The house was dark as usual when the car pulled into the driveway. Vael had grown accustomed to the silence and a place that smelled only of himself.
Vael climbed out of the car, dismissed the driver with a nod, and walked toward the front door. But the air was different. He caught two familiar scents but waved them off as his wolf being oversensitive. He punched the passcode into the keypad, and the lock clicked. He pushed the door open.
"Surprise!"
The sound hit him first, a chorus of voices, familiar in a way that made his brain struggle to catch up. Then the light, the sudden flood of it as someone flipped a switch and the living room blazed into view. And then, something sharp exploded near his face, streamers catching in his hair, a burst of confetti that drifted down onto his shoulders.
He flinched.
For one unguarded moment, Alpha Vael of House Vaeroth startled like a boy caught doing something he shouldn't.
"Mom. Mia." He breathed out, more than surprised to see them.
