Chapter 25
Eight Months Later
Cleanup always took longer than expected.
Frankie thought Raoul’s serum and the Detroit Flu were the roughest part of the past year, but actually, it was the aftermath.
The city had not been kind once the news went public that Raoul and Emory Wolf were responsible.
Frankie had turned over everything she could find to the police and the entire pack had tried to disappear into anonymity under the onslaught.
And no one spoke again of trying to reveal werewolves to the general public.
Shifters were back in the shadows, and that was a good thing.
The public part of the nightmare had ended within a few months, but the investigation from other shifter alphas had taken much longer.
In this, the werewolves had come together, supporting Frankie in taking over the pack and declaring in one voice that she had fought her brother and father from the very beginning.
Even better, no one had fought her when she declared Ryan her beta.
In truth, she and Ryan were co-leading because they had complementary strengths.
But since she was the wolf, he let her claim the alpha title while he took beta. He didn’t care about titles anyway.
And now it was spring. The time when the newest shifters burst into their animal forms and went looking for the wildest spot along the River Rouge. Frankie walked along the edge of it, breathing the spring air and appreciating the shoots of green that waved in the early morning sunshine.
“I did good here,” she said to no one in particular.
Her first act as alpha of the Detroit Wolves had been to establish a regular patrol of this stretch of the park.
She wanted it safe for all the shifter young to come here and get their animal on.
It was something every shifter could get behind, and even the humans liked it when the park was safe.
Thanks to Ryan’s help, the Griz and two new shifter cops were part of the rotation.
To her right, she saw the grass near the water move.
She smiled, knowing what was coming, and she held out the cup of coffee she carried.
Ryan crept out from behind a tall patch of wildflowers and volunteer trees.
Technically, they were all weeds, but they looked pretty nonetheless, and he looked ruggedly handsome as he shook leaves out of his hair.
Good sleep, good sex, and a good life did that to a guy.
He looked as healthy as a…a grizzly bear.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” she teased as she helped him brush some dirt off his jeans.
“All good. A new cougar-shifter came through around three a.m. A girl and she was all, I love the water, I hate the water, no, I love the water!”
She smiled. “You like seeing the new shifters in spring.”
Ryan took a grateful pull on his coffee. “Yeah, although cats are weird. Bears just shuffle around and roar.”
“Wolves love the water. We can hardly get our teens out of it.” That had been last week’s problem when two new teen wolves had started playing in the river and refused to leave despite the presence of family, cops, and one city official.
She’d managed to smooth things over even though the wolves were hated by most of the population.
They were still called a “disreputable gang” by most journalists, but at least she could walk the streets without someone spitting at her.
And now she was settled as alpha of the werewolves.
Ryan was her beta even though he was a bear, and every one of the wolves in her care had broken their addiction to the serum.
Better yet, Frankie had given the secret wolf research facility over to Dr. Cecilia Lu to use for shifter research.
The woman wanted to dig deep into a few shifter-only illnesses.
There would even be a small clinic on site and shifter doctors were relocating offices to the space.
Detroit would finally get a medical facility for shifters, and that was a boon to all of their kind throughout the Midwest.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Ryan asked, his tone teasing. He’d been stunned by the depth and variety of programs she’d planned for the moment she became alpha. “I am not taking another shift in the day care,” he said. “Not without a lot more coffee.”
She smiled at him, her heart so full. It was time to tell him the real reason she’d met him at dawn by the River Rouge.
“What about caring for your own kids? You up for that?”
He’d been about to take another sip, but at her words, he slowly pulled the cup away.
“Don’t know of any kids,” he said. “But I’ll always be happy to take care of my own spawn.
” He was teasing when he called his kids spawn.
She could tell by the intensity in his eyes that he wanted children with a fierce, quiet need.
It was all part of making his own home with each other and their offspring.
Fortunately, she wanted it just as badly.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said with a smile. “Because in about eight and a half months—”
Her words were cut off by his whoop of joy. Then she was laughing as he picked her up and spun her around. She wrapped her arms tight around him, dropping her forehead to his as he slowed their spin.
“So I take it you’re happy?” she asked.
“Thrilled. You?”
“Ecstatic.”
He grinned as he gently set her down. “So we’re both happy, but…um…how did this happen?”
She shrugged. “Magic? Broken condom? Hell, if I know.”
His eyes widened. They both knew that strong shifter kids were usually surprise pregnancies.
What made this crazier was that she and Ryan were different species.
Their children ought to be normal humans without enough DNA to manifest either bear or wolf.
But stranger things had happened when magic got involved, and she’d be happy no matter what.
Meanwhile he was touching her face, stroking along her jaw line and looking at her like she held the sun and the moon in her hands.
She leaned in to kiss him, only to be startled as he sank away from her.
She pulled back in surprise then realized he was going down on one knee.
And while her mouth dropped open in shock, he pulled a ring box from his pocket.
“I meant to take you out to dinner tonight and do something special afterwards. But I can’t think of a better moment—or place—to do this.”
He grabbed her hand in his, but she noticed he couldn’t resist stroking across her belly first. “Francesca Wolf, you’re already my home, my alpha, and my love. Will you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife? And the mother of my children?”
Happiness welled up inside her, brighter and stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. And even better? It stayed with her, settling into a sweet glow that was part of that pillar inside her. The one that was labeled Ryan and she could feel with just a thought.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes!”
He surged upward as she threw her arms around him again.
It was a laughing struggle to get her to stay still long enough so he could slide the ring on her finger.
And then they were kissing, hugging, and Ryan spent a bit more time stroking her belly.
All in all, it was the best morning of her life.
Only to be beat by every morning after this one.
“I love you,” she said as he pressed a kiss to her belly.
“Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever wanted,” he said. Then he straightened up and kissed her. “I love you.”
It was good to be home.