But the female was right – if it was going to work, she had to go all in. She had to jump in feet first and be ready to claim her spot in the pack.
Otherwise, someone would try to take it from her. She'd seen the appreciative glances the other females gave Roman. He was a gorgeous, sexy man, and he always tried to do what was right for his pack.
"I would love that," the female said. "How about tomorrow evening? We can go for a moonlight hunt."
"That sounds great," Everleigh said.
It was going to be awkward at first. She felt like she needed to write it down on her calendar every day to do something shifter-like with the pack. But maybe within time it would become natural, and they would come to accept her as one of their own.
Roman stopped by when it was time to pick Eliza up from school. "I thought I could come with you. Is that okay?"
Once again, he was trying to be cautious. She knew his nature was to take over and do what he wanted. But because of the past he was holding back. "She's your daughter, and you can come with me to pick her up from kindergarten anytime. Now that we’ve established a routine, you can even pick her up a few days a week if you want to, and I'll stay at the office so you can have some father daughter time."
Roman’s face transformed. He was obviously shocked by the trust that she was putting on him to be able to pick their daughter up alone. She felt a little queasy saying the words, but it needed to happen. Just like she thought if they were going to do this, then she needed to do it fully and not halfway. That was not going to help anyone, least of all Eliza. She didn't want her daughter to be confused about her father's role in her life.
If she could make it work, then this would be the life she had always dreamed of. The one she’d never thought was possible.
She had a career out in the larger world, a loving mate, and a beautiful daughter. She had not broached the subject of more children with Roman yet, but generally shifters liked to have several children, especially the Alpha of the pack. But they had plenty of time to have that conversation.
They walked toward the school hand in hand. Eliza saw Roman first.
"Daddy!" she yelled.
Everleigh felt his absolute delight through the bond. That was the first time she had called him daddy. She had referred to him as her dad and her father to other people. But she had never called him that as his title.
Roman bent down and she flung herself into his arms. He picked her up and twirled her around, pigtails flying. "How's my little girl?" he asked.
She loved that both of them seemed to delight in their new roles.
He lifted her onto his shoulders and the three of them started walking.
We’re a family.
She felt more connected to the two of them than she ever had to her own nuclear family.
Her bear rumbled in agreement.
"How do you feel about taking Eliza to do something with the pack soon?"
His head whipped toward her. "Really?"
"Yes." It had become clear to her just how much she had neglected this part of their life together. He had no reason to think it would ever get better either, because she had been so upfront about her disdain for the pack life.
"I think if I'm going to be a part of this pack, I need to actually be a part of it. And so does Eliza. We need to move in with you and be a visible part of your life. It’s not enough for us to just come by every now and then. That might be okay if we’re dating, but if we’re telling everyone we’re mates and you’ve gone to the trouble to change the pack rules, then we need to be around. We need to integrate."
"What changed your mind? Where is this coming from? Not that I’m not thrilled! I am. I couldn’t be happier." He leaned in and kissed on the cheek.
"Let’s just say I had a visit from someone who gave me a little kick in the teeth about how self-centered I was being."
Immediately his face clouded over. "Who? Who was it?"
"No, no, no. It wasn’t like when Derek forced poor Jacob to come to my doorstep all those years ago. This was actually a female, and she was trying to offer me a little wisdom. I actually really appreciated it."
"Who was it?" Roman asked, still scowling a little.
"I’m not going to tell you. I don’t want you to be irritated with her. At first, I was mad. I was ready to throw her out of my office."
"Wait, she came to your office?"