“I just don’t know what I would do if they found out,” she said.

“From what I’ve seen so far, they are none the wiser. They still think you died when you crashed my bike and that he was killed later by a rival clan. You can relax. They aren’t even looking for you, so there is no reason for them to find you.”

“I hope you are right,” she replied.

“Hey, enough of all this. This is a celebration!” their mother chastised.

“It’s good to have you both here. Are you staying with us?”

“Yes. Malcolm said you have plenty of space.”

“We do. You can have the entire third floor to yourselves if you want.”

“Sounds good. Our things are in the rental car still. We barely made it here in time with all the immigration stuff at the border.”

“Ah, yeah. It’s been a bit clogged up lately, I hear.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

Autumn introduced them around as they greeted well-wishing guests and then gathered for the toasts to be made. They were waiting when David came over and announced that Tommy and his wife had their litter, seven pups, making him a shoe-in for Alpha.

“Oh, wow. That’s great. He’ll be the youngest Alpha we’ve ever had, but he’ll be fantastic, I think.”

“Yeah, he will be,” David said, leaving off any internal thoughts on how it should have been one of them.

Both he and David had grown up doing their best to be Alpha material. It seemed almost unfair that it would come down to something like how many kids they could produce in one go. Still, that was Foster’s prerogative and they’d have to accept it.

After the toasts, it was time to cut the cake and then their dance together. It seemed to all go by way too fast, but they were soon settled in with a handful of remaining guests.

“Malcolm, I know it’s your wedding night and all, but can I talk to you and Autumn alone?”

“Sure, Foster. What’s up?” Malcolm asked.

“Excuse us for just a moment, Mom, Rain,” Autumn said as they got up and followed Foster out to the edge of the house beyond the guests.

“I will announce it more formally tomorrow, but I wanted to talk to you two alone first.”

“Sure, what’s up?” Malcolm asked, though he assumed it was probably just a confirmation that Tommy would be the new Alpha.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and of course, I had to wait until all the litters were in but, it would seem that your eight children are the biggest litter in the pack.”

“What?” Malcolm asked, not really understanding.

“Tomorrow, I intend to name you the new Alpha of the pack.”

“I don’t understand. I went outside of the wolf line and married a bear. I thought that disqualified me.”

“How? There is nothing that specifies you have to mate with a wolf shifter.”

“I just assumed.”

“You assumed wrong. Listen, I like Tommy. I do, but he’s the youngest in his family, and I might as well make one of his older brothers the Alpha as they will be the ones calling the shots. I’m glad your litter was bigger than his. You will make a fine Alpha for the pack.”

“This is just so unexpected. I mean, of course, I’ll accept. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, son. Listen, I know you got married, so I’m going to cut you some slack. Take a couple of weeks to enjoy yourselves and then we’ll get started on spending some time together to transition you into your new position. You’ve got a lot more to learn, son.”

“Sounds great, Foster. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome. As for me, I have to break the news to Tommy, in case they had any ideas like yours. I like the kid. I don’t want him to find out like everyone else tomorrow. I’ll let you get back to your guests.”

Malcolm nodded and turned toward Autumn, who looked just as shocked as she did.

“What do you think about that?” he gasped.

“I don’t know. I am just as floored as you. Are you excited?”

“Oh, I’m beyond excited. I didn’t know this day could get any better, but here we are. The woman of my dreams and the Alpha position all at once. Let’s get back out there and finish celebrating our asses off.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

Once all the guests were finally gone, they returned to the house, taking Autumn’s Mom and Rain to meet all the babies. They were totally taken with them as she told them each of their names.

“Some of them are bears?” Rain asked curiously.

“Yes, it’s hard to pick out which is which when they are in such close quarters, but three of the boys—Victor, Phillip, and James—are bears. The rest are wolves.”

“That’s crazy. I didn’t know you could have a mixed litter like that.”

“Us either,” Autumn laughed, glancing back toward Malcolm.

Tags: Sky Winters Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net