I laugh as the pair rush to the nearest door and step into the nest. I settle onto the bed, watching as they dart from door to door.
Mason and Alexander join me. Mason wraps his arm around my waist, and Alexander leans his head against mine.
“Why were we so worried again?” Alexander asks.
“That’s a damn good question.” Mason sighs, running his free hand through his hair.
I just laugh again. “Because you wanted it to be perfect for them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but do you know what makes it perfect for them?”
“What’s that?” Mason asks.
But I’m not the one who answers.
“It’s because you built it for us,” Kiara says softly, the two of them kicking off their shoes before climbing onto the bed and leaning against the headboard. “Even if you didn’t know it was for Crew and me, you were building it for your future mates.”
“Oh, we hoped it would be you.” Alexander kicks off his shoes and joins them.
Not wanting to be left out, Mason and I do the same and crawl up the bed. Mason shoves me next to Crew before settling on my other side.
Kiara sighs. “I know you did, and I’m glad it was me and Crew.”
We sit in silence for a few moments before something occurs to me.
“We’re bonded now. That means we need to change our names and file the paperwork to form our pack officially.”
“Slow down, Davis.” Alexander chuckles. “There are a lot of things we need to do, including scheduling a bonding ceremony.”
“Assuming you both want to have a bonding ceremony,” Mason rushes to add.
Crew rolls his eyes. “Of course we want a ceremony. You’re not getting out of that.”
“We’ll have to wait until the parental pack is back from Europe. We can’t do it without our family.” Kiara smiles. “Plus, we’ll need to make sure Crew’s parents can come and some of our friends from North Carolina.”
Crew turns his head to look past me at Mason. “How long until the house will be finished?”
“Another two or three weeks, if I had to guess. Why?”
“I want to have the ceremony here. It seems like the perfect way to start our lives here.”
Kiara nods. “I like that idea.”
I frown. “Does that mean we’re going to stay at Pack Owens’s place until then? Because I don’t want to be there once they come home. We’re newly bonded, we don’t need your parents around.”
“Absolutely not,” Crew reassures me. “As soon as the pack house is ready, we should move in. But we have another month until Pack Owens is home. How long do we need to plan a ceremony?”
Kiara wrinkles her nose. “I mean, we could plan it in like a week, but I don’t want to do that. If the house is ready in three weeks, we’ll still need to finish furnishing it. That’ll take time. Maybe two months?”
“That’s forever away.” I don’t like the sound of that. They’re ours, and I want everyone to know that.
Mason grips my chin, turning my head until I meet his gaze. “We can file the paperwork before the ceremony. We don’t have to wait two months to become Pack Kennedy.”
“Yeah, fuck that noise.” Crew makes a face. “We can file all of that tomorrow if we want. There’s no way Kiki and I are going back to work until Saturday night at the earliest. We get a week-long leave for heats, and we’re not going back before we absolutely have to.”
“I already messaged Marlene. She says our shifts are covered, so we’re not expected back until next Thursday.”
I shake my head. “Lucky asses.”
“Davis, we all work for ourselves. We can take off the rest of the week, too.” Alexander shakes his head, and I realize he’s right. I really don’t have to rush back to work.