Mark Of Change (Firemoon Book 1)

by Sky Wilde

  After what feels like an eternity, I come back down to feel that Grey has cuddled me to his chest. “Welcome back, you were out cold for more than minutes now.”

  I giggle sheepishly and whisper into his chest, “Come out beast,” and look up straight into his eyes.

  He closes his eyes and his eyes refocus on me, now deep green as I feel his body increasing in heat in tandem with his sides changing. As soon as his shifter comes out, he lowers his head in embarrassment, defeat; apologizing with his posture.

  I gently move up and kiss his jaw, “It is okay. Remember, in our household, no Alpha behaviours... You can boss around everyone elsewhere. But when you are with your family, you are to be as an equal.”

  He nods, face still sad. I place my lips on his and after a moment, I pull back and whisper, “I forgive you.”

  That brings a happy howl from him. I giggle and putting my voice as sultry as possible, I moan the words as seductive as I could, “You still owe me that one whole day of vacation.”

  He pins me to the bed, and happily obliges.

  In the after-mating-dance session of midnight, I trace my fingers on my mate’s sleeping face. Moonlight spills around it, making him more handsome than possible.

  “My Grey...” I whisper ever so slightly in the quietness of night and cuddle up closer to his warmth. His beast is so warm in this cold night. His hunter will be cold on a sunny day. He is like my own teddy with an in-built switch for temperature. I giggle a little and kiss his chest.

  We both are going to make such excellent parents. Aiden and Lara will get everything they want. Everything they deserve. A good family, good education, good combat training, good environment. Every single thing.

  I gently trace my stomach with my hand, wishing I was their birth mother. But, fate has decided that I just have to be their mother, better than their birth mother ever will be...

  Being a mother is such a responsibility, and I feel ready to take it.

  I will train myself in my powers after tonight.

  I will be ready for the so called change... war... when it comes. And overthrow the Alpha council during it.

  Well, I know how to start everything.

  I got to attend my sister’s wedding next month. It will be the best place to show off that a powerful soul mate couple is now in the game and the council shall be wise to stay away from other soulmates.

  I will rally all the present soulmates, and provide for them; be a beacon of hope for them; when the war hits, I will be ready. With my mate Grey; my son Aiden; my daughter Lara... and many others who would enter my life.

  I close my eyes drift off to sleep thinking out loud, “I did get a happily ever after, eh Delilah?”

  Her voice snickers in my mind after a moment, as I feel her as a sister now more than before. It booms, “I don’t hear you!”

  I smile and yell back in my mind, “Well, good night, Delilah!” She groans and mutters a ‘good night’ back, oblivious to what happened in these ten days. But, she will know during her wedding.

  My life was a mess just half a month ago. I was on the run, as a lowly powerless sorcerous, away from Alpha Mickelson.

  By fate, I found my mate.

  Had some good days with him.

  Went for a vacation, and unfortunately- or fortunately- I was imprisoned by the Alpha and was stripped off of my magic reserve... in turn initiating me into the extinct order of Nyx's vessels.

  I had my revenge, and learned my lesson, preparing me for controlling wild magic as the Nyx's mark courses through me even now.

  I had found two wonderful children and without my knowledge, I made them my own with my life force. Adopted them officially. Then finally after some bumps, we are one happy family. So much had happened in my messy life. Turning it into a beautiful one. My life is now beautiful as nature I loved, as beautiful as life around me.

  I am December Stone. And I will change the fate of the women of my kind.

  This time... my mind doesn’t generate any negative comments.

  And of course, this time I have a clear path to my goal.

  Epilogue

  *December*

  Lara runs around the grounds as the maids of household chase her. She yells, “Catch me if you can!” and takes off using her Luna particles as a boost. The maids groan, but run to keep up with her.

  “How hard will it be to catch a four year old child?” I mutter in my familial bond.

  Aiden whispers back, “If it is Lara, then it is going to be so hard.”

  Sound of metal clanking with each other resounds through the grounds. Grey yells, “Focus! Don’t let a pretty girl’s voice distract you.”

  I yell into the bond, “Seriously? I am twenty, Grey. Not ten!”

  Aiden chuckles, as Grey replies in the bond, “Sweet baby girl, you are still nineteen.” I shake my head and whisper, “Twenty before this month is over. Don’t forget my birthday!”

  Clash of swords resound once again, and this time Aiden is the one to yell, his voice cute, “Focus! Don’t let a pretty girl’s voice distract you.”

  I laugh. Grey and Aiden make one hell of a comedy sequence when sparring. Of course, Aiden is just eight...and a half, I don’t want to miss it and get some tantrums from him... He has his birthday on March and Lara has hers on April.

  While still being practically a child, Aiden puts up one hell of a fight against Grey, his dad. Of course, Grey goes easy on him... I may have threatened him to throw him out through the window again if he hurts Aiden... But still, Grey takes it easy because he cares for Aiden, his son.

  At Grey’s and her brother’s statement, Lara whispers into the bond, “Hey! I am the baby girl of the family, not that old lady.”

  Oh my god.

  I yell, “OLD LADY?”

  The maids stop and look over to me. I shake my head and focus on my phone. Everyone laughs in the bond. I groan in reply.

  Ever since we got close as a family, we had a mutual connection between us. It takes a little more effort to access it, but mostly everyone stays on it. Even my aunt, who likes to watch the children play from her room, or read very big books, which would make me faint in sight.

  Grey taught me to use phones. From what I learnt, this bond we share is more like a group chat, entering it and exiting it as we wish. And, Stone Enterprise has their own group chat in a messaging app, where I always chat with someone. It is sooo fun. The workers indulge their boss’s wife and I almost have a person to chat every minute.

  They have such good stories for me.

  Grey also taught me to drive a stick shift car. I may be banned from driving... still I liked driving it around in the estate grounds. Don’t ask me why I was banned... Yes, I kind of made a stunt where my car rolled at least three times, when I first started. I was safe. My magic is powerful. I had made it so that the air safely takes it through the stunt. But it is not why I am banned...

  It is because I found out that I’m freaking pregnant! Almost due now...

  It had been nine or so months since I returned here with my powers and my children.

  No surprise there, because I made Grey ‘apologize’ to me every single night after the original night... after he tried to hurt Aiden, and after I threw him through the window.

  Pregnancy still feels weird. It is like I am carrying a stomach full of water with me, and it is heavy. My back hurts from holding it up.

  Whether it is because that I am pregnant, or I am feeling safe to show my inner self, I act like a little child— or so they say. I don’t know why, but every single person I have met or chatted with, says, “You are adorable!” to me.

  ...To a mother of two. Three including the baby...

  What did the world come to...?

  In addition to that, Grey and Aiden make me walk like a freaking mile a day! And it is sooo exhausting. With my short legs, it feels I am walking ten miles a day.

  I never felt at disadvantage due to my height. But, Grey is so much taller than me, and Aiden alr
eady has grown enough to push me by my hip. They use it to their advantage to block my escape ways and make me walk through the grounds...

  When I am done with being pregnant, I swear to put at least a ton of wood on my mate and at least some of it on my son and make them walk around the estate for all the days they made me walk.

  Grey uses the family bond, “Uh oh. December is planning to make us walk through the estate as a payback for ‘a mile per day’ plan.”

  Aiden groans and Lara just laughs. Damn it, now I need to find a way to do it in secret. Grey often uses my mate bond to read my thoughts and convey it to my children.

  Stupid mate.

  Still, I can’t even stay mad at him.

  Stupid heart.

  Stupid butterflies.

  Well, I still love him despite all the cons. He is my soulmate, how could I not love him.

  Speaking of soulmates, three pairs of them approached us after our big debut in my sister’s wedding, and they stay in the estate grounds, at least a ten minute drive away from the mansion. Grey made sure to make it as safe as possible, with everything they might need. They said they were comfortable and happy. They also work for the Stone enterprises from home. Doing as much as they can for us.

  The Alpha council was sooo pissed off from our big debut in my sister’s wedding that they attacked me and my mate at the wedding... and got their asses kicked. No casualties happened, just enough wounds to make them grunt in pain for months. Even if they use magic to heal, they will feel it for at least one month. I made sure of it, with my wild magic.

  I have been learning a lot of new techniques too...

  Mickelson’s death and the destruction of Pack Diaz, along with the betrayal of his harem of Omegas, spread like wildfire in the supernatural community.

  The Alpha council wants revenge. I, in turn, want to take revenge on them.

  But... I found my powers lessening, and then found out the reason that I was preggers with a little baby growing inside me...

  Nyx said that I would be unable to access wild magic during the whole pregnancy period, because the wild magic is sooo affectionate on children that they will not cause pain for them— by extension me. That means I am freaking struck here without any magic to stand up against anyone. And Grey, alongside Aiden, utilizes it to make sure I obey them.

  They will pay as soon as my powers return. I giggle, thinking of all the ways I would make them pay. But, I find their overprotectiveness comforting. It makes me happy. I feel safe. I feel cared for.

  But, a girl needs her freedom. And I would teach them to give a girl her freedom. No reason to worry about it now, though.

  So, here I am, sitting at a bench on my mate’s estate grounds, waiting for the day when my baby doll chooses to come out of me. Looking at Lara play with her new personal maids— three of them appointed specially to care for her. Looking at my mate and son spar, sometimes in human form but mostly in their beast forms, but the height difference makes it awkward in human form.

  Grey and Aiden approach me, sweating like fountains.

  I swear I could fill some tanks with their sweat alone. Well, they drink water and juices like elephants... of course they sweat like elephants.

  I lock my phone and place it beside me, and stretch my arms out. Muscles pop as the knots in them stretches and unties them.

  I don’t know why... but being pregnant is exhausting...

  Even if I stay in rest the whole time...

  “Must be because your energies are going to the little one.” Grey plops beside me. Aiden climbs the back on the bench and sits right on Grey’s shoulder throwing his legs over his shoulder. He looks at me, “Yeah, being pregnant is said to be exhausting. Aunt Adrianna was sleeping, like all the time, during hers.”

  Grey gently massages those kid legs, as he adds, “Her baby is so cute. With his wide eyes. Cute tantrums. Arms and legs swinging around like he is trying to fight. Adorable.”

  My mate then nuzzles into my neck and whispers, “Adorable like you.”

  Ugh... not again.

  We three share some refreshments. They are refreshments for them. I am just hungry... all the time. Lara plops down on Grey’s laps. She plucks the juice out of my hands and gulps it down. “Hey! That was mine.” I gently swat her on the shoulder and, obviously my face betrays my anger with a smile.

  She nuzzles into my chest, as she whispers, “Love you too, mom.” Her vocabulary is increasing by the day with her new personal maids to care for her and teach her.

  I pat her head as she starts her afternoon nap. Just like that, she falls asleep in ten seconds. She could run like a storm with her little baby feet, using magic particles as a boost, of course. But, she still sleeps soundly.

  “Your trait.” Grey whispers to me. I smile and give another affectionate kiss to her head.

  I look around to see that the maids— Lara’s special maids— have all sat down in the grass; taking gulps of air, obviously exhausted. My arch-nemesis maid, the one with Star tattoo, is one of them. I feel immense satisfaction from seeing her run after my Lara.

  Well, she loves their Lara, so she does it. Not for me. She had stood up to me more times than I could count, and she is powerful for a human.

  Seems Aunt excels in using part-blood nature, and all the maids in the home are part-bloods. And they know how to conceal their nature, and make themselves void of magic particles... That is why I thought them to be humans at first...

  They draw particles in a second if they decide to use them. And mostly they seem to practice barrier skills with the Luna magic particles. The Star tattoo maid is one of the best in that section. She could conjure shields that can with-stand my attacks— like no one else. I am glad that they have pledged their loyalty to my aunt, and will stand by us during the change I have prophesized.

  I motion for them to take rest, and they gladly return to the mansion. The Star maid catches my eye, and I see happiness beyond that exhaustion, as she provides a smile to me. I smile back and turn toward my family.

  As a little family, we share some really good conversations like, what they will do after I deliver.

  And about what I will do to them after I get my powers.

  About Lara and her cuteness.

  My mate even had to embarrass me by talking about my Adorableness... Ugh...

  It becomes evening in no time. Lara sleeps on me the whole afternoon, as her brother and her dad returned to their workouts, blah, blah, to the men stuff. I only have to flick my wrist to attack. They seem to train with swords, daggers, guns and other things to attack. At least I am free from those kinds of trainings. I am pretty sure that Grey will utterly make me squirm with trainings, if I had to train.

  They approach me as the sun starts to set. We have to return to the mansion, of course, my mate doesn’t trust me to be out of it after sunset. He fears that I will trip and roll... Yeah, he said that.

  “You might even trip and roll, Dee. I am not allowing you to go out after the sun sets,” his own words.

  I am going to have so much fun with them after my powers return... Tee hee...

  Grey groans from distance at hearing my thoughts and Aiden rushes over to take Lara from me, who opens her eyes for a second and looks at her brother and at once continues her sleep.

  I gently take my phone and stand up. My belly feels heavy, but I am due any day... and I am looking forward to holding my little one in my arms. Little un-comfortableness have been coming and going in these days... I wonder when I would go into labour.

  And...

  A liquid runs down my thighs.

  “Umm... Grey! I think my water just broke.” Voicing what I thought is the problem.

  He drops everything he was holding, takes me in his arms and carries me into the mansion, as Aiden calls Dr. Ioha who was also a sorcerous and is one of the soulmate pair under my wing.

  He rushes into a bedroom, where Hospital stuffs were already arranged for this thing. I gently press my palm into my mate’s fa
ce as he places me on the bed, and the battle starts.

  The labour was tough.

  Like... really tough. Contractions hit me like something else. After not feeling pain in months, this doesn’t bring any euphoria. Just regular fashioned pain.

  I still remember parts of it, like Ioha and Grey urging me to push. Typical stuff like what I have learned. Followed by a cry of baby hitting my ears. Grey’s eyes brimming with tears as I see. Ioha showing him the baby. Seeing a little face through my lashes.

  Everything is black after that.

  I FLOAT IN THE VOID. Nyx, my mother appears in front of me and offers me a hug. I whisper, “Another grandchild, huh? Mother of mine.”

  She offers me a smile and replies, “Yes. But, you got to start getting ready. Change has started. Your daughter has a major role in it. Everything will accumulate till the balloon stretches to its limits and pops. Be safe. Take care of everyone, my adorable daughter.”

  “Ugh! Seriously?”

  Even my goddess-mother calls me adorable... I am going to find a hole and crawl into it...

  She affectionately places a kiss on my forehead and vanishes. I open my eyes, as white light blinds me. I turn away to see that my Grey is watching me from the bedside.

  “Grey... how long was I out?” My voice feels throaty. He gives me some God-blessed liquid, and it tastes bitter but soothing, and replies, “Eight hours or so, after the labour... The sun is going to rise soon.”

  Damn... Void takes so many hours.

  He walks over to a cradle beside my bed and takes out a bundle, wrapped in pink blankets. Is my little one a daughter?

  If he had wrapped my son in a pink blanket, I am so going to enjoy punishing my mate for it.

  The bundle starts crying.

  The sound of it brings tears to my eyes. He places the little bundle beside me and I gently roll over to my side, and touch the little baby.