Epilogue
MAKLIHN
T here was nothing like being woken up by the sound of giggles.
Our son, Johnson, was bouncing on the end of the bed.
He had been awake for a while, and while I knew that my mate was trying to keep him quiet, nothing would make Johnson calm down.
He only did what he wanted, when he wanted.
Stubborn boy.
The kid had more energy than both of us.
Not that I’m complaining.
Every minute we got with him was amazing.
He brightened our life in a way that we could not have imagined.
Three hundred years of waiting for my mate to arrive, and within a matter of months, he changed everything.
He gave me family and purpose.
I now had them to take care of.
It was a full-time job on top of running the shop, but thankfully, I had been preparing for them long before I even knew who Clynt was.
I had worked to ensure that things would go smoothly.
That started with hiring helpers for the shop.
Of course, Judy and Kris also jumped in to help as needed when my other workers couldn't be there.
I took the first three months of my son's life off.
I called it paternity leave, but at the end of the day, it was really just me not wanting to leave his side.
Shifter babies grew fast.
You would blink and miss all the monumental things that human children did.
So I was there instead.
I watched him roll over and shift as if he were going to crawl for the first time.
I saw his eyes light up when me or my mate came into his room.
I saw his mouth attempt to form Papa and Dada.
Every second of it was perfect.
The day I went back to work, I knew it would be another challenge.
One that we would tackle together, obviously, but a challenge nonetheless.
And my mate — my sweet, perfect mate — knew exactly what I needed.
He bundled up Johnson and brought our son into the shop to see me for lunch.
Customers got a kick out of seeing our boy.
They tickled his little belly and pinched his little cheeks.
He was growing rapidly.
Most of them had missed the time when he was itty-bitty.
That day, my mate looked at me and said, "We should have another."
Our bond lit up with my excitement.
Practicing having a baby with him since he'd healed was enjoyable. I had discovered I had a bit of a breeding kink, so I constantly told him about how I wanted my knot to load him full and give us another child. It was all said in the moment, of course. Heated times when we were locked together.
A part of me had been serious as well.
I loved seeing him round and swollen with our child. Loved taking care of him every second of every day. Having him in the shop with me with his legs kicked up because he was too swollen to get around on his own. Going to late night grocery runs a few towns over because it was the only place open with the certain food he wanted.
Even the moments when he would yell and be angry with me were enjoyable. All of it grounded me. It reminded me that every wish and dream I had, had finally come true.
So with my mate telling me he was ready to conceive again, I saw no point in keeping the shop open. I took him home and after spending the evening playing with him and our son, I made love to him.
And then I fucked him.
And then I bred him.
There was no chance of us not conceiving. He had mentioned going off the birth control. He told me he had gone off it a couple of weeks before. It's why he hadn’t been as forward as usual.
He wanted to make sure that his body was primed for my seed.
I appreciated the extra effort.
A few weeks later, we found out he was pregnant again.
Between his fertile womb, and my advanced swimmers, the doctor said he wasn't surprised.
Johnson didn't quite understand that Dada had a baby in his belly.
He thought it was funny how big his stomach got and how hard it was depending on where the baby sat.
As our son grew even more, he became protective of his father.
He shifted into his wolf form and marched in front of him any time I couldn't be around. Judy thought it was the funniest thing ever. Especially since Kris had gotten snapped at more than once for getting too close.
It made sense that when our second child, a little girl we named Ellie, came into the world, that Johnson was eager and happy to hold her.
I eased her on his little lap since he was the size of an overgrown toddler by then. He kissed her little forehead as he whispered, "Love you” over and over again.
As I held my mate, we cried. Not because we were sad, but because we were so happy it felt like it couldn't be contained.
We had been blessed with two beautiful, healthy children. And though he hadn't said anything, I knew this wouldn't be the end. My husband wanted a horde of children, as did I.
The loneliness I had felt before Clynt showed up in my life vanished after our meeting. Having his constant presence in my chest and in my head filled that emptiness from before.
With our children, there was another layer of connection there. We were building our own path. Something far stronger and far more sustaining than anything I'd known in centuries.
As with Johnson, I had written Ellie letters too. I continued to write to them after they were born, though those became more like journal entries than actual letters.
With each subsequent child, Xander, Noel, and Franklin, I did the same. There were stacks of letters and notebook for each of them tucked away in various boxes in the closet. No matter what happened, they would always have them from me.
Years passed and more events arose. I found myself cataloging them all. I still wrote the letters to say what the future held, but I also talked about the present and the past.
All my deepest emotions went into my words.
I couldn't tell you why I kept going. Maybe it had become my own personal form of therapy. Maybe getting the words out felt like saying them to the people themselves.
Either way, it was simply routine.
Then one day, when our kids were visiting Clynt's parents, I walked into the bedroom to find my mate sitting on the bed with a familiar notebook in his lap. Tears poured from his eyes as he traced his fingers along the page.
“You wrote to them all?” he whispered hoarsely. His gaze met mine, and I saw so much in it.
Love. Confusion. Happiness.
I eased on the side of the bed and faced him. “I did write to them. It was something I needed to do. You're not mad I never showed you this, are you?”
He shook his head quickly.
“No, not at all. I'm sorry for invading your personal space. I was looking for a piece of paper to jot something down and thought I could just rip one out. After I saw the first one, I kept going.”
I smiled as I took his hand between mine. “These are just the more recent ones. I have others too.”
His jaw dropped. “Others?”
I stood and went to the closet. Then I pulled out the box I had kept hidden. In it were a couple of the older journals along with the letters. The collection was so big it couldn't fit in one.
He was so excited. He covered his mouth watching as I unloaded everything.
“Since the minute I found out you were pregnant with Johnson, I started doing this. I used to write to my parents too. Sometimes I still do. But our kids and our family take up so much more of my life. I don't want to dwell on what I've lost. I'd rather enjoy what I have now. I want to be happy for what we have and what we will have. The children will probably go on to have their own packs eventually. Then I'll get to look back at all these memories and maybe even share them with their kids.”
Clynt wiped the tears from his eyes. “Don't go making us grandparents just yet. We’re not even out of our prime.”
I scoffed. “Maybe not you, but I'm closing in on far too old.”
His hand moved down to his stomach. “Hopefully not too old.”
My eyes widened. “Another one? Really?”
He bit his lip and nodded. “You're not mad?”
I pulled him into a searing kiss.
“I could never be mad. Every child is proof of our love. Johnson might be a little upset that he has another sibling on the way, but you know how he is.”
My mate chuckled. “Oh yeah. He swears he doesn't have enough big brother energy to go around. I think it's more that he doesn't like to divide his attention. He can't track everyone all at once.”
I shook my head, then stacked all the notebooks and pushed them off the edge of the bed.
“He's a good kid. It's not his choice whether or not we have more children though. I'm pretty sure fate decides that.”
Clynt ran his hands up my chest. “Fate and your knot, Alpha.”
I growled as I grabbed his wrist to stop his movement.
“Are you needy, mate? Do you want my knot?”
His nails dug into my chest. “Always!”
With his agreement, I surged forward.
We made love that night. And then I pressed soft kisses to his stomach.
The next day, we announced he was pregnant again and all the children groaned good-naturedly. None of them were upset. Their wide smiles and big hugs proved so.
But then Johnson pulled me aside and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Hey, Dad. Maybe you should cool it on the babies, you know, since I'm getting to the age where I can have my own kids. It would be kind of awkward if your grandkids were the same age as their uncles and aunts, you know.”
A laugh ripped from my chest. I pulled him into a hug and clapped his back.
“I hear you, son. No need to tell me twice. This was a bit of a surprise for me too. Are you trying to tell me you're going to give me grandkids sometime soon?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I'm waiting on my mate, just like you did. I think it turned out well for you, huh?”
My eyes moved over to my mate as I smiled at how perfect he was surrounded by our family. “It worked out perfectly.”