Beckett’s mom had basically said she’d stay wherever we were. We still hadn’t talked about what had happened with her, but we’d have to eventually. Cooper’s parents had also insinuated that our choice would have a bearing on their decision, but they were leaning toward Moonburst too.
Finally, Kitten was naked, Corvin was down to just his boxer shorts and socks, and Cooper had been butt ass naked for most of the game. Only Beckett and I maintained our clothes, and that was because we were both arguing hard for Moonburst. Hell, maybe we all were really, but someone had to play devil's advocate.
We looked at the piece of paper in front of us, splashed with beer and guacamole from the nachos we’d eaten halfway through the game. It was unanimous really.
The Wiley-Fletcher-Reid Pack would stay in Moonburst, Montana. Our cubs would be the first to be born outside of Maxton since Naja. It was both exciting and terrifying, all at the same time.
44
COOPER
There was some serious drama when Merrick and Murphy turned up a week after the fires. It wasn’t that everyone had thought they were dead. No, it was because they turned up with Susannah and Quinn in tow. Without Wilkie or the rest of his Pack.
If that wasn’t dramatic enough, no one had seen Wilkie since the fires. Courtland was pretty sure he hadn’t stayed to fight the flames—it wasn’t Wilkie’s jam to be heroic—but he hadn’t turned up in Moonburst either. Most people thought he was just lying low somewhere else, because the man was a fucking bigot. He hated everyone who didn’t stare back at him in a mirror every morning. On the list of beings he thought were inferior were witches. So everyone had assumed that he’d taken his Pack elsewhere to weather the storm, so to speak.
But Susannah and Quinn rocking up with two other Alphas? That was a scandal.
Doc Tanner finally reappeared too, though everyone knew where he’d been. He’d remained in Maxton to move his equipment down the mountain and treat any of the injured Manix who’d stayed behind. When Maxton had burned, he’d been recalled by Convocation Member Baxter—or Raine, as she made everyone call her. But apparently, he was still our doctor despite not being in Maxton anymore, and I breathed easier knowing he was nearby, just in case Darius went into labor.
The witches had been less impressed. Apparently, there was no love lost between the vamps and the witches, but somehow Courtland had sorted it out. Honestly, it was probably due to Tanner’s general golden retriever energy too.
Like the split in the Legion Generals, the split in Manix staying and going was also quite even. I wasn’t surprised that a lot of the older generation wanted to rebuild and return back to the mountains, because they were just too old to adapt. They were a generation lost to the way things were. But a lot of the younger Manix had chosen to return too, which was a surprise. Almost all of my peers back in high school had complained about being stuck, but I guess whining about wanting a new life was easier than having to build one for yourself.
I knew some of them were tradespeople, and that made sense too. There would be oodles of work rebuilding, and the old guard weren’t going to accept outsiders building their homes. Even Finlo was going back temporarily, to oversee the rebuild. His Pack was staying in Moonburst though, which was a relief. My parents were also staying.
Actually, everything was going okay, which was a weight off my chest.
I could hear Darius muttering to himself in the nest he was building in the house, the same one assigned to us by the glowing witch orb. That orb had been right; it had been the right house for us. We’d settled in just nicely. We’d gotten all the supplies we needed, including new tools for my job as town handyman and for Corvin’s new mechanic business on Main Street. We both worked out of that dusty garage, and honestly, it was amazing.
Courtland had taken a convoy of SUVs and a truck down to the largest town nearby and bought out essentially everything in the place. I’m sure we raised a few eyebrows, but we didn’t care. We even drove up to Canada for things, and although we were scrutinized crossing back over the border, we followed all the rules so no one said anything. We all had basic driver’s licenses given to us when we came of age, though none of them listed Maxton as an address. You couldn’t live in a modern society without identification, but we kept it as basic as possible.
It meant that our house was reasonably ready for the cubs to arrive, which was getting closer and closer every day. Darius was beginning to look exhausted, and Kitten hovered nearby at all times. She was the only one Darius would let fuss for longer than five minutes, so they spent most of their days napping or watching television. Both the nursery and nest were almost complete, and then I’d start on the rest of the house, in between fixing small things for the rest of Moonburst, including the witches. Apparently, while they were attuned to nature, they weren’t very attuned to a hammer.
I poked my head into the nest, seeing Darius still wandering around, fluffing cushions and blankets, a scowl on his face. Kitten sat cross-legged on the floor, frowning at him.
“Is everything okay?” I said softly. Loud noises, the expression on my face, the water stain on the foyer wallpaper, global warming—all had pissed Darius off over the last few days. I just wanted to wrap him in my arms and make it all better.
“He seems uncomfortable,” Kitten murmured, and Darius threw us both an irritated glare.
“I’m pregnant, not deaf.” He winced, and that made me frown too.
I strode into the room. “Are you in pain, Omega?” I used my Alpha voice so he wouldn’t blow off my question.
“Yes,” he admitted through gritted teeth.
Kitten was on her feet in an instant. “Why didn’t you tell me? Is it labor? Something else?”
Darius let out a shaky breath, and I saw it then. Saw it in the whites of his eyes and the tight line of his lips. He confirmed it with his next words. “I’m scared.”
Hell, I was fucking petrified, and I wasn’t the one who had to be sliced open to have the three children who’d literally been growing inside my body removed. I could only imagine what he was feeling.
Kitten wrapped him in her arms, and I put my own longer ones around them both. Holding them all tightly, I sent up a small prayer to the Goddess, before pulling back and kissing Darius softly. I could feel the thrum of his heart against my chest.
“It will all be fine, D. I know it in my soul.” I looked over at Kitten. “Get him to the bedroom. I’ll get the guys and Tanner.” I paused, looking at Darius. “You still want Tanner, right? If you want to have a more traditional birth, I could… or Beckett or Corvin?”
Please say you want Tanner. Please say you want Tanner.
“Of course I want the damn doctor, Cooper,” Darius grumbled, grabbing his stomach. “You might need to hurry though.”
