Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,42

I know it would be weird if Roman jumped to marriage when I'm still trying to figure out how I feel, you know? And I figure calling them 'Dad' when you're still working on love might be kinda the same. So, I don't want to mess things up for you, because I really do like them as your boyfriends."

"I kinda do too," I assured her. "So, then how do you want to handle this?"

"Can, maybe, you tell me when you love all of them?"

I reached over to pick at the sleeve of her new hoodie. "You going to tell me when you say those words to Roman?"

"I was kinda thinking about doing it at my party," she admitted. "I'm also really nervous about it. What if he doesn't feel the same?"

"I know," I told her. "It's scary, isn't it? Trying to decide if you're moving too fast, or not fast enough, and if he's waiting or will be horrified?"

"Yes!" She let out a sigh of relief and twisted to face me. "Is that how you feel?"

"It is," I admitted. "But I really like those two. They're great guys, and they make me feel like I'm something special to them. I just don't want to say it and them feel like they have to say it back when they aren't ready."

"Roman kinda almost said it to me," she admitted.

"How'd it feel?" I asked.

"Good. Embarrassing. Wonderful. I don't even know, but kinda scary too," she told me.

I just nodded. "Like your stomach flips over and the butterflies go crazy?"

"Yes!" she agreed. "So, I'm not messing this up?"

"Not at all," I assured her. "And I'm happy for you, Gabby. But I also want you to know that if you ever change your mind - because of him, because it just happens, or because you stop feeling like that - then that's ok too. Sometimes, people fall out of love just as fast as they fell into it, and no matter what, I will always be on your side. Even if I like the guy. Even if I say he's perfect. He will never ever be as important to me as you are, ok?"

"Ok," she agreed. "And the same with Ian and his betas. They're everything I ever wanted in a dad, but I'd rather just have you than anything else."

I just leaned in and hugged her. "Oh, I love you so much, Gabby. You've turned into the most amazing young woman, and I'm so proud."

"Yeah?"

"Definitely," I promised, leaning back to look at her. "Now, we have just enough time to eat something, and then we're supposed to meet Ashley at the trails."

She sucked in a breath. "I have to call Olivia! We get to be the bouncers so you can wolf out. And..." She began gathering up her presents. "I get to laugh at you when you fall down. At least once, ok?"

"Deal," I told her, knowing very well that it would happen anyway. "Consider that another birthday present."

"Best birthday ever," she told me.

CHAPTER 14

* * *

At five o'clock sharp, I pulled into the parking area in front of the trails with Gabby in the seat beside me. We weren't the first ones here. Ashley, Bridget, Kim and her daughter Julia, plus Heather and her daughter Olivia, were all waiting. This was definitely a "girl fest" of the wolf kind.

"The birthday girl!" Kim called out the moment we opened the car doors. "Roman wanted to come, but I told him it was a ladies-only event."

"I told him the same thing," Gabby groaned. "Mom's not used to stripping in public."

"We'll get her used to it," Ashley promised, patting the wooden chair Trent and Pax had built for me. "This, Alpha, is your clothes holder. Julia and Olivia have already made a lap of the trails."

"I'm shifting on my own now," Julia announced proudly.

"A new thing?" I asked. "And I'm sorry I don't know that."

It was Bridget who answered. "Most wolves have their first adult shift involuntarily around thirteen. Their body kinda shorts out, they usually turn into a lycan, and then they'll either catch it or go full wolf."

Kim rubbed her daughter's shoulder. "We feel kinda strange the day it's going to happen. A little hyper, I suppose? Like we just can't settle down. I told Julia that I'd rather she stayed home and nothing happen than for it to sneak up on her at school. She called me at lunch that day, and ended up shifting just before school would've been over, at