“Maaaaaa!” Ella squealed as Leslie lifted her back out of the stroller and put her in a walker as Tucker pulled it from storage. He followed up with another for Sable and one for Hannah. They rolled around, giggling and playing with the gadgets built into the walker’s top.
“It’s like bumper cars in here,” Tucker laughed, looking around at all the similarly aged babies scooting around on the floor. Thankfully, the carpet slowed them down a bit and kept them from crashing into one another at top speed, but everyone still had to watch them to prevent hands being squished between their primitive rides.
“I’ve got them if you want to go out and help with the food,” she told Tucker.
“Are you sure? I’m sure the guys have it under control.”
“Sure. You’re the Alpha of this pack. You should be in there with your guys. I can manage the free for all in here.”
Tucker looked around and chuckled. “It’s kind of great, isn’t it?”
“It is. You had a great idea. Everyone loves it already. I’ll sneak a peek at the rest of the place I haven’t already seen when the girls lay down for a nap.”
“Sounds good,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.
Leslie turned her attention back to the girls, happily dancing about in their walkers and chattering incoherently to some of the other babies in the room as they passed by. Ella tried to catch a little boy that passed by too closely, reaching out and grasping the sleeve of his shirt, but losing her grip as he moved on past her.
“Oh, let’s not be starting that so soon,” Leslie chastised her with a laugh.
Ella looked up at her quizzically and then laughed too, as if she knew she had been a little naughty. Then her gaze turned back toward the boy, now halfway across the room, and Leslie found herself wondering if it was possible for her to have picked out her soulmate at such an early age. It was far more likely that it had just been a matter of him being nearby and now she was fascinated that he had gotten so far away.
Then, as if to prove her wrong, Ella suddenly bolted toward him, her little legs carrying her as fast as they could until she was right beside him again. This time, she didn’t try to grab him. Instead, she just sat beside him, babbling away as if having a conversation. He looked in her direction, his eyes wide with surprise. Then he giggled and leaned forward, putting his lips on her cheek and giving her a sloppy wet kiss.
“Good grief,” Leslie muttered, going over to retrieve her overly affectionate daughter. “I can see I’m going to have my hands full with you, young lady.”
“I think she likes him,” the boy’s mother said.
“It would seem so,” Leslie said with a nervous laugh, trying to remember the woman’s name. “Marigold, right?”
“Yes, but most people just call me Mari. This is my son, Charlie.”
“Ah, he’s adorable.”
“So are your girls.”
“Thanks.”
She and Leslie sat side by side, watching the kids play. As it turned out, the woman was not a shifter but a human and Charlie was the only child she and her husband, Ashton, had. They had only been married for a little over a year. It was unusual for this particular pack to allow a human into the pack, but that was something Tucker had changed when he became Alpha. Though Leslie had not had any idea, Ashton had come to him and asked for permission to rejoin the pack after having been in the military, where he had met a human and married. Tucker had discussed it with the council and, together, they had changed the rules to accommodate such marriages.
“Quite the crowd,” Leslie observed, looking around.
“Yes, it seems to be,” Mari said, looking a bit sad as she looked around.
Leslie couldn’t help but realize that while many of the women stood around and chatted while their children played, Mari had been sitting alone watching Charlie. Not one person was anywhere near her prior to her coming over to retrieve her wayward daughter.
“Has it been hard for you to fit in here?” Leslie asked her.
“Sometimes. I’m not an Alpha. I’m not an Omega. I’m not even a shifter. People haven’t given me too hard of a time, but they seem a bit standoffish. I think you are the first person that has said more than a polite hello to me since I got here.”
“Well, hopefully, they’ll loosen up. Tucker and I have had our own issues fitting in. He left the pack for a while before his father died and I’m from a different pack.”
“Yes, but he is the Alpha. They can hardly afford not to accept him.”
“Fair enough, I suppose. Shifters are very much creatures of habit. They’ll warm up to you. They have been good to me once we all got past the point of being strangers. I’m glad you are here, anyway. We outcasts have to stick together.”