It took a little over an hour to pick out what we'd need. We picked out cribs that converted to beds as they grew, a changing station, decor, some stuffed animals, and a comfortable rocking chair.

Undoubtedly, the rocking chair took the longest to pick out. Nikki and I argued so intensely over which was more comfortable, that we didn't notice Mikko had disappeared.

"He wouldn't have left us," she told me when she noticed my change in behavior. "He's around here somewhere."

When I went in search of him, Nikki was right behind me. We found Mikko in the stroller section. He had a man by the neck, pushed up against the wall. We stayed back enough that we could keep an eye out for the worker who had been helping us, but close enough that Nikki could hear.

Nikki smirked. "Marshall has a rat in his pack," she whispered as she looked over at the man. "He's telling Mikko that Marshall's escaped up into Canada. He's not sticking around when Mikko's after him."

The worker girl spotted me and smiled. "I'll keep her busy." I walked towards her, deciding I needed help picking out a chair.

Nikki nodded and continued to eavesdrop as she looked over car seats and strollers. I kept the woman busy for maybe ten minutes before Nikki came over.

"Those strollers are amazing." She did sound impressed. "A couple of them have cup holders."

I laughed. "You're so easily impressed."

We looked at strollers, testing them by walking around with them. Mikko showed face ten minutes after Nikki.

"Everything okay?" I asked him. He knew Nikki and I had found out about Marshall's rat.

"Of course. You picked out everything your dad will need?"

I nodded. "Everything we need right now."

I gave the stroller back. We didn't need one now. We'd get one when we got to Mikko's. When we visited we'd have to bring strollers and car seats anyway.

We checked out and went back to the house. "We'll wash everything today while we wait for the fumes in the nursery to go away."

I was only allowed to carry in some blankets and light decor. Heaven forbid the pregnant woman lifting anything over twenty pounds. My dad was sitting around, watching the TV with paint splatters all over his clothes when we walked in.

His eyebrows rose once everything was in. "And this is all essential?"

I nodded. "Yes. This is the basics."

He let out a long whistle. "Things sure have changed since you were a baby."

I scoffed. "I was only one. There are two coming now."

My dad smirked. "True."

We rested the remainder of the night. Mikko didn't say anything about the guy at the baby store and I forgot all about it when we got home.

***

The next day I remembered when my dad was setting up one crib while Mikko worked on the other. I didn't think I could leave the two alone, so I stayed in the room, just visualizing what it would look like when it was finished.

My dad's painting was much like the bedding. It was light brown with accents of blues and pinks. It all merged together quite beautifully.

"So what happened with that guy from yesterday?"

"What guy?" Mikko asked absentmindedly as he looked over the instructions.

"The rat from yesterday."

Mikko looked up at me the same time my father looked up at him. I smiled innocently when I saw the look he was giving me. Apparently this wasn't something he wanted brought up in front of my father.

"A wolf stalked my daughter in the baby store?"

Mikko lowered his head for a second before looking back at my dad. "Nothing happened. The rat just wanted to switch sides."

Dad scoffed. "He was there to spy and you know it."

Mikko nodded. "And now he's in a cell at the alpha’s."

"So what?" My father was in obvious disbelief. "You left her there?"

Mikko's brows creased from being offended. "Don't be thick. Of course I didn't leave her there. I had him picked up. And even if I had left her there it wouldn't be your place to question it."

"She could've been hurt. The babies could've been hurt."

Mikko looked over at me to give me a look that said look what you started before looking back at my dad. "And she's fine. The wolf wasn't even there for her. The idiot was there for me."

"Is Marshall really on the run?" I interjected, potentially stopping the argument before it could gather momentum.

Mikko nodded, still looking at my father. "With his tail between his legs. I doubt he'll be an issue." He looked at me. "The price on my head and the price to bring you in to him have quadrupled, leaving rogues and Marshall's lackeys a potential threat still."

Dad looked back down at the instructions grumbling incoherently to himself.

"Does it have to be obvious when we move tomorrow?" I asked Mikko.

Mikko shrugged. "Maybe. I'll let you know tomorrow."

I kept an eye on my dad as the two of them set up the cribs. Once they were done, Mikko left my father and me alone as he set up the changing station and I set up the cribs and started decorating.

It was nice spending the time with my dad, semi alone, knowing that this would be the last time we did this. After I went to Mikko's I probably wouldn’t see him until after the babies were born. Then once they were born, I'd always be around them.

This was it. We didn't go to bed until Mikko practically dragged me there at four in the morning.

I woke up with a knot in my stomach. This was the day I was supposed to move to Mikko's. I couldn't stay here anymore. It was too dangerous for everyone around me. At least if I were at Mikko's, it would be safer for me.

Nikki and Mike dropped by when we were loading up my car. It was nearly full when they pulled up.

Nikki smiled. "I thought we were going to miss you!" She looked back at Mike after hugging me. "I've convinced him to let us road trip with you to his place."

Mike stood by his car. He didn't look nearly as happy as Nikki. "He looks grumpy."

She looked back at her mate. "He hoped we would miss you two." She smiled when she looked back at me. "I'm glad we didn't."

I hugged her. "Me too."

They loaded some of the bags and boxes into Nikki's car, as I went inside to say goodbye to my dad.

I knocked on the door of the study a couple times as I walked in. "Nikki's here so we're going to head out."

He nodded once, looking out the window. I could tell he was depressed. I already felt bad for leaving him here, but he needed to be with his pack more than he needed to be with me right now. His pack could help him, I couldn't.

I couldn't leave without giving him a hug, so I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "I'll miss you old man."

He smiled weakly and returned the hug. "I'll miss you too." He let go a bit and put a hand on my belly. "You take care of my grandbabies."

I smiled and kissed his cheek. "I will. I'll call you when I get settled in."

He nodded and followed me out of the house. "You sure you packed everything?"

I nodded. "I hope so."

Saying goodbye to my dad was hard. It hadn't been this hard when I left for college, because this time, it was going to be permanent.

Nikki gave me a walkie talkie remote so we could chat even if we weren't in the same car.

We joined up with Finn at lunch time. He started a bit earlier than we did, so he was already sitting at a table when we got there. I was starving, so I knew that the werewolves probably felt like they were dying from starvation.

After I was well fed, I took a nap for a while.

It took hours to get to Finn's territory. My ass was very sore and my back was even worse. I kept moving around to try to ease it, but nothing helped.

Mikko was ignoring my curses and complaints because I constantly had something to saw. For the last hour of the road trip I had to suck it up and just deal. I wasn't going to die. Being uncomfortable was just another part of pregnancy.

We arrived at Finn's house first. I needed the break and we all needed dinner. It was 8 at night when we got into the house. It was even dark out because the tall trees blocked out a lot of the light.

The outside of the house itself was impressive. It was a log cabin mansion. There were huge windows showing the large living room before you even got into the house. It had three stories and a large, gravel turn about that acted as the driveway. It was amazing to say the least.

The front entry was lead into by solid double doors. They were heavy and probably strong enough to put up with werewolf abuse, but most of all, they were beautifully hand carved in an intricate design.

I stretched my legs as I explored the first level. I didn't want to wait for a tour. I knew I'd be followed around anywhere I went regardless.

The main feature of the living room was a huge fireplace. It was almost tall enough to stand in. You probably could if you ducked under the mantle to get into the fireplace. I was absolutely in love with it when I saw it.

There was a sofa set setup to enjoy the fire, and a few feet away, another sofa set was set up to enjoy the biggest flat screen I had ever laid eyes on. One side of the living room led to a sun room that exited to the back patio and a hallway that led to back bedrooms.

The other side led to the dining room where a huge table sat surrounded by chairs. I'd guess that more than fifteen wolves would fit comfortably. The dining room had bar seating that showed into the kitchen.

An archway connected the dining room to the kitchen. The kitchen was huge. The walls were lined with counters and cabinets. The fridge and stove were industrial size. My favorite feature though, was the bar seating. It made it feel more open. A huge window sat over the sink, giving a view from the side of the house that showed a massive amount of trees in the distance.

"This place is pretty amazing huh?" Nikki said as she opened the fridge.

"Yeah, this is just the down stairs too." I was amazed at the house. I shouldn't have been surprised since this was the head alpha’s house, but it was still amazing.

She nodded as pulled out a container with leftovers. "Looks like someone did a bunch of cooking." Nikki pulled out six more containers full of food.

"Doesn't this look like a bit much to be leftovers?"

She smiled. "I don't care, I'm starving."

Eventually everyone was in the kitchen eating everything that Nikki had pulled out. I left them in the kitchen to look around some more. There were a lot of pictures hanging on the walls of the living room. Some of them looked really old.

I could hear everyone chatting in the kitchen from where I was standing, which made me feel secure as I explored the place where my children would be raised. It would be quite the childhood growing up in this place. Having all of this decorated during the holidays would be amazing.

I was looking at a very old picture, which turned out to be a great sketch when I heard a throat clear. I looked over to see Mikko.

I really only recognized Finn in the sketch. He was with a woman, two boys and a girl.

"That's the only picture we have from my childhood."

I looked at the picture again and could now see some of Mikko's features in it. That was probably what my son was going to look like when he aged into a boy.

I pointed at the second boy. "So this is must be Philip," I pointed at the girl, "and this Madeline."

He nodded a confirmation and reached in front of me to point at the woman. "And my mother."

I looked between the woman and Mikko. "From what I can tell, you have her eyes."

He looked towards the front door and started heading towards it with a smirk on his face. I had a gut feeling I wasn't going to like it.

A woman burst through the door and ran towards Mikko at a nearly barely visible speed. She jumped and he caught her. He carried her outside without another word to me as Nikki poked her head into the room.

"What was that?"

In my gut I knew. "I'm not sure." I walked to the front to gaze out the window to see the two lip locked.

Nikki came up behind me, but didn't say anything.

"At least he took it outside this time," I offered.

Nikki sighed. "I would say that's a plus."

I kept looking at the woman. She was fit and thin, someone who looked like they belonged. "Human or wolf?" Mikko disappeared into the side door that led to the garage. He would probably keep himself entertained with her.

Nikki scoffed. "Whore, but wolf."

"Damn." I was sure the woman probably thought I was a whore too since I was the one who had a one night stand.

"Don't confront her. It's on Mikko," Nikki suggested.

"I know," I said as neutrally as I could. I couldn't risk that wolf beating me up and making me lose my babies. And I didn't want Nikki to start attacking people. "Let's get something to eat. I'm hungry."

We were going to be here for a while since Mikko had taken it upon himself to go mess around with another werewolf.

"You're going to wear a hole into the ground if you keep pacing," I said as I looked over the rest of the pictures in the room. There weren't any more pictures of Mikko's mother around.

"I don't understand how this doesn't bother you."

I just shrugged and stared at my cooking food. "I'm not in a relationship with Mikko. He can screw whoever he wants."

"It doesn't matter if you're in a relationship or not. He doesn't respect you enough to stay away from other women during this delicate time."

"He doesn't have to respect me Nikki. I don't care what he thinks about me. All I am to him is the whore who opened her legs for him one night and got pregnant. I'm no better than that whore he drove here with."

"You don't think that." She sounded affected by the truth. "You're not a whore Em."

"You'd know if I were lying." I scanned over a photograph of the Madill family with a new woman and a baby in a pink blanket. That baby had to be Margaret. "Maybe that's his girlfriend Nikki. Maybe they've been together longer than you and Mike. I could be the complete bitch that's ruining everything."

Nikki wasn't pacing anymore. "But you're not ruining anything."

"You don't know that. I didn't know about anything when I slept with him. He could've been a mass murderer, or even a rogue and I wouldn't have known." I lost interest in the photos.

I went to the fireplace, taking the closest seat to the fire. Somehow I knew that Finn had been the one who lit it. Who else would have taken the time to light a fire for the one Mikko knocked up?

No one.

I had come here hoping to get some time to talk things through with Mikko. All that time I had thought about the possibility of starting a relationship with him seemed so stupid now. That was not what he wanted. That wasn't what he was ready for. I hadn't planned on him shacking up with someone else while he was away. There was a part of me that hoped we could use some of this time to fool around.

She was a wolf and therefore very, very fit. She probably looked wonderful naked. I looked like a pumpkin. She had the stamina that I never had, which probably translated very well into the bedroom. Mikko wouldn't have to be careful with her; she wouldn't break like I would have. There were absolutely no upsides to being with me. What did I have to offer him? Nothing.

I just stared at the fire, unblinking. All I had to look forward to was a lifetime of changing diapers and maybe finding a man who was willing to play step-dad and deal with Mikko when he had to. I felt my hope drop with my heart. My kids wouldn't have their mom and dad together. They probably wouldn't even have step-parents. Though I was confident they'd have to live through their father's multiple girlfriends.

"Em?" Nikki carefully tapped me on the shoulder.

When I finally blinked, the tears that had collected fell down my cheeks. Though, I wiped them away as soon as I could. "What Nikki?"

She jerked her head towards the front door.

When Mikko and the woman came into the house, the woman's eyes instantly landed on me. Glancing at them didn't suggest that they were a couple, but I instantly felt guarded, expecting this to go bad. But, to my surprise, it didn't. The woman smiled at me.

"She's humongous!" the woman said gleefully as she looked over my belly. "I always knew you were going to knock someone up! I'm glad I'm around to see it."

Now I was confused. I glanced at Nikki, but she was also confused.

"This is Abigail, one of the many members of this pack," Mikko said from the entryway.

"Uh huh," I said looking at the woman again. I didn't fall for whatever rouse he was trying to pull. Finn followed his son up the stairs, (I didn’t know where Finn had been hiding) where I assumed they were going to have a little chat on how to handle this little situation we had landed ourselves in.

Then it was the three of us women left alone and together. While this could have gone very bad, very fast, I knew I couldn't just start yelling at this woman. I didn't know if she was in the right. I didn't know if they were together, if they had some special arrangement.