Epilogue
Birch
One Year Later
We’ve been a throuple for a year. Zephyr hated when I used that term, or pretended to. We intended it as a joke.
We were a two alpha reverse harem, but damn, that was a mouthful. Not that we had to explain our relationship to anyone. We didn’t.
We registered the pack with the shifter council so that Zephyr could be registered as ours, and that extended into legal things and we could put properties and trusts into all of our names.
Cypress was working well into the night and as the front door opened and closed, my wolf paid attention. Our mate was home.
Her last day of work for a while. She would ultimately make the decision when to go back to work after the babies came, but last night over dinner, she’d said it was enough. Today was her last day before maternity leave.
Too late if you asked me but no one did. It wasn’t my body carrying twins.
I walked to the front door to see the show. My mate doing her front door ritual was a thing of beauty. She slipped off her shoes first and for a long time would put them into the shoe cabinet, but that wasn’t possible anymore.
I would do it later.
Her jacket came off next, and the whole time, an evolution of her face happened. She came in, brows bunched. Lips pursed. Shoulders tensed. But as she threw her keys into the bowl and hung her purse and bag up, it all changed.
She let the day go at that front door.
Maybe I was strange, but seeing her come in and do her thing was the sexiest sight.
“You’re staring,” she said under her breath. The official end of the ritual.
“Not denying it. Come here.” She walked over and stood sideways since her belly would prohibit a front hug. We found alternative ways to do all kinds of things this late in her pregnancy. “How was your last day, mate?”
“Terrible.”
“What?” I pulled back but kept my hand on her stomach. The babies were active today and got even more so when I touched her. They knew their papa was near. “Tell me about it. I made you a snack plate while the steak rests.”
She sighed. “The day wasn’t terrible in itself,” Zephyr started as we made our way to the kitchen. “It’s me. I didn’t do anything today because the new baker was in and we wanted to do a dry run, like I wasn’t there.”
“And how did that go?”
She groaned and leaned forward to rest her forehead on the counter. “Flawlessly. They don’t even need me anymore. I’m just the boss. I’m like an absent CEO.”
I didn’t dare laugh. I valued my man parts. “That’s not true. It just proves what a great leader you are. You trained them and taught them to run that place like a machine.”
She turned her head and made a noise. “Don’t butter me up. I’m allowed to stew. Oh, that hurts.”
“What hurts?” My wolf grabbed my attention immediately. My bond with my mate tugged inside me so much so that I could hear Cypress abandon his work and bounce down the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I felt a pain right in my…”
The rest was a blur of action. Zeph’s water broke. We got her upstairs to shower. Bags were grabbed. Car started. A ride to the birthing center. Hours and hours of waiting and supporting and wishing I could take all the pain away from her.
And then we were parents of two.
Two sons. Hawthorn and Hemlock. Lock and Thorn for short. We’d decided months ago.
Cypress took baby duty, watching as our babies got cleaned up, and I took mama duty which included wiping the sweat from her forehead and telling her how incredible she was, because she was. I also poured some alpha power into the bond to help her heal and feel at ease.
“They are okay?” she asked.
“They are perfect. You are perfect, mate.”
Cypress appeared at her side and place both babies on her chest. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Cypress and I shared a look. This was it. Our dream as children who made a pact for the future, not knowing if it would work out.
Fate had made a way.