Epilogue 1
Julian
Four years later
“Levi! Damon! Hurry up or you’ll be late for school!”
Levi comes rushing down the stairs with his curly hair a complete and utter mess despite his attempts to brush it.
“Remind me to cut that hair this weekend,” I beg while I finish off his lunch kit.
“Okay,” he replies while he slides onto the counter stool and starts stuffing his face with cereal.
“Where’s your brother?” I ask, glancing up, but there’s no Damon, and I can’t hear any steps coming.
“That can’t be a serious question,” Levi retorts with a cocked brow, and I can’t help but laugh.
So, Damon’s getting ready, which means the chances of us getting out here in five are slim to none. I’ve never met a kid so self-absorbed as that boy was, especially at the age of six. But when morning came, Damon only cared about one thing, and that was making sure he looked good.
“Damon! I will burn all your clothes if you don’t get down here right now!
” I shout, and in seconds, the sound of hurried footsteps fills the house.
At the bottom, he slips and falls, landing flat on his face.
I pause, waiting, but he’s up in a second and dusting himself off as he waddles into the kitchen.
The first time one of them fell, Aiden and I nearly had an aneurysm rushing them to the healers, but now it was a normal Monday. Damon climbs onto his seat while Levi readies a bowl for him.
“Why must you always take so long, Damon?” I ask, leaning against the counter while I watch them eat.
“Time just goes, whoosh!” he says before he quickly stuffs his cereal into his mouth.
While they eat, I rush into the laundry room to slip something that’s not stained on before I grab the keys and shove some shoes on. The boys thankfully move quickly, eating their food before they grab their lunch kits and follow me out the door.
“I’ll be back soon!” I shout up to Aiden, who just groans from bed.
I smile to myself as I run after the boys and Levi’s already seated, buckling Damon into his car seat beside Emitt’s daughter, Amelia. As always, my heart warms to see her, and I give her a wave before I slip into the driver’s seat to scowl at her father waiting in the front.
“If you have time to ride along with me, you could drop them off some days while I sleep,” I grumble to Emitt before I pull out of the driveway.
“But it’s more fun this way,” he replies, making me roll my eyes. “We get to talk and bond.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I shush while I steer us through the packlands, glancing occasionally in the rearview mirror to make sure they’re all good. Levi reads silently to himself while Damon and Amelia chat each other’s heads off, as always.
“Twenty bucks says their mates,” Emitt murmurs as he steals a glance too.
“Fat chance,” I scoff, and he frowns with offence. “Fifty says you’re wrong.”
“You’re on,” he says, and we shake on it before he turns around to look at Levi. “Levi! Your birthday is coming up! Are you excited?!”
“I’ll be the same person I am right now,” he answers without looking up from his book. “A few seconds won’t change anything, so why should I be excited about being a little older?”
Emitt slumps over his seat. “It was a yes or no question, Levi.”
Levi glances up, squirming a bit before he mumbles, “I guess.”
That’s all Emitt gets before Levi returns his attention to his book.
Emitt fixes his eyes on me, but I just shrug as we pull up to the elementary school, pouring with kids.
It’s the same one Levi went to, but now it’s Amelia and Damon’s school and luckily, there have been no incidents since the last.
I’ll see you later for the party, Emitt says through the link before he gets out and helps the kids out the back.
I wave them goodbye, and Damon sends me an air kiss, which I catch and press to my heart. He grins widely and says his goodbyes to Levi before he follows Emitt and Amelia inside.
Levi and I continue on, and we both sigh with relief at the silence that follows. We share a laugh, and I slow to let Levi climb into the front seat. He buckles in, and we continue on, both shuddering as we pass the pack borders and head for his school.
“Do you think everyone hates me now?” he asks as his fingers dig into his book’s binding.
“Nobody hates you, Levi,” I promise while I drive us through the familiar roads. “It was self-defence.”
“I broke his leg,” he argues, and I know I probably shouldn’t smile, but I can’t help it.
When I got the call from Levi’s school that he broke that bully’s leg after he tried to touch him, I was proud. Levi was a soft child and I always worried that he wouldn’t defend himself if it came down to it, even if he could, but he had.
“He was a bully. One you were trying to avoid,” I remind him as I slip onto the highway. “They’ll all love you for it and if they don’t, you have Sammy.”
Levi grins at the reminder of his best friend and relaxes just a little.
Sammy was Levi’s one and only friend, who’d decided Levi would be her friend from their first day in their school.
But Sammy was human, and he hated lying to her about what he really was.
He understood why he could never tell her though.
“I was going to tell you later, but I think I should now,” I say as I slow in the drop-off queue in front of his school.
Sammy’s already sitting on the front stops, poking a lizard with a stick while she waits for her friend.
“What?” he asks, frowning with suspicion.
“You can bring Sammy over after school today,” I say, making his face light up like a Christmas tree. “I already talked to her mom, she’s got permission, and the pack knows there’s no shifting so—”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he screams as he leans over his seatbelt to hug me. Laughing, I hug him back as tightly as I can.
In all the years they’d been friends, Sammy never came over because we didn’t want to risk her seeing something she shouldn’t, and I knew it killed Levi, though he never complained. But this was just the first of many gifts he’d be getting today.
“Thank you!” he screams again.
“You’re welcome,” I say, kissing his head. “Now go before she kills that thing.”
Levi laughs as he glances back before he grabs his things and jumps out of the car. He pauses with the door in his hand and beams at me. “Love you, Dad.”
“Love you too,” I reply but Levi’s already running off towards his best friend.
I stay, watching as Sammy jumps on him before other kids rush to Levi with big smiles like he’s a pop star. I drive away before he could spot me still hovering, heading home with a full heart and a surprise birthday party to finish.
“You cannot still be sleeping,” I say the moment I slip into our bedroom and spot Aiden still sprawled across the sheets.
“I would be if you weren’t talking,” he grumbles, which means he’s not. He’s just being lazy.
Crossing the messy room, I stop at the crib beside our bed and lean down to pick up Peter, who’s starting to wake.
“You’re sleeping too much,” I say as I turn with Peter in my hands, nose wrinkling as I get a whiff of the bomb in his diaper. “Get up and do something, Aiden.”
“I’m sleeping for three,” Aiden whines, rolling over while I take Peter into the bathroom. “Let me be.”
“Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you can lounge around. Get up and take a shower, you fat hobo!” I say, snickering to myself, when a loud gasp travels my way.
“I am not fat!” Aiden protests from the bed. “And we’re a week away from these twins coming out. I’m allowed to rest.”
“You need a bath,” I counter while I change Peter’s diaper.
Luckily, Peter is a quiet as always, and he doesn’t spray me in the face with pee like his brother used to. I clean my baby boy up, grinning down at him while he watches me, blue eyes blown wide with wonder.
Peter’s only three years old and the quietest little thing ever. I loved him for it. In a house like ours, Peter was a treat, especially after the tornado that was Damon as a baby.
I have him cleaned and wrapped back up in no time, and settle him back down in his crib before I go to my other big baby.
Aiden glares up at me, pouting as he lifts a hand.
Wordlessly, I help him up and he shuffles back with his massive stomach that’s much larger than mine ever was, but then again, I never had twins.
Finding out Aiden was pregnant had been one of the most hysterical moments of my life, then discovering they were twins? Priceless.
“Hagen won’t stop kicking me,” he says, poking a finger at his stomach while I help him up onto his feet.
“Oh God, that name. Jaden was better than that,” I say, making him scowl. “What about Phillip or Ch—”
“No. I get to name him,” he declares. “He’s Hagen and she’s Josey.”
“It’ll be you dealing with their wrath when they’re older, not me,” I say while I help him undress so that he can get in the shower. I stay outside, watching and waiting to help him after while I lean against the counter.
“When will you be back to start prepping for the party?” he asks while he scrubs his skin.
“In two hours max,” I promise. “I’ve got to meet with Beckett, and he’ll take everything else on. Isabel should be getting here much later, so we won’t have to worry about that.”
“We’re finally going to meet the guy she calls the greatest man on the planet,” he says, glancing back at me with a grin. “It took her a couple of years, but she found him.”
“Yeah, she did,” I agree, smiling as I think of my friend.
It’d been years since Isabel went to the Academy, but only one since she met her mate.
It wasn’t in the Academy itself, but within the Council base, which she went to work in after she graduated.
She was our pack’s brightest representative and as a reward for all her work, Goddess finally led her to her mate.
“Alright, I’m done,” Aiden says as he pushes the door open and lifts his arms. “Towel me.”
I snort before I give in and help him.