by Marissa Teng
They met both wolves and Slater when they reentered the packhouse from the staircase. The fight here had also been victorious on their side. Slater was in his human form and he walked over to them as he saw them emerge.
“So, this is your boy then, Jaxson?” Slater asked. Jaxson growled in response which caused Slater to nod. “Well, I would have started a war to get my kids back in a heartbeat, that for sure. I’m glad I could help.” He pointed out the doors with this thumb. “Since I’m assuming you killed the Alpha and I killed the beta and your mate here killed their third, there is probably no one in line to take this pack.”
“I’m next in line.” Stellan said. “Trenton said I was too young to renounce my claim…but I don’t want the pack.” He turned to Lucia with a tired look in his eyes. “I just want to go home, Mommy.”
“Relax there, kid, no one is giving you the pack. I actually think it belongs to Jaxson since he killed the Alpha.” Slater said calming down Stellan who looked like he was about to cry again. “Either way, Jax, you have to get out there and stop the war. Our people are fighting out there and you’re the only one who can stop it. You killed their Alpha. They should belong to you now.” Jaxson nodded and they all walked towards the door.
Slater shifted back to his wolf and soon, they were joined by the two other wolves that helped them.
“I never asked for your names.” Lucia asked the two.
I am Nina and this is my mate, Shane. The female wolf, Nina, answered. We were your father’s Beta pair. We knew you before you were…taken.
We are proud we were able to fight by your side today and protect you, Luna. Added Shane. Lucia gave them both a sad smile. She had forgotten them too and now was not the time to sit and search her memory for them. She could find them later.
“I thank you both.” Lucia said instead, just as they walked outside back into the battlefield.
It was a massacre. How long had they been down in that basement? The scene consisted of men, women, wolves, and bears all fighting with no mercy. Why would they have mercy? This was a war.
Jaxson let out a roar that shook the ground beneath their feet. Some of the wolves fighting staggered and collapsed. Lucia noticed that it was all the wolves from Sterling’s pack that fell. Jaxson roared again causing the remaining wolves to fall. Now none of Sterling’s pack was left on their feet.
Apollo was the first to turn towards them. He was covered in blood but he looked fine. He spotted Lucia and shouldered his gun, making a mad dash towards their group. She couldn’t help but smile. He smiled back but it fell when he reached them and spotted Stellan.
“He…is he your boy?” Apollo asked. “He looks like Lucas. He looks more like Lucas than his own son, Dillan.” Apollo shook his head as he murmured his words. “Are you all alright? What just happened?”
“Jaxson killed Sterling and I think he commands the pack now.” Lucia told him. Apollo looked around and now Holden and a few others were running towards them. It surprised Lucia when Holden didn’t stop at Jaxson and went to grab Stellan off of Jaxson back to warp him in his arms, embracing the boy.
“I’m so glad you’re safe, little guy.” Holden said. “Jax said you almost killed Sterling yourself.” To that, Stellan nodded. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t have to. Your first kill shouldn’t be a man. It should be food to provide for your family. I’m glad he wasn’t able to take that away from you.” Holden wiped some dirt probably mixed with blood off of Stellan’s face then kissed his forehead.
“Can we go home now?” Stellan asked. Holden turned to Jaxson and they seemed to be communicating. It hurt Lucia a bit how she still couldn’t communicate with her mate that way but she wasn’t a bear, and maybe that was why. She could learn to live with it, however. Humans didn’t communicate that way and they lived happy lives, didn’t they?
“Yeah,” Holden told him then he turned to address the rest of the packs “Pick up your wounded and get them into the trucks! We have healers waiting for them! Jaxson said to leave all those of the Blood Pride Pack here. They have no Alpha and are no longer a threat. They can no longer raise a hand against any members of The High Mountain Pack or the Legion pack!” A hush fell over the crowd then both bears and wolves let out victory howls and roars.
Those in their human forms added their own shouts of victory to the chanting. Many began to shift and were handed clothes and helped those who couldn’t move be lifted into trucks to be taken to the awaited healers.
Sterling was dead and Lucia and Stellan were free. They never had to fear of him coming to get them.
The war was over.
They had won.
Epilogue
He couldn’t find him. He looked to his left, then his right, then he stared off into the forest. Jaxson had told him, them, not to go into the forest. It was dark out and he knew for a fact that Stellan knew not to go into the forest at night. It wasn’t that he thought his territory was dangerous at night, it just gave him peace of mind knowing that they weren’t out in the forest this late at night. Stellan knew that. So, where were they?
He began to head for the forest when he heard a giggle behind him. He relaxed and turned around. Nothing. No one was there. Panic rose in him again when suddenly someone crashed into his back.
“ROAR!!!”
Jaxson toppled over from the impact and rolled onto his back. A small, four-year-old boy threw himself onto Jaxson’s stomach causing him to let out an “oomph” sound.
“That’s twenty-one hundred points for us, Daddy!” The boy, who was a mini replica of Jaxson himself, shouted. His voice echoed through the clearing and was joined by laughter from Jaxson’s right. He turned towards it and saw his oldest son, Stellan.
“Actually, it’s just 14, Rand,” Stellan said with laughter coating both his voice and his eyes.
“Did you two go into the forest?” Jaxson asked, picking up his youngest son as he stood. Randall, or Rand, or even Randy, as they all chose to call him, leaned his body back in his father’s arms letting his own arms going out.
“No, you told us not to.” Stellan said.
“Mommy and Daddy said to stay in the clearing.” Randall recited. He pushed himself back up in Jaxson’s arms. “Did she have the baby yet? Is my sister here?” Jaxson sighed as Stellan snickered.
“No, Rand, Mommy didn’t have the baby yet, stop asking every five minutes.” Jaxson answered. Randall huffed in annoyance, crossing his arms.
“Make her come faster! I want to play with her and teach her how to be a bear!” Jaxson sighed again and turned around heading back towards the house.
“Your sister will come when she is ready.” Jaxson told his son, who was now pushing to be let down from his father’s arms. Knowing that he would run off again if he let him down, Jaxson held the boy firmly. “We’re going inside now. It’s late and Mommy will have your bath ready.”
“But wolves don’t take baths!” Randall complained, pushing harder now against his father, trying to get free.
“I thought you said you were a bear?” Jaxson laughed.
“I honestly think with his strength, he’s definitely a bear.” Stellan said. “I wasn’t able to knock you over ‘til I was at least eight.”
“And now you’re eleven-years-old and Daddy is a million years old and I can knock you both over! I’m the strongest in the family! Awooooo!” Randall howled as Jaxson climbed up the front porch and opened the screen door to their house.
His renovations had included three more bedrooms, two more bathrooms, an extra floor where said rooms where, an extension to the living room and kitchen, along with an additional den. The boys both slept in their own rooms upstairs while Jaxson and Lucia remained in his old bedroom, which he expanded by a few square feet, to make Lucia feel more comfortable.
He knew she took up little space and asked for even less but Jaxson wanted to give his mate everything. She meant the world to him and now, she meant more than the world because she had handed him the world and asked for no
thing in return.
“Do I hear howling?” Lucia asked as walked down the stairs. Jaxson heard the smile in her voice and it caused his heart to skip a beat. He wondered if it would ever stop doing that. It had been five years since he had found her in his woods, hanging onto life by a thread, and not once has his heart never skipped a beat when he saw her smile or heard her laugh. Her hand rested protectively on her swollen stomach causing Jaxson and his bear to both fill with self-satisfied pride.
“Mommy!” Randall shouted and Jaxson set him down making sure to shut the main door and lock the higher locks. “We were outside and I saw a dragonfly and I asked Daddy ‘If I eat the dragonfly will I be a dragon?’ and Daddy said ‘No! don’t eat that damn dragonfly, you’ll get sick!’ But then I saw a firefly and I asked Daddy ‘If I eat the firefly will I breathe fire?’ and Daddy said ‘No, maybe your tummy will glow in the dark!’ so I ate the firefly and then I ate the dragonfly so the firefly wouldn’t be lonely and he would have a friend!” Randall spoke so fast that Jaxson didn’t have time to stop the boy from telling his mother about the bug incident. “Daddy said not to tell you.” He lifted up his shirt, exposing his stomach to Lucia. “He tried to get me to spit out the bugs, but I didn’t. Is it glowing yet, Mommy?”
“You told our four-year-old son to eat bugs?” Lucia asked Jaxson. Her voice was stern but there was a hit on amusement there and she was fighting back a grin. Jaxson sighed yet again and ran a hand over his short hair.
“I didn’t tell him to do anything. In fact, whenever I do tell him to do anything, he disobeys me and does the opposite. The only one he listens to in this house is Stellan.” Jaxson complained crossing his arms.
“And Mom.” Added Stellan. Jaxson turned, shooting a glare at Stellan who was grinning. “Well he does!” Stellan laughed. “Sorry, Dad. But if it makes you feel better. He doesn’t always listen to me.”
“Stellan taught me how to go invisible so that no one can smell me now I can be sneaky-sneaky wherever I go!” Randall informed with glee. Suddenly Stellan stopped laughing and went still. Both his parents turned to him crossing their arms with unamused looks on their faces.
Stellan’s mouth bobbed open and shut, like a fish out of water as he searched for an explanation.
“Mommy did you Pee-pee yourself?” Randall asked. Jaxson looked down at the pool of liquid at Lucia’s feet. His mind didn’t process things as fast as he would have hoped, because the next thing he knew, his mate was saying:
“Jax, I think my water broke.” Jaxson has Lucia scooped up in his arms faster than he could unlock the front door. Stellan grabbed Randall by the hand and the keys in the bowl by the door.
Lucia’s water broke. We are heading to you right now. Jaxson mind-linked the pack doctor.
Bring her in through the back. Her room will be ready, Alpha. The pack doctor linked back.
“Open the door for me and get your bother into the car.” Jaxson told Stellan.
“Got it.” Stellan said already one step ahead.
“What’s happening?” Randall asked as Stellan hoisted him into his car seat and strapped him in. “Mommy needs new pants not a car ride.”
“Our baby sister is coming.” Stellan told him and climbed into his seat. Jaxson strapped on Lucia’s seatbelt, closed her door then ran around the car, jumping into the driver seat.
“How are you feeling, Baby? Are you in pain?” Jaxson asked as he turned on the car and put it into reverse, pulling out of their driveway. Once he shifted the car into drive his hand went to hers.
“I’m alright. I’m not feeling any contra— AHH!” She squeezed Jaxson’s hand and he gritted his teeth. “Ok, looks like I am having contractions.”
“Breathe, Baby.” Jaxson told her reassuringly. “We’re almost at the pack doctor. She said they would be ready for you. Holden will meet us there to watch the boys.” Lucia nodded and held onto his hand.
“We got this.” Lucia told him with a smile.
“We got this.” Jaxson replied kissing her hand.
They did have this. They had everything Jaxson could hope for. Lucia was a strong mate, mother and wife. She completed Jaxson in every way imaginable. They had their pack, their sons and now they would have a daughter to add to their family.
She would be welcomed with so much love from both sides. Jaxson’s parents had gushed over Stellan when they first met him, giving the boy so much love and attention that when Randall came along, Stellan was relieved that some of that love would be passed on to him.
Both his parents adored Lucia and gave her a protective love that he wanted to believe she didn’t receive from her actual parents, even though they had returned into her life and were now a strong part of it.
The merging of the bears and wolves had been smoother than he thought. Last year there had been another couple within the mixed pack to find out they were mates. Now he and Lucia weren’t the only bear and wolf mated couple in the pack and he was sure there would soon be others.
Jaxson had kept his promise and had given Stellan a normal childhood after he got him home from the war and the entire pack helped. He had never been prouder of his pack than when they all gathered and taught Stellan how to ride a bike only a week after the war had ended. Both sides came together to teach one child how to do things he was never allowed to do.
He was sure that the whole pack would all be at the pack hospital waiting to see his daughter come into this world. His family would be there along with Lucia’s and they would all protect his family as if they were their own.
He had never wanted a pack.
He had never wanted a mate.
Now he didn’t know how he could live without either.
“Daddy, my water broke, too.” Randall said right as they pulled into the pack hospital parking lot.
“Aww, gross.” Stellan said as Jaxson turned a look of exasperated horror to his mate. Lucia was holding back a laugh.
“You wanted to have more children.” She said laughing and screaming as another contraction hit her.
“Laugh it up, Baby,” Jaxson said running out of the car and around it to her side. “I want enough for a football team.” He scooped her up into his arms as he mind-linked Holden to come to take care of their sons.
Holden’s car skyrocketed around the corner and parked right next to his in the next second and he jumped out faster than he could pull out the keys from the ignition.
“Did you just say Rand’s water broke?” Holden asked running up to them.
“Take care of that, will you.” Jaxson said as the pack doctor and a nurse met them outside with a wheelchair. He sat her in it then pointed to his car where Stellan had already gotten out giving Randall’s side of the car a wide berth. Holden looked back in horror. “That’s an order.”
Lucia laughed as she was wheeled into the hospital room with Jaxson next to her.
“I can’t believe we’re having another one of those.” She laughed then gritted her teeth through another contraction.
“Well, believe it.” Jaxson said lifting her up and placing her into the hospital bed they stopped next to. “Who knows, maybe this one will be calm like—”
“Mom, Dad,” Stellan said sticking his head into the hospital room. “Just wanted to let you know, that Rand headbutted Uncle Holden and he’s now running around the pack hospital with no pants on screaming about having a ‘glowing baby’. Can I have a dollar for the vending machines?”
There was a clatter of some sort, followed by some screaming then Holden yelling: “Randy! Get back here and put your damn pants on! We’re in a hospital! Your dad’s going to kill me!”
Jaxson pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and tossed it to Stellan.
“There’s a 20 with your name on it if you can get Rand to put his pants on.” Jaxson said.
“Sweet.” Stellan said. Then turned to leave the room but not before Jaxson and Lucia heard him yell: “Hey Rand! If you put your pants on, I’ll buy you a soda!”
�
��A whole football team, huh?” Lucia asked leaning back against the pillow. Her hair stuck to her head as she breathed through her contractions.
“If you are planning on having such a large amount of…children, Alpha, please tell me so that I can start training another pack doctor and look into early retirement.” Said the pack doctor as she began taking Lucia’s pulse.
“Erica, you barely look a day over 25.” Jaxson told the pack doctor. She was old enough to be his mother and she didn’t smile at his remark. But Lucia laughed, and that was all Jaxson needed. Jaxson moved next to her and kissed her the top of her head.
“I love you.” He told her.
“I love you, too.” Lucia said back.
“You ready to add more love into my life?” Jaxson asked.
“Always.” Lucia answered. “Just hold onto me.”
“Always.” Jaxson said.
Always. His bear agreed.
The End
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, this book was written for my children Mey and Kai. I would like to thank them, not for giving me the inspiration to write, but for the inspiration to push myself and get my work out there. Without them, most of my work would never have left my mind and even made it onto paper.
A big thanks goes to my best friends Jessica and Jason who were with me in the book from the beginning and read each chapter as I wrote it. They are also with me when I blow up generators and leave them behind for the killer to hook.
Lastly, I would like to thank all my fans and followers on Wattpad and Goodreads. There are way more of you than I deserve. I love you all dearly because you guys let me know that someone out there besides me loves my stories.
About the Author
Marissa Teng lives in South Florida with her husband and two kids. She got her degree in Photography in 2013, but would much rather be doing her true passion: writing. Her work desk is covered with notebooks filled with ideas that she started keeping when she was 13.