Epilogue
Aiden's POV
Seven years later…
“How’re Elena and Xander?” Rose asked sleepily as she looked at the two slumbering newborns in their cots in her room.
“As fine as can be,” I assured her tiredly. “They’re enjoying being with Mom and you know how Tanya and the boys love playing with them.”
Rose smiled.
We knew Elena adored being around "cool Aunt Tanya" who was only eight years older than her. And three-year-old Xander loved playing ball with his uncles. Rose had been worried for no reason. The kids barely registered the fact that she wasn’t home.
“They’re not missing me, are they?” Rose queried, just to be sure.
“More like excited to have new siblings.”My eyes went to rest on the sleeping twin boys Rose had just given birth to earlier today.
But this time, it had been complicated. Her placenta accreta hadn’t healed like it should have.
My bite hadn’t been as effective as it had been the last two times.
She’d almost had to have a hysterectomy.
As it was, she’d lost too much blood: four pints which was nearly half the entire amount of blood in her body.
We were lucky Dr. Danvers was always careful and had made arrangements so that they’d had her blood type on hand.
I had already realized it was time to call it quits.
Four was a good number. I was happy with the kids we had.
And I definitely didn’t want to go through what we’d gone through today ever again.
There was a point where Rose nearly flat-lined.
If it hadn’t been for her wolf’s regenerative abilities kicking in, I might have lost her today.
“There’s only one you, Rose,” I said softly.
I looked at her, hoping she understood what I was trying to say.
What would I do without her? I needed her.We’d been through so much together.
She’d kept me sane through all the trials and tribulations.We’d lived together in New York for a while which had been a unique experience.We’d managed to care for Elena together while juggling school and taking on minimal pack duties.
Luckily, Tony’s mate had stepped up to take on a lot of Rose’s duties while we’d been in New York.
It was as Rose was finishing up med-school that she broke the news of Xander’s impending birth.
Rose hadn't had her next heat until Elena was three. Probably because of the hormones her body produced while lactating. It worked out because a few months later, Rose informed me she was two months pregnant. Her placenta increta hadn’t been nearly as severe with Xander.
Dr. Danvers deduced that our son’s alpha genes were helping to keep it at bay.
The boy was helping to keep his mother healed.
But these two twins had been an entirely different story.
They might or might not be alphas. But Rose’s placenta had ended up growing past her uterus and into her bladder with them.
They almost removed her entire uterus, but her own regenerative abilities had started kicking in, paving the way to an easy removal of placenta stuck to her insides.
It had been painful to watch, and even more painful to endure.
I had decided then and there we weren’t going to have any more kids after this.
I could not and would not let Rose go through this pain again.
Plus, four kids were enough.We'd have to be crazy to try and have more.
I was a hands-on father, trying to divide my time amongst my children while still fulfilling my alpha duties.
Plus, as if the procedure with the twins hadn’t been bad enough, Dr. Danvers then discovered that a part of her placenta had remained stuck to her bladder and when they tried to remove it, it caused a gaping hole inside her organ.
The delivery room had looked like something out of a grisly murder scene.
There had been so much blood. And I had been so afraid.
Trying to stop reliving the events from earlier that day, I lifted a hand to brush against Rose’s pale one.
Rose gave me a small smile of understanding.It was looking like she must have understood what I meant, what I’d decided as long as she was fine with it. There was no more second guessing between us. And she agreed with me.
“Truth be told, I’d already thought that after these twins, it was time to be finished having more kids.You know, I've finished up my residency and have traded in my skirts for scrubs. I am a fully certified and practicing pack doctor now. And I’ve decided it is time to focus on my career. ” Rose spoke gently.
I knew giving birth was taxing for her, caring for newborns was even more time consuming.We’d gotten by largely with help from our extended family so far, but we knew eventually we’d need to hire a nanny or put the kids in daycare.
Because Rose wanted to begin practicing werewolf medicine soon.
So it was time to focus on being there for the kids she had as well as taking care of her pack.
Rose scooted over, patting the space on the bed next to her. I got in, hugging her fiercely and letting my chin rub over the top of her head.
“I love you,” Rose whispered into my shoulder.
“I love you. I’ll always love you,” I vowed into her hair.
I was enjoying having her in my arms after today's scare.
“You know,” Rose spoke, nuzzling into my arms. “When I was eighteen, I thought the Moon Goddess had made a mistake picking you as my mate.”
I tensed, arms still around her.
“But now…” She sighed into my shoulder. “Now I thank the Moon Goddess for this wonderful life we made together. And our beautiful family. I’d been so wrong to think you were a mistake. You’re perfect, Aiden.”
“You’re perfect,” I spoke into her mind. “You’re my perfect mate. I was just too blind to see it when I was younger.”
Just as I bent down to kiss her temple, both twins started crying simultaneously. Rose heaved a sigh. They were probably hungry.
"One at a time?" I supplied, sensing her thoughts on how she was going to manage nursing two infants.
“Well, at least I’ve got two boobs,” Rose couldn’t help but comment wryly as I handed one over to her for nursing.
“Oh, our kids aren’t the only ones that can take advantage of that fact,” I said with a smirk and a chuckle.
Rose gave me a dirty look.
“Now is not the time to make jokes,” she muttered.
“We could supplement with formula?” Iproposed, switching tactics and trying to placate Rose. “People do it all the time.”
Rose nodded pensively. That was definitely a good suggestion. She finished nursing one child and then took the other.
“Have you thought about their names?” I inquired.
I always let Rose handle this part. She’s the one that went through hours of painful delivery and carried them in her body. As long as the names weren’t anything out there like Charlemagne or Zeus, I was content to let Rose pick.
“Austin, after your father.” Rose gestured to the newborn in my arms. “Ezra after mine.” She gestured to the one in her own arms.
“They were never brothers by blood, but they might as well have been,” I acknowledged, referring to both our fathers. Ezra would be happy to hear this. The smile on my face suddenly dropped. “Shit, how are we going to be able to tell them apart? They look exactly alike!”
The hospital room resounded with the soft musical laughter of her voice before I soon joined in, still positiveI’d made a valid point.
But it felt so good to laugh with Rose. She’d brought laughter into my life when there had been none.
She’d tempered me and taught me to be nonjudgmental when I hadn’t even known the meaning of it.
Why had it ever really been a question between picking my mate or my girlfriend? It was always going to be my mate. It was always going to be Rose.