Everyone was silent as he or she looked at the graves and paid their respects, and then they turned to leave only Grace and Artur stayed behind a little longer.
“Grace, are you ready to go?” Artur asked her after minutes had passed.
Grace smiled lifting her eyes to him and his breath caught at the light in them, “Yes, I am. Take me home, Artur.”
Epilogue
“Mama,” a voice called out and Grace turned around as her nine-month-old daughter tried to stand using the chair her legs wobbling underneath her.
Grace clenched her hands to stop from running over to help as her little girl pulled herself to her feet. A smile broke out on Grace’s face when she finally made it clutching the chair and giving a toothless grin, and Grace rushed over.
“You did great, little one,” Grace said picking her up and swinging around causing her to laugh with pleasure.
Grace stopped spinning and pulled her daughter to her chest as she remembered the day she learned that she was pregnant, and a slight frown pulled at her mouth.
“Mama,” her daughter said, and Grace opened her eyes to look into her daughter’s beautiful eyes. It had astonished everyone when Artur and Grace’s daughter was born with the eye color of both parents; her eyes were shades of blue-gold and flecks of violet.
Grace smiled as she kissed her cheek and said, “Mama is all right but I know a little girl who is ready for her nap.”
Blue-gold-violet eyes stared up at her defiantly as she shook her small head, but Grace only chuckled as she headed to her daughter’s room, “We are going over to the pack house later so I think a nap would make you more energetic for then.”
Grace had to chuckle at the mutinous glare her daughter gave her, but she settled into her crib and fell asleep without much fuss.
Grace watched for a few more seconds before she headed back downstairs to finish washing the dishes, and her mind wandered as she did so.
After they had returned from the funeral that day, Bryan and other members of the Rain Cloud Pack had been waiting including Sandy with a grin although her eyes had been shadowed slightly with fear.
Grace remembered how Bryan sneered and said, “Your time is up.”
Steve had taken control as Artur’s arm tightened around her shoulders, but Grace had not been scared.
“Do not worry, Beta,” Steve said politely although his eyes were hard with anger. “We were just leaving.”
Steve’s answer had shocked them as Bryan asked, “What do you mean, Alpha?”
“We are leaving today,” Amy said heading up the stairs to the house. “I am sure that you can understand that, Bryan.”
Therefore dismissing him after that statement, she turned to the others, “Let’s make sure that we did not forget anything and that the house is cleaned.”
The women and most of the men nodded their heads as they followed Amy inside, and Grace had whispered, “I will go help.”
Artur nodded his head giving her a hard squeeze before letting her go, and Grace smiled at him with a wink.
Artur watched her hurry inside after the others before he had returned his attention back to Bryan and the others unaware that Grace like a few others had stopped just inside the house to see what would happen.
“What is the meaning of this Alpha?” Bryan demanded harshly, and Steve raised an eyebrow at his demanding tone.
He answered however, politely, “My pack is heading pack to our pack lands.”
“Did you clear this with the Alpha?” Bryan demanded again.
Grace remembered how the pack members had growled lowly at Bryan questioning their Alpha, and Grace only shook her head at his naïveté.
“I do not have to ask permission to leave, Beta,” Steve said sharply. “I did inform Alpha Tomas that we would be leaving today as per his order; Grace had to be off of Rain Cloud Pack territory as of today.”
Bryan stiffened at the mention of Grace’s name and sneered, “So you are taking the trash with you?”
Grace watched as Artur grabbed Bryan by the shirt and lifted him up before sneering, “Your wiseass mouth is going to get you to in trouble one of these days.”
Grace was about to intervene as Rain Cloud members went to go to Bryan’s aid, but Steve stopped that by saying, “Artur, let him go. He is not worth it.”
Artur growled again before he released him, and Bryan wobbled slightly before he regained his footing.
“I do not trust you so we will escort you out of town,” he told them with a sneer although all could see the fear that clouded his black eyes.
Sandy had stepped forward at this point and reached out a hand to Artur who turned and growled at her loudly that she froze in her tracks. Therefore, without a second look or an apology, Artur turned and headed inside.
Grace suddenly pulled herself out of her thoughts as she realized that the phone was ringing. She turned off the water and picking up a dishtowel, she answered it.
“Hello,” she said absently her mind still clouded lightly with the past.
“Hi, Grace,” a familiar voice said, and Grace smiled her eyes shining with pleasure.
“Hi, Uncle Ted, how are you doing?” She asked folding up the dishtowel.
“I am doing well,” Uncle Ted confided. “How is my honorary granddaughter doing?”
“She is doing well although you called a few minutes too late. I just put her down for a nap as we are going over to the pack house later. Amy is pregnant again, and they are celebrating,” Grace told him.
Grace laughed as Ted began to tell her what was going on, and Grace listened shaking her head from time to time as he talked. It seems that the Rain Cloud Pack had a new Beta, Grace learned in surprise. A few months after Grace and the Moon Star Pack moved the pack learned that Bryan was the one who had been communicating with the rogues that cost pack members lives. Alpha Tomas took the Beta position from Bryan and gave it to one he deemed more worthy for the position, and it helped that the future Alpha was already on good terms with the new Beta.
Grace had to admit it had felt a little gratifying to know that Bryan now was the isolated one although from what Ted was saying; Grace did not believe that Bryan had the strength to do anything about his new position in life.
In addition, Grace learned that Sandy had tried her tricks on the wrong man, a fighter wolf who had come from another pack for training purposes. Unfortunately, this fighter wolf had mate, a very pregnant mate, who did not appreciate Sandy’s attempts to seduce her mate. Sandy spent almost two weeks in the hospital after a confrontation with the woman and not too long after her hospital stay, Sandy mysterious got sick. No one knew what caused it, or how she attracted it, but it left her maimed and unable to turn into her wolf anymore. The news had startled and worried Grace before Ted explained that it was nothing to worry about it. They discovered that Sandy, in her rage, decided to mess with something she had no knowledge of and it backfired in her face. Now, she had to live with her actions, and Grace could only shake her head in a spurt of sympathy.
“I guess the saying is true,” Grace murmured. “Some people just never learn.”
“Grace,” a voice called out, and Grace smiled as she realized that she was still standing by the phone although Ted had hung up a few minutes ago.
“In the kitchen,” she called out stepping away from the phone.
A few minutes later, Artur came into the kitchen his eyes lit with a heat that Grace could not help responding to as he pulled her into his arms.
“Is Arlina asleep?” He asked in a husky voice.
Grace was about to nod her head when suddenly a cry went through the house, and she laughed as Artur sighed in frustration before he kissed her breathlessly.
“I will go get her,” he told her after breaking the kiss.
Grace smiled as she watched him go upstairs to their precious daughter, Arlina, named after a young woman that never had a chance to live. Grace lightly touched her stomach and smiled wondering how long it was going
to take Artur to realize that they had another on the way.
Artur had learned that Grace was pregnant with Arlina before she realized it, but this time, it was different. She heard the low heartbeat a few days ago, it had shocked her thinking she was hearing things until finally, it sunk in what she was hearing, and her wolf confirmed it. Now she was waiting to see how long it would take Artur to recognize the change in her smell.
She walked out of the kitchen as father and daughter came down the stairs, Arlina tucked in her father’s arms as he smiled down at her.
“Mama,” she cried out, and Grace laughed.
“I am coming,” she said as they exited the house.
Heading to the pack house, Artur said with a glint in his eye, “I think Steve has something to tell us.”
Grace only giggled, as she already knew considering Amy had called days ago to let her know that she was pregnant again. Amy and Steve had their baby a month before Arlina was born and not long after that, both Susan and Ashley delivered a few months apart.
Grace remembered Amy’s words when they learned that they all got pregnant around the same time, “What is it this, the explosion of pregnancies?”
Everyone laughed because it had been a ridiculous statement, but it fit the situation perfectly.
Now they were heading to the pack house to hear the news and as they headed up the steps, Arlina in Artur’s arms and his arm wrapped around Grace’s waist, he leaned down and whispered, “Is there something you need to tell me, sweetheart?”
Grace tilted her head and looked up at him as their daughter looked on in confusion, and replied, “Maybe, but can you guess?”
Artur eyes flickered with pleasure and excitement as he kissed her before saying just as the door opened, “Yes, but I think I can wait until later after Arlina goes to bed and we have the whole night to ourselves.”
The door opened before Grace could respond and Amy was immediately pulling them inside as laughter and chatting came at them.
Grace looked around the room and she smiled at the family she finally had, and she glanced over at Artur and Arlina who were sitting on the floor playing with some blocks that surrounded them.
“Like a big kid,” Steve remarked next to her, and Grace turned nodding her head.
“So go play,” Amy told him, and Steve grinned before heading over as his own ten month old sat down to play.
“Finally,” Amy said hooking an arm through Grace’s arm as they observed the pack around them. “We finally find someplace where we could belong.”
Grace thought about that statement before she nodded her head realizing what Amy meant by it. While Amy had sided with Bryan and the others all those years ago, they never truly accepted her because of her association with Grace and her family. After meeting Steve and learning the truth, Amy had broken free of those chains that the pack had put on her and became a strong Luna and mother because of it.
“Yes,” Grace said firmly, “we finally found the place where we belong.”
“Amy, Grace,” Susan called waving them over, and Grace and Amy giggled as they headed in that direction.
Remember we have a date tonight; Artur said through their private link.
Always, Grace said back as she headed into the kitchen with her Luna and friends, and her heart swelled as she heard the laughter of her daughter, and the heartbeat deep inside her grew a little stronger at the laughter and excitement that drifted through the pack house.
Grace’s hand settled low on her stomach and she smiled softly as Amy said, “So who is next to get pregnant?”
Grace did not say a word, but all eyes turned to her and Grace shrugged her shoulders, “It is the explosion of pregnancies, what can I say.”
Everyone laughed at her as Amy hugged her and the conversation drifted to who would be the next one to become pregnant.
“Did you enjoy yourself?” Artur asked later that evening as they walked into their bedroom, and he closed the door behind them. He checked the baby monitor that sat on the dresser next to the bed before he turned his attention to Grace as she pulled out her hair tie letting her hair fall down her back.
“Yes,” Grace said with a smile, and Artur walked over to her.
“From the excitement and noise that came from the kitchen not too long after we arrived, the others know that you are pregnant?” he asked as he toppled her back against their comforter.
Grace twinkled up at him as she said, “I guess I was not so subtle about it.”
Artur laughed as he braced himself above her and stilled like that for a few minutes before saying, “You are the best thing to happen to me, Grace, besides that little girl in there and this one right here” placing his hand on her belly.
Grace shook her head as she said, “It is the same for me. You accepted me even though you knew the truth.”
Artur leaned down and whispered, “I am glad though because if not for that, we would probably not be here right now.”
Grace stared up at him and she thought about what he just said before she murmured, “A traitor’s daughter, huh?”
Artur settled more of his weight on her as he nodded his head and confided, “That label kept you from mating with Bryan when he felt what he thought was the mate attraction. It made you stronger than you probably would not have been if the pack had not pushed you away. It made you who you are and although I am sure that is not how your parents would have wanted it, they are probably proud of the woman that you have become because of it.”
Grace looked up at him and her eyes glowed as for the first time, she accepted the label placed on her when her parents died. Artur was right because if not for that label by the pack, or their treatment, she would have turned completely different from the person, or wolf, she was today.
“I agree with you on most of what you said,” she told him wrapping her arms around his neck. She shook her head as she continued, “But I do not agree that we would not have met because I think no matter what, we were meant to meet and be together. Nothing was going to change that even if we would have a harder time than we already did.”
It had not been easy, Grace thought, as she stared into her mate’s eyes but it had been well worth it.
“It has not been easy,” murmured Artur breathing lightly against her ear.
“No, it has not,” said Grace breathlessly eyes glowing with emotion. “So would you like another girl or a boy this time?”
Artur leaned back and looked at her before he said, “Grace, I want a healthy child so boy or girl, I do not care.”
Artur leaned down and kissed her before he shifted to her side lying on his back. He slid an arm underneath her and curled her against him as they laid there letting the quietness of the house settle around them. They could hear Arlina breathing through the baby monitor and Grace smiled at the soft sound.
“Thank you, Grace,” Artur whispered his hand tightening at her waist.
Grace titled her head back on his arm and looked at him before she smiled, “I think I should be thanking you, but to forego an argument, you are welcome, Artur, my mate.”
Artur’s arm tightened around her and Grace sighed with contentment as her head settled back against his chest. One hand curled on his chest, her head nestled over their mate mark, and she said sleepily, “We were lucky to find each other, Artur.”
“That we were, Grace,” Artur murmured brushing a kiss across the top of her head, and he felt her body relax against him as sleep overcame her.
He smiled ruefully because he had other plans for tonight, but he was content with their current position. He sighed lightly his hand resting lightly on her belly and he whispered, “We were very lucky to have found each other.”
He listened intently to his daughter’s even breathing and just for a second, he thought he heard another heartbeat, and his hand, which had been rubbing his mate’s stomach, froze for a second before he shook his head. He laughed silently and started rubbing her belly again as his eyes began to close.
>
Just for a second, he thought he heard a heartbeat so low that he believed it was the unborn baby trying to communicate with him. His head shook slightly at his whimsical fantasy and let sleep claim him as his hand stilled, and in the silence one could hear a low heartbeat that filled the room matching rhythm with the even breathing of his or her sister.
The wind howled outside as if congratulating the couple as it did during Arlina’s conception before it took off into the night. A sound followed its departure and everyone who heard it swore that the wind sounded like laughter, a joyous laughter as if something finally been put right.
In their bedroom, Artur and Grace did not hear the laughter, but they smiled in their sleep as they wrapped their arms around each other, and Grace’s violet eyes opened once when she thought Arlina whimpered. She was about to slide out of bed when she heard a giggle and she realized that her daughter was dreaming, and she whispered quietly snuggling back down into Artur’s arms, “Peaceful dreams, my baby.”
Peaceful dreams to you, too, she said silently letting sleep claim her once more as the night continued on preparing for the start of a new day.
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