Epilogue #2
“We should let you rest,” he said to Julie and Derek. “Harper and I will be at the penthouse. We’ll come back later.”
Derek nodded, already settling onto the bed beside his mate, his attention entirely consumed by his new family.
He led Harper out of the room.
They didn’t speak in the elevator. They didn’t speak in the car that took them across the city to Derek’s penthouse, where they’d been staying for the past week in anticipation of the birth.
They didn’t speak as they walked through the marble lobby, or rode the private elevator, or entered the guest suite with its sweeping views out over the harbor.
She walked over to the window, staring out at the city, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Harper.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.” He crossed to her, turning her gently to face him. “Talk to me.”
Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should be happy. Derek and Julie have a beautiful baby, and everything went perfectly, and I just… I couldn’t…”
“Couldn’t what?”
“Couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like.” She took a shaky breath. “If that was us. If I was the one in that bed. If we had a—”
Her voice broke.
He cupped her face in his hands, thumbs brushing away the tears that had started to fall. “Hey. Look at me.”
She did, her grey eyes swimming.
“Do you want a child with me?” He kept his voice steady, though his heart was pounding. “Because if that’s what you want, kitten, I want it too. More than I can say.”
“You do?”
“From the moment I met you, my wolf has wanted to give you pups.” He smiled at her startled laugh. “It’s a werewolf thing. But it’s also just a me thing. I want everything with you, kitten. A family. A future. All of it.”
“But what if I’m terrible at it?” The words tumbled out, raw and frightened. “I never had a family, Adrian. I don’t know how to be a mother. I barely know how to be a person some days. What if I—”
“You won’t.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I know you.” He pressed his forehead to hers.
“You’re the smartest, bravest, most stubbornly determined woman I’ve ever met.
You walked into a pack of werewolves and made them love you.
You stared down an Elder who wanted to destroy you and didn’t flinch.
You saved my family, Harper. You think you can’t handle a baby? ”
She let out a wet laugh. “When you put it like that…”
“I put it exactly like that.” He kissed her forehead, her nose, the corner of her mouth. “But if you’re not ready, we wait. There’s no rush. We have all the time in the world.”
She was quiet for a long moment.
“Not yet,” she finally whispered. “I want to, but I need to be sure. But soon, I think. Maybe soon.”
“Then soon it is.” He pulled her into his arms, holding her close. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.”
They stayed like that as the sun set over the city, painting the sky in shades of gold and rose. Her trembling eventually stilled, replaced by the steady rhythm of her breath, the warm pulse of the bond between them.
He thought about his father. About Derek and Julie and little Robert. About the family he’d lost and the family he’d found. About the woman in his arms, who had been alone her entire life and was learning, slowly, that she didn’t have to be anymore.
Whatever she needs, he thought. However long it takes.
He would wait.
The penthouse was quiet when Harper found him.
He’d been reading in the living room, too restless to sleep, his thoughts circling endlessly around the day’s events. The city glowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, a constellation of lights that never quite went dark.
“Adrian?”
He looked up.
She stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom, wearing one of his shirts—soft flannel, worn thin from years of use, falling past her thighs. Her pink hair was loose around her shoulders, her glasses absent, her feet bare on the polished hardwood.
She looked small and brave and determined.
“What’s wrong, kitten?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She crossed the room to him, climbing into his lap with a confidence that still surprised him sometimes. Her hands found his face, her eyes locked on his. “I’ve been thinking.”
“About?”
“About what you said. About being ready.” Her voice was steady now, none of the earlier trembling.
“I spent my whole life being afraid, Adrian. Afraid to get close to people, afraid to want things, afraid to hope for anything permanent. And then I met you, and I was afraid of that too. Afraid of how much I felt. Afraid it couldn’t possibly last.”
“Kitten—”
“Let me finish.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “I was afraid to come here, afraid to stay, afraid to let the pack in. I was afraid during the challenge, afraid when I held Robert, afraid of everything I might lose if I let myself want too much.”
She took a breath.
“But I’m done being afraid.”
His heart hammered against his ribs. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m ready.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “I want a family with you, Adrian. I want to give you pups—is that the right term? It sounds weird when I say it—but yes. That. I want that. With you. Now.”
For a moment, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think. Could only stare at this impossible woman who had stumbled into his life and turned everything upside down and made him believe in things he’d given up on years ago.
“Are you sure?” His voice came out rough. “Because once we start this, I’m not going to be able to… My wolf, the instinct to…”
“I know what I’m asking for.” She leaned in, her breath warm against his mouth. “I know what I want. The question is—do you?”
His control snapped.
He surged up from the couch, carrying her with him, her legs wrapping around his waist as he strode towards the bedroom. She laughed against his neck—bright and happy and completely unafraid—and he thought his heart might actually burst from his chest.
“I love you,” he growled as he laid her on the bed. “I love you, Harper Bailey Moonstone.”
“We’re not officially married yet.”
“Semantics.”
“Typical Alpha.” But she was smiling, reaching for him, pulling him down. “I love you too. Now stop talking and—”
He kissed her.
And later, much later, when they lay tangled together in the moonlight, her hand pressed hopefully against her stomach, he finally understood what his father must have felt.
This was what he’d been waiting for.
This was home.