It was nice having someone there for me through this. Not just someone but him, and he wanted to be there for our baby and for me. Being able to experience something so big, so life-changing, and getting to share it all was – I couldn’t put it into words. “Wow,” Emmett scooted closer.
I watched the awe, shock, and adoration on Caspien and Emmett’s faces. The love that both of them already had for life that grew inside of me.
“Everything looks healthy, Luna. Set up your appointments on the way out; we can find out the gender in a few weeks.”
Caspien’s eyes widened, “It’s going to have a gender.” He breathed, shaking his head, “What if it’s a girl? What if it’s another boy?” His eyes widened.
“I think we will manage,” I rubbed circles on the back of his hand. I knew how overwhelming and consuming this could be.
Your life stopped belonging to only you, and even though I had Emmett, we had Emmett, a new baby was always scary. No matter what, they would come in with their own personality and shift our lives completely.
I looked up, and Caspien was beaming at me; he leaned over to press his lips swiftly on mine and pulled back, wearing his smile that lit up his eyes.
“We’re having a baby,” He said.
We had everyone over for brunch later that afternoon. Our parents were going back to the old pack grounds, and my parents were going to officially start to settle there. Once the baby was born, they promised to come here in shifts, as if it wasn’t a half-hour drive away.
Emmett and Loreli were starting school next week in the pack house, so we had time during the day to deal with pack work, doctor’s appointments, and Caspien could get back into a routine at the office instead of working from home so often.
I was happy to set up a routine again. I think I needed it. Knowing what would happen each day, having Emmett get back into something familiar, was crucial for him too.
Our parents left to take Emmett and Loreli to an afternoon baseball game. They were acting as if they wouldn’t see him for months, even though they planned to come to dinner tomorrow night.
The rest of us were finishing the last of our food. Nora had a sleeping Olivia in her arms, and it was nice to have her recovered enough to join in on these things and bring Olivia too.
“Are you going to do a gender reveal?” Griffen asked, his arm around Nora.
“What the h.ell is a gender reveal?” Holden scoffed, almost sounding offended.
“Please don’t do a gender reveal,” Cali’s gold-flecked eyes met mine, “I mean, I’ll come, because I love you. H.ell, I’ll even help plan the party,” She rolled her eyes, “But a text would suffice, or a mindlink whatever.”
“Before you guys get any more heated about this,” I laughed, “We weren’t planning on it.”
“What is a gender reveal?” Caspien leaned down and whispered to me.
“Basically a party where we all find out the gender together,” I said to him.
“People pop a balloon, open a cake, something with the colors,” Cali said, popping a potato into her mouth.
“Why?” Caspien asked; he looked genuinely confused.
I shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“Community, maybe.” Cali suggested, but her face held nothing but horror, “But I would say if you get more presents, then why not?”
“I’ll buy the rest of the things we need if we can avoid another party,” Caspien said cooly. I agreed with that.
Holden shrugged, going back to the conversation and asking Griffen why he knew so much about gender reveals, and Griffen literally pointed to his infant child in his mate’s arms.
I was truly blessed. We were truly blessed, all of us, to have found each other.
It felt surreal, looking around at all of them. Remembering the first time I met Holden and Griffen and how I felt that I was intruding and completely out of my element. I thought of when Cali walked up to me, and we clicked. She helped me find a job, and our kids became fast friends. Her being the Gamma here just made so much sense. It was unexpected but more than welcomed.
Now, I felt more than comfortable with all of them in any room. In the last few months, we have all been through so much together. We have grown, been challenged, and challenged each other. I fit here with these people, and they fit into my life perfectly. They were everything I didn’t know that I needed to ask for.
“One more,” Emmett pleaded, but his eyes were tired.
“A short one, then,” I ruffled his hair, wanting to get to bed myself, but I knew it wouldn’t be the three of us for much longer.
Caspien sat on the other side of Emmett’s bed. We took turns reading stories tonight. Caspien handed me a small book.
A classic fairytale. I read it to Emmett, and his eyes started to droop.
“And then the prince kissed the princess.. The End.” I closed the book looking at Emmett sleeping softly next to me. I bent down to place a kiss on his forehead.
“What happens next?” Emmett asked.
“I don’t know; that’s where it ended.”
“They lived happily ever after?” Caspien asked.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” I smiled at him.
He grabbed my hand and led me back downstairs, wrapping his arms around my waist and nuzzling my neck. The city twinkled below us.
My city. Our city.
I realized that I could give all of myself to my family while still maintaining my sense of self.
I could be complete alone but make space for others to help me grow and evolve. Caspien and I became something new, outside of who we were as individuals. Emmett fit perfectly in both of our lives. This new baby would expand our family. Nothing would take us away from ourselves. They would only help us expand our life and our love to fit them.
“This is our happily ever after. I can promise you that.” The dark prince, my mate, my future, growled into my marking spot.
“Promise?” I asked.
“I promise.” He said with such sincerity I would never question it again.
(Caspien)
Willa and Emmett through me through a loop. I felt a different kind of love, a different flavor of protectiveness. I loved my parents and admired them more than anyone.
Holden and Griffen I loved in a way, as well. They were sturdy, always there, and outside of my parents, the only people I could trust to give me their honest opinions. The only ones that weren’t scared of me, at least.
I was protective, and so was Atlas, but I knew that came with the territory of being an Alpha and a royal at that.
I had never felt fear quite like this, though. It was similar to when Emmett was sick, but back then, I held on to some ignorant hope that he would be okay – and he was.
Seeing Willa like this, she looked, she looked close to death. Her hair was damp with sweat; her full pink lips were paler than her skin. She swallowed and her eyes seemed to roll back.
“Breath, baby.” I motioned for the nurse to hand me another cold compress that I pressed to her head, trying in vain to wipe her dark tendrils away from her forehead.
Her head lulled forward, and she gripped my arm, but it was a whisper of the strength she possessed only hours ago. I would take the yelling, the screaming, over this. I would take anything over this. She seemed defeated, so consumed by the pain that I could barely reach her. I wish I could do something, take it away if only a little.
She already yelled that she saw me practically die so I could deal with this. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so scared. I wanted her to s.cream to hit me to curse me. Anything that showed me she was still in there, but this just seemed wrong. They all assured me this was normal, but nothing about it seemed natural. Who had the idea of condemning women to t.orture just to give new life? I would have to talk to them about it.
“Is she okay?” I asked the nurse, scanning her face for any sign of worry, but she just wore a pleasant smile.
“Perfectly normal. She’s close.” She smiled widely and it grated me.
How dare she smile while my mate was in such pain? An older version of myself, before I met Willa, would have snapped at her and banned her from the room, possibly from the pack. “Baby?” I asked Willa and her head lulled towards me.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.