"First, I think I'd like to take a nice long sleep,” Jason admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Laughter rippled through the room. Aurora moved over so that Jason could sit next to Rose on the bed. He sat beside her, planting a kiss on her lips. He wrapped an arm around her and looked down at their daughter.
"She is beautiful."
"Yeah,” Rose said, with a smile. “We need to start thinking of her future."
"We'll take her home and raise her in the cabin,” Jason said, rubbing her shoulder. Rose sighed.
"I can't go back there, Jason. I've been staying at the PRDI. Since Simon—"
"Don't say his name again,” Jason said. “We don't need to think of him anymore. He's dead."
Rose agreed with a nod. “He has no hold on us anymore."
"That's right,” Davis said, though he sounded disheartened. He was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. “Simon is dead as a fucking doornail and there's no way in hell he's coming back. And the same goes for Alana, for that matter. I knew she was bad news. She looked too familiar, but I couldn't place it. I had no idea it was her."
"If we can't stay at the cabin, then where? No offense, Glen, but you know how I dislike the PRDI. I can't spend the rest of my life there,” Jason said.
"None taken and the PRDI isn't exactly the best place to raise a child. The whole place is falling apart, as usual. Now that Pierce is gone, I'm going to have to start looking for a new second in command and it's going to be hectic for a while.” Glen sighed. “Anyone else have an idea where Rose and Jason can stay?"
They all fell silent as they thought for a few minutes. It was Cheyenne that broke the silence.
"You can stay here.” Everyone turned to look at her. “There's plenty of room here and there are fields we can run in. We can have gatherings once again."
"We can't impose, Cheyenne. You've been so kind to us, but we don't want to—"
"Rose, if you were imposing, I wouldn't offer,” Cheyenne pointed out. She leaned against the wall, favoring her good shoulder. “I wouldn't mind the company. And, I wouldn't have to sell the house."
"Wait, you were going to sell the house?” Glen asked. “Why didn't you tell us? We would've helped out."
Cheyenne waved a hand. “It's not a big deal, at least it isn't now. Would you want to stay here? I mean, first we have to get rid of the bloodstains in the kitchen and replace the window."
"And the dead body,” Aurora said. “Don't forget the body."
"Davis and I have already taken care of it,” Glen said. “So what's the word? You gonna move in or not?"
Rose looked to Jason and he thought about it a moment. He looked down at his little girl with her red hair and blue eyes and he smiled. He had a feeling she was going to be a handful growing up and they were going to need all the help they could.
Jason chuckled at the thought and looked at Rose again.
"What do you think?” she asked him.
"I think our little girl is going to need a village to raise her, or at least a pack.” He looked to Cheyenne. “We'll stay. I have a feeling this little girl is going to be trouble. At least we can have a positive role model to straighten her out."
Cheyenne laughed. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. With you for a dad, she's going to be quite the little menace."
"And if she's anything like Rose...” Glen trailed off there with a good, hearty laugh. Rose shot him a mock dirty look, but started to laugh too.
"I was a good kid, you have to admit that."
"You were terrible. Still are.” Glen crossed the room and wrapped an arm around his cousin in a half-hug. “But I still love you."
"Okay, you big goof, now let me go. You're crushing your little cousin."
Glen backed away and looked down at her. “She does kinda look like you, Rose."
"But she has Jason's eyes."
"Your eyes are blue, too."
"But not that shade of blue. That's definitely from Jason."
"What are you going to name her?” Aurora asked. She stood up from the bed and stood next to Cheyenne.
"That's a good question,” Jason said. He looked to Rose. She shrugged.
"I honestly haven't thought on it. I was too preoccupied with other things.” She looked to Jason and then away. With all that had happened to them, it seemed that danger and loss had once again brought them together. It seemed things were going to remain unspoken and Jason was fine with that. At least Rose was alive and he was back. That's all that mattered.
"Jason? Do you have any idea for names?” Rose asked, looking at him again.
Jason blinked as he thought about it. “Way to put me on the spot. Let me think a minute."
As he thought, his attention turned to Amelia. She was watching him, a soft smile on her face. Jason returned the smile. She was holding the Book of Shadows, her family's book—his family's book.
The idea suddenly came to him.
"What's your middle name?” Jason asked her. Amelia's smile faded and she looked a little surprised.
"My middle name? Camille."
"Wasn't that your mother's middle name?” Aurora asked.
"Yes,” Amelia answered, “it's an old family name."
Jason nodded and turned to Rose. “And your mother's middle name?"
Without hesitating, Rose answered, “Faye."
Jason smiled and looked down at his little girl. “Camille Faye. How does that sound?"
The baby just curled her fist and feebly punched the air. Rose laughed.
"Looks like she likes it.” She leaned in and kissed Jason on the cheek. “That was very considerate of you."
Jason smiled, looking at Amelia as he spoke. “I named her after two of the most important women in our lives."
He looked back to Rose. There was a tear in her eye. He wiped it away with his thumb. “I know you wish your mother could be here."
Rose nodded. “I never really got a chance to know my mother."
"Me either,” Jason said. Once again he looked at Amelia. A tear fell from the corner of her eye, but she was smiling. “But there's always a time for second chances."
"I know I didn't get a lot of time to spend with my mother, but I'm not going to let that happen to her. We are going to do it right. There will be no hunters, no accidents that aren't ‘accidents'—” Rose started.
"We hope,” Davis said under his breath. Glen elbowed him in the ribs, Jason shot him a dirty look, and he fell silent.
"This little girl is going to live in a different world that we did. I don't want her to be an orphan, like so many of us have been. We are going to do it right. We have a chance to make it right.” Rose looked to Jason. “Do you know what I mean?"
"I know what you mean baby, but you're rambling. I think you need to sleep and I think I need to as well."
"Yeah, maybe later I can explain myself and make more sense."
"You make perfect sense, dear,” Amelia said. She smiled. “Congratulations on the new addition to your family. She's beautiful."
"Thank you.” Rose beamed. She looked to Jason. “Before we go to sleep, would you like to hold her?"
Jason balked and shook his head. “I don't think so. What if I break her?"
"You won't break her,” Rose laughed. “Here, hold your arms out.” Gently, she slipped the baby into his outstretched arms. “Now, hold her close to you and cradle her head. Yeah, like that."
The tiny newborn in his hands was so tiny. Jason was almost afraid to breath. “She's so little."
Rose leaned into him, resting her head against his shoulder. “She is, but she'll grow up to be strong, just like her father."
"And with a little help from the pack,” Glen started, gesturing to those in the room, “she'll be well protected and loved."
"We won't let anything happen to her, or to anyone of us any more,” Cheyenne pitched in.
"At least, we'll try our damndest,” Davis added.
"We'll take good care of Camille Faye,”
Aurora said. Amelia nodded beside her.
Rose and Jason looked around the room at those gathered there. With the exception of Slater and Rebel, both of whom were on their way there, the pack was all here. They were a whole family, united finally without the threat of Simon, or Quenten, or Hunters, or Alana. For the first time ever, they were at peace. It was how it should be.
Jason remembered what Amelia had said about the dark moon being a time of new beginnings. It couldn't have been a more appropriate time for them to all come together. The time of darkness had passed and the dark moon—the new moon—was about to rise.
And Jason knew they were more than ready to welcome it.
The End
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AUTHOR BIO
From a very young age, Rose Marie Wolf was interested in things that weren't quite normal, so it was no surprise when she grabbed her crayon and started scribbling out short stories about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fairies, elves and all manner of paranormal creatures.
Her combined love of writing and the supernatural grew and, in 2002, she began writing on her first serious work, a short story about werewolves she called “Sweet Moon Dreams". A few years later, with the help of her fiancé, she developed the story into a novel-sized manuscript.
Rose Marie lives in Indiana, with a menagerie of pets, not including her fiancé and his mother. She is currently working on her next supernatural adventure and she encourages readers and fans to join her discussion group on Yahoo! to chat about books, writing, publishing and her upcoming releases.
www.rosemariewolf.com
Yahoo Group: groups.yahoo.com/group/rosemariewolf
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Red Rose™ Publishing
Dark Moon Magick, Book Four of the Moon Series
Changed—Coming Soon, so stay tuned!
Samhain Publishing, LTD
Sweet Moon Dreams, Book One of the Moon Series
Blood Moon, Book Two of the Moon Series
Hunter's Moon, Book Three of the Moon Series
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Visit www.redrosepublishing.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
Dark Moon Magick [The Moon Series: Book 4] Page 33