Chapter 36
Alison
"Daddy, watch me!" Nora called, her tiny hands clutching the monkey bars with fierce determination.
Lucas stood below her, arms ready to catch our two-year-old daughter if she fell, his face a study in terrified adoration. "I'm watching, princess. Be careful."
I smiled from my spot on the park bench, savoring this rare weekday family outing. Two years after our wedding, life had settled into a rhythm that somehow balanced pack responsibilities, business empires, and family life.
"She's fine, Dad," Leo said, rolling his eyes in that distinctly pre-teen way that had recently emerged, though at eight, he was still my sweet boy underneath the newfound attitude. "She's got werewolf blood too, you know."
"Lower your voice," Lucas reminded him gently. "And even werewolf cubs need watching."
I hid my smile behind my coffee cup. The mighty Alpha, terror of the business world and ruler of the largest werewolf territory in the Northeast, was reduced to a nervous wreck by a toddler on playground equipment.
"Mom, can I go to the basketball courts?" Leo asked, pointing to where some older boys were playing. "I promise I'll be careful."
"Stay where I can see you," I agreed, and he darted off with a whoop of excitement.
Lucas watched him go with a mixture of pride and anxiety. "He's growing up too fast."
"Says the man who was teaching him hunting techniques last weekend," I teased.
"That's different. That's survival skills." He caught Nora as she jumped from the monkey bars into his arms, swinging her around until she giggled. "This is... independence."
"She's got you wrapped around her little finger," I observed as Nora planted a sloppy kiss on her father's cheek before demanding to be put down so she could tackle the slide next.
Lucas grinned unrepentantly. "Like mother, like daughter."
Two years of marriage had only deepened the bond between us.
The mating mark on my shoulder—usually hidden beneath my clothes—pulsed warmly whenever Lucas was near, a constant reminder of our connection.
Through it, I could sense his emotions, just as he could sense mine, creating an intimacy beyond anything I could have imagined.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Lucas asked, sitting beside me on the bench as Nora played in the sandbox with another little girl.
"Just thinking how different my life is now from what I'd planned," I said, leaning against his solid warmth. "If you'd told that heartbroken waitress that in seven years she'd be a company CEO, a pack Luna, and married to the man who broke her heart... she'd have laughed in your face."
Lucas winced slightly. "I still hate thinking about how I treated you."
"Ancient history," I assured him, threading my fingers through his.
"Daddy!" Nora called, her dark curls bouncing as she ran toward us. "Push me on the swings!"
Lucas scooped her up, his business suit incongruous against her play-worn overalls. He'd left an important meeting early today just to join us at the park, part of his ongoing commitment to be the father he'd never had.
I watched them at the swings, his tall frame bent to accommodate her small one, his deep laugh mingling with her high-pitched giggles. My heart swelled with a love so fierce it almost hurt.
"Mom!" Leo jogged over, flushed with exertion from his basketball game. "Can we get ice cream? Please?"
"After living with werewolves for two years, I've learned never to come between them and food," I said solemnly. "Ice cream it is."
Lucas caught my eye across the playground and smiled—that private smile reserved only for me, full of promises and memories and a future stretching endlessly before us.
Later that evening, after ice cream and dinner and bath time, after bedtime stories and goodnight kisses, Lucas and I collapsed onto the sofa in our living room with matching sighs of exhaustion.
"Remind me again why we thought running two companies and a werewolf pack while raising two kids was a good idea?" I asked, curling into his side.
He laughed, the sound rumbling through his chest under my ear. "Because we're gluttons for punishment?"
"Must be." I yawned, content in the warm circle of his arms.
Our home—a spacious house on the edge of pack territory, close enough to the city for my commute but with enough privacy for shifting and pack gatherings—had become everything I'd ever dreamed of as a lonely child.
Photos lined the walls, documenting our journey: Leo's first day of school, our wedding, Nora's birth, family vacations, and pack ceremonies.
"Your company's quarterly report came out today," Lucas said, his fingers playing idly with my hair. "The board must be thrilled."
I smiled against his chest. "Not as thrilled as Victor would be furious. We've tripled the value of his former assets."
"My brilliant mate," Lucas murmured proudly. "Remind me to thank him if we ever cross paths again."
"For trying to destroy us?" I asked wryly.
"For failing so spectacularly that it made us stronger." His hand traced the mating mark on my shoulder through my thin sweater, sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. "Everything that tried to break us only forged us into something unbreakable."
I lifted my head to look at him, this man who had become my everything. The years had only enhanced his handsomeness, adding a few dignified strands of silver at his temples and laugh lines around his eyes.
"I love you," I said simply. "More today than yesterday."
His eyes darkened as he pulled me closer. "Show me," he whispered, echoing the words I'd spoken on our wedding night.
Later, tangled in our sheets with the moonlight painting silver patterns on our skin, I rested my head on Lucas's chest, listening to the steady drum of his heart.
"Leo asked me something interesting today," Lucas said, his voice a low rumble beneath my ear.
"Hmm?" I was half-asleep, content and satiated.
"He asked if we'd always been in love, or if we ever hated each other."
I lifted my head, curious. "What did you tell him?"
Lucas's fingers traced lazy patterns on my bare back. "I told him that love isn't always a straight path. That sometimes the people who challenge us most are the ones who matter most."
"Very diplomatic," I murmured approvingly.
"I also told him that the moment I saw you, something in me recognized you, even if I wasn't ready to admit it." His voice grew softer. "That fate brought us together, but choice kept us together."
I pressed a kiss to his chest, right over his heart. "And what did our wise son say to that?"
Lucas's laugh shook us both. "He said, 'Gross, Dad,' and asked if he could have another cookie."
I laughed too, imagining Leo's face. "He'll understand someday."
As sleep claimed me, safe in the arms of my mate, I thought about the strange and winding path that had led me here. The heartbreak and rejection that had seemed like the end of the world had merely been the first steps toward finding my true place.
In the quiet darkness of our bedroom, with the bond between us humming contentedly and our children sleeping peacefully down the hall, I offered a silent thank you to fate, to the moon, to whatever forces had brought us together that fateful night.
Some might call it destiny. Others might call it a chance.
I simply called it love—the kind that transforms, that endures, that completes.
The kind that turns two broken people into one unbreakable family.
Dear precious reader,thank you for reading Claimed by My Billionaire Alpha! When I finished writing the book, I couldn't put down my penyet...
PS: If you liked The Alpha's Contract Mate, I think you'll also like The Alpha's Silent Hunger ! Go to the next page for a sneak peek...