy, Griffin, who has some kind of serious attachment disorder. He freaks out whenever people come near him. Only me and my mom were allowed to touch him all day. Even the people who dropped him off and picked him up made him wail."

The happiness had faded from Everett's features and now he looked deeply troubled. I was feeling troubled too. What could cause a child to act that way? Why wasn't he comfortable with the Neruda pack members who were handling him?

"I'm worried about how he's doing in the Neruda encampment," Everett added, looking down. "He didn't want to go with them, Felix. He kept reaching for me while they carried him out of the building."

I hugged Everett and stroked a hand over his short hair. "It might not be so bad," I told him. "I bet he's happy with his parents. The people who were dropping him off and picking him up were probably strangers to him, that's all."

Everett nuzzled against my neck. "Yeah, I hope you're right." Though Everett did look comforted, a shadow lingered in his eyes for the rest of the night.