Getting away with the Alpha's Pup

Chapter 50

Dylan

My heart thrilled as Fern called me dad. I didn’t think I’d ever take her calling me it for granted.

As Fern clambered into bed, in between Cherry and me, I took the lead. “Remember the heirloom I gave you for your birthday, Fern?”

My daughter nodded, looking up at me as she snuggled under the blankets. “The wolf and crescent moon symbolizing the Moon God, Nuu-Chah.”

I beamed at her, casting a proud look Cherry’s way. “You’re such a clever girl, my little banshee.”

Fern grinned at my nickname for her, but my heart hammered against my chest as I realized it was time to tell her about her preternatural heritage.

We’d shared with her mine and Cherry’s family’s belief in the Moon God. Cherry and I had thought it was a nice way of introducing her to her shifter god. After all, Native Americans had once believed in the same god.

“Well, Nuu-Chah has told me it’s time for us to return to Starsmoon Pack, where your mom and I come from. We’re all going to fly back to Seattle in a few days, and you’ll get to meet your grandparents. We’re going to move there and be part of a big family. You see, we’re not banshees, Fern, but we are shifters. We have wolf forms given to us by Nuu-Chah that you’ll have one day when you’re older, too.”

Fern’s dark eyes, so like mine, skittered to Cherry. My heart twinged for the nervousness I saw marking my mate’s face.

“Is Bert a wolf too? Will he live with us at Starsmoon?” Fern asked.

The tension ebbed from Cherry’s face, and she smiled. “He is, and he will.”

My daughter’s eyes found me again. “I want to go be part of the Starsmoon Pack with you, daddy.”

I hugged her, my joy soaring that I’d been right in how much Fern intuitively knew and felt.

*************

Cherry

“That’s the last of it,” I said as I taped up the final box in my store.

Kendra sighed from where she was sitting on the ledge of the wide storefront, now empty of displays. “Yep, that’s really everything.”

Nina asked, “Who did you say was taking over the lease?” Her tone endeavored to inject some brightness into the space that was feeling barren now.

I shrugged. “Desmond’s, a shoemaker.”

My gaze swept around the blank walls and floor space. Other than the many boxes in the middle of the room, only dust mites swirled through the sunshine falling through the glass storefront.

My two sales assistants had spent the weekend helping me pack up the last of the clothes from the railings. Well, Nina had packed with me. Kendra was now so close to her due date that I’d insisted she do nothing but entertain us with her chat. Officially, she was on maternity leave, but she’d been adamant that she come in before the store closed and to see me off.

I’d managed to get both Nina and Kendra jobs with another designer I was friends with. Conveniently, her store was located a few streets away. Her clothes were equally high-end, and my two assistants, although they’d been sad at the news I was closing up, had been pleased and touched when I’d recommended them to Irene. My designer friend had gotten on well with my assistants, and Irene had happily taken them both on. Nina would be starting next week with hardly any disruption to her work routine.

Maisy’s clipped heels sounded on the stairs, and she appeared in a whirl of wavy red hair and a floaty black dress. “That’s the final bits boxed up in the studio, Cherry. I’ve left the fall range boxes in a group separately with instructions to the movers to pack them last. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get those out first on the other side, and they can go straight onto the rails for opening day.”

“That’s perfect, Maisy.” I smiled at my assistant designer. Much to my amazement, when I’d told her I was relocating and opening up shop in Seattle, instead of accepting the stellar recommendation and job offer with my designer friend, Irene, Maisy had asked if she could come with me. She’d said that she loved working for me and was learning so much that if I could offer her a relocation package, cover the cost for a flight and a month’s rent in Seattle, she’d gladly come with me. She’d offered to manage the opening of the new store with me and continue as my assistant in the new studio once we hired staff for the store. I’d snapped her up at the offer, of course.

A flutter of relief coursed through me again at the thought of my devoted assistant being with me to help manage the launch of the new store. It would be especially important, given how much I’d likely be needed at Starsmoon, too, when Dylan first reintroduced me to his parents and the whole pack. When he officially announced to everyone that I was his mate and their new Luna.

Anxiety stole through me as I worried about the frosty reception Dylan’s parents would give us. I remembered how Lucy had blamed me for stealing Dylan away. What if the old Luna and Alpha judged me similarly?

Yet, soon, as Maisy, Nina, Kendra, and I stood in the empty storefront, hugging, there was only room for nostalgia. I’d been through so much with these women. They’d been vital to my success over the last year and become true friends.

I tried to put into words how much they meant to me. Staring into Nina’s green eyes, I said, “If you ever get tired of Berlin, bring some of your European elegance to Seattle, okay?”

Nina was the most stylish woman I’d ever met. These days, whenever I design something, I picture her in my outfits. The models I drew always sported her slim, angular frame and her elegant black bobbed hair.

She grinned. “Seattle will be my first city break next year.”