For Fox's Sake (#3, Completed)

2. Home

Content warning: pregnancy of secondary character.

NATALIA

Everything felt different.

I was home, but it didn't resemble my home anymore. Or, at least, not the home I knew up until my dad died.

On the outside, the old Windcrest mansion looked the same after I stepped through the portal and arrived at the estate. The memories, the pain from my childhood, were still there as I looked on.

Yet, the Windfire tribe was a much happier, thriving place than the Windcrest pack ever was under my father's leadership. He ruled through fear and intimidation, expecting everyone to obey and serve him, even his own children, preaching of wolf shifter superiority over all other shifter kinds. What I was seeing while I took in the new tribe house was the exact opposite, even if the building was visibly the same. There was laughter everywhere, joy. Shifters proud to be part of this mixed community.

No, this was certainly not the home I knew, and I was happy about it.

My brother was here, and so were Aiden and Riley. They were my family, and the mixed wolf-dragon tribe that they led as Alpha triad ever since they merged my old pack with Aidan's Fire Dragons clan was where I still belonged.

"Ready to take you to your room?" Rafe asked as he grabbed my suitcase.

"Really? You might be the boss around this place, brother, but I still grew up here- I can definitely find my way to my old room." Sparks of doubt flickered around my brain. "That's if I still have my old room."

I paused, realising that there was a very real possibility that this was no longer the case. The tribe was growing, and so was my brother's family- they needed all the rooms that this mansion had. "I know I have been in Izaver for the past three years, so it's understandable if you have given it away."

"Oh, please- you know that we would never do that, Nat." My sister-in-law's voice made me turn around to see her walking towards us with Aiden, my niece Maggie running excitedly behind them. That kid was my favourite person in the world, which said a lot because I absolutely adored Rafe and his triad.

"Look at you, gorgeous mama." I threw my arms around Riley, my hand instinctively landing on her bump once I let her go. My future niece or nephew rewarded me with a gentle kick, which only made me more excited about meeting him or her in the coming months. "How did my brother get so lucky with such a beautiful mate?"

"Oh, he is a pain in the arse sometimes, but he is not too bad himself." She beamed with joy, giving Rafe a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, good thing that he has you and Aiden to knock some sense into him. Can't say that I miss having that role." I stuck my tongue out at my brother, who was rolling his eyes at our jabs. He loved it, really.

Aiden pulled me in for a hug. "It's so good to have you back, Nat."

We were not related by blood, but as Rafe's best friend, he had always been like an older brother to me, despite not being part of our wolf pack. Even before they became part of the same triad, Rafe and Aiden were proof that different shifters kinds could work together and be friends-a belief that the three of them had been promoting in the shifter world ever since they became co-Alphas of a mixed shifter tribe, the first of its kind. The example they set was sending ripples of change throughout the shifter world, and I couldn't be prouder.

"Izaver was great, but I am so happy to be closer to all of you again," I noted as I picked my niece up in my arms. "Especially this little miss. Have you been behaving, Maggie?"