"So much of what is best in us is bound up in our love of family that it remains the measure of our stability because it measures our sense of loyalty."

― Haniel Long

"Charlie, what should we get Wyatt for his birthday?" Claire asked her little brother as the two of them walked into the mall. His hand curled tight in hers.

Gabe trailed about fifty feet behind them, watching all the other mall patrons closely. Waiting for a strike at any moment.

"A Lego set, Care." Charlie rolled his eyes and tugged harder on her hand. "I told you already."

She laughed silently to herself and turned her head the other way so her little brother couldn't see her grin. She loved the way he said "Lego," the L sounding more like a Y. He'd always struggled with his L's, ever since he was little.

She couldn't help that he sounded so cute. But maybe she should stop asking. That was the third time.

"Oh, right," she said. "I forgot."

The mall was about an hour and a half drive from the pack house. Because it was so far away, Claire convinced Gabe they had to make a full day of it. It would, after all, seem useless if they drove all the way out there only to turn around an hour later.

Gabe didn't seem too thrilled with the idea. He wasn't a big fan of any situation that left her in a crowd of people for long periods of time.

He would get over it, though.

A flutter of delight rose in Claire. Charlie, meanwhile, refused to have anything but a blast. His little body bounced with barely contained excitement all the way to the mall. The second they left Gabe's SUV, Claire had to snatch up his hand to keep him from flying off.

She didn't blame him. Her own little bubble of excitement refused to pop once they got there. It wasn't very long ago that their family struggled to make ends meet. With not much money and only one old, rusty car, they had been lucky if they ever got to visit the mix of shops in the overly large concrete building. Claire had tried to get Charlie over to places like the mall and the movie theater when she could, but that still wasn't as often as she would've liked.

"A Lego set...and maybe a board game?" she asked Charlie. "That way you two can play together."

"Okay." Charlie's head kept spinning in different directions as he glanced around at all the signs and people.

If there was one thing she loved the most about her new role in the pack, it was her newfound ability to provide for her family. She loved getting Marie a new necklace when she spotted one she liked, or Cole a new drill just because.

The best part: getting Charlie all the games and ice cream he wanted.

The money didn't pick at her pride either. Nate had made a deal with her he would "pay" her for the time she spent patrolling. "After all, the other guys doing border patrol get paid for their time," he had said.

"Maybe if we get Monopoly, you can learn business early and start growing your empire, Charlie," she joked. "Start saving your lemonade stand money."

Charlie scrunched his nose at the word Monopoly. "Ew, Care. Monopoly is bording."

She could hear Gabe's laugh from the cell phone case kiosk ten feet behind them. "'Bording'?" She bit her lip sharply to keep in the laugh. "I hate it when my board games are bording."

If Charlie knew she was poking fun at him, he didn't show it. Instead, he tugged her hand harder toward the Lego store. "Do you think Mom will let me get a puppy?"

"A puppy? Why would you need a puppy?"

"Wyatt wants a puppy, so I want one too."

"A puppy is a lot of work, Charlie," she told him. "You can't get tired of it and cast it aside." Not to mention there were few dogs in this world that could tolerate werewolves.

"I know," he insisted.

Well, if he knew... "You run that by Marie, and if she says yes, then by Goddess, I'll take you myself to get a puppy."

As if that would ever happen. Marie had been on his case lately about behavior and manners. Those lessons, she knew for a fact, weren't going as well as she'd hoped. Getting a puppy would be an unearned reward for sure.

They ended up grabbing Wyatt a Star Wars Lego set. Claire had almost been ready to faint at the triple digit price tag, but they bought it anyway. Just because she had money now didn't mean she wasn't conscious of the price of the items she bought. If she could help it, she stuck to generic groceries and merchandise and put the extra money back into the bank account.

What was the term? Oh yeah, frugal.

But this was Wyatt. And he deserved a great birthday present.

After the Lego store, they hit the ice cream shop. The obvious choice.

"When's your next tutoring session, Charlie?" she asked around a bite of strawberry ice cream.

Charlie picked a bright green gummy bear out of his bowl of chocolate ice cream. Claire fought a wince as she watched him eat it. Chocolate and gummy bears? What was the kid thinking?

"Monday," he said, paying more attention to his frozen treat. "We are working on ranking."

"Ranking? No kidding. You've already got that one down pat."

Charlie grinned, chocolate on the corners of his mouth. "It goes you, Nate, Marcus...uh, Paul? Then everyone else, then Daddy, Mommy, and me."

She tried her best to give him a genuine smile. It still hurt a part of her, knowing that her family was at the bottom. Especially when she stood at the top. Nate had been working hard to get the pack to see the Omega family as more than the last of rank. There was a certain amount of serenity the Omega wolves brought to a pack. Without the Omega wolves, the dominants would have no one to protect. And there'd be a hell of a lot more fights.

The Omegas had purpose. They kept the unity, so to speak.

Now if only the pack could see that.

"Correct. Although Nate goes at the very top."

"Nuh uh." Charlie shook his head. "Mr. Gabe says you're a Royal. And teacher said Royals always come first."

Now she really did wince.

"You know who always comes first for me?" she asked, scraping the bottom of her bowl for the last bite.

"Who?"

She pointed at him with her pink spoon. "You."

He took another bite, staring hard at the swirling puddle that was his ice cream.

"Love you, little man."

Charlie mumbled what sounded like a "love you too." Claire figured he was getting right around that age where saying "I love you" was as bad as swearing.

She wouldn't hold it against him.

"Alright, let's wrap this up. We can probably hit one more store, then we should skedaddle before Mr. Gabe over there explodes."

Charlie giggled at the picture. Especially when Claire made a 'pop' noise and mimicked an explosion with her hands.

"He looks mad," Charlie said, looking two tables over at the man in question.

"Really? I didn't think Gabe did mad."

Charlie glanced at her. "He does."

"Uh oh. Should we run?"

Charlie frowned. "He's shaking his head. And..." His eyebrows came together in confusion. "I don't know what that means."

He copied Gabe, slowly drawing a line across his throat with his pointer finger.

Claire bit her lip to keep in a laugh. "Okay, okay, we won't. Come on, Charlie, I want to buy a book."

~

She ended up buying not one, but two books from the bookstore. And a chapter book for Charlie that contained mostly pictures.

Satisfied with their purchases, the three of them made their way back to Gabe's SUV and loaded the trunk.

"I thought we'd never leave," Gabe muttered. "In all my years, I've never hated one place so much."

"Really? I had a blast," Claire pipped in. "What about you, Charlie?"

Charlie shrugged. "It was fun."

Claire tapped the carpet in the trunk and smiled when Charlie hoisted Wyatt's overly large Lego set onto it. "Good job, buddy."

Tires screeched behind them.

The first tomato hit Claire on the shoulder. She jerked forward, surprised more than anything else. She pulled Charlie close, blocking him with her body. An automatic reaction.

Gabe scooped the two of them up, plastering them to the side of the car as tomato after tomato struck down. They splattered like red paintball pellets onto the car. Each splat gave a dull thud.

Claire didn't get a very good look at who stood at the other end of the assault. But she could hear—and would hear for the next couple days—the squealing laughter of kids. Older kids.

"Care!" Charlie wrapped himself around her middle, and she curled around him in a protective barrier.

Her wolf growled, the action vibrating in her chest. She bit down on her mental chains, locking the beast away. Though the animal inside her wanted to spit and snarl and attack, Claire closed down the link—refusing her wolf the ability to take control—and held on.

With the amount of anger and desperate need to show dominance, her wolf would tear apart the teens.

Gabe took the brunt of it, though a few snuck past him and hit her. One in her hair. On her foot. Her arm.

Although she wasn't facing the vehicle, she caught a faint smell on the wind—a sharp odor mixed with werewolf. One that often accompanied wolves after a fresh hunt.

Her wolf locked onto that smell and stored it away in her memory.

"Omegas!"

"We don't need you!"

"Go home!"

Then it was over. As abrupt as it began.

The car flew away, horn blasting. The laughter never stopped.

Gabe's weight left her side, and Claire slowly straightened. "Are you okay, Charlie?" she asked through her burning embarrassment.

Charlie's head bobbed, his face buried in her stomach. His arms tightened around her.

Gabe came back, his face a mask of steel. "Silver truck. Ford. License plate: B71 Y84G. I need to write this down."

Claire waved him off, using her arm to wipe at the splatter on her cheek. "Go for it. We're good."

Goddess, her insides burned. The heat bloomed on her cheeks. Her legs shook, adrenaline disappearing like smoke.

"Charlie?" She pulled him back to give him a once over. All he had was dewy eyes and a trembling lip. Nothing red. Nothing he couldn't recover from. "You're all good. No harm." Thank Goddess.

"Care." Tears bubbled over. "You're all red."

"I know." Her voice broke. "But I'm okay."

I'm okay.