by Mia Rose
Garrett stood and held Abigail's hand so tightly that her circulation had stopped. He pulled her hand free and shook her fingers until they returned to their rightful color.
“Jesus Garrett, you’re a bit tense,” she said.
“I know, but this is huge. She’s up there all alone, you think she can do it?” he asked.
“She’s your daughter, what do you think?” Abigail replied.
Garrett inhaled and exhaled as if he was a steam locomotive that was rolling down a track. He huffed and puffed so hard that no little piggy’s house would be safe.
“I can’t watch it. I’m nervous as hell,” he said. “I need a drink to calm my nerves.”
Garrett walked to the back of the stage and pushed open the doors that had an “On Air” light that was lit a bright red. He walked to the bar and ordered a double of the bar’s best whiskey. He sat and sipped as he thought back to how lucky Abigail and he had been. They had been in a war with the werewolves and had lost, dramatically so. They'd not been outnumbered. In fact, it had been almost equal, yet they'd been outsmarted in a big way. Declan had seen it all coming and had made sure the hunters were lured to exactly where they'd wanted them.
Garrett ordered another drink and sank it in one gulp. He had to get back. His baby had stepped onto the large stage and could probably do with some moral support. Garrett walked again under the “On Air” sign and sidled up to Abigail. She frowned a little when she smelled his breath.
“I see you had a drink for me as well, yes?” she asked.
“Of course, I’d expect you to do the same for me.”
They stood in silence as Noelle started to speak. “Good evening everyone. I’m happy you could all attend the first leg of my nationwide tour…” Noelle started to say as Abigail thought she'd frozen from nervousness. She watched as Noelle paused, the spotlights were still baring down on her. Abigail could see camera flashes from the audience. “I had a speech written. But to hell with it.” Noelle took the paper and ripped it into small pieces.
“What’s she doing?” Abigail asked.
“How the hell would I know?” said Garrett.
Noelle smiled a wide smile. “Let me tell you a story. I'll give you the short version. If I told you all, you wouldn’t believe me. And I want to say, this story would not be complete without some extraordinary people who are very dear to my heart. First are my parents, Abigail and Garrett,” Noelle said as she called her parents onto the stage. “You might have heard the names as being the heads of the Colorado Delegation. Hunters they were, but not anymore. And I'll ask my father to explain why.”
Garrett walked up to the mic and tapped it a couple of times. The fud—fud of his finger bellowed out through the hall speakers. “Good evening. My name’s Garrett, as you might have guessed. I want to say I was in the opinion all wolves were bad news,” he said as he heard cheers, jeers and boos from the crowd. “My wife and I are only here for one reason. We went to the fight in Colorado, and we were trying to wipe out all the local packs.” Garrett coughed into his hand. “I say, we are only here, and not because we were saved, but because we were spared. Spared by the very packs of wolves we were trying to kill.” Rants rose from the audience, and plastic beer cups landed on the stage. “We were spared because of one man. One man who entered the life of our daughter as our sworn enemy. He spent over seven months looking for a way to get home, and he still returned to her side. As angry parents, well, we didn’t want to see their commitment to each other, and we were filled with hatred and wanted revenge.”
The crowd silenced a little more, now that Garrett had explained himself a bit further. No more beer cups found their way onto the stage, yet the camera flashes continued.
“Our daughter has found her soul mate, and she'd told us this on many occasions, yet we rejected it, and we rejected him. It was only when we heard that he saved her life that we could come to accept him for what he is. He is here tonight, and we would like to introduce him.”
Garrett signaled to the far side of the stage. Declan walked into the spotlight from the shadows of the crimson, crushed velvet curtains.
“If you hadn’t guessed already, Declan here, is a werewolf.” The auditorium fell into extreme silence. “And not only that, so is our beloved daughter.” The audience gasped and didn’t know which way to look, to Declan or at Noelle. “If you don’t believe me,” Garrett said. “Change for the audience, please.”
Declan walked to Noelle and grabbed hold of her hand as they stood center stage. He looked lovingly into her eyes and smiled. “After three. One—two—three,” he whispered.
The crowd shrieked as Noelle and Declan called on their inner wolf. Their shoulders twisted, and their necks stretched as fur forced its way through their skin. They stood and looked toward the audience. Many more cameras flashed, as not one, but two wolves had turned in their presence.
Noelle and Declan changed back to their human form. Noelle pulled Declan to the microphone. “So, you can see, the short version is complete, apart from one thing, and one thing that has so far been kept secret apart from a select few,” Noelle said into the mic. “Not even my parents are aware of what I am about to say.” Noelle gestured to the left of the stage. Maria walked out with a bundle held tightly in her arms. “I have betrothed myself to Declan for as long as I shall live, and he has done the same to me. We have had rituals, and over the past few months we knew that educating all the misguided hunter folk was the right thing to do,” Noelle explained as she wrapped her fingers around the mic.
She turned her head to her parents and smiled. She felt so proud to be standing there with the love of her life. Declan had always been the one. Finally, she had her wish granted.
“We should all live together in peace, and in the same peace I have found. I searched for that special person for all of my younger years, and I found him. I was lucky. I was so lucky in the fact, that we now present to you, and to my very shocked parents, our first son and heir to Declan's throne as alpha. He is known as ‘Number One.’”
Declan took hold of his son and held him high above his head as Abigail went wobbly at the knees and started to cry profusely. Garrett felt thirsty and wanted to return to the bar, but he instinctively knew that his urge could wait.
“My son!” Declan shouted into the mic like the proud father he was.
“Long live Drake!” The baby gurgled in its human form and then suddenly changed into a wolf pup as the crowd cheered. It was like a miracle, right before their very eyes.
Gabriel smiled as he sat with Tanya. He hoped he’d get to be a wolf again, sometime soon. He longed for the day, but for now he was truly happy. He was a changed man. Maria and Dustin found a beautiful friendship with each other, and they befriended the other pack members of the bike pack, as well as their own. In time, werewolves would be accepted, and it was a dream that humans and werewolves could soon live together in harmony. A big dream; soon, it might come to pass.
“Move on. It’s just a chapter in the past. But don’t close the book, just turn the page.”
Afterword
Hey, everyone!! Thank you so much for reading my book! Did you know that other Amazon readers might be interested to hear your thoughts, too?
If you loved it as much as I enjoyed plotting and planning it for you, I would ask that you leave me a wicked-good review here on Amazon, if you don't mind! That would be awesome. I would be ever so grateful!
Additionally, if you have any super-awesome ideas for my other works, or if you want to send me some feedback good or bad, then you can drop me a line at my email here [email protected] all your feedback helps me improve my books for you! the readers :)
P.S if you haven’t already grabbed your free book “ALPHA” here is the link to do so :) ALPHA
Thanking you all so very much as always, for reading and helping me with my dreams as an author!
I'm sending all of my love to you all. Lots of love and gratitude, Mia Rose x
About the Author
Mia Rose currently resides in Naperville, IL with her husband and daughter. Mia has been writing for over half of her life, and has an extensive catalog of steamy ideas that she has yet to write. She predominately enjoys writing paranormal romance, but she has spent a great deal of her career writing romance. When she’s not writing or dreaming up another racy plot, she likes to spend her free time binge watching old sitcoms and traveling with her family.
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