"Hey Geo!" Fluffy black hair ran up to meet him. The kid had been enjoying running around talking to all of them.

"Hey Wiatt," Geo smiled. He was about the same height as him, which was weird for someone who was related to the Alpha of the Valor Pack. But, boy, was he just as talkative as that family. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," he bounced again. "Whatcha doin?"

"Just thought I'd fix some things in this house," he told him. He had been trying to keep himself busy the past week. Working with his hands usually helped calm him down. At the moment, he was repairing one of the doors. It was to one of their storage rooms and it looked as if it had been taken off it's hinges for a long time now.

"You don't really have to, you know," Wiatt frowned a little. "You're supposed to be our guest."

"Just consider it a thanks," he said, screwing in one last hinge. "For letting us all stay here."

"Oh, we would have no matter what, though," Wiatt said. "We all love having visitors."

"Still," he patted the omega's head. He was pretty cute, he had to say. "Besides, the members of the Reverence Pack always keep busy."

"You guys also seem like you work yourselves too hard," he heard an unfamiliar voice from behind him. When he turned around, he saw a man that looked faintly like Alpha Jett, only older. His dark hair had a hint of grey as those orange eyes looked at him curiously. "I'm amazed that you could still find work to do in a house like this."

"I've always been good with my hands, sir," he told him. Wiatt ran up to him to give him a hug, so he guessed he shouldn't be too afraid of the man.

"I thought you only did roofing," he raised an eyebrow at him. "Where did you learn to do such a great job on this?"

"My uncle," he told him. "He works on houses for a living." His family was one of builders. His uncle worked on houses, his father on the rooftops, and he even had an aunt who was a plumber before she moved away with her mate. She always came to visit every year. Every time she did she would give him some of her homemade jerky. Hers' was always the best.

"He taught you a lot, didn't he?" the man asked. Those orange eyes looked at him in sympathy. He probably caught onto his homesickness.

"Yes, sir," he told him. "He even taught me how to fight, along with Shiro and some others."

"Your father didn't teach you?" the man asked.

"He was a little busy," he told him. He didn't want to speak ill of his dad. He might have tried to have him killed, but he didn't want everything about him on display for the whole world to see. Family matters were always supposed to be dealt with at home.

He didn't know he was looking down until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back up to see that the man was much closer than before, with kind eyes and a warm smile.

"You're always welcome here," he told him. "No matter what happens."

"Thank you," he bowed his head a little in respect. He wasn't sure what was going to happen at the moment. He wasn't even sure if Shiro was going to make it out of this alive, but him saying that made him feel a little better.

"You can call me Henry," he told him. "I'm one of the elders here."

"Or you could call him Grandpa," Wiatt told him. His eyes still bright and sparkly. "A lot of the kids around here do. Oh! Or Uncle Hen. That's what I call him!"

Geo had to hold back a laugh for that one. That had to be the most ridiculous name he had heard so far.

"You're lucky you're my nephew," Henry laughed, putting the little omega in a headlock.

It was nice seeing so many happy families here. It was always so quiet back home. There was always so many people doing so many things that most of them didn't have time to run down the halls or see how the other was doing. If anyone ran down the halls, they would get reprimanded for it as well. Geo remembered plenty of times as a kid that he got in trouble for such a thing.

"I think I'll just stick with Elder Henry," Geo smiled a bit. "I'm Geo."

"Oh, I heard plenty about you, Geo," Henry put out his hand to shake. "It's not often you see someone like Alex go through such a transformation after finding their mate."

"What kind of transformation?"

"He was quite restless," Henry explained. "Jett knew how to control his nerves from not finding a mate, but Alex never could. He's been trying to find an outlet for it for quite some time now."

Geo could believe that. He had thought about finding a mate in high school. It was one of those things that you always wind up thinking about. When the days were bad, he would always think about finding a mate and the days when he wouldn't have to hide all the time. Then he dated Jimmy, and thought that he was for sure going to be his mate.

He was glad now that he wasn't.

"You okay, Geo?" Wiatt asked. He was among the many in this pack house who asked him that. He had met a bunch of them simply by walking around and trying to help. All of them knew what was going on with him and the rest. They had even been told about Shiro being Jett's mate. He was shocked when they told him that. He would have thought that they would be weirded out by it or something. But everyone just seemed happy for him.

They always asked questions about Shiro too. Things like what he was like or what food he was more fond of. The chefs were working on trying to get him to eat as much as he could. Geo was all for helping them with that. It wasn't like Shiro to lose his appetite.

"I'm fine," he shook his head. "Just got caught up in thought." Then he tested the door that he finally got back on the hinges. It opened and shut like a charm. "Now you guys have a working storage door."

"Woah!" Wiatt said. "That things been broke for as long as I remember! Thanks Geo!"

"No problem," he smiled. He liked seeing the faces of people that he helped. At work, it was always nice seeing the client's reactions to their rooves getting fixed. "All it took was some new screws and some muscle."

"Does it squeak?"

"No, why?"

"Because squeaky doors are fun!" Wiatt laughed. "I always mess with my brothers by opening and shutting squeaky doors."

Geo laughed with him. He had the kind of happiness that was addicting. He was happy that the omega was so positive about things. The only other person he knew who was positive all the time was Shiro. Shiro had his times where he was depressed or would be down in the dumps, but a lot of the time he would always remain positive, no matter what happened.

"Come on," Henry ushered them out of the room. "How about you take a break, Geo? I'm sure our cooks are almost finished making lunch."

"Lunch sounds good," he smiled at him. The chefs were the first ones he made sure to befriend. He figured if he was going to be eating a lot of their food, he better get to know them. They were all just as talkative as the rest of that pack. And all it took was repairing a few of their cabinets and drawers and they all loved him. He was sure that they would all love Shiro too when they finally got to meet him. They asked enough about him.

"Are you still trying to fix everything in this house?" Alex's voice popped up in his head. He still wasn't used to that. It was so quiet without being connected to the pack mind link that hearing Alex's voice in his head made him jump sometimes.

"You guys really need to keep an eye out for some of these things," he told him. "There's so many things that are an easy fix in here."

"It's kind of difficult when you don't have that many builders in the pack," Alex told him. "We've been trying to focus on extending the pack house."

"That doesn't mean neglect the parts that are already built."

"Alright, Bob the Builder," Alex said. Geo couldn't help but smile at that. "Are you done yet?"

"Yup," he told him. "Heading to the kitchen to grab something to eat right now."

Alex had been wanting to keep Geo relaxed the whole week. He did stay quiet and in the room for the first day that he had come. But he needed to keep his hands busy so he didn't lose his mind and worry too much. When he was stressed, he had a tendency to overthink. And many times', fixing something or cleaning was a great way to keep those thoughts away.

It didn't take long for Alex to realize that. He had to do work anyway, so that he could make up for Jett taking some time off to take care of Shiro. As nice as it was to finally relax in a place that wasn't homophobic, he found himself restless as he worried about everything that was happening.

Like his dad, for instance. He really didn't like thinking about him. Whenever he did, it led him down a confusing spiral of darkness that threatened to leave him curled in a bed bawling his eyes out. Or wanting to punch something. Both were pretty bad.

"What's your favorite food?" Wiatt asked him as they went to the kitchen.

"You're not going to like my answer," Geo laughed. "I'm pretty sure you guys don't make that kind of stuff here anyway."

"Now you've got me curious," Henry lifted an eyebrow at him. He seemed very laid back for someone who was an alpha.

"I know Wiatt's going to lose his appetite for sure if I say it," he teased. Wiatt pouted a little at his answer.

"I don't lose my appetite that easily," Wiatt said. "What is it?"

"Calamari," Geo told him.

"What's that?"

"You ask a lot of questions," he smiled at him. He was a fun kid to mess with. Even though the first time they talked was pretty annoying. Now that he got used to all the talking that was this pack, he liked Wiatt.

"Geo!" he whined. "Tell me!"

"Maybe you should ask the chefs instead," he told him. They had just gotten up to the kitchen at that point. All the chefs were working in unison to get all the food out. Geo usually just got whatever they seemed like they were cooking a lot of. That way it wouldn't put a strain on them. He liked all kinds of food.

"If you like that kind of food," Henry said. "You might enjoy our lobster tails. I'm sure the cooks would love to make that again."

"I haven't had lobster tails in such a long time," Geo put his hand on his stomach. That was something that was only made occasionally. Lobsters weren't exactly cheap. "I remember one time I actually got yelled at because I ate like five of them one night."

"That reminds me of Jett," Henry laughed. "He would always wind up eating so much. We gave up trying to have a set quantity of how much people should have because of him. Now we just make extra of everything."

"What happens with the leftovers then?"

"It usually gets used to make something else the next day or it simply gets served for lunch," he explained. "I have a feeling that with you around, we won't have to worry about that too much, though."

"What's Calamari, though?" Wiatt asked.

"Who's talking about Calamari?" one of the chefs yelled over the stoves. He looked over to see who had come in and smiled. "Alpha Henry, you have quite the entourage with you."

"Apparently, it's Geo here's favorite food," Henry said, patting Geo's shoulder again.

"You know," the chef said. "I remember one buddy of mine in culinary school who absolutely loved the dish. He could never perfect it though."

"Our chef back home can," Geo said. "He practically had his own aquarium of different sea fish just so he could try and cook something with all of them."

"No wonder there's not many fish in the rivers!" another chef hollered over another stove. "They're all getting eaten by the fishing wolves!"

"We usually don't eat the ones in the river," Geo said. "Unless we're on a camping trip. They're pretty good, though."

"We're just messing with you, Geo," the chef waved his hand. "Those fish are practically overpopulating those waters anyway. Maybe we should all go fishing some time."

"No one's answering my question," Wiatt pouted, folding his arms. He looked like a plush when he pouted. It was adorable.

"It's squid," Geo finally told him.

"You eat squid?!"

"And eels," he told him. "I've also tried octopus and sea urchin."

"Okay," the first chef said. "When this is all over, we're meeting your cooks over there. I gotta try the sea urchin. That sounds like the craziest dish I've ever heard."

"Can't be as bad as the Lizard soup from the Dynamic pack," the other chef shook his head. "Or the cow tongue."

"What's a sea urchin?" Wiatt asked as they grabbed their plates.

"It's a black, spikey ball," Geo explained. "That lives in the sea."

"And it's a type of fish?"

"Well, it's a sea creature," Geo shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure if it's a fish."

Henry just chuckled as Geo continued to mess with his nephew. It was fun just seeing how many different faces he would make when he talked about certain creatures. He had tried just about everything. Although that lizard soup was a new one.

They walked out to the dining room to see that just about everyone else was there. The whole council of the Valor Pack was there along with Miki, Tammy, and Jin. There were a bunch of other pack members who merely took a seat and started talking with each other, but those were the ones that he remembered the most.

"Dad!" Luna Bree ran up to them. "There you are!"

There was a man who was sitting in the spot next to the one that she got up from. He looked handsome, but also stressed. It seemed like he had been left on baby duty for too long. All of them looked to be on the verge of crying, the father included.

Geo quietly bypassed the rest of the crowd and went over to him. He always helped out everyone in his old pack. It taught him a lot on how to do things like take care of kids or fix things around the house. Some times it would merely be helping them run errands.

One of the kids was a toddler. He quickly scooped him up and sat him on the empty seat next to his dad. Before he started crying, he put his bowl of food down in front of him and gave him a bite. The kid took it happily.

"Sorry," he told the father. "I figured you needed help."

"Oh, don't apologize," he laughed. "I'm just surprised the little guy didn't start crying. He's a big crybaby sometimes."

"Terrible threes, huh?"

"I swear, it never ends with kids," he shook his head. "Do you have any baby siblings you take care of or something?"

"Not really," Geo shrugged. "I have a few cousins who are still pretty young, but not as young as this little guy."

"How did you learn to handle kids like that?"

"Helping some of the moms of the pack," he told him. "Sometimes they all get really rowdy at the same time and it's utter chaos."

"You can say that again," Blake popped up. He was trying to hold three babies at once it seemed. His wife was behind him, keeping one from falling as the infant clung to her father's neck. "They also tend to think I'm a damn jungle gym!"

"You're the one who swings them around all the time," his wife rolled her eyes. She was a pretty blond with big hair that looked like she had put a ton of hairspray in it.

"But they're cute when they giggle!"

"Welcome to the crazy families of the Valor Pack," Alex hugged him from behind. He missed his hugs already. They had only been away from each other for the morning. "It only get's more insane from here."

"The more kids you have, the crazier it gets," Geo put his hand on his plate to stop the toddler from spilling the food over. He handed him back the fork and held his hand to scoop the food up. The father seemed too busy trying to get the youngest baby to actually drink from the bottle.

"Are you going to need more food?" Alex chuckled.

"I should be okay," he told him. "I don't think this little guy's going to be able to eat all of this."

"Never underestimate the appetite of a Young," Bree came over with a new plate of food and handed it to him. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem," he smiled at her.

"If you think this is bad," Miki laughed. "You should see our pack when all the kids are ready for playtime."

Geo groaned at the thought of that.

"They all have playtime at the same time?" Blake asked. "Sounds a bit chaotic."

"It is," Geo groaned. "But it also means that they all have naptime at the same time. And that's the best time of the day."

"I can agree with that," Bree's husband nodded. He assumed he was since Bree was now holding his hand as the toddler sat on her lap to eat.

He quickly found a spot next to Miki and Alex. The table was quickly buzzing with stories about kids, including when all of them were ones themselves. It was a fun conversation. Even Elder Henry chimed in with some stories about when Bree and Jett were kids. Jin was having a blast playing with some of the kids while the adults talked. He absolutely loved children. It was probably the only time Geo every really saw the man smile as much. And kids seemed to love him as well, which made it even more adorable.

He really should have become a school teacher or something.

The conversation changed as the kids were sent out to play or put to bed after getting burped. After all the kids were gone, they started talking about different creatures they had seen and fought in the forest. There were always so many stories to tell. This forest was a magnet for all these different kinds of supernatural beings. The packs of the forest had to make sure they were strong and worked together so that they didn't get overcome by the strange beings.

"So, you actually trusted them?" Blake asked.

"They proved they were peaceful," Geo said. "They even let us look through their books and everything. There were no spells indicating that they inflicted any harm on anyone."

"That's gotta be the first time we heard of friendly guests in a long time," Manny said. He had been talking to Jin for the majority of the lunch. It was nice to see that Jin had found another friend. "The only time we found someone who was friendly it was a rogue who was down on their luck and trying to pass the territory."

"We've had a few," Miki said. "Shiro would always confront them before trying to fight them. He would warn them about causing harm and see if they were willing to talk."

"Sounds dangerous," Alex said. "They could have used that as a means of attacking you at your weakest."

"Unless you remain hidden in the shadows," Geo told him. "We scared plenty of them away, too."

"That beats our story of the incubus trying to seduce Jett," Blake said.

"An incubus?" Jin looked over to him curiously.

"Oh, that one was a mess," Bree shook her head. "Jett was so angry after he tried to fake a mate bond with him. Then he escaped and we had to raise the guard for a whole year just in case he came back."

"Saying that Jett was angry is an understatement," Alex laughed a little. "He could have shot flames from his eyes with how pissed he was."

"Didn't you say that you thought he was hot a while ago, Alex?" Blake asked. He had a glimmer of mischief in his eyes that Geo wasn't so sure about.

"Well-I, uh..." Alex put his hand on the back of his head. Geo turned to the guilty looking man with an eyebrow raised.

"You actually thought he was hot?" Geo asked. Alex looked so awkward in his seat right then. It seemed like his eyes were moving in every direction but his.

"I may have said that," he admitted.