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“Smoked it,” Roark explained, “right along with the sausage we had for breakfast this morning.”

“We smoke most of the fish we pull out of the river too,” Rusty explained.

“Who’s the primary hunter?” Logan asked.

“Whoever reaches the meat market first,” Roark admitted. “Baz enjoys it, so sometimes he and Charlie will head into the woods together, but Charlie would much rather prep the food than catch it.”

“Same,” Rusty admitted.

“Then no one will mind if I join Baz or hunt on my own when the opportunity arises?” Logan asked.

Roark shook his head while Rusty’s eyes lit up.

“We will happily cook anything you drag home,” Rusty said.

“Good to hear,” Logan replied. “It’s been hard to get any hunting time in since I found Wren. When they were small, I wouldn’t dream of leaving them at night, even with someone I trusted. As they got older, I was too deeply entrenched in information gathering to find the time to hunt as often as I’d like. I miss it. It won’t be an issue for you guys if I go out at night, will it?”

Roark caught Rusty’s eye and could tell that he was as confused by the question as Roark was.

“Why would it be an issue?” Roark asked.

“I don’t want you guys to think I’m trying to skip out on nighttime baby duty or anything like that,” Logan explained.

“Dude, last night wasn’t a one-off,” Rusty said. “The pups have been sleeping through the night since they were four months old. With all the romping time Roark and Baz give them during the day, they’re exhausted by the time we lay them down at night.”

“No one is going to give you a hard time for wanting to hunt,” Roark said. “There are times when I head down to the fishing shack after the boys are in bed, not because we need the food, but because I enjoy doing it. Catching something big enough to keep is just a bonus.”

“It’s going to take some getting used to,” Logan admitted. “Not having to do everything on my own. I don’t just mean with Wren, either.”

“We get it,” Rusty said. “It took us time to get things figured out too. There are still times when we’re still out of synch.”

“Which is usually when a disaster or three takes place,” Roark groaned, reminding Rusty of a few of the more epic ones.

“I can do without any more disasters for the rest of this lifetime,” Logan said. “Even on the intelligence side of things, I had my fair share of close calls. The last one was life-changing. I didn’t think I’d make it back to Wren. That’s when I told Brooks that I was ready to take him up on his offer to put down roots here.”

“I’m glad you did,” Rusty said. “But did you have to be so cruel to your poor car in the process? Cage sent pictures while we were putting the kids down. You scraped the fuck out of the whole undercarriage.”

Rusty passed him the phone and Logan groaned, shaking his head and cringing each time he scrolled to the next picture.

“No wonder the car shuddered,” Logan said by the time he’d seen all of them. “Between the horn and Wren screaming, I just didn’t hear how bad that old girl was getting ripped up.”

“Cage will put a parts list together and get everything ordered,” Rusty said. “But this storm right here will be mild compared to what the dead of winter is like.”

“Shit, seriously?” Logan huffed. “It already looks like it’s gearing up to be a bad one.”

“Yeah, that’s why we took them out to play early,” Rusty said. “Because the chances of them going out tomorrow are slim unless this thing blows itself out in the middle of the night, which I don’t see happening.”

“I like the way this worked out,” Rusty said. “Snowed in with my mates. A winter wonderland romance.”

“What have you been sitting up reading while I’ve been down by the pond?” Roark asked.

“There was a Stuff Your Kindle event.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Some of the romance books had amazing covers,” Rusty protested.

“Hey, did I say there was anything wrong with it?” Roark asked. “You should see some of the series I’ve been devouring while I’ve been waiting for the fish to bite.”