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Amora lay in the bed as she rested from the two-hour-long birth of our girls. Yes, I had twin girls. They were not identical twins, so that helped me a lot. I held my girls against my bare chest, giving them warmth and skin-to-skin contact. Sarge lay on his stomach, his head resting on his massive paws as his tail swept the ground. They completed the missing link in my and Amora’s family. They were beautiful; I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. They both had their mother’s hair, but one had my blue eyes, and the other had Amora’s eyes.
The door cracked open, and my mother and father came in quietly, followed by Sawyer, Danika, and Amora’s parents. Their smiles made me grin as my mom and Amora’s mom gave each other an excited glance before pushing the others out of the way. They both sat on either side of me, softly touching the girls’ hair, making them snuggle further into me. My mother caressed my cheek and placed a quick kiss on my daughter’s head. “What did you and Amora decide to name them?”
I grinned, realizing that this was my moment to prank them all. I leaned up with the girls in my arms, repositioning myself to make myself comfortable again. Glancing around the room, I sighed. “Well, I decided that since Amora has been out since the last babe was born that we are going to name them Dave and Hank.”
Sawyer tried to keep from laughing, and Danika’s jaw had dropped. My mother and Amora’s looked at me like I had two heads. I heard a sigh from Amora’s bed and the rustle of sheets as she sat up in bed. “I hope that you all realize that he is joking. Their names are Rosalind and Everleigh.”
The breaths from the people in the room made me laugh out loud, waking up the girls in my arms, which made them start to cry. Amora motioned for me to bring them to her, and I got up, handing her Rosalind and letting her latch the first baby and then helping her get Everleigh latched. The sounds of their swallowing made my heart soar, my little girls were strong, and they would be the best Alphas this pack would ever have.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Remembrance
Amora
Today was going to be hard after being with him for so many years. I sat in the room we shared for the last seventy years, thinking about all the times we enjoyed together, only to outlast him. The room was colder now that his soul went to be with Selene. I had experienced death before with my parents and then Nolen’s, but this happened to be the other part of my soul that had been ripped from me. The very essence of my being had been torn from me in one go.
He went peacefully to our Goddess during the night. I had woken with a start as I felt something pull away from me, and when I turned to him, he lay there as still as a statue. I tried to wake him up, shake him to bring him back to me, and then when all that failed, I mind linked the pack doctor. But it was too late; he was already gone.
In the distance, I could see them building the pyre he would be placed upon later tonight. To send his body back to our mother, Selene. I couldn’t force myself to go down to the great hall to see him; I couldn’t sit there and grieve in a place where his spirit no longer resided. Selene, why take him before me? Why couldn’t we have left together?
Nolen had been a fantastic alpha to the pack that had bullied and belittled him in his younger years. He never took vengeance on them, and he never treated them any different than what he treated the others. The pack prospered under him and became one of the bigger packs in the Cairn land. The rest of the Alphas, younger and older alike, looked up to him.
He was indeed a Goddess sent gift. Nolen happened to be an amazing father to our two little girls. Even though I knew he wanted boys, he treated those girls like they came from royalty. Rosalind turned out to be the tomboy, and Everleigh was the little girlygirl, but they were strong-willed and put Nolen through his paces as they grew. He taught them to be strong, to stand up for themselves, and to always protect each other because, in the end, they would be the leaders of this pack.
I missed him so much. My daughters had been in and out of my room trying to make me eat. Eating hadn’t been too appealing to me over the last few days. Plates of food sat abandoned on the small table in the room along with a pitcher of water which hadn’t been touched.
The table where we’d enjoyed our first dinner as a mated pair and the table where I had told him we were going to be parents. I couldn’t sit there ever again; that was our table. So, now I sat here on the window seat, waiting for when they came up to take me to the pyre to watch his physical form be taken away from me as well.
Leaning my head back against the wall, I closed my eyes. How would I be able to travel this life without him? He would be so upset with me right now with the thoughts that raced through my mind. Nolen never allowed me to think negative thoughts, he always kept me positive, even when he wasn’t himself. Like when he thought he was being a terrible father when he had to punish the girls after they had left the pack lands without telling anyone.
My reflection stared back at me. For being ninety years old, I didn’t look my age. I could probably still pass for forty, which made this so much harder. The door to my room opened again and Rosalind came in. I sighed at my excitement in thinking it would have been Nolen. Coming back to me after being out talking with other alphas. “Hey, Momma, can I get you anything?”
I shook my head and turned away from her, waiting for her to close the door and leave. Rosalind strolled up to me and sat on the ground beside the window seat, laying her head on my lap. Glancing down, Nolen’s eyes stared up at me with tears running down his daughter’s face. I began humming while I stroked her hair. Everleigh’s footsteps brought her up to us and she curled up in the fetal position her head lying next to her sister’s as I hummed their lullaby.
These two girls realized when I didn’t feel right. They had let me be these last few days. Rosalind became alpha of our pack and Everleigh became the female beta to the Dolostone pack after Harlen’s son turned of age. He happened to be a few years older than Everleigh, but I recognized that look when he laid eyes on her. Nolen told me it was the same gaze he had given me when he’d first shifted, and the only reason he knew was he saw it reflected in my eyes as well. So, we changed the law about not telling younger mates about the bond. But the law still stood about mating and marking until the other became old enough to sense the bond.
Nolen about lost it when he and Everleigh went over to the Dolostone pack and Harlen’s son came up with Fin by his side and Tobey’s wolf rose to the surface to try to claim Everleigh. Before he was able to get him back under control Nolen shifted into Sarge, bringing Tobey’s wolf out and snarling, seeing another male near his mate. Everleigh was scared to death, seeing the other massive wolf in front of her father.
Oh! And when Rosalind’s mate came for the twins’ eighteenth birthday, that was exciting. He was the son of an alpha but he was the second born, like Nolen. He’d tried to make her submit, and when she didn’t that’s when both their wolves came out. It had been a downright brawl until Everleigh jumped into it. The poor guy didn’t know what to do at that point.
They were both strong and independent women, just like their daddy taught them to be. These two were his world, and he made sure that they were very well-rounded. They could fight with the best and act like ladies right after. Just because they were girls, he never treated them like they couldn’t take care of themselves, and he taught them to never take anyone’s shit.
“Momma, you need to eat and drink, Daddy wouldn’t want you to do this.”
“Yeah, Momma. You know he wouldn’t like this,” my sweet Everleigh spoke up, dried tears on her cheeks. Her amber eyes pleading with me along with her sister’s. I could never be half as sad with my girls with me, stroking their hair as they lay there with me on my window seat.
“I realize that, my sweet ones. What do you remember most about your daddy?” The girls glanced up at me and then at each other before turning their attention back to me. Small smiles crossed their lips as they gazed at me.
“I remember when he shifted into Sarge that one time when Chance kept messing with us after we told him to stop. He was so scared, and then when he snapped at him, and he ran off I could imagine his tail between his legs!”
“Oh, and what about the time when he rode us on his back through the woods. I couldn’t wait to get my wolf to be able to fly like that!” Rosalind stood up to her full height as she grinned at me and her sister. Everleigh jumped up as well, excitement now on her face as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Oh, and the time we helped him surprise mom with her party! That was great! She didn’t find out anything about it until the time it started!” Everleigh grabbed hold of Rosalind’s upper arms as she and her sister swung around. They both laughed together. And it was nice to see them getting along. I stood from the window seat and grabbed the black dress from the closet.
Rosalind and Everleigh sat down on the window seat, a mixture of sad and happy tears. I went into the bathroom and changed into the dress. Pulling up my hair into simple updo, my eyes were red and my cheekbones showed more since food no longer called to me. Coming out, the girls must have cleared the table and left the room.
The pyre was almost complete just as the sun faded behind the trees. That sunset would be the last one he would be bodily here on this earth for. The last one we would be together for. A knock came upon the door and Sawyer walked in; his eyes no longer reflected the lively emotion they used to show. I not only lost a mate, but he lost a brother that he’d befriended long ago. “It’s almost time, Amora.”
I stared at him, tears welling up in his eyes as he gazed at me. The fearless alpha that I had grown up with and experienced the death of our parents with now displayed tears in his eyes for a man he called brother. I went to him, and he pulled me into a hug. I buried my face in his chest as he held me tight. “Let’s head down then. The pack is waiting for us.”
