Derek
He’d hated leaving her, even though he was going to see her soon. But life went on, even when he’d met someone. He’d watched his brothers and pack mates go through this; and they’d all struggled to stay on task when they’d met their mates.
Mate? Wait. She wasn’t his mate. She was just a shifter that he liked, right?
Fuck. He wasn’t ready for that. She was sexy, gorgeous, sweet, and interesting, and he wanted to spend more time with her. But that didn’t mean she was his mate.
When he got back home, he went straight to Roman’s house. It had taken him the entire drive back to the pack to get rid of his persistent arousal.
Everleigh was seated outside, and Eliza was next to her, cradling the baby. The sun was shining, and the fifty-degree temperature felt amazing. In the distance, birds chirped, and small animals rustled the undergrowth in the woods.
He was glad he remembered to buy a few gifts for Eliza, so that she didn't feel left out.
“Uncle Derek!" Eliza started to jump up and then remembered she was holding her baby brother at the same time. Thankfully, Everleigh already had her arm out and caught the baby. "Oops!” Eliza said. She kissed the baby on the head. “Sorry, brother.”
"Remember, you have to be careful when you're holding him. We don't want to scare him and send him flying through the air,” Everleigh said.
He could see that she was fighting to suppress a laugh.
At least it wouldn't permanently harm him if he did get tossed to the ground. Derek had always appreciated the fact that shifters were so sturdy. He didn't know how humans survived infancy when a little tumble could be deadly.
"Here's a present for my favorite niece,” he said, glad he’d remembered Eliza. She’d been an only child for nearly six years, so it would probably be a hard adjustment for her to suddenly have a new sibling.
“And for my favorite sister-in-law,” he said, handing Everleigh her stack.
As usual, Eliza tore into her gift. Everleigh laid all of hers out, spreading them around her. Her eyes sparkled. "Derek, did you go to the boutique to get these?" She ran her hands over the glossy wrapping paper and the perfectly tied bows.
"Of course not. I wrapped them myself."
Everleigh threw her head back and laughed. "Well, I appreciate it. I'm sure going into a children's clothing boutique wasn't your idea of a good time." She began to unwrap the first package carefully, exclaiming happily as the tissue paper revealed the designer boy outfits.
"Oh, I don't know. The shop owner was quite happy to see me,” Derek said. Everleigh's head shot up; she was clearly intrigued by that admission, and he winked at her.
She pressed her lips together. "Don’t tease me like that. Besides, I thought that you'd met someone."
"How in the world have you heard about that?” Derek asked.
The twinkle in her eyes got even brighter. “Roman, of course. He loves gossip, you know that.”
“I just told Roman, and hell, you guys were having a freaking baby in the middle of that."
Her shoulders shook from laughter. "Don't you know your love life is extremely interesting to us?"
Like Roman, she had come to be invested in his dating status. It seemed to drive all of them crazy that he had not attempted to settle down yet. He wasn't sure why, because Roman’s path to being mated and settled was hardly a straight line. He and Everleigh had sabotaged themselves over and over for years, and that wasn’t even including the interference they got from her family.
"Tell me about her," Everleigh said. He looked over at Eliza, who was now stacking her magnet tiles up in a row. And, of course, Eliza was also listening avidly to their conversation. She loved to repeat things at the most inopportune times.
"We're going on a date – that's all I know right now."
“Good luck on your date, Uncle Derek!"
There was no escaping it. In a pack, everyone knew your business. That was just part of life. "Why don't we concentrate on your presents? Eliza, do you want to help your mom?"
“Yay!” Eliza shouted.
Everleigh handed Eliza one of the gifts. “Thank you, honey, for helping me. Just don't drag the cute gifts through the dirt, okay?"
Derek snapped a photo of the two of them surrounded by the shreds of the fancy wrapping paper.
Even if he never found a mate, he was lucky. He had a family.